Concern over lack of support for poorer students

ANOTHER state advisory body has pointed to the absence of support for poorer students in schools which are outside the Government’s programme to tackle educational disadvantage.

The National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) highlights the fact that the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) support scheme only covers the 22% of primary schools classed as disadvantaged, meaning it cannot reach children experiencing educational disadvantage in other schools. The NESF report evaluating the impact of DEIS on literacy also found that its full impact or resources have not even reached all the schools included for supports, such as additional teachers and other resources.

The issue of disadvantaged children in non-DEIS schools losing out on extra supports has previously been raised by teachers and principals, but also by numerous bodies which advise the Government. The Educational Research Centre at St Patrick’s College in Dublin, which helped identify the schools to be included in DEIS, did so in 2006, and a leading educational researcher with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) raised the issue last month.