New funds needed to boost State efforts

Analysis: The Department's report is refreshingly candid. But it is also slow to commit new resources, writes Sean Flynn.

The draft report from the Department of Education on educational disadvantage is unusually blunt about efforts to date. "While there is no doubt that successive Governments have invested substantially in measures to tackle social exclusion and educational disadvantage, the results have been mixed," it says.

It also points out how the response to the problem, which has seen the creation of dozens of schemes, needs "rationalisation and coherence".

The Department's report highlights the increased level of resources that have been allocated to educational disadvantage. Some progress is reported, but there is the overall sense from the report that money had been thrown at the problem - with insufficient planning and organisation.

The report identifies six main weaknesses in the current approach. Insufficient attention is paid to "target-setting, measure of progress and outcomes," it says. It also highlights the insufficient evaluation of some measures and the lack of an objective system for identifying levels of disadvantage in schools.

The report gives the impression that money is often allocated in an ad hoc manner without regard to the actual level of disadvantage in a particular school.

How bad is the problem?

The most up-to-date research indicates that up to 30 per cent of primary-school children in poorer areas suffer severe literacy problems. At second-level, meanwhile, there is a wave of absenteeism in some poorer areas. One in four students in poorer areas skip school for at least one month in every school year. Almost one in five of all second-level school students do not complete the Leaving Cert exam.

The Department's report says: "In moving forward we must recognise the multi-faceted aspects of educational disadvantage and accept that most are not amenable to quick-fixes."

It says successful programmes need to be developed, but it also states, bluntly, that the less successful ones need radical reform.

The key to the new approach outlined by the Department is a transition to a more focused approach. The huge number of various initiatives combating disadvantage will be streamlined. Some will be incorporated into other projects. Others will be scrapped.

The report proposes an action plan in two phases over a five-year period until 2009.

The first phase will see more focused work in identifying the real areas of need. At present, schools are designated as disadvantaged on the basis of a wide number of indicators.

There have been complaints from some that the system is open to abuse. Local political pressure can result in some schools gaining disadvantaged status and more resources while more needy pupils in other schools lose out.

The solution, according to the report, is a new banding system for primary and second-level schools. Every school will be banded according to its actual needs. Schools with the greatest needs will receive the greatest level of support. This would result in lower pupil/teacher ratios, more home liaison support and greater learning support.

According to the report, the new system will replace all existing arrangements for targeting disadvantaged schools. "It will involve the collection and analysis of data on levels of disadvantage in schools every three years and the allocation of support on the basis of this analysis.

Banding will be based on socio-economic indicators including levels of unemployment, medical-card holding, level of parental education and type of housing accommodation. Results of the data will be "independently audited", according to the report.

There are other striking features in the report. It opens up the possibility that teachers in disadvantaged areas could receive some kind of extra allowance - of the type that applies in Gaeltacht and island settings.

There has been loose talk about an Education Priority Allowance of up to €5,000 per year to help attract and retain teachers for schools in poorer areas. The report may give the move a fresh impetus.

The report is also frank about the lack of detailed research information on disadvantage in Irish education. The vital role that research plays has not always been recognised in the past, it says.

Finally, the report says the Department must raise its own game. It proposes a new Directorate of Educational Inclusion in the Department. This will place the issue at the centre of the policy debate and consult with key stakeholders in the area. It will also manage the Action Plan proposed in the report.

Will the report be implemented?

Crucially, the report is very vague when it comes to the issue of extra resources. The thrust of the report is that a quantum leap in funding will be required to address the problem in a serious way. But it is short on specifics.

The first clue about how seriously it is being taken will come in the forthcoming Estimates. The report should help the new Minister, Mary Hanafin, make the case for vastly increased funding to address educational disadvantage for all sorts of sound social and economic reasons and, not least, on the grounds of equality. But will her Cabinet colleagues respond?