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(Education Welfare Officer, School Attendance Officer, Education Engagement Officer, School Welfare Officer)
Education & Training
Salary
€32,000 - €55,000/yr
Level
Professional
Outlook
Stable
Sector
Education & Training
As a School Completion Officer you work to keep at-risk students engaged in education, supporting young people who are at risk of early school leaving or who have poor attendance records. You work within the School Completion Programme (SCP) and DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) framework, liaising with students, families, teachers, and external agencies such as Tusla and HSE to identify and address barriers to attendance and participation. Your day-to-day work involves casework with individual students, organising out-of-school supports and activities, and coordinating with other professionals including educational psychologists, social workers, and guidance counsellors. You also maintain records, write case reports, and contribute to whole-school planning around wellbeing and inclusion.
Listen: a day as a School Completion Officer
You arrive at the DEIS secondary school at 8:15 a.m., twenty minutes before the bell, to check overnight absence notifications on the school's management information system. Three students on your caseload haven't been flagged yet by the automated system, so you cross-reference with the register manually and phone one family straight away. The mother tells you her daughter hasn't slept properly in days; you note it on the student's SCP file and arrange to call back this afternoon. By 9:30 a.m. you're at your desk completing a monthly attendance return for the School Completion Programme coordinator. The paperwork tracks intervention hours, welfare referrals, and outcomes, and it feeds into reporting for the Educational Welfare Service under Tusla. It's detailed and repetitive, but accurate records are what justify continued funding for the programme.
A relevant Level 7 or Level 8 degree is the typical minimum entry point for this role; programmes such as Social Care, Youth Work, Community Development, or Education are all suitable pathways through institutions like TU Dublin, ATU, SETU, or UL. Leaving Certificate subjects such as English, Biology, and SPHE-related interests provide a useful foundation, and students taking LCVP may also develop relevant project and community skills. Some practitioners enter through a QQI Level 5 or 6 PLC in Community and Health Services before progressing to a degree via the CAO or a further education pathway. Professional registration or accreditation with CORU is becoming increasingly relevant for those working in social care roles within schools, and continuing professional development is expected throughout your career. Experience through volunteering or placement with youth organisations, Foróige, or similar bodies is highly valued by employers.
Many School Completion Officers begin their careers in related roles such as youth worker, community development worker, or social care worker before moving into a dedicated SCP position. With experience, you may progress to a Senior School Completion Officer or Programme Coordinator role with responsibility for managing a cluster of schools and supervising junior staff. Further progression can lead into educational welfare management, DEIS planning roles within ETBs or the Department of Education, or into Tusla's Educational Welfare Services as an Educational Welfare Officer. Postgraduate qualifications in social work, education, or management can support advancement into senior leadership or policy roles.
AI tools can support School Completion Officers by automating attendance tracking, flagging early warning patterns in student data, and generating summary reports, freeing up time for direct student engagement. Predictive analytics may help identify students at risk of disengaging before problems become serious, allowing earlier and more targeted intervention. However, the relational, human-centred nature of this work — building trust with vulnerable young people and their families — cannot be replaced by technology. AI is likely to serve as an administrative aid rather than fundamentally alter the core of this profession.
→ School Completion Officer (Current role)
Organisations in Ireland that employ people in this occupation.
Limerick City and County, Co. Clare
Runs SCP programmes across DEIS schools in Limerick and Clare.
Dublin City and South Dublin
Employs SCOs supporting at-risk youth in Dublin DEIS schools.
Cork City and County
Delivers School Completion Programme across Cork DEIS settings.
Dublin City
Funds SCOs working with high-risk youth in inner-city Dublin schools.
Longford, Westmeath
Operates SCP initiatives reducing early school leaving in the Midlands.
Nationwide
Partners with and funds SCOs; manages Educational Welfare Service nationally.
Waterford City, Co. Wexford
Delivers SCP across DEIS schools in Waterford and Wexford.
Galway City, Co. Roscommon
Employs SCOs tackling attendance barriers in west of Ireland schools.
Co. Donegal
Runs SCP supporting disadvantaged students across rural Donegal.
Co. Kildare, Co. Wicklow
SCOs engage at-risk learners across DEIS schools in both counties.
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