Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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29. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will introduce a DEIS-plus band for the most disadvantaged schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44960/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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.

My department now spends over €180 million annually providing additional supports to just under 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme. As Minister, in 2022 I increased the overall allocation for DEIS by an additional €32 million to extend the programme to 322 new schools. This means that almost 1,200 schools and approximately 260,000 students, or one in four of all students, are now supported in the programme.

This increased allocation also allowed for a further 39 existing DEIS schools to be included in DEIS Urban Band 1. Within the DEIS programme, 306 primary schools with the highest levels of educational disadvantage are now included in DEIS Urban Band 1 which means they receive the highest level of support available. In my time as Minister, I have provided three improvements to the staffing allocation for these schools. DEIS Urban Band 1 schools receive access to an enhanced staffing allocation of one teacher for every 17 pupils for junior schools, one teacher for every 19 pupils for combined schools, and one teacher for every 21 pupils for senior schools. This means that children in DEIS Urban Band 1 schools have more contact time with their teachers. DEIS Urban Band 1 schools also have access to the support of Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinators, access to the school completion programme and receive additional funding by way of a DEIS grant. The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides priority access to their services for schools in this DEIS band. School leaders and teachers in these schools also receive priority access to professional learning through Oide, to support them to meet the needs of their pupils.

The DEIS programme has been successful at improving outcomes for children and young people that attend schools in the programme. However, I am aware of the proposal referred to by the Deputy and I have met with a selection of the principals of the schools involved. I recognise that more work is required to ensure that all children, regardless of background, can achieve their potential in education.

That is why my department invited the OECD 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 found that while Ireland has a comparatively equitable education system, and the DEIS programme is a key instrument in that, gaps remain in relation to the outcomes for children from areas of high deprivation.

Informed by the findings and recommendations of the review, I have recently announced two measures aimed at supporting children and young people in schools with very high level of disadvantage. Firstly, I announced the extension of Strand 1 of the Counselling in Primary Schools pilot to 61 urban DEIS primary schools in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Finglas, Ballymun and Darndale. The schools that will now be included in the pilot have been identified by my department as supporting children from areas with some of the highest levels of disadvantage in the State. Secondly, I have allocated €1.25 million in funding to establish 12 Community Link Worker roles to support Traveller and Roma children and young people and those most at risk of educational disadvantage.

Both measures will be evaluated to inform an ongoing programme of work by my department to develop a future policy for resource allocation to address educational disadvantage.

Officials in my Department held consultations with over 250 principals and teachers and with children and young people. This included a number of principals from these most acutely disadvantaged schools and provided rich data for the team to inform this work. My department is currently engaging with other government departments and agencies and recently held a workshop with over 100 stakeholders, to consider the findings from the OECD review and the consultations and develop tangible actions that will have a positive impact on the educational outcomes for children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. Please be assured that this work will consider the issues and barriers that are impacting children and young people in schools with the highest concentrations of educational disadvantage.