A fresh review has discovered sustained differences in results between Deis and non-Deis schools, along with variance for pupils coming from underprivileged backgrounds, including Traveller and Roma students. This review points out evident gender gaps as seen in several other nations, predominantly at the secondary education level.
The Department of Education in Ireland engaged the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project to perform a review on Ireland’s methodology concerning resource allocation to address educational disadvantage at a school level. The review was not meant to evaluate the entire Deis initiative, but to guide future plans in this realm.
The intent of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) scheme is to lessen educational disparity. This Department of Education policy offers additional resources to those schools that house the most students at risk of educational disadvantage.
Approximately 25% of all students nationwide, across 1,196 schools receive support through the Deis programme according to the department’s data. The review applauds Ireland for exhibiting a robust performance in reading, mathematics and science, and for its equity results internationally at primary and secondary levels. Additionally, it notes that the socioeconomic disparity in academic attainment is less than the average across OECD countries.
Despite these achievements, the review emphasises that the disparity between disadvantaged backgrounds and Traveller and Roma students persists. Also, gender gaps remain particularly at secondary level.
The review decries the lack of co-ordination and streamlining of help across departments for students vulnerable to educational inequality. It also points out that although there is some practice-sharing, this could be enhanced.
Moreover, it was found that staff scarcity was impacting the most deprived schools in a significant way and staff diversity could do with improvement. The OECD team has called for intentional efforts to entice and retain a variety of professionals to work in deprived schools.
Another significant point that the review made was that the Deis programme does not cover all underprivileged students, depending on the school’s demographic concentration.
Taking into consideration all underprivileged pupils helps to mitigate the deleterious ramifications of possible misinterpretation of school categories, according to stated findings. In addition to the existing plethora of measures and resources beyond the provisions of Deis, more efficiency could be achieved by incorporating them all into a unified framework intended to address societal disadvantages. Importantly, the full inclusion of the target demographics, independent of their geographical locale, would hold all schools responsible for promoting equal prospects.
Norma Foley, the Education Secretary, voiced that multitudes of pupils, who are not enrolled in Deis schools, are exposed to the risk of educational deprivation. She expressed her views that the report by the OECD will assist them in a targeted distribution of resources to all pupils under threat of educational impairment.
In the forthcoming months, Foley commits her department to work collaboratively with fellow governmental bodies, educational alliances and interested parties in order to translate the report’s recommendations into practical strategies. She alluded to the possibility of actioning more urgent measures appropriate for the impending academic year.