Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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398. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the plans to include rural DEIS schools in the Home School Liaison Programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33782/25]

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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399. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills why rural Deis schools are not given the same access to the Home School Liaison Scheme as urban schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33783/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 398 and 399 together.

Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to fulfil their full potential in life is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth, and for the Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy of Government to tackle concentrated educational disadvantage at school level. It provides a targeted range of supports and is additional to the universal supports provided to all schools, such as the introduction of free school books and free hot school meals.

The DEIS programme 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, extra resources must be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest level of need.

My department invests over €180 million annually to provide additional supports to almost 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme which supports approximately 260,000 students.

Schools that were included in the most recent expansion of the programme in 2022 were those with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage as identified through the refined DEIS identification model. Urban primary schools having the very highest levels of disadvantage are classified with DEIS Urban Band 1 status.

Research published by the Educational Research Centre in 2013 The Achievements and Characteristics of Pupils Attending Rural Schools Participating in DEIS has shown that educational outcomes for pupils in DEIS rural schools are more positive than outcomes for pupils in DEIS urban schools. DEIS rural primary schools performed on a par with urban non DEIS schools in testing under the National Assessment of Mathematics and English Reading (NAMER). Therefore, the allocation model provides a lower level of resources to DEIS rural schools, reflecting these findings.

The Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) scheme is one of the key supports provided by my department as part of the overall DEIS programme. Tusla Education Support Service manage the HSCL scheme on behalf of my department. The scheme seeks to promote partnership between parents, teachers and community family support services, with a view to supporting improved attendance, participation and retention.

All DEIS urban primary schools and all DEIS post-primary schools are included in the HSCL scheme, which currently serves 687 DEIS schools, catering for approximately 207,000 children and young people. The scheme is delivered by 528 full-time HSCL coordinators, who are teachers in these schools and assigned to HSCL duties either in individual schools or in clusters of schools.

DEIS rural primary schools have access to a range of supports under the DEIS programme including a DEIS grant, the school meals programme, access to planning supports and a range of professional development supports provided through Oide, the new integrated support service for teachers and school leaders.

In addition to the above, a pilot project to support Traveller and Roma pupils, under the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy, is in operation in 4 locations with 1 HSCL coordinator assigned in each location. A further 10 HSCL Coordinators support attendance, participation and retention among Traveller and Roma students, across 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools.

I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle disadvantage. A new DEIS Plan will be published in 2025, and any expansion to the role of the HSCL coordinator will be examined in the context of the new plan. This plan will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage, and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time.