I am pleased to have the opportunity to outline to the House the Department of Education and Science's position on the staffing in St. Patrick's boys' national school. The Senator referred to the provision of disadvantaged status for the school with the appointment of an additional teacher. Under the disadvantaged areas scheme, primary schools were selected on the basis of priority of need as reflected by reference to a range of socio-economic criteria. These criteria include unemployment levels, medical card holding and local authority housing occupancy among the families of pupils.
It has been found that the disadvantaged areas scheme at primary level is inflexible and does not take account of different levels of need. The scheme has generally focused on schools in larger urban areas, while neglecting smaller but serious pockets of disadvantage in schools in medium-sized towns around the country.
On this basis, an independent comprehensive survey of all primary schools was carried out by the Educational Research Centre in April-May 2000 at the request of the Minister for Education and Science. The purpose of the survey was to identify the level of concentration in each primary school of pupils with characteristics that are associated with educational disadvantage and early school leaving. All primary schools were invited to complete the survey questionnaire and over 75% of primary schools participated and returned completed survey forms to the ERC.
The survey provides a valuable basis for directing resources to the areas of greatest need. The survey forms the basis of the new programme called Giving Children an Even Break, a major initiative which the Minister for Education and Science launched earlier this year to tackle educational disadvantage at primary level. Under the new programme, the existing approach to dealing with disadvantage through the designation of schools has been refined to ensure that individual "at risk" pupils are targeted wherever they are. Therefore, the new programme subsumes the previous process of designation of schools that serve areas of educational disadvantage.
All the schools identified in the survey as having enrolled pupils with characteristics of disadvantage have been invited to participate in the new programme. Over 2,300 primary schools will benefit under the new programme, based on the levels of concentration of disadvantaged pupils in the schools as identified through the ERC survey. This involves an overall cost of £26 million over a three-year period, including the allocation of over 200 additional teaching posts.
There are separate urban and rural dimensions to the new programme. Schools categorised as urban with the highest concentrations of at risk pupils will be supported where necessary over the three-year period through staff allocations to implement a pupil-teacher ratio of 20:1 in the junior classes, that is, infants through second class, and a pupil-teacher ratio of 29:1 in senior classes, that is, third through sixth classes.
Schools in areas with populations fewer than 1,500 people were categorised as rural. Schools identified by the Educational Research Centre as having the highest concentration of disadvantaged pupils have been allocated the services of a co-ordinator who will work in clusters of four or five schools. Schools with the highest concentrations of disadvantaged pupils which cannot be clustered with other schools with similarly high levels of need will benefit from appropriate financial support as an alternative to teacher/co-ordinator support. All participating schools will receive additional funding to be used in the provision of a range of in-school and out-of-school supports for the pupils concerned.
The Educational Research Centre's records indicate that a questionnaire to apply for inclusion in the new programme was not received in 2000 from St. Patrick's boys' national school. After the new programme was launched in January 2001, several schools, including St. Patrick's boys' national school, contacted the Educational Research Centre and-or the Department of Education and Science offering various explanations for their school's non-participation in the survey in 2000. In February 2001, following consideration of submissions received, it was decided that any school that made a case concerning the failure to return a questionnaire in 2000 should be given a second chance to complete a questionnaire.
In March 2001 the Educational Research Centre invited all these schools, including St. Patrick's boys' national school, to participate in the survey by completing a questionnaire. A total of 133 schools responded to the second-round survey, including St. Patrick's. The Department has now received a report from the Educational Research Centre and the inclusion of these schools in the new programme is currently under consideration. The schools concerned will be informed of the outcome in the near future.
I thank the Senator for raising this issue and for giving me an opportunity to respond to the concerns of the school in question. The Senator should be reassured that the Minister for Education and Science is committed to dealing with educational disadvantage and supporting the schools and teachers that cater for these children.
The Seanad adjourned at 8.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 22 November 2001.
