Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that a DEIS appeal by a school (details supplied) has been unsuccessful; the details of the analysis process that was undertaken in reaching the decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36938/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In March I was glad to be able to announce a major expansion of the DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools programme which means that, for the first time since 2017, the programme is being significantly expanded and eligible schools will now gain access to targeted supports to address educational disadvantage. This will add an additional €32million to the Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the 2023 allocation to a total of in the region of €180million. Schools were identified for inclusion in the programme through the refined DEIS identification model which is an objective, statistics based model. This model uses information from my Department's enrolment databases and the Pobal HP Deprivation index. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model has been applied fairly and equally to all schools.

The extension of the DEIS programme to additional schools follows intensive work by the DEIS technical group, which involved valuable input from stakeholders. The refined DEIS identification model builds on the objectivity and fairness of the 2017 version, but now captures a greater breadth of disadvantage and accounts for severity of disadvantage through the application of a weighted process. It also takes into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and of students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation. The DEIS programme focuses on targeting additional resources at those schools with the highest concentrations of students who are at risk of educational disadvantage.

My Department is committed to ensuring that all schools are treated equally and fairly in the manner in which they have been identified for inclusion in the DEIS programme. Schools that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS identification model to their school enrolment data were provided with the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed.

All appeals submitted have now been processed by my Department and schools have been notified of the outcome.

The DEIS appeals process was applied fairly across all appellants and the results are final. My Department will continue to support schools to deliver high quality, inclusive teaching and learning to students and young learners.

The details of the Appeals process is outlined in Circular 0019/2022 which can be found at: www.gov.ie/en/circular/7e7ca-deis-identification-2022-appeals-process-for-schools/

It is important to note that the extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one phase of work in my Department’s vision for an inclusive education system which supports all learners to achieve their potential. While the DEIS programme supports those schools with the highest levels of concentrated educational disadvantage, my Department recognises that there are students at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools. Conscious of this, and recognising the need to target resources to those schools that need them most, the next phase of work will explore the allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with all relevant stakeholders and will consider information provided by schools in correspondence following the application of the refined DEIS identification model.

In addition to this, following the National Census 2022 held on the 3rd April last it is envisaged that an updated HP Deprivation Index will be generated by Pobal and will be available in Q3 of 2023. My Department will engage with Pobal in relation to this process. The updated HP Deprivation Index when available can be considered by my Department to inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.