Home > OECD review of resourcing schools to address educational disadvantage in Ireland. Reviews of national policies for education.

OECD. (2024) OECD review of resourcing schools to address educational disadvantage in Ireland. Reviews of national policies for education. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/3433784c-en.

[img]
Preview
PDF (OECD review of resourcing schools to address educational disadvantage in Ireland)
5MB

Action 4 of the DEIS Plan 2017 sets out the need for the development of a more tailored and graded model of allocation of resources to schools in the DEIS programme. Considering the changing demographics of schools, the scope of this action was extended to consider the allocation of resources to all schools to address educational disadvantage. To inform the implementation of this action, in July 2023, Minister Foley announced that the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project had been invited to conduct a review of Ireland’s resource allocation approach to address educational disadvantage at school level. The review is not a review of the overall DEIS programme. The review findings and recommendations will inform future policy development of the DEIS resource allocation model and school resourcing policies aimed at addressing educational disadvantage in all schools. The review was informed by information provided by the Department of Education and consultations with education partners, academics, advocates, government departments and school communities. The report aims to provide insights and guidance for the Department of Education and other government departments and agencies to reduce barriers to education for children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. It also serves to help other countries understand the Irish approach to an equitable education and to provide input for comparative analyses of the OECD Education for Inclusive Societies project.

P.147 ...At the other end of the distribution, the most disadvantaged schools – backed by the Educational Disadvantage Centre of Dublin City University – advocate for the introduction of a DEIS plus category, claiming that their needs are overwhelming and the current level of support appears to be insufficient. Principals report severe cases of intergenerational poverty, family breakups, trauma linked to state care placement, homelessness, mental health issues, violence, (parental) substance abuse and bullying, all symptoms of pockets of extreme marginalisation that are not included in the HP Index. They flag the need for different kinds of additional support (additional infrastructure, administrative support in-service training for teachers, further reduction of class size) but mainly psychologists for trauma treatment, as well as preventive mental health care.

P.214 To analyse the effectiveness of the supports for disadvantaged students and their families, and support their learning, it is key to understand the context in which schools operate, and the challenges that some households are facing. An overview of these issues is provided in a survey from 2018 (Table 5.1, p.215). Emotional and behavioural problems among students were a common concern among the respondents, with three-quarters (74%) of the 319 interviewed Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) Coordinators specifying that this was a substantial issue in their schools. Over 90% of respondents reported encountering issues like persistent student absenteeism, inadequate nutrition, bullying/cyberbullying, poor oral language skills, family substance abuse, unemployment, substandard housing, parents' literacy/numeracy problems, and general family dysfunction. Significant challenges included deficient oral language skills (57%), community unemployment (56%), family dysfunction (55%), and on-going student absenteeism (53%). In contrast, organised crime (9.8%) and ethnic conflict (6.5%) were significant concerns in only a small minority of schools.

Repository Staff Only: item control page