Written answer
School Curriculum
The Minister cited expanded DEIS investment, the DEIS Strategy to 2035 and DEIS Plus to reduce attainment gaps between disadvantaged and other students.
599. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Education and Youth the actions she will take to address the PISA 2025 attainment gap between students in DEIS and non-DEIS schools, including the 49-point gap in reading and 46-point gap in mathematics. [65232/26]
Comment on this
Ireland is committed to reducing inequality gaps and to supporting all students to thrive and succeed, regardless of socioeconomic status.
The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative for addressing educational disadvantage at school level. The DEIS programme was initially introduced in 2006, expanded in 2017 and again in 2022. There are currently almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, or over 30% of all schools in the programme, supporting approximately 260,000 students, with investment for 2026 at €196.5m, increasing from 2027 to approximately €230m annually. This investment provides targeted additional resources to schools such as additional staffing, funding and priority access to professional learning in literacy and numeracy.
The DEIS Strategy to 2035, launched in March 2026, sets out a whole-system, evidence-based approach to addressing educational disadvantage in all schools. It focuses on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to addressing educational disadvantage, and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time.
DEIS Plus is a new scheme, commencing from September 2026, which provides enhanced, targeted supports to 129 schools, 102 primary and 27 post-primary, with the highest concentrations of children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. Building on the existing DEIS programme, the scheme provides additional resources and supports aimed at improving educational outcomes and strengthening schools’ capacity to support students most at risk of disadvantage. The scheme provides a range of enhanced supports focused on key areas including attendance, engagement and retention; student wellbeing; strengthening school leadership and staff capacity; engagement with families and communities; and supporting progression and transitions to further and higher education.