Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

204. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will be putting in place an independent review mechanism, as was put in place after the initial assessment for DEIS in 2006, 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; and if not, the reason. [8496/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The new DEIS Plan provides for a verification process and any school wishing to seek verification of the information used to assess the level of disadvantage of its pupil cohort may submit an application for same to social_inclusion@education.gov.ie.

A key element of DEIS Plan 2017 Plan is the availability of a new identification process for the assessment of schools for inclusion in DEIS using centrally held CSO and DES data. 

The key data sources are the DES Primary Online Database (POD) and Post-Primary Online (PPOD) Databases, and CSO data from the National Census of Population as represented in the Pobal HP Index for Small Areas which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area.  Variables used in the compilation of the HP Index include those related to demographic growth, social class composition and labour market situation.  This data is combined with pupil data, anonymised and aggregated to small area, to provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the pupil cohort of individual schools.  Further information on the development of the identification process is available in the DEIS Review report which can be found on my Department's website at

.

In its initial application, the new identification model has identified that there are schools in disadvantaged areas, not previously included in DEIS, whose level of disadvantage is significantly higher than many schools already in the programme.  Accordingly, we are moving as a first step to include these schools within the DEIS School Support Programme.

Schools included in the list published by the Department on 13th February are those whose level of concentrated disadvantage has been identified as being at the same level as the current DEIS category for schools serving the highest concentrations of disadvantage. 

Schools which have not been included at this stage, are those which have not been identified as having the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage amongst their pupil cohort.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the role of the Educational Research Centre in the DEIS status assessment process; and the reason its involvement in the assessment process was minimised, in view of this organisation's previous involvement and experience in DEIS. [8497/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Educational Research Centre(ERC) was founded in 1966 and was established as a body corporate under Section 54 of the Education Act 1998 in 2015.  The main responsibilities of the ERC are to:

1. Conduct independent research on all aspects of education and at all levels of the education system including research that will inform policy making and the improvement of educational standards, and

2. Provide an assessment support service to schools and centres for education.

As a member of the DEIS Review Technical Group the ERC played an instrumental role in the development of a new assessment process for the identification of schools in terms of educational disadvantage.  The ERC was invited to participate in the Group on the basis of its experience of the current DEIS programme, having developed the 2005 identification process, conducted the longitudinal evaluation of the impact of the implementation of DEIS, and for its expertise generally on matters relating to educational disadvantage.

In the course of the DEIS Review process, the ERC conducted studies and exploratory analyses to assist the Group in its consideration of the various options available to improve on the methodologies for identification used in 2005, and to inform future policy on identification and assessment.  

The ERC, will continue to play a leading role in the implementation of the new DEIS Programme.  This will include its membership of a high level Group which will oversee implementation of the DEIS Plan, and a DEIS Technical Forum to carry forward the work of the Technical Group by way of a further programme of work to ensure currency of data sources and development of a more dynamic resource allocation model where levels of resources more accurately follow identified levels of need.