Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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During my time as Minister for Education I have shown a strong commitment to addressing educational disadvantage. My Department’s Statement of Strategy, sets out the vision and mission of the Department for an educational system where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential. It sets as a goal to ensure equity of opportunity in education and that all students are supported to fulfil their potential recognises that equality of opportunity and inclusivity must be fundamental principles in our education system. The successful delivery of this goal means that our school system is open and welcoming for all students, regardless of background, and that in particular learners at risk of educational disadvantage will be supported to achieve their full 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. 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.

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.

I am very conscious of the benefits of the DEIS programme and indeed I believe education is the great leveller, and we must do all that we can in order to support all students and young people accessing education in its fullest sense.

The School Completion Programme (SCP) is a core component of the DEIS programme, a key policy initiative of the Department to address educational disadvantage at school level. The SCP aims to retain a young person to completion of the leaving certificate, equivalent qualification or suitable level of educational attainment which enables them to transition into further education, training, or employment

Since my Department took over responsibility for the SCP in January 2021, I have continued to increase the funding allocated to the programme:

• Funding provided to extend SCP supports to 28 additional schools (these had been included in DEIS for the first time in September 2017 but under DCEDIY were not given access to SCP)
• A 5% overall increase in funding for the SCP, effective from September 2021.
• Additional 5% increase as part of Budget 2023. The first allocation of this increase was paid out in late 2022.

This means that since 2020 I have increased the total funding for the SCP for from €26.9m to €34m.

Under Budget 2025 I secured €5 million for additional Educational Welfare Officers posts. It will also provide supports for the Alternative Education Assessment and Registration Service (AEARS) for their work in relation to the assessment of education provision in places other than in recognised schools, including home schooling and independent schools. I also secured €2 million once-off funding for increasing services in school retention and completion programmes and supports targeted at the most educationally disadvantaged children.

While DEIS is the main policy initiative of my Department to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level, I have introduced many initiatives to further address the issue of educational disadvantage across all schools.

Under the Programme for Government there was a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools. Since 2020 I have secured three 1 point improvements in the primary school staffing schedule meaning the current primary schools allocation schedule is at an historic rate of 23:1 resulting in an increase in the number of teaching staff in our schools. These improvements have also been applied to the enhanced staffing schedule in place in the 306 DEIS Urban band 1 schools.

As part of Budget 2023, I secured a major investment of over €50 million to provide free schoolbooks to pupils in recognised primary schools and special schools in the Free Education Scheme. In 2024 over €47 million was allocated to continue implementation of the schoolbooks scheme at primary level. On the 8th May this year I announced details of year 2 of the Primary Schoolbooks Scheme which provides at a minimum free schoolbooks, workbooks and copybooks to pupils in recognised primary and special schools. More than 555,000 pupils enrolled in approximately 3,230 primary schools, including over 130 special schools will continue to benefit from this scheme.

In March this year, I also announced details of a new ground-breaking scheme which provides free schoolbooks to Junior Cycle students in post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. Special schools who have students enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will also receive this funding. More than 213,000 students enrolled in approximately 670 post-primary schools and over 65 special schools, will benefit from the new scheme.

This scheme ensures that parents and guardians will not be asked to buy or rent any schoolbooks or core classroom resources for students in Junior Cycle programmes. The investment of €68 million in 2024 significantly increases the funding that is currently provided to post-primary schools for schoolbooks. It reinforces the Government’s commitment to expand the free schoolbooks scheme to schools nationwide, as resources allow. The extension of the scheme to senior cycle students will be considered as part of future budget negotiations.

In September 2021 my Department published guidelines for schools on the use of reduced school days. The purpose of these Guidelines is to provide clarity to school authorities and parents and guardians on the use of reduced school days and to ensure that this practice is limited to only those circumstances where it is deemed absolutely necessary. The Guidelines are effective from January 2022. An information note for parents has also been published.

In October 2023, my Department issued the Attendance Campaign Support Grant of over €6 million to all primary and post-primary schools, along with comprehensive guidelines outlining its use and purpose. This once off payment is strategically focused on enhancing and supporting regular school attendance, with a particular emphasis on aiding children and young people who are at risk of educational disadvantage.

The guidelines present detailed strategies for the grant's effective utilisation, specifically focusing on students most in need. This is pivotal in tackling attendance challenges faced by students whose education was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This grant, complemented by the guidelines, forms an integral part of the wider initiatives of the Department of Education and the Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) under the National School Attendance Campaign, active throughout the 2023/24 school year. The campaign underscores an effort to bolster student attendance across the country, recognising its critical role in fostering both educational success and overall student well-being.

In 2022, my Department published a report on the Review of Out-of-School Education Provision. The out-of-school education sector relates to a small number of schools and education centres which operate outside of mainstream education provision. This review focused on the education provision in the State for learners under 16 years of age who have encountered difficulties staying in mainstream education. The review also makes recommendations to inform future policy to provide a sustainable option within the education system to further serve this group of learners.

Publication of the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 and the payment of funding for digital technology infrastructure to all recognised primary and post-primary schools will also benefit students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The first tranche of €50m issued to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in late 2021. This strategy advances the embedding of digital technologies across teaching, learning and assessment, building on the work under previous strategies. It aims to further support the school system so that all students across our schools have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills they need to navigate an ever-evolving digital world successfully.

The Supporting Traveller and Roma (STAR) in education pilot project was established in 2019, under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, with the aims of improving attendance, participation and retention in specific Traveller and Roma communities regionally. There are four pilot areas: Galway, Wexford, Dublin and Cork. Additional resources provided include an additional Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), an additional Home School Community Liaison coordinator (HSCL) and two Traveller/Roma community education workers from the local communities employed by local Traveller/Roma support groups. Under my Ministry, the pilot has been extended to June 2025, recognising, among other things, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 and the commitment to an independent evaluation of the pilot.

My Department commissioned the Centre for Effective Services (CES) to carry out the independent evaluation, and the work commenced in May 2023. A Research Advisory Group with Traveller and Roma representation was set up to support the research. The evaluation will be a valuable resource to inform the development and implementation of a national Traveller and Roma Education Strategy.

A separate initiative, funded under Dormant Account Funds provides for 10 new Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinators in 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools with high numbers of Traveller and Roma students. These HSCL coordinators will also have access to funding to implement and run initiatives to encourage improvements in school attendance, retention and progression for Traveller and Roma students. In addition, the funding has allowed the creation of a new coordinator post with responsibilities across the four STAR pilot sites and for facilitating effective information-sharing between STAR teams and the 10 new HSCL coordinators. Funding for these measures have continued for 2024.

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

I have invited the OECD Strength Through Diversity: Education for Inclusive Societies project to review Ireland’s current policy approach for the allocation of resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage. 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.

The OECD has engaged with a range of relevant stakeholders to inform the review process as well as drawing on international examples. Throughout the review process, the OECD Strength Through Diversity team carried out engagements with a range of stakeholders such as teacher unions, management bodies and academic experts via online interviews. The OECD research team also visited Ireland and carried out a round of in-person engagements. The group met with representatives from the education partners, the community and voluntary sectors and academic experts. The group also visited a selection of DEIS and non-DEIS schools during their visit and consulted with school staff, parents and children during those visits. The review of the resource allocation model for the DEIS programme is currently being finalised.

The OECD review is being complimented by a programme of work by my officials which will consider current allocation approaches and the recommendations from the OECD review. Consultation with a range of relevant stakeholders is an important part of this work. This work aims to develop future resource allocation policies that ensure that every child has an equal opportunity to achieve their potential.