Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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249. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if officials from her Department will meet with the administrative staff of a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary that was refused DEIS status, given that the reason that this decision was arrived at remains unclear; if specific clarification will be provided to the school in relation to the numbers and data used in the assessment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46908/22]

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 my Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the 2023 allocation to 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. 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 DEIS identification process is based on the principle of concentrated disadvantage and the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds within a school. It takes into account the specific enrolment within a school and the proportion of students within that school. The extension of the DEIS programme follows an extensive body of work by the DEIS technical group to develop the refined DEIS identification model to identify the concentrated levels of disadvantage of schools.

The model uses information from the school’s individual enrolment database and 2016 national census data as represented by the Pobal HP Deprivation index. The model takes into account the student cohort and the relative disadvantage within a given school. The DEIS identification model takes into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and by students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation.

A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie at www.gov.ie/en/publication/a3c9e-extension-of-deis-to-further-schools/#how-schools-were-selected-for-inclusion-in-deis

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. 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. It is important to note that the extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one phase of work in my 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, I recognise 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.