Principals of schools in most disadvantaged areas warn of 'dilution' of Deis scheme

'The reality is that these communities and these areas have suffered long-term intergenerational poverty and trauma,' says Philip Fitzgerald, principal at St Joseph's Senior National School in Ballymun. Picture: Moya Nolan

Primary schools in the most deprived parts of the country cannot meet the needs of their students, according to principals, who are calling for an overhaul of the DEIS system of supports for disadvantaged communities. 

The Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools (DEIS) scheme now supports approximately 240,000 students — one in four of all students — having been expanded significantly since its introduction in 2005.

However, school principals in the most disadvantaged areas have warned that the current policy is flawed, due to the broadened nature of the DEIS criteria, with no recognition that extra supports are needed in the hardest-hit school communities.

Many of their students are affected by trauma, which in turn impacts the school day and their ability to learn and engage in class.

These students also struggle to access the public health system, often forced to wait years for initial assessments with therapists.

'Dilution' of DEIS programme

“Many children are coming to school, and they are not ready to learn or able to learn because they’ve been through so much already on any given morning,” said Philip Fitzgerald, principal of St Joseph's Senior National School in Ballymun.

The reality is that the schools we’re talking about have inter-generational issues that have been there for 50 years.

"From our point of view, there doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgement that our schools, and other schools in different areas around the country, have been dealing with huge issues.

"There seems to be a dilution of the DEIS programme. That’s nothing against the schools that have been incorporated into it.

Philip Fitzgerald in St Joseph's Senior National School in Ballymun. Picture: Moya Nolan

"The reality is that these communities and these areas have suffered long-term intergenerational poverty and trauma, and we need something extra to address that.” 

The principals believe there are between 40 and 100 primary schools in very disadvantaged areas across the country, according to the Pobal Deprivation Index, that could benefit from a new designation under the DEIS scheme in recognition of the additional challenges they face.

Multi-disciplinary teams

They have also called for access to multi-disciplinary teams of therapists to provide in-school support to children who need it most, as well as staffing for safe spaces in school to help children reset and engage in class.

“The DEIS programme is a brilliant programme, but it's not going far enough because it is very plain to see that there are schools where the majority of the children are disadvantaged,” said Orla Hanahoe, principal of Cnoc Mhuire Senior School in Killinardan, Dublin.

“The problem the Government has is that there are disadvantaged children in every school, but there are definitely schools that have more disadvantage than others.

"Something like multi-disciplinary teams in schools would help parents because there are children who are not getting any access to therapies at all.” 

A spokesman for the Department of Education said it is continuing to work towards its vision for an inclusive education system, but added: "We need to target resources to those schools who need them most.” 

Earlier this month, the department initiated an OECD review of the current resource allocation model for the DEIS programme.

This will inform a policy approach for an equitable distribution of supplementary resources to support students at risk of educational disadvantage attending all schools, the spokesperson said.