Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 405: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will appoint wholetime home-school liaison officers to schools in RAPID areas; her views on the need for such posts to provide supports for schools, pupils and families in these areas; and if she will make provision for a home school liaison officer in a school (details supplied) in County Louth. [18548/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under DEIS, (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion, which is currently being implemented by my Department, 80 additional posts have been allocated in order to extend Home School Community Liaison services to all 338 urban/town primary and 203 second level schools participating in DEIS that do not currently have a HSCL service, in addition to the 370 local coordinators already in place. To facilitate local HSCL co-ordinators working with the families of disadvantaged children, for the first time posts are being shared across the two sectors — primary and post-primary level.

I have also given a commitment to schools not selected to participate in DEIS but already in the HSCL Scheme, that they will continue to receive HSCL services after 2006/2007. HSCL services will be provided to some 652 schools in total (282 second level and 370 primary schools) for the duration of the DEIS action plan.

DEIS provides for a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage and a new integrated School Support Programme. DEIS will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions in schools with a concentrated level of disadvantage.

The process of identifying primary and second-level schools for participation in 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.

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 mechanism was put in place to address the concerns of schools that did not qualify for inclusion in DEIS but regarded themselves as having a level of disadvantage which was of a scale sufficient to warrant their inclusion in the programme. The review process operated under the direction of an independent person, charged with ensuring that all relevant identification processes and procedures were properly followed in the case of schools applying for a review.

An application for review was received from the school referred to by the Deputy, but it was not among those schools recommended for inclusion in the programme.

Schools that did not qualify for inclusion in the DEIS programme will continue to be supported in their efforts to deal with educational disadvantage among their students.