Concern over lack of support for poorer students
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.
NESF chairwoman Dr Maureen Gaffney said that, despite many good practices and successful initiatives, there has been little significant shift nationally in levels of child literacy problems among pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds over the past 25 years.
Despite Irish 15-year-olds ranking highly in international tests comparing literacy levels, almost one in three pupils at schools in disadvantaged communities have serious literacy difficulties, which is three times the national average.
“The cost of this is high, both for individuals and society as a whole. For example, a British study showed that the cost to the public purse of failure to learn to read in primary school was up to £2.05 billion (€2.27bn) a year. But for individuals, the cost is incalculable,” she said.
Other weaknesses found in implementation of the DEIS programme, aimed at improving poorer children’s chances of reaching their education potential, include the absence of penalties or rewards around achieving target literacy levels.
