New Deis strategy is not radical enough

The Education Act vows to 'equality of access to and participation in education'. Today, we are nowhere near realising that, write Brian Fleming and Judith Harford

At primary level, three grades or bands of disadvantage were established, reflecting a scale or spectrum of disadvantage across schools, but it has long been clear that this classification was insufficient to capture the complexity of issues faced by many schools. File picture

Educational disadvantage has been a feature of Irish education provision since before the State was founded. 

The policy response of successive governments has been one of positive discrimination, whereby additional resources are allocated to schools that cater for students from lower SES backgrounds. This response was crystallised in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme, launched in 2005.