Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
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166. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address the concerns of a school (details supplied) regarding the lack of DEIS status despite significant indicators of social disadvantage; if she will consider revising the DEIS criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43596/24]

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 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 was pleased to announce 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. This means 1 in 4 of all students are now supported in the programme. This recent expansion added an additional €32million to the department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall allocation for the programme to €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. 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 two 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 to different DEIS bands does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school, but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different.

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, 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 system. I have also further improved the staffing schedule for all primary schools to 23:1, the lowest it has ever been.

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, I 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. In July this year I welcomed the publication by the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project of the ‘Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland’.

This review provides an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme and, drawing on international examples, informs 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 review finds that Ireland has an education system that consistently outperforms many other OECD countries but also exhibits relative socioeconomic fairness, making it one of the stronger performers globally.

It also recognises the positive impact of resources provided universally to all schools, as well as the additional resources provided to schools in the DEIS programme, in addressing educational disadvantage. The review also highlights continued improvements over the past decade in retention and attainment levels between children and young people in DEIS and non-DEIS schools.The review also highlights that, despite continued improvements over the past decade, important differences in outcomes persist between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and for children and young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and Travellers and Roma. This review sets a number of recommendations for future policy, to bridge those gaps, improve equity and ensure every child and young person at risk of educational disadvantage is supported to achieve their potential in education.

Over the coming months officials in my department will work with other government departments and agencies, the education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop tangible actions informed by the recommendations set out in the report.

These actions will aim to build on the success of the DEIS programme through the development of a dynamic resource allocation model that can respond to changing levels of need and ensure that all children and young people in both DEIS and non-DEIS schools are supported to achieve in education.

Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

167. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address the concerns of a school (details supplied) regarding the lack of DEIS status, despite significant indicators of social disadvantage; if she will consider revising the DEIS criteria; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43597/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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 was pleased to announce 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. This means 1 in 4 of all students are now supported in the programme. This recent expansion added an additional €32million to the department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall allocation for the programme to €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. 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 two 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 to different DEIS bands does not mean that there is no educational disadvantage present in one school, but that the concentrated level of educational disadvantage of the two schools is different.

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, 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 system. I have also further improved the staffing schedule for all primary schools to 23:1, the lowest it has ever been.

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, I 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. In July this year I welcomed the publication by the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project of the ‘Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland’.

This review provides an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme and, drawing on international examples, informs 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 review finds that Ireland has an education system that consistently outperforms many other OECD countries but also exhibits relative socioeconomic fairness, making it one of the stronger performers globally.

It also recognises the positive impact of resources provided universally to all schools, as well as the additional resources provided to schools in the DEIS programme, in addressing educational disadvantage. The review also highlights continued improvements over the past decade in retention and attainment levels between children and young people in DEIS and non-DEIS schools.The review also highlights that, despite continued improvements over the past decade, important differences in outcomes persist between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and for children and young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and Travellers and Roma. This review sets a number of recommendations for future policy, to bridge those gaps, improve equity and ensure every child and young person at risk of educational disadvantage is supported to achieve their potential in education.

Over the coming months officials in my department will work with other government departments and agencies, the education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop tangible actions informed by the recommendations set out in the report.

These actions will aim to build on the success of the DEIS programme through the development of a dynamic resource allocation model that can respond to changing levels of need and ensure that all children and young people in both DEIS and non-DEIS schools are supported to achieve in education.