Written answers

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Department of Education and Skills

Educational Disadvantage

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of DEIS schools in County Kerry; and the qualifying criteria for DEIS schools. [54486/13]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The underlying criteria for participation in DEIS is a school's relative level of disadvantage against all other schools therefore those schools with the highest concentration of disadvantage were selected for participation in the DEIS programme. The identification process for DEIS was in line with international best practice and had regard to, and employed, the existing and most appropriate data sources available. It was managed by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) on behalf of the Department and supported by quality assurance work co-ordinated through the Department's Regional Offices and the Inspectorate. The choice of variables included in the assessment of disadvantage was guided by the definition of disadvantage in the Education Act, (1998) which refers both to learning outcomes and to social and economic factors.

In the primary sector the identification of primary schools, for participation in DEIS, was based on analysis of a survey which 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 post-primary 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 DEIS 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.

Details on the number of DEIS Schools in County Kerry are as follows:

There are 28 DEIS schools in County Kerry which are categorised as follows:

5 DEIS Primary Urban Band 2

18 DEIS Primary Rural

5 DEIS Post Primary

Further details of the DEIS Action Plan can be located on my Department's website at the following link-

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