Written answers

Wednesday, 21 June 2006

Department of Education and Science

Educational Disadvantage

9:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the criteria under which a school may qualify for inclusion in the DEIS programme; and the reason a school (details supplied) in County Kerry was not included despite taking most of its pupils from the two national schools in Ballybunion which are included. [23995/06]

Photo of Jimmy DeenihanJimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the criteria used to choose schools for the DEIS programme; the reason a school (details supplied) in County Kerry was not included; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24126/06]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 207 and 233 together.

The process of identifying primary and second-level schools for participation in the new School Support Programme under DEIS was managed by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) on behalf of my Department and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's regional offices and the Inspectorate. The ERC's overall approach was guided by the definition of educational disadvantage in the Education Act (1998), section 32(9), as: "...the impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage which prevent students from deriving appropriate benefit from education in schools".

In the primary sector, the identification process was based on a survey of all primary schools in May 2005, from which a response rate of more than 97% was achieved. The analysis of the survey returns by the ERC identified the socio-economic variables that collectively best predict achievement, and these variables were then used to identify schools for participation in the School Support Programme. The variables involved are:

% unemployment

% local authority accommodation

% lone parenthood

% Travellers

% large families (5 or more children)

% pupils eligible for free books

In the case of second-level schools, the Department supplied the ERC with centrally-held data from the Post-Primary Pupils and State Examinations Commission databases. Based on an analysis of these data, the variables used to determine eligibility for inclusion in the School Support Programme were as follows: Medical card data for Junior Certificate candidates (including Junior Certificate School Programme candidates) Junior Certificate retention rates by school Junior Certificate exam results aggregated to school level (expressed as an OPS "Overall Performance Scale" score). This was based on each student's performance in the seven subjects in which s/he performed best Leaving Certificate retention rates by school.

While the whole rationale behind the new programme is to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools benefit from all of the available supports, schools that are benefiting from pre-existing schemes will keep the extra resources, financial and human, that they are getting under these initiatives for the 2006/07 school year. After that they will continue to get support in line with the level of socio-economic disadvantage among their pupils. The school to which the Deputies refer is not in any of the pre-existing schemes to address educational disadvantage.

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