Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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520. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on concerns (details supplied) regarding teachers in schools, other than in respect of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, being denied the opportunity to take part in the reading recovery programme. [5817/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Reading Recovery is a literacy initiative that was initially made available for DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 schools only as part of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS), the Action Plan for Educational Inclusion, which was launched in May 2005. Each of these schools was given an opportunity to have a teacher trained as a Reading Recovery teacher. In some areas where training took place in local cluster groups, schools other than those outlined were allowed to participate in the programme.

Since 2004 over 20,000 students have benefited from the Reading Recovery Programme together with a range of other literacy supports. My Department, through the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), continues to prioritise support for DEIS Band 1 and DEIS Band 2 schools as well as maintaining ongoing support for other schools already participating in the programme.

New schools have not been permitted to join the Reading Recovery Programme in light of the extensive programme of support available in the area of literacy.

Emerging evidence from work carried out by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) is positive on the range of interventions including Reading Recovery in place for DEIS schools. Inspectorate evaluations also demonstrate that the effectiveness of specialised programmes is maximised when they are integrated into the overall programme in a school.

Support for all schools provided by the PDST takes this into account as part of the ongoing continuing professional development programme for "Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life - The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy for Children and Young People 2011-2020".