Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the actions she intends to take arising from the report, Literacy and Numeracy in Disadvantaged Schools, which found that in some schools up to 50% of pupils have literacy problems; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19665/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In 2004, the inspectorate of my Department carried out a focused evaluation of educational provision in the areas of literacy and numeracy development in 12 primary schools with a high concentration of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The purposes of the evaluation were to report on the quality of provision for literacy and numeracy development in the selected schools; to identify the issues that impact on literacy development in the selected schools; and to recommend policies and strategies that would contribute to improvement in children's literacy and numeracy achievement.

The analysis and conclusions of the inspectorate's report, Literacy and Numeracy in Disadvantaged Schools, has added significantly to our understanding of the educational contexts of schools in disadvantaged settings. The report identifies challenges for the wider educational community in tackling poor attendance and in addressing low levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy among pupils in disadvantaged areas.

The report has provided school principals, teachers and boards of management with advice on planning for improvement and development and will assist individual schools in reviewing current practice and provision for pupils in literacy and numeracy. The report emphasises the significant role of school principals and of school management in making literacy and numeracy a key priority.

In the context of a special initiative under the Sustaining Progress social partnership agreement, targeted interventions are being implemented in primary schools serving disadvantaged communities aimed at ensuring that pupils with serious literacy difficulties are supported in improving their attainment levels.

DEIS — Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools — the new action plan for educational inclusion that I launched in May, will have a significant impact on the quality of educational provision in disadvantaged settings and will directly address many of the issues identified in the inspectorate's report. A key underlying principle of the plan is that of early intervention, including assisting children who are having difficulty learning to read and write at an early stage before the problem becomes entrenched. In implementing the action plan a number of measures will be rolled out, starting in the next school year, to tackle literacy and numeracy problems in primary schools serving disadvantaged communities.

These measures will include a new advisory service at primary level; more access to initiatives such as reading recovery and maths recovery, which enable intensive, individualised teaching to be provided to the lowest attaining pupils at an early stage, when intervention can be most effective; and a new family literacy project.

The National Educational Welfare Board will also have a key role to play in the successful implementation of the action plan and additional resources have been made available to support the continuing development of the services provided by the board. The budget which has been allocated to the NEWB for 2005 is up by 20% on the 2004 allocation, to nearly €8 million.