Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 666: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason rural areas of County Mayo have not been included in the current DEIS programme in view of the continuing deprivation there; the reason these changes occurred; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27445/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The new DEIS programme will be of huge benefit to schools in Mayo. I am sure the Deputy would agree that it is important to make sure that schools serving the most disadvantaged communities get all the extra support possible and will welcome the extra resources that DEIS will provide for Mayo schools. I can assure the Deputy that there is no reason for schools that haven't been identified for the new programme to worry as they will continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils. Not one of these schools has been told that they will lose any resources as a result of DEIS.

DEIS is designed to ensure that schools serving the most disadvantaged communities benefit from the maximum level of support available. Over the years, no less than 8 separate schemes for disadvantaged primary schools have been put in place. Some schools were benefiting from just one or two of these and others were benefiting from more. The DEIS initiative is designed to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools benefit from a comprehensive package of supports, while ensuring that others continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage among their pupils.

59 rural primary schools in Mayo have been invited to benefit from resources available under the new programme. Nearly 20% of all the rural schools invited to benefit from the new programme nationally are in Mayo.

I am sure the Deputy will agree that the extra supports being made available will be of great value to those primary schools in Mayo which, based on the information submitted by their principals, have been selected to benefit from the new programme.

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.

In relation to how schools were identified to benefit from the new programme, this process 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. In the primary sector, the identification process was based on a survey carried out by the ERC in May 2005, from which a response rate of more than 97% was achieved.

The analysis of the survey returns from primary schools 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 were:

% 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.

A review process has been put in place for both primary and second-level schools. The review process applies only to those primary schools that participated in the ERC survey in May 2005 and only to those eligible second-level schools for which data were available from the relevant databases. The closing date for receipt of review applications was Friday, 31st March, 2006.

The review process is nearing completion and the review group will shortly be making recommendations to my Department in the case of each school that has sought a review after which each school will be written to as regards the outcome of their application.