Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 April 2015
5. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the Economic and Social Reseach Institute's report, Learning from the Evaluation of Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools Programme; and any changes she plans to make as a result. [15741/15]
View answerThis is related to the previous question.
I welcome the publication of the ESRI report, Learning from the Evaluation of DEIS, which was commissioned by my Department. The report consolidates the evaluations of DEIS that have taken place to date and I regard it as the starting point for a new discussion on the future of the programme. I have commenced a consultation process with education partners to inform the development of appropriate measures to combat educational disadvantage. I intend to establish an interdepartmental group to consider the roles of relevant Departments in delivering DEIS and also establish a technical group to consider appropriate eligibility criteria in regard to the level of need in schools and a revised identification process for schools. It would not be fair to schools currently outside DEIS to expand eligibility for DEIS based on ten year old criteria. My focus, therefore, is on developing a revised identification process, as I have outlined.
Deputy McConalogue raised the main issues identified in the report. One of the authors of the report, Dr. Selina McCoy, drew attention to high levels of disadvantage in and greater complexity of urban DEIS band one schools. This is an issue that the Minister has also acknowledged. It is clear from the report that DEIS has been successful, even in terms of class sizes and pupil-teacher ratios. Most DEIS band one schools have been able to achieve the desired pupil-teacher ratio.
In regard to the proposal to establish a technical group to devise eligibility criteria to identify the level of need in schools, can the Minister clarify that issue further? I understand the group will report in the next school year but is there any possibility that schools might lose resources due to de-categorisation?
While I cannot pre-empt the findings of the technical group, it is not our intention to take resources from schools that currently have them and need them. Our intention is to target resources where they are needed and if changes are needed, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas, I want to ensure we provide the necessary resources. If any element of the programme is not delivering as much as expected of it, we will examine it further. We will also examine the issue of resourcing but it is not our intention to take from some schools to give to others. I anticipate that resource issues will arise as schools which are not currently in the programme are identified as eligible.
One of the challenges outlined in the report is on joining up the thinking between education and other social services, such as health care and housing. Will the interdepartmental group be assigned this task or will this be addressed separately by the Department? The report also outlines the value of the school completion programme to disadvantaged communities by allowing schools in DEIS areas to supplement after school activities which non-DEIS schools are able to provide through their capacity to raise funds. I am aware that the school completion programme has moved to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and I raised this issue with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs last week. Will this issue be taken into account in the effort to improve outcomes? We need joined up thinking between social and economic factors and the educational inputs, including additional funding by the Department of Education and Schools on foot of its re-evaluation of DEIS.
The interdepartmental element will be very important because we need joined up thinking between Departments. The links between children and their parents and communities are an important consideration. Some schools have tried to integrate services provided under a range of Departments, including the Department of Health, with the aim of supporting the welfare of children. I hope the engagement between Departments will be broad and genuine and that we work in a co-operative way rather than stay in our silos. I hope our wide consultation in the education sector will deliver some good proposals or ideas. DEIS is a good programme but it is time to see whether we can make it better.
