Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 May 2022
242. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Education the HP Index data that is used in relation to the social context criteria for the special education teaching hours allocation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23967/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs outlined in Circulars 20/2022 and 21/2022, the data which is being used to update the disadvantage component of the school profiles is the same data which has been used for the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) Identification Model.
This data is the Central Statistics Office (CSO) Small Area data, as represented in the Haase Pratschke Index of Deprivation (HP Index).
The key data source for primary schools is the Primary Online Database (POD) and CSO data from the National Census of Population as represented in the Pobal HP Index for Small Areas, which is a method of measuring the relative affluence or disadvantage of a particular geographical area.
This data is combined with pupil data, anonymised and aggregated to small area, to provide information on the relative level of concentrated disadvantage present in the pupil cohort of individual schools.
The use of the HP Index in the context of educational disadvantage is consistent with its use in the DEIS identification process and also its use across a range of Government Departments and agencies.
