Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
540. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Education if she will make available a thorough report on the way that DEIS status is adjudicated and awarded to schools, which also references any data sets used in the decision-making process in order to assist schools in the application process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37135/22]
View answerDelivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) is the main policy initiative of my Department to tackle educational disadvantage at school level.
The extension of the DEIS programme to additional schools follows intensive work by the DEIS technical group, which involved valuable input from stakeholders. The refined DEIS identification model builds on the objectivity and fairness of the 2017 version, but now captures a greater breadth of disadvantage and accounts for severity of disadvantage through the application of a weighted process. It also takes into consideration the significant educational disadvantage experienced by Traveller and Roma learners and of students residing in direct provision or emergency homeless accommodation. The DEIS programme focuses on targeting additional resources at those schools with the highest concentrations of students who are at risk of educational disadvantage. Schools were not required to apply for inclusion in the DEIS programme and the model has been applied fairly and equally to all schools.
The model uses information from my Departments 2021/22 enrolment databases and 2016 national census data as represented by the Pobal HP Deprivation index which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area. The details of the Refined DEIS Identification Model is available on the gov.ie website.
Schools that were not satisfied with the outcome following the application of the DEIS identification model to their school enrolment data were provided with the opportunity to have that outcome reviewed. Schools were also provided with the opportunity to update their details on my Department’s enrolment databases - POD/PPOD. Circular 0019/2022 outlined the details of this appeals process and is available on the gov.ie website.
The DEIS appeals process was applied fairly across all appellants and the results are final. My Department will continue to support schools to deliver high quality, inclusive teaching and learning to students and young learners.
