Joe Costello
Question:296 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Education and Science if she will respond to questions raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32077/04]
View answerTuesday, 7 December 2004
Questions (269)
Written answers
The school to which the Deputy refers is currently included in the disadvantaged areas scheme, DAS, and Giving Children an Even Break, GCEB.
Under the disadvantaged areas scheme, the school benefits from the allocation of one concessionary teaching post, additional capitation grants of €38.09per capita, a refund of the television licence fee and eligibility for 95% building grants for building projects. Designated disadvantaged schools are included in the home-school-community liaison scheme and this school has the service of a shared home-school-community liaison co-ordinator.
Giving Children an Even Break subsumes the previous process of designation of schools that serve areas of educational disadvantage and my Department's approach is now refined to ensure that individual "at risk" pupils are targeted. Rather than the old method of designating additional schools, under this scheme my Department 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.
Primary schools participating in Giving Children an Even Break are in receipt of a range of additional supports including teacher posts and other non-teaching supports to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils. The additional supports provided reflect the level of concentration of pupils from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds in each school invited to participate in the programme. Schools already in the disadvantaged areas scheme retain their existing entitlements.
Schools categorised as urban with the highest concentrations of at-risk pupils are being supported, where necessary, 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 to which the Deputy refers is among the schools considered for staffing. However, based on the enrolment of 30 September 2003, the school did not warrant the allocation of additional teaching posts for 2004-05.
My Department has been engaged in an overall review of its educational disadvantage programmes, with a view to building on what has been achieved to date, adopting a more systematic, targeted and integrated approach and strengthening the capacity of the system to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged children and young people. Any decision to expand or extend any of the initiatives aimed at addressing educational disadvantage is being considered in the context of this review, the outcome of which I hope to announce shortly.