Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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735. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she will take to ensure supports are in place and available to students who need them as they transition from DEIS 1 to DEIS 2 or other schools. [32698/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. In the 2020/21 school year there are 887 schools in the DEIS Programme serving in excess of 185,000 pupils. This represents approximately 20% of the overall school population. The rationale for allocating resources and supports based on a schools’ level of concentrated disadvantage is based on the existence of a ‘multiplier effect’, whereby students attending a school with a high concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer academic outcomes, even taking account of individual social background. The approach is grounded in international evidence and it is considered that it is the combination of the various interventions under DEIS that have enabled it to succeed.

The DEIS Plan acknowledges that over their lifetime children may experience many transitions as they progress along their education journey. In DEIS schools, strong transfer programmes and targeted engagement with parents from groups with a traditionally low level of engagement with education are key to achieving successful transitions. DEIS supports such as the Home School Community Liaison scheme and the School Completion Programme assist students and their families as they transition between settings on their educational pathway.

Well-being supports are provided by my Department throughout the school support structure – the Continuum of Support. This support structure allows all schools to provide universal support for all students, using preventative, early intervention and strong universal approaches to support well-being and encourage successful transitions. The Continuum of Support framework also recognises that some students - those groups who are at risk or who have emerging needs - will require more targeted support, while others who have complex and enduring needs will require an individualised approach to support, taking a developmental perspective, and adapted to the individual needs of the student.

The Education Passport, as developed by the NCCA, also assists schools in the provision of information on pupils as they transition from primary to post primary including any additional needs they may have.