Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2020
109. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education if her Department has undertaken research into a centre (details supplied) as a response to tackling poor educational outcomes in areas of acute disadvantage; and if she has considered such an approach as appropriate in a small number of settings in Ireland. [39715/20]
View answerEarly years and pre-school services come under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. I understand from information available in the public domain that the centre referred to by the Deputy is a fully integrated early years provision with a multi-disciplinary team supporting children and families and based in the U.K, and its stated vision is to inspire, challenge and innovate to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable children and their families. It provides training courses, leadership and research opportunities and bespoke school to school support in all aspects of early years, primary and in some instances secondary work.
While primary responsibility for early years education in areas of disadvantage lies with my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, there are two schemes of pre-school education in areas of concentrated disadvantage which are within the remit of my Department.
The Early Start Programme is a one year pre-school intervention scheme established by my Department in 1994 in 40 primary schools in designated areas of urban disadvantage, to meet the needs of children who are at risk of not reaching their potential within the school system.
The project involves an educational programme to enhance overall development, help prevent school failure and offset the effects of social disadvantage. Parental involvement is one of the core elements of the programme in recognition of the parent/guardian as the prime educator of the child and to encourage the parent/guardian to become involved in his/her child's education.
In addition the Rutland Street Pre-School Project is a two-year pre-primary programme developed by my Department. Although not part of Early Start, it was used to pilot many of the approaches later incorporated in the Early Start project.
My Department provides total funding of some €6.64 million per annum for the Early Start Programme and the Rutland Street Project.
DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) is my Department’s main policy initiative aimed at tackling educational disadvantage in primary and post primary schools.
In the 2020/21 school year there are 887 primary and post primary schools participating in the DEIS programme serving in the region of 185,000 students. My Department will invest in the region of €125 million this year on the DEIS programme.
Details of the all the supports available to DEIS Schools are published on my Department's website at:
https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/DEIS-Delivering-Equality-of-Opportunity-in-Schools-/DEIS-Supporting-Information/Supports-to-DEIS-Schools.html
The rationale for allocating resources and supports based on a school's level of concentrated disadvantage is based on the existence of a ‘multiplier effect’, whereby students attending a school with a high concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds have poorer academic outcomes, even taking account of individual social background. This approach is supported by national and international research.
