Written answers

Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Department of Education and Skills

Educational Disadvantage

Photo of Alan DillonAlan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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209. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how DEIS funding for ETB schools is allocated; the process for school principals to apply; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8886/24]

Photo of Alan DillonAlan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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211. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how the DEIS funding for ETB schools is allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8889/24]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 209 and 211 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 260,000 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 over €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.

DEIS Grant funding is paid directly to DEIS schools except in the case of ETB schools where the funding is paid to the local ETB for distribution to DEIS schools under its remit. The DEIS grant should be utilised to attain the targets set in the school's three year improvement plan across the DEIS themes. It is a matter for the Board of Management of each school to allocate DEIS grant funding so that it targets those students deemed most in need.

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 review is 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.

Photo of Alan DillonAlan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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210. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if DEIS funding through ETBs is available for foreign language courses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8888/24]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Languages Connect, Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education 2017 – 2026, aims to increase and diversify the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Post Primary Languages Ireland (PPLI) are fully funded by my Department and charged with implementing a wide range of actions under Languages Connect.

PPLI provides free Saturday morning classes in a range of foreign languages to Leaving Certificate students whose school does not have the student numbers to warrant timetabled classes.

PPLI provides funding for a range of initiatives including language summer camps, school exchanges, foreign language library books and language upskilling for teachers.

There is not a designated funding channel within ETB schools specifically earmarked for foreign language instruction.

DEIS is the main policy initiative of my Department to tackle educational disadvantage at school level.

My Department spends over €180m annually in supporting schools in the DEIS programme, of which, over €20m is allocated to schools by way of a DEIS grant. This funding is paid to the local ETB for distribution to DEIS schools under its remit. The DEIS grant should be utilised to attain the targets set in the school's three year improvement plan across the DEIS themes. It is a matter for the Board of Management of each school to allocate DEIS grant funding so that it targets those students deemed most in need. This may include allocating a proportion of the DEIS grant funding towards the cost of foreign language courses.

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