A new plan to tackle educational disadvantage aims to significantly increase the number of young people from poorer backgrounds progressing on to apprenticeships or higher education.
The Action Plan for Educational Inclusion, due to be published next month, will also include a new process for assessing schools where children are at risk of dropping out of education.
Minister for Education Richard Bruton signalled the plans in a contribution to the 2016-17 edition of the Education Matters Yearbook, edited by Irish Times careers expert Brian Mooney.
Latest figures show a sharp social divide in numbers progressing to third-level. While about 99 per cent of school leavers go on to higher education in affluent parts of the capital such as Dublin 6, the numbers fall as low as 15 per cent in disadvantages areas.
Mr Bruton said robust pathways will be developed to ensure those at a disadvantage can secure good careers through higher education and apprenticeships.
System of supports
“By getting our system of supports for schools in disadvantaged areas right we can have a huge impact on the life prospects of children – increasing their chances of learning well in school, of going on to higher education, or entering and remaining in the workforce, and of avoiding the many problems that too often impact on families in these areas,” Mr Bruton writes.
At present, 800 schools in disadvantaged areas benefit from increased State supports under the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) scheme. The new plan is expected to make use of new “small areas” census data to identify schools in poorer areas which do not benefit from these additional supports.
Pilot projects
The plan will also include a series of pilot projects aimed at introducing measures which have been shown to work well in improving results for disadvantaged students. Other areas being examined include:
* Improvements in supports to help retain strong school principals, who can have a dramatic impact on outcomes for children.
* New networks of Deis teachers and schools to share and improve learning outcomes.
* Improving the integration of schools and other State supports in communities to achieve more effective delivery of services.
In an editorial in Education Matters yearbook, Mr Mooney says key issues are emerging in education which will require policy-makers and educators to have much greater openness to change.
* Education Matters Yearbook 2016-2017 is published by Phyllis Mitchell and is available at: www.educationmatters.ie
