Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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514. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to expand and improve the DEIS scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3567/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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.

Following the largest expansion of the DEIS programme to date in 2022, benefitting 361 schools, the programme now includes in the region of 1,200 schools and supports approximately 260,000 students. This expansion added an additional €32million to the department’s expenditure on the DEIS programme from 2023, bringing the overall allocation for the programme to over €180million.

The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. Schools that were included in the programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model was applied fairly and equally to all schools. A detailed paper on the refined DEIS identification model is available on gov.ie.

It is possible for 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 DEIS or non DEIS 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.

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 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 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 2024 my department welcomed the publication by the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project of the ‘Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland'. The OECD review sets a number of recommendations for future policy, to further 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 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. 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.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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515. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to introduce a DEIS+ scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3568/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Programme is a key policy initiative of the Department of Education to address concentrated educational disadvantage at school level.

Supplementing universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity and has benefits for students. My department now spends over €180 million annually providing additional supports to just under 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme.

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. DEIS Urban Band 1 schools receive access to an enhanced staffing allocation and lower thresholds for the allocation of leadership posts. This means 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 (SCP) 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 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 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 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.

My department has held a programme of consultation with 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 also recently held a workshop with over 100 stakeholders, to consider the findings from the OECD review and the consultations.

Informed by the findings and recommendations of the review, my department recently introduced two measures to support children and young people in schools with very high levels of disadvantage. Strand 1 of the Counselling in Primary Schools Pilot was extended to 61 urban DEIS primary schools in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Finglas, Ballymun and Darndale. Secondly, an allocation of €1.25 million in funding was provided to establish 12 Community Link Worker roles to support Traveller and Roma children and young people and those most at risk of educational disadvantage.

Over the coming months 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. 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, and particularly those experiencing high levels of disadvantage, are supported to achieve their potential in education.