Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I would like to thank Deputy Clarke for her question on my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) and the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme. NEPS provides psychological support to all primary, post-primary, and special schools. The DEIS programme 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.

NEPS provides access for all schools to:

• psychological support in the event of a Critical Incident,
• a casework service for individual students where there is a need for intensive consultation and assessment via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA),
• a school staff Support and Development Service to build school capability to provide a comprehensive continuum of support in schools, and
• ongoing access to advice and support for schools.

Where a school does not have an assigned psychologist due to a vacancy, a psychologist from the local NEPS team undertakes the role of advisory psychologist to respond to queries that the school may have. These schools continue to have access to Critical Incident response, advisory support, and the Support and Development Service delivered by their local NEPS office. Individual student casework can be accessed via the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments (SCPA).

NEPS does not operate waiting lists. In common with other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS operates on a consultative model of service. NEPS psychologists work with schools using a problem-solving model to help schools identify need and interventions to support those needs. Under this model, NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum-based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. This model means that pupils do not need a psychological assessment or a diagnosis of a disability in order to access additional support in school.

The NEPS casework service involves the provision of a psychological service for a student, with the psychologist working with the student, teachers and parents, and other professionals if appropriate, to identify need and plan for intervention to support the student in school. Schools prioritise those students with most need. NEPS support is broader than the allocation of assessments and that the number of assessments carried out by an assigned psychologist for a school is not fixed. Additional supports for children with special educational needs are embedded in all primary and post primary schools. Schools allocate their Special Education Teaching and SNA supports based on need in the school setting, so that those with highest level of need can access the highest level of support within the school in a timely manner.

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.

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.

The DEIS programme is targeted at schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. 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. 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.

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.

As Minister, 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. 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.