Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2023
623. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Education when the OECD review of Ireland's Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) resource allocation policy will be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37853/23]
View answerMy Department provides a wide range of supports to all schools, DEIS and non-DEIS, to support the inclusion of all students and address barriers to students achieving their potential. Supplementing these universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a targeted and equitable way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity and has benefits for students.
My Department now spends approximately €180million annually providing additional supports to 1,200 schools in the DEIS programme. This includes an additional €32m allocated following my announcement to extend the programme to an additional 322 schools from September 2022. This now means that approximately 240,000 students or 1 in 4 of all students are now supported in the programme.
My Department is continuing to undertake work towards achieving its vision for an inclusive education system which supports all learners to achieve their potential. It also recognises that we need to target resources to those schools who need them most. That is why my Department has undertaken a programme of work to explore the allocation of resources to schools to address educational disadvantage. To support this work my Department have invited the OECD Strength Through Diversity: Education for Inclusive Societies Project to review the current policy approach for the allocation of resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage in Ireland. This review will provide an independent expert opinion on the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme and, drawing on international examples, inform a policy approach for an equitable distribution of supplementary resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage attending all schools, both DEIS and non-DEIS.
The OECD review will be complimented by a programme of work by my Department which will look at reviewing individual resources and allocation approaches. This work will consider the allocation of resources within the DEIS programme. It will also seek to ensure that schools are supported to ensure every child has an equal opportunity to achieve their potential.
The OECD Strength Through Diversity team estimate that the review will be complete in Q2 of 2024.
