Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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98. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the criteria for schools to qualify for DEIS status; the progress of a DEIS+ model; when this will be delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40132/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Tackling educational disadvantage and supporting students to achieve their full potential is a key priority for me as Minister for Education and Youth. 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 free schoolbooks, free hot school meals, well-being supports for students through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), additional teaching hours under the English as an Additional Language (EAL) scheme and advisory support from the Department’s Inspectorate.

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 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. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model was applied fairly and equally to all schools.

As Minister, I am determined to close the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introduce more innovative solutions to tackle educational disadvantage. That is why I am committed to publishing a new DEIS Plan in 2025. Building on the expansion of the DEIS programme in 2022, the new DEIS plan will work towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time. The focus will be on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage.

Part of delivering this objective will be the introduction of a DEIS Plus scheme to support schools with the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage. The details of this scheme are currently in development. To inform its development, I have established a design advisory group with principals, Home School Community Liaison and School Completion Programme coordinators who work every day with children from areas of high inter-generational disadvantage. This group, which I met in March, led by officials from my department are using a student-centred design approach to identify the resources needed to ensure the DEIS plus scheme will meet the needs of children and young people at acute risk of educational disadvantage.

My department is also intensifying its engagement with other government departments and agencies, education partners, and stakeholders across the education sector to develop the overall DEIS Plan, including the DEIS Plus scheme.

Any future expansion of the programme, and overall allocation of resources to schools to tackle educational disadvantage, will be considered within the context of the DEIS plan and availability of resources.