James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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142. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason three schools in Youghal, County Cork did not qualify for DEIS status at a post-primary and primary level despite the fourth school being awarded DEIS status on an appeal to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13212/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity across the primary and post-primary sector.

In March last year, I announced the single largest expansion of the DEIS programme, benefitting 347 schools. This means that the DEIS programme now supports over 240,000 students in over 1,200 schools addressing educational disadvantage. 

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. The DEIS identification model aimed to identify those schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage or the highest proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds within a school using the school's enrolment data and national census data as represented by the Pobal HP Deprivation index which is publicly available.

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.

It is possible for neighbouring schools to have a different profile in terms of proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the relative weighting of disadvantage apportioned in each. The designation of neighbouring schools as DEIS or non DEIS does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in a non DEIS school, but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage is different. Gender of students, or the designation of a school as single or mixed is not a factor in the DEIS identification model.

While the DEIS programme supports those schools with the highest levels of concentrated educational disadvantage, I also recognise that there are students at risk of educational disadvantage in all schools. The extension of the DEIS programme to new schools is just one component of work in my vision for an inclusive education system which supports all learners to achieve their potential.

Since June 2020, and over the past three Budgets, I have secured funding to provide measures to support children in this regard. As part of Budget 2023, I announced over €50 million to provide free books to primary school pupils within the free education scheme from next September. I have also further improved the staffing schedule for all primary schools to 23:1, the lowest it has ever been. 

In addition my Department will continue to provide additional resources and funding, including English-language supports, to support pupils from Ukraine who have enrolled in our schools, both DEIS and non-DEIS.

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, will be considered by my Department to help inform future resource allocation to tackle educational disadvantage.

The next phase of work will consider all schools, within and outside the DEIS programme and explore the overall allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage. Part of this programme of work will involve consultation with relevant stakeholders over the coming months.