Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2016
12. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reinitiate the suspended delivering equality of opportunity in schools programme, given the necessity for it in particular areas and the disadvantage some schools which would qualify under the programme are experiencing; when he will complete his review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18291/16]
View answerMy question relates to the DEIS scheme. DEIS stands for delivery of equality of opportunity in schools. When is the programme going to be reinstated?
As the Deputy is aware, the review of the DEIS programme is under way and it is my intention that a new action plan for educational inclusion will be published by the end of this year. I advise the Deputy that the current DEIS scheme has not been suspended but that changes to the current programme will not be made pending the outcome of the review.
The current DEIS action plan was published in 2005 and now provides support to 836 schools serving a total of 169,500 pupils. There are 103,000 at primary level and 66,000 students at second level. The DEIS programme has been implemented in partnership with schools and other Departments and agencies such as Tusla, which manages the home-school liaison and school completion programmes, as well as the Department of Social Protection, which is responsible for the school meals programme.
The review covers all aspects of DEIS, including the identification process for the inclusion of schools in the programme - the concern raised by the Deputy - the range and impact of different elements of the school support programme and the scope for increased integration of services provided by other Departments and agencies to improve effectiveness. As part of the review, targeted measures in several key areas will be considered. These include supporting school leadership, networks and clusters for DEIS teachers and schools, teaching methodologies, exploring ways in which the work of schools could be better integrated with other State supports within the community, and in consultation with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, making greater use of the home-school-community liaison. My intention is that innovative measures such as these, which are shown to work well in improving results for disadvantaged children and students, can form pilot schemes under a new schools support programme.
The number of additional schools to be included in the new programme will be determined by a new identification process for this purpose which is currently in development. Subject to Government approval, it is intended to begin to implement actions arising from an updated plan in the 2017-18 school year.
I welcome the reply but I am disappointed by it. I raised the matter with the Minister at a recent meeting and he clarified that it would be the end of the year. This represented some progress further to a question I tabled on 16 May. In the reply to that question, no deadline was given but the Minister has now given a deadline of the end of the year.
The DEIS programme has taken on no new schools since 2009. I am going to use my time to refer to the Merlin Woods primary school in the east of Galway city. I will set out the statistics for the school. A total of 85% of pupils come from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Approximately 25% of parents are lone parents and live in local authority housing. Up to 75% of the parent body is unemployed. The statistics go on.
A whole-school evaluation was conducted in June 2014 and gave superb feedback. However, the school is at breaking point. Those involved are trying to provide a school service without the benefit of the DEIS programme, although other schools in the area benefit from the programme. This is a clear breach of equality legislation. Will the Minister explain what is going to happen to that school pending his review?
The position is that we are now opening this process to new applications but only when we have a new process that can assess every school on an equitable basis. The Department is developing such a model. I hope it will be in force from the next school year. It will be a statistical model in the sense that it will use objective data from the census. As Deputy Connolly is aware, information is collected about people's income and various aspects of their occupations and positions. This provides a useful snapshot of the school and the pupils. This, coupled with data on reading and numeracy skills, will be used in a clear way in order that people in every school will know they are being treated fairly. That is important because there has been considerable friction over why some schools were excluded and not others. We need objective criteria, and that is what this will deliver. A school like the one Deputy Connolly has described will be a priority for that approach.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that DEIS has taken on no new schools to avoid spending extra money. I am unsure why it has taken so long. Some six years later, the evaluation still has not been carried out, yet when I look at reviews by the Department of Education and Skills inspectorate of national and international reports on literacy and numeracy, they refer to numerous reviews of DEIS, the evaluation of DEIS and so on. Appendix IV of one report refers to the achievements and characteristics of pupils attending rural DEIS schools in 2013. There are similar references for 2014.
Six years later why has the evaluation not been completed? When the Minister says it will be done in the next school year, could that be September of this year? Why is there a difficulty in carrying out the review? There has been six years of delay. There are many other schools like this one crying out for assistance. Could the new system be in place for September of this year?
The budget provision has been made for this year and includes 2,500 additional teachers and 860 additional special needs assistants, SNAs, in schools to provide support. There is a clear commitment to increase the support for education. The DEIS schools will be recipients of that support.
What we are doing now is reviewing the whole programme to see whether we can do better in DEIS schools. It has come into sharp relief that although there has been significant improvement in literacy and retention levels, DEIS schools have not succeeded in closing the gap with other schools. We need to look afresh. Are there innovations we could introduce? Are there new things we could do in terms of teaching methodologies, leadership in the schools or supports of one sort or another? That is what I am examining. That needs to be done. DEIS is not stationary. We do not leave it as it is for all time. We are doing a review. We will do the part that includes introducing new schools. More important, we will ensure we are not missing out on initiatives based on international experience that could bring better outcomes to these schools.
I asked a question about whether it would be September this year or September next year.
Perhaps you could have a conversation afterwards, Deputy.
My question was whether it would happen in September this year or September next year.
First, the evaluation is not complete so we are not in a position to complete that work. Moreover, the budget is committed at this point. The 2016 budget is already passed and the resources for deploying schools in September have been set.
