Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Dr. Tony Gaynor, Curriculum and Assessment Policy Unit,
Department of Education and Skills
Concussion in Sport
Mr Chairman and members of the Joint Committee, thank you for the opportunity to
contribute to the Committee’s consideration of the issue of concussion in sport. I am from the
Curriculum and Assessment Policy unit within the Department of Education and Skills. I am
accompanied today by Seanie McGrath, who is a Post Primary Subject Inspector for Physical
Education.
The Department of Education and Skills recognises the seriousness of concussion and its
potential impact on an individual’s well-being. The Department also recognises that
concussion is something that can happen to anyone, at any stage of life, at any time. It is not
something that only happens during school time or on school premises. Nor is it something
that only arises in the context of sports or other physical activities.
Our focus as a Department is on ensuring that school authorities are equipped with the
appropriate knowledge and skills to enable them to promote pupil safety during school time
or during the many extra-curricular activities that are supported by schools. We would like to
assure the Joint Committee of our willingness, in conjunction with other relevant
stakeholders, to take any measures necessary to further promote pupil safety.
Each Board of Management of a school (or the relevant Education and Training Board in the
case of ETB schools), as an employer, is responsible for ensuring as far as reasonably
practicable, the safety and health at work of its employees, pupils, and anyone else on school
premises. In particular, schools are required under Section 20 of the Safety, Health and
Welfare at Work Act 2005, to have a school Safety Statement. The Safety Statement is
intended to ensure that each Board of Management has the appropriate procedures in place to
safeguard safety and health at school level. These include procedures in relation to first-aid,
accidents and dangerous occurrences, and instruction, training and supervision.
The Department of Education and Skills and the Health and Safety Authority have
cooperated to produce guidance to assist Boards of Management of primary and post primary
schools in developing their Safety Statement. One of the key steps in this process is an
assessment of the potential risks to safety and health within the school. Once these risks have
been identified and assessed, Boards of Management are expected to reflect in their Safety
Statement the means by which such risks will be eliminated or prevented as far as this is
possible. The Safety Statement should be regularly reviewed to ensure that it addresses any
new risks that are identified at school level. We are of the view that the structures in place at
school level, through the Safety Statement, are sufficiently flexible to allow schools to
respond positively to any new challenges to pupil safety and health that they are made aware
of.
The Department of Education and Skills is actively engaged in contributing to the ‘Healthy
Ireland’ agenda which is being led by the Department of Health. To this end, we support a
number of programmes and initiatives to promote physical activity. These programmes also
contribute to tackling the growing problem of obesity. As well as the Physical Education
programme in primary and post primary schools, the Department of Education and Skills also
promotes the Active School Flag and Active Schools’ Week, as well as a number of
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innovative pilot initiatives such as the ‘Points for Life’ project, which focuses on improving
the physical literacy of pupils. We are also centrally involved in the development of the
National Physical Activity Plan which is being led by the Departments of Health and
Transport.
The latest data collated from schools, through the ‘Lifeskills’ survey which was published by
the Department of Education and Skills in January 2014, indicate that schools are very active
in supporting extra-curricular activities among their students. The data indicate that 81% of
primary and 96% of post primary schools promote physical activities outside of the school
day. This encompasses a range of pursuits that includes GAA, soccer, rugby, athletics,
swimming, hockey and horse riding. The same survey also revealed that 98% of primary and
86% of post primary schools, who responded to the survey, promote physical activity during
break-times.
Schools are therefore clearly playing an important role in relation to the ‘Healthy Ireland’
agenda. In developing guidance for schools on the topic of concussion we are conscious of
the need to ensure that such guidance does not discourage schools from continuing to
promote physical activity among their students.
The Department views the issue of concussion, whether in sport or otherwise, very seriously.
The potential dangers are clearly illustrated by the tragic case of Benjamin Robinson.
Following an initial approach to the Department from Benjamin’s father, Peter, officials
spoke with him, via teleconference, in January 2014. Mr. Robinson outlined the progress
being made at that time in raising awareness of concussion related injuries in Scotland and
Northern Ireland.
Following that meeting, the information provided by Mr Robinson was circulated by the
Department of Education and Skills to the Physical Education Association of Ireland (PEAI)
and the Wellbeing team of the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST). Such
information will enhance the knowledge of physical education teachers to deal with suspected
incidences of concussion.
Officials from the Department of Education and Skills also made contact with counterparts in
the Department of Education in Northern Ireland, who agreed to share the work they were
undertaking in this area, and which subsequently formed the basis of their “Recognise and
Remove” leaflet which was circulated to all school boards and other relevant bodies in
Northern Ireland in May 2014.
The concerns of Mr. Robinson were also raised, by Mr. Seanie McGrath, with the members
of the National Physical Activity Plan at their working group meeting on 12 February 2014.
The Department of Health indicated at that time that it was also concerned about this issue
and was interested in promoting awareness of the signs and symptoms of concussion. It was
therefore agreed by both Departments that we would ascertain whether there was an interest
amongst those organisations currently providing information on concussion to collaborate on
an awareness raising campaign for schools. Such organisations include a number of major
sporting bodies, particularly the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), Gaelic Athletic
Association (GAA) and the Turf Club, as well as Acquired Brain Injury Ireland.
Contact was made with the medical representatives of each of these organisations and a
meeting was arranged in the Department of Health on 7 July 2014. Members of Acquired
Brain Injury Ireland, IRFU, GAA, Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and the Turf Club,
along with representatives from both Departments attended this meeting.
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There was broad consensus among those present at the meeting about the seriousness of the
issue of concussion. It was agreed to draft a concussion awareness leaflet for discussion
amongst the group, with clear and concise messages to support all those providing and
participating in sport or physical activity in schools and elsewhere. There was broad
agreement on the type of issues that would need to be covered in such a leaflet. These include
material on the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT), links to the resources produced
by various sports national governing bodies and Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, and reference
to the Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport that was produced in November 2012.
While there is broad agreement on the main principles that should inform the leaflet for
schools, some additional work is necessary. As this is primarily a medical rather than a
pedagogical issue we would defer to the expertise of the relevant health experts, whether in
the Department of Health, national sports governing bodies, or Acquired Brain Injury Ireland,
in terms of the final content of the leaflet. We are more than happy to advise on any
educational related issues that arise in the course of drafting the leaflet. We envisage our
primary role, however, to be to circulate the guidance to schools as part of a communications
strategy.
I would like to conclude by once again assuring the Joint Committee of our willingness to
raise awareness of this important issue in schools. We will continue to cooperate with the
Department of Health and other relevant health experts in order to ensure that appropriate
advice issues to schools.
I would be happy to respond to any questions the Committee might have.
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