James O'Connor
Question:138. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Education the supports under the DEIS programme for the 2021-2022 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45675/21]
View answerThursday, 23 September 2021
Questions (138)
Written answers
DEIS – Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of my Department to address educational disadvantage at school level.
In the 2021/22 academic year there are 884 schools in the DEIS Programme serving over 186,000 pupils - 687 Primary and 197 Post Primary.
The full list of supports available under the DEIS Programme for the 2021/22 school year are available on Gov.ie at the following link www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/4018ea-deis-delivering-equality-of-opportunity-in-schools/
In addition I recently announced that a COVID Learning and Support Scheme (CLASS) has been put in place for the 2021/22 school year to help all schools mitigate the adverse impacts of Covid-19 on pupil/student learning loss and wellbeing arising from the periods of school closures in 2020 and 2021.
Under the programme, a block of additional teaching hours is being provided to each recognised school, from which schools can provide additional teaching support for the pupils/students who have experienced difficulties in settling back into school and engaging with learning.
The allocations of additional teaching hours are provided on a graduated and proportionate basis, based on school size, using the 2020/21 school enrolments data, as published on the Primary and Post Primary Online Databases (PPOD).
Enhanced allocations are also being provided for special schools and schools participating in the DEIS Programme. Schools may use the additional allocation of teaching hours in accordance with the needs of their students. This will enable schools to identify students most at risk of learning loss arising from the recent disrupted school experience and put in place specific targeted teaching supports to meet these students’ needs. The additional hours can be utilized by schools from October of this year, to the end of the 2021/22 school year.
Full detail of the programme is set out in Department circular 045/2021 which is available at www.gov.ie/en/circular/aec0a-covid-learning-and-support-scheme/.