Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when she will publish her detailed proposals on addressing educational disadvantage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27654/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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DEIS — delivering equality of opportunity in schools — the new action plan for educational inclusion, which I launched last May, aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed.

The plan provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated school support programme, SSP, which will bring together and build upon, a number of existing interventions for schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage. Approximately 600 primary schools and 150 second level schools will be included in the school support programme. The new action plan will be introduced on a phased basis, starting during the current school year, and will involve an additional annual investment of €40 million on full implementation. It will also involve the provision of some 300 additional posts across the education system.

Since 1997, the Government has increased funding on specific measures at primary and second level to tackle educational disadvantage by some 130%, from €50 million in 1998 to €120 million in the current year. The additional €40 million annual investment under this action plan on full implementation will represent a 33% increase on current expenditure and a three-fold increase in spending in this area since 1998.

The plan addresses the following key issues and needs: improving identification of disadvantage — a standardised approach will allow the Department to target resources more effectively; increasing early childhood education provision in the most disadvantaged communities; improving supports for pupils with low attainment levels in literacy and numeracy; enhancing procedures for measuring the outcomes achieved from educational inclusion measures; enhancing integration and partnership working, both within the education sector itself and cross-sectorally; enhancing professional development supports for principals and school staff; and enhancing research and evaluation. The key principle of early intervention underpins both the early childhood education measure and many of the literacy and numeracy measures being adopted under the new action plan.

The new action plan represents a shift in emphasis away from individual initiatives, each addressing a particular aspect of the problem, with the new plan adopting a multifaceted and more integrated approach. This is the first time that an integrated educational inclusion strategy has been developed for three to 18 year olds in this country. A crucial aspect of the action plan will be a more developed planning process, implemented through the school development planning initiative, and improved arrangements for measuring progress and outcomes at both local and national level.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister's reply but I was hoping for more detail about what will happen in the schools. Will there be a band of schools that will be considered particularly disadvantaged and will they get more resources than the other disadvantaged schools? All Members are aware of schools that have a high level of disadvantage and are struggling to cope with the social problems that exist in the families of the students. I hope they will get extra allocations to what is given to the regular disadvantaged schools.

Perhaps the Minister would elaborate further on her proposals regarding early childhood education. A number of schools in very disadvantaged areas have lost both resource and SNA hours as a result of the changes under the weighted system for resource teachers and SNA support. Some of those schools are struggling as a result of this loss. Will the Minister examine this matter and consider restoring resource hours to those schools? It is a shame that schools that really need extra support do not have it or have lost it this year. However, I welcome the fact there are finally proposals on educational disadvantage. They were a long time coming.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I do not accept that schools have lost under the model for the allocation of teachers for special needs. For the first time, there is a permanent allocation for every school in the country.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Some have lost what they had last year.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In the past, these resources were allocated on an ad hoc rather than a permanent basis. Now they are permanent.

On the question of schools which are deemed to be disadvantaged under this system, the allocation is one to 80 for the most disadvantaged schools. This would change immediately for those schools once the survey has been completed, which is anticipated to be by the end of this year.

I fully accept the Deputy's point about urban educational disadvantage and I am grateful for her support on this matter. The Department will target the 150 urban town school communities with provision for early childhood education and class size reductions to 20:1 in junior classes and 24:1 in senior classes to avoid the children experiencing a big jump between these levels, as has been the case in some of the schools. More teacher support will be provided for the rural schools and clustering will help with school community links and literacy and numeracy measures.

As regards the early childhood provision, we want to ensure that duplication is avoided in the case where a very good service is already provided. The co-ordination required will create a link between the schools and community childcare facilities to ensure an education input. As a result of the investment in capital infrastructure in the past number of years some excellent facilities are in place around the country, particularly in the disadvantaged areas but we wish to ensure a good educational input into these facilities.

When the programme was launched I circulated both the full report and the summary report but I will be glad to provide the Deputy with another copy if required.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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How will the classification be done this time? What will be the criteria compared to when it was first done?

On the subject of rural disadvantage, in certain areas of rural Ireland parents for one reason or another are choosing to take their children out of the bigger village school and move them to schools which are in a rural rather than an urban setting. These schools then need extensions but the village school is left with the disadvantaged students. I refer to a school which accommodated 250 pupils and currently has fewer than 70 students. Will such schools with low numbers be included in the scheme? This is a different type of disadvantage but it is becoming more apparent.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Educational disadvantage is the issue. Some counties are the first to declare their economic or social disadvantage but it is often the case that students from these counties show participation rates in third level education that are among the highest in the country. I cite County Leitrim to prove my point. It has the highest rate of participation in third level education in the country yet we have all seen programmes in which people talk about its isolation or disadvantage and, therefore, I no longer accept that argument. I wish to focus on the issue of educational disadvantage.

The survey undertaken was very comprehensive and it has been returned by the schools. We will ensure that the size of school will not be a deciding factor but rather the concentration of disadvantage within the school. Clustering will ensure those schools do not lose out. A teacher or a co-ordinator will work with a group of schools to ensure they benefit from the extra facilities which will be put in place. I envisage this scheme will be in place by the end of this year and that it will also include home-school liaison, which is crucially important in tackling disadvantage by linking in with the families. The small school to which the Deputy has referred might be involved in a sharing of facilities.

I have a problem with people taking their children out of schools in towns and sending them out to the rural areas. The schools in the towns are losing teachers while the rural schools are under pressure and are requesting extensions. One school is as good as the next; the buildings do not make a difference but rather the quality of the teaching. People should be loyal to the school nearest to where they live.