Gay Mitchell
Question:195 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will extend disadvantaged status to a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12. [12364/02]
Vol. 552 No. 3
195 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will extend disadvantaged status to a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12. [12364/02]
The Deputy may be aware that I launched the new disadvantage programme Giving Children An Even Break last year to deal with educational disadvantage in primary schools. The programme will run over a three-year period and will cost some €33 million. Giving Children An Even Break involves the creation of over 200 new primary teaching posts and the allocation of cash grants to 2,143 primary schools in respect of disadvantaged pupils.
Giving Children an Even Break subsumes the previous process of designation of schools that serve areas of educational disadvantage. My Department's approach is now refined to ensure that the individual "at risk" pupils are targeted. Rather than the old method of designating additional schools, my Department now provides support that is commensurate with the levels of concentration in schools of pupils with characteristics that are associated with educational disadvantage and early school leaving. These levels of disadvantage were established as a result of a comprehensive and objective survey of all primary schools, carried out in March/April 2000 by the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, on my Department's behalf.
There are separate urban and rural dimensions to Giving Children An Even Break and the school referred to by the Deputy has been included in the urban dimension. Urban schools with the highest concentrations of at risk pupils are being supported, where necessary, over the three-year period, through staff allocations, to implement a pupil teacher ratio of 20:1 in the junior classes, infants through second class, and a pupil teacher ratio of 27:1 in senior classes, third through sixth classes. The school referred to by the Deputy was not considered eligible for additional teaching staff, based on the level of concentration of at risk pupils in the schools as reflected in the Educational Research Centre survey outcome.