Research throws doubt over policy on school disadvantage

RESEARCH by the Government’s economic think-tank has raised further doubts over the suitability of targeting extra money only at schools with the highest numbers of disadvantaged pupils.

Under its Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme, the Department of Education focuses extra staff and supports on around one-in-four primary and second level schools for the last five years.

But Dr Emer Smyth of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) told a principals’ conference that their latest work has found that most children from the lowest socio-economic categories do not benefit. Less than 40% of those from semi-skilled and unskilled families are in DEIS second-level schools and less than half of those from homes of unemployed parents attend them.

“Targeting disadvantaged schools alone is not enough, not all disadvantaged children and young people are in DEIS schools,” she told the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) conference in Galway.

As part of their research on student experiences, the ESRI has been seeking views of school managers, and one principal told them: “If we are to deal with educational disadvantage, it has to be more than just the targeting of what we would see as severe concentrations of disadvantage.”

The Educational Research Centre at St Patrick’s College in Dublin, which assessed which schools should benefit from DEIS supports, has previously suggested all schools should get different levels of extra funding based on the proportion of disadvantaged students enrolled.

Dr Smyth also questioned the recommendations of An Bord Snip Nub in relation to cuts in funding, particularly when the recession is most likely to impact hardest on the chances of children of disadvantaged families.

“The striking thing about the McCarthy report is the lack of any cost benefit analysis, or any comparison of the consequences of the proposals,” she said.

The ESRI research has also found that schools are becoming a social support as much as an educational outlet for international children, particularly those who arrived here unaccompanied by adults. The principal of a second-level school said some of his students from eastern Europe are very lonely and there is a dire need for psychological supports in schools.

Dr Smyth said pre-school education can have the biggest long-term impacts from children in disadvantaged area but the Government’s planned free year of pre-schooling must ensure high quality provision.