Smaller class sizes and increased emphasis on literacy and numeracy skills are among the measures announced in a Government programme aimed at tackling educational disadvantage.
The Minister for Education Mary Hanafin published her Action Plan for Educational Inclusion, which she said will see additional investment of €40 million and 300 extra staff in schools when it is fully implemented.
Announcing the plan at Larkin College in Dublin's north inner city today, Ms Hanafin said it was "motivated by a desire to ensure that no one is left behind, that every child gets the supports that they need to reach their full potential and that a culture of high expectations is at the centre of all our actions, locally and nationally".
The minister said the plan would put in place an improved system for identifying levels of disadvantage in schools and would establish a single, integrated programme of supports for young people in disadvantaged schools.
"It is clear that individual initiatives can often achieve only limited success. Our thinking now needs to shift towards emphasising a multi-faceted and more integrated approach, as set out in the new action plan. This is why it is so important that we are now publishing the first integrated strategy for tackling educational disadvantage from pre-school to the end of second level," said the Minister.
"This action plan is designed to put in place all the extra supports that children and young people from socially and economically disadvantaged areas need to make the most of the opportunities available to them at school. A key principle underlying the plan - and particularly the focus on early childhood education and literacy and numeracy measures- is the principle of early intervention.
"We must address educational difficulties before they become entrenched."
Under the action plan, more guidance counsellors will be employed in disadvantaged second-level schools and better library facilities will be put in place, the minister said.