Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the manner in which endemic educational disadvantage is being challenged by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13753/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A key focus of the Government's education policy is to prioritise investment in favour of those most at risk and to optimise access, participation and outcomes at every level of the system for disadvantaged groups.

Almost €650 million is being provided in 2006 for a wide variety of measures to tackle educational disadvantage at all levels and for all ages, from pre-school through the formal school system, in the youth work sector and in second-chance education. Our interventions are guided by four key principles, those of early intervention, effective targeting, partnership and second-chance opportunities.

The new action plan for educational inclusion, the DEIS programme, which was launched last May, includes a commitment to pre-school education for children who will be attending the most disadvantaged primary schools. The programme also has a major focus on tackling literacy and numeracy problems as early as possible before they become ingrained. It is vital to intervene at an early point to stop children falling behind, and we are doing this.

Over the past 15 years, a number of different schemes to tackle educational disadvantage have been put in place by different Ministers. Approximately eight separate initiatives were introduced for primary schools, addressing a number of different aspects of educational disadvantage. These included schemes providing additional teaching posts and reduced class sizes, a scheme for improving home-school links, a scheme for encouraging better school completion rates and a pilot reading recovery programme. Some schools were participating in just one or two schemes, while others were participating in more.

I am determined to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools in the country benefit from every support available. Therefore, the schools that have been identified, through a process managed by the Educational Research Centre, for inclusion in the DEIS programme will get a comprehensive package of supports in line with their level of disadvantage.

Other schools that are benefiting from previous schemes will hold the extra supports that they are receiving for the 2006-07 school year and will be kept under review thereafter to ensure efficiency. The key is to ensure that schools get a level of support that is in line with the proportion of their student body from disadvantaged backgrounds and that extra investment is targeted at those who need it most. It is also vital to ensure that increased resources lead to better outcomes for children. To that end, the DEIS initiative includes a strong focus on planning and monitoring the success of the various supports.

Of course, the family has an enormous influence on whether any initiative is successful in enabling young people to make the most of the opportunities available to them. Schools have far more success with all children, but particularly with those from disadvantaged areas, when parents are supportive of, and involved in, their child's education. In this context, programmes such as the home-school-community liaison scheme and family literacy projects are of immense value and that is why these will be a major part of the DEIS programme.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Partnership between my Department and other Departments and agencies is extremely important and will also be a key feature of DEIS.

No matter how successful initiatives aimed at improving the outcomes for children from disadvantaged areas in our formal school system are, there will always be a need to provide second-chance opportunities. These are needed for those who did not get the benefit of a full education in the past and could benefit from adult literacy, workplace training and other education programmes for adults and for young people who might opt out of education altogether if it were not for initiatives such as Youthreach or FÁS apprenticeships. Hence, the Government focus on these sectors in recent years.

The Government has a multi-faceted strategy in place to tackle socio-economic disadvantage at every level of our education system. As well as education initiatives to tackle socio-economic disadvantage, special programmes are also in place to enable groups such as Travellers, people with special educational needs and those whose first language is not English to derive maximum benefit from our education system.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Minister that excellent work is being done through the home-school-community liaison scheme. The Minister referred to increased resources and judging outcomes, as well as the eight separate initiatives currently in place. In the review carried out by the Department of Education and Science, what evaluations were made of each of those initiatives? It is easy to see the outcome derived from providing an extra teacher but the evaluation of some of the other schemes might not be so easy. Obviously, we want to ensure we are putting the best possible initiatives in place in schools.

Under the new action plan, will further early start programmes be set up in the pre-school sector and will any of them be attached to the primary schools now included in the plan, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas? The Minister mentioned the youth work sector. Has she or the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, considered putting Youthreach on a permanent footing? It is still a pilot programme, which is causing difficulties in terms of attracting new teachers and retaining current ones.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The various measures introduced over the years have been evaluated separately. We all know of the success of the home-school-community liaison scheme. The reading recovery programme, which is operating in only a limited number of schools at the moment, is working really well. That is why we aim to extend that under the new action plan. Indeed, the same is true of the mathematics programme. The school libraries that were introduced under previous initiatives and which will be extended under the DEIS programme, have been enormously successful. I visited the library in Larkin College, for example, which has opened up new opportunities for the students because of the interaction between them and the librarian.

The elements we have included as key to the current DEIS programme are there because we know they work. That also includes the family literacy schemes. Class size is obviously an issue which we are targeting. However, previous literacy reports have indicated that in areas where class sizes were reduced, literacy had not improved for children because of other family issues. That is why our report stresses that we are supporting the wider context, as well as what is happening within the classroom.

At the moment we are spending approximately €11 million on pre-school programmes, including the early start programme. Such pre-school programmes are aimed at areas of social disadvantage, some are available to Travellers, while others are provided for children with special needs. We recognise that early intervention is crucial in tackling educational disadvantage. I envisage extending the early start programme and will target the top 150. However, I do not want to duplicate the services of an already existing, top class child care service but to ensure there is an educational input to such a service. In that way, we are not just duplicating the care but providing education. My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, will examine this issue but I envisage more early start programmes.

Approximately 3,000 people are attending Youthreach, which works well. I accept what the Deputy has said with regard to it being a pilot project. That also came up in the context of School Matters, the report on behaviour in schools. It is fulfilling a very useful role, as are a number of other bodies, both voluntary and State sponsored, which are on an ad hoc basis or are being supported and funded on a year-to-year basis. To ensure we have proper out-of-school provision, it is my intention to immediately conduct an audit of all available services to ascertain how they can be properly supported within an appropriate structure.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Minister referred to the early start initiative and to the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan. What communication is taking place between the Minister for Education and Science — perhaps the Minister of State is the appropriate person — and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with regard to the new child care facilities being built around the country? The emphasis seems to be on child care. Is there an input from the Department of Education and Science into the pre-school element of those facilities?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy answered the question. It is the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science with special responsibility for children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, who will be co-ordinating with us on child care and education provision. He is ideally suited to it as he is also attached to the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Health and Children. With his own support structure in the newly enhanced Office of the Minister for Children, he will be the best person to co-ordinate that. It will be a direct role with the Department of Education and Science.