What (usually) happens if you leave secondary school after 1st year?

Yep. The school should have probably notified the Gardai.

Failing that, get the local parish priest to get into bed with the kid. That'd get him up out of bed and off to school right quick. 😁

Seriously though, how did it work out for your cousin leaving school so young?

School would/should have notified the ewo, after that who knows. Surprising number of kids drop out of school for various reasons.

Unless he was getting into trouble, being abused, or neglected at home what would you have expected the state to do?

Hes 24/25 now so let him on with his life and not be wondering about what might have been.

As the above poster said the school should have informed EWO that he had left school and it is up to them not the school to follow up on it.

Very surprised EWO were not involved, they are responsible for all 16s attendibg school/ensuring they have a school place especially as he was so young.

It's not common for a 1st year student to leave school. Sometimes students in say 3rd year leave but usually linked in then with Youth reach etc instead.

Legally they could have taken his parents to court and prosecuted them. However that is a last resort, instead they will usually try and offer supports to encourage students to return to school

Do you mind me asking is your cousin doing ok now?

There would be options for him to return to education now if he wanted.

It would have been more common 20 years ago, but now we have one of best secondary completion rates in Europe.

There are still cohorts that don't complete though e.g Travellers.

It always comes back to the parents: if your aunt & uncle were feckless and couldn't give a toss about what your cousin did, then yes there is a place for follow up by the state. But if your aunt & uncle were supportive and your cousin was broadly motivated to learn and do things his way, then quite right to let him at it. There's many ways to progress now in the educations system and life, conventional school and the 'Leaving Cert' is just one option.

And by the way, there is no law that a child must stay in school. The constitution reserves the rights of parents to be the primary educators. When parents put a child in school, they simply derogate some of this role to the school. They can withdraw at any time.

So a positive outcome. Maybe the reason no fuss was made was because it was realised him n school were not compatible.

School isn't for everyone, my brother in law left school at 14, there was murder in his family over it, he hated school, wanted to be a chef.

Started out as a pot walloper, got an apprenticeship with fas and now has his own business.

Huge difference between someone who knows they want to be a chef and leave school and someone leaving school because of a lack of motivation.

Do you think letting her leave school would have been better for her?

Tbh a lot of the parents I work with that had poor educational attainment want their kids to progress in education, but there are always those who don't.

OTOH from experience, forcing kids to stay in school often had bad outcomes and makes a situation worse.

There is the beginning of a recognition that school is not for everyone and some kids who are "failing" in school often do far better in different environments.

None of us know who the yp in the op left school so it's unfair to say it was lack of motivation or avoidance.

I am not saying its avoidance it could be anything I am making the point that leaving school early and getting a job or wanting to become a chef or do an apprenticeship is very different from leaving school for an aimless existence.

getting a job or doing an apprenticeship involves getting up and ready and working 5 days a week and passing exams if its an apprenticeship and that is the crux of the matter really.

Great plot for a fillum some 30 year old fella sitting at his desk in secondary school

Schitt's Creek already did it, pretty much.