John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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154. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the impact of Covid-19 on retention rates for students and the gap in retention between DEIS and non-DEIS schools; her plans to address same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4663/22]

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 2021/22 academic year there are 884 schools in the DEIS Programme - 687 Primary and 197 Post Primary, serving over 180,000 pupils. This represents approximately 20% of the overall school population. The total Department spend on DEIS in 2021 is over €150 million, which includes over €26 million for the School Completion Programme (SCP).

Budget 2022 has allocated the largest-ever increase in funding for the DEIS programme, providing for an additional allocation of €18 million in 2022 (€32 million over a full year) which will enable an expansion in 2022 of the DEIS programme to further schools. This means that by 2023 the Irish Government will target over €180 million at addressing educational disadvantage through the DEIS programme, an increase of 20% on the 2021 allocation.

All DEIS Schools are required to develop three-year action plans for improvement under the DEIS themes of: Attendance, Retention, Literacy & Numeracy, Supporting Educational Transitions, Partnership with parents and others and, (in the case of post-primary schools), Examination Attainment. Schools are expected to regularly monitor their progress and make necessary adjustments in light of experience.

Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) has three strands namely the Statutory Educational Welfare Service (EWS) and the two school support services the Home School Community Liaison Scheme (HSCL) and the School Completion Programme (SCP). TESS is a key support to the schools participating in the DEIS programme. The three TESS strands work together collaboratively with schools, families and other relevant services to achieve the best educational outcomes for children and young people. All three strands share the same national outcomes: improved attendance, participation and retention.

The latest Retention Report published by my Department measures the percentage of students who entered the first year of post-primary school in 2014 and who completed Leaving Certificate in 2019, or 2020 (for those who availed of transition year). The Report shows that 91.5% of the students who entered first year of post primary school in 2014 completed their Leaving Certificate in 2019 or 2020, while 97.6% sat the Junior Certificate examination in 2017 or 2018.

Schools participating in the DEIS programme have seen retention rates to Leaving Certificate improve since the introduction of DEIS - from 68.2% for the 2001 entry cohort to 84.8% for the 2014 entry cohort. The gap in retention rates between DEIS and non-DEIS schools has narrowed from a gap of 16.8% for the 2001 entry cohort to 8.6% for the 2014 entry cohort.

In 2020, and again in 2021, all DEIS schools were provided with the opportunity to run a summer programme as a response to the challenges faced by schools due to school closures under Covid 19. Schools were asked to identify those students at greatest risk of educational disadvantage to participate in the programme.

In addition, in September last, I announced a Covid Learning and Support Scheme (CLASS) to help schools mitigate the adverse impacts of Covid-19 on student learning loss and wellbeing arising from the periods of school closures in 2020 and 2021. Provision is being made for up to €52 million in extra teaching hours for schools during the current school year. Under the programme, a block of additional teaching hours is being provided to each recognised school. Enhanced allocations are provided under CLASS for DEIS schools. DEIS Schools may use the additional teaching hours in accordance with the needs of their students. This will enable DEIS schools to identify students most at risk of learning loss arising from the recent disrupted school experience and put in place specific targeted teaching supports to meet these students’ needs.