Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 675 and 678 together.

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 the universal supports available to all schools, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of my Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level in a targeted and equitable way across the primary and post-primary sector.

In March 2022, I announced the single largest expansion of the DEIS programme. This benefited 361 schools. The programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 240,000 students. 1 in 4 students and 30% of schools are now supported in the programme.

This expansion added an additional €32million to my Department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall Department of Education allocation for the programme to €180million.

Schools that were identified for inclusion in the programme were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified 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 was 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 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.

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. 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. Since June 2020, and over the past four budgets, I have secured funding to provide measures to support children in this regard.

My Department recognises the need to target resources to those schools who need them most and the next phase of work will explore the allocation of resources to all schools to tackle educational disadvantage.

The DEIS Plan is based on the premise that in order to have the maximum possible impact on providing opportunities for students most at risk of educational disadvantage, then extra resources need to be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest level of need. This will involve further development of the existing DEIS programme, to create a more dynamic resource allocation model where levels of resources more accurately follow the levels of need identified by objective data.

To support this work my Department has invited the OECD Strength Through Diversity: Education for Inclusive Societies Project to review the current policy approach for the allocation of resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage in Ireland, this is currently ongoing and the OECD team estimate that the review will be complete in Q2 of 2024. This review will provide an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme and, drawing on international examples, inform a policy approach for an equitable distribution of supplementary resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage attending all schools, both DEIS and non-DEIS.

In addition to this, following the National Census conducted in April 2022, an updated HP Deprivation index has now been generated by Pobal. My Department is engaging with Pobal regarding this development and this along with other data will be thoroughly reviewed to inform future resource allocation aimed at tackling educational disadvantage.

It is important to acknowledge the mainstream supports available to all schools, particularly those experiencing rapid increases in enrolment. These supports ensure that schools can adapt and respond effectively to changing student populations, maintaining educational quality and inclusivity.

The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The staffing arrangements include a provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts, using projected enrolment. These posts are approved provisionally pending confirmation of enrolment on 30th September.

Meeting the educational needs of children and young people arriving from Ukraine and other countries is a priority for the Government, and my Department is determined to support the efforts of school communities across the country who have shown huge commitment and generosity.

The Regional Education and Language Teams (REALTs) were established by my Department in 2022 to support the needs of children arriving in Ireland from Ukraine. As of the 9th January 2024, 18,018 pupils from Ukraine were formally enrolled in schools across the country.

The primary role of the REALT is to assist children in finding school places and to support schools in the area to meet the needs of these children as they emerge, to advise and support my Department in developing new capacity where required, and to coordinate the provision of education services to children and families across their defined area.

The remit of REALTs was extended in November 2022 and includes support for both non-Ukrainian arrivals in the International Protection system and children under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP). This ensures a comprehensive approach to supporting all children in our education system.

The Special Education Teaching allocation provides a single unified allocation for special educational support teaching needs to each school, based on each school’s educational profile and also encompasses the Language Support (EAL) allocation that schools were allocated in previous years. All schools are advised in the first instance to review whether the needs of newly enrolled pupils can be met from within existing allocations.

In 2022 my Department also introduced the New Entrant Allocation Scheme (NEAS). This comprises supplementary teaching hours based on the number of children and young people with EAL arriving in Ireland from other countries. My department also provided for additional temporary special education supports for schools enrolling children from Ukraine and International Protection students. The allocation of these supports is based on school enrolments and is adjusted approximately every six weeks to take account of changes in enrolments.