Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 April 2022
108. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education if an additional school completion and home school liaison could be provided to a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary which has been awarded DEIS status without these supports; the reason these supports are not included in the rural DEIS grouping; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18562/22]
View answerFrom September 2022 the DEIS programme is being extended to benefit 347 schools. These schools will access all supports under the programme to match their respective DEIS band. Schools are assigned to the DEIS bands based on the location of the school and their level of concentrated educational disadvantage.
The school referred to by the Deputy is a rural DEIS primary school. Amongst other supports, the school in question will benefit from additional funding in the form of a DEIS grant and can use this funding to mitigate educational disadvantage in line with the school’s DEIS planning process.
Access to the Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Scheme and the School Completion Programme (SCP) is available to urban DEIS schools only.
The impact of socio-economic factors on educational outcomes can be different between urban and rural settings and the HSCL scheme and SCP takes account of that. While urban and rural disadvantage share many characteristics, such as poverty, unemployment and poor housing conditions, the evidence suggests that disadvantage in a rural context does not have the same impact on educational outcomes.
My Department's objective in implementing the DEIS Plan is to have the maximum possible impact on providing opportunities for students most at risk of disadvantage. To achieve this, additional resources must be targeted as closely as possible at those students with the greatest need in terms of concentrated levels of disadvantage.
