Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this Topical Issue matter. It has been raised with me previously by Senator McGreehan and others. At the outset I point out that Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, is the main policy initiative of the Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. The Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity across the primary and post-primary sectors. As the Deputy referenced, I announced a major expansion of the DEIS programme in March, which means that for the first time since 2017, programmes have significantly expanded to an additional 322 schools. The programme now includes more than 1,200 schools, and in effect this means one in four of all students are now supported in the DEIS programme.

Schools added to the programme earlier this year were identified for inclusion in the DEIS programme through the refined DEIS identification model, which is an objective, statistics-based model. The DEIS identification process is based on the principle of concentrated disadvantage, and that is the issue. There may well be disadvantage in various schools, but it is the concentration of disadvantage in a particular school at the particular time of the undertaking of the model that is considered. It considers the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds within a school and the relative disadvantage within a given school. The development of this model involved an extensive body of work by the DEIS technical group, which included officials from my Department, the Department's inspectorate and the Educational Research Centre. The model used information from the schools' individual enrolment database and the 2016 national census data as represented by the Pobal HP deprivation index. It also took into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and by students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation.

A detailed document outlining the refined DEIS identification model is published on gov.ie. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and all schools in the country were considered for inclusion under the model. It is possible for two neighbouring schools to have a different profile in terms of proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the relative weighting of disadvantage apportioned in each school. The designation of neighbouring schools to different DEIS bands does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different. Schools that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS identification model to their school enrolment data were provided with the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed. While the school in question did appeal this decision, there was no change to the outcome of the initial application of the refined DEIS identification model. However, my Department will continue to support the school community to deliver high-quality, inclusive teaching and learning to the students and young learners. The DEIS programme will continue to be supported by my Department and following the national census of 2022 held on 3 April last, it is envisaged that an updated HP deprivation index will be generated by Pobal and will be available in quarter 3 of 2023. The Department will engage with Pobal regarding this process. The updated Pobal HP deprivation index, when available, can then be considered by my Department to inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage. During my term as Minister, I am please to say I have increased the funding for the DEIS programme significantly. In fact, in 2023 the funding will be in the order of €180 million. This reflects a strong commitment to addressing educational disadvantage.

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