Press Releases

Published date: 02 Sep 2024

Children’s Rights Alliance calls for €5 million fund for non-DEIS schools to support children and young people experiencing poverty

On the first day of End Child Poverty Week 2024 (02.09.2024), the Children’s Rights Alliance is calling on Government to prioritise tacking educational inequality in Budget 2025 by:

•  Introducing a €5 million fund for non-DEIS schools to provide targeted supports for children and young people experiencing poverty outside the DEIS system
• Extending the Free School Books Scheme to Senior Cycle
• Prioritising investment in Alternative and Out of School Education

Speaking ahead of the event, Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance said:
“In recent budgets, we have seen significant leaps in terms of tackling the cost of accessing education. This back-to-school season, fewer children are spending the day distracted and hungry in class thanks to the Hot School Meals Programme and over 775,000 students will benefit from Free School Books Scheme. However, the Government stopped short of extending the book scheme fully last year to include all second level students. Families pay an enormous amount for their teenagers to go back to school, with the average cost of books alone for a fifth-year student at a staggering €213. Budget 2025 can finish the job and finally remove that financial burden by expanding the Free School Books to Senior Cycle.”

Addressing Inequality
“The DEIS scheme has been the sea change we needed in the education system in terms of addressing the needs of students living in disadvantaged areas through the provision of increased supports such as lower student pupil ratios; access to Home School Community Liaison Officers; access to school completion programmes, as well as literacy and numeracy support. These supports can transform the lives of children; however, they are currently only available to a quarter of the student body.”

“The latest report from the OECD (2024) points to the problem of only relying on the DEIS programme to address inequality. Less than half of students experiencing disadvantage in 2021 are in DEIS schools. While the DEIS scheme was expanded in 2022, it still only supports approximately quarter of students, meaning the vast majority of the school-going population fall outside of DEIS schools. The OECD also recommend extending partial additional supports to all students defined as disadvantaged as a way to bridge this gap,” said Tanya Ward.

“DEIS bands cannot be the only deciding factor on where supports and resources go. Even with DEIS status, many schools in the most disadvantaged areas in the country are crying out for further supports because of the level of acute needs they see in their classrooms as a result of the trauma of child poverty and social exclusion. So how are non-DEIS schools expected to meet similar needs of their students when they don’t have remotely the same resources to begin with? What are teachers supposed to do when students are coming in with no uniform or shoes that are blistering their feet because they are far too small. What do they tell the teenager living in emergency accommodation who is trying to do her homework in the bathroom of a shared room so as not to disturb her family at night.”

“There has been a perfect storm brewing in recent years, with the pandemic disrupting or halting education completely and the cost-of-living crisis heightening pressures on already-squeezed families. Schools should be the breathing space they need – where children can access supports to engage in their learning, take care of their mental health, access a hot meal or even escape from crime or violence on their doorstep. Three in every four students in Ireland attend non-DEIS schools. This includes children in families who are scraping together the money to try keep milk and bread in the house. This includes teenagers whose mental health is deteriorating while they sit on a waitlist list. Those who are struggling would really benefit from the numeracy and literacy supports, the breakfast and homework cubs, or the access to a Home School Liaison Officer who can work with them one-to-one that the DEIS scheme provides. Government has effectively locked these students out of a support system simply because of where they go to school.”

“Budget 2025 has to ensure that non-DEIS schools can also access what they need to support these students. A fund of €5 million for non-DEIS schools to avail of to provide tailored supports can open a path for children who are being left behind.”

Providing Alternative Education Paths
“The latest data shows that over 4,000 young people that started secondary school in 2015 left school early. Early school leavers are more than four times as likely to experience poverty compared to those who pursue higher education, perpetuating the cycle. Education can level the playing field for children and young people in poverty, but we cannot expect young people to bend to fit the system. For some young people, mainstream school is overwhelming and difficult to engage with. Targeted measures, wraparound supports, and alternative education routes are all proven, effective solutions in how we can achieve the best long-term outcomes for children and young people living in poverty. Every year we hear from the providers of alternative education about the growing waiting lists they have for young people to access their services. The demand is growing but the resources are not. The Department of Education has been engaging in work on Alternative (Out of School) Provision and investment in Budget 2025 can sow the seeds for this work to progress.”

Tanya Ward, Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance concluded:
“The reform happening in our education system has set tectonic shifts in motion, but it will require successive budgets and governments to see this system change through. The Government needs to hold its promise to tackle the cost of education and expand the Free School Books Scheme to Senior Cycle. However, cost is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to inequalities. Additional investment is needed in Budget 2025 to increase supports for non-DEIS schools and develop new alternative education pathways and provide targeted supports that ensure children and young people’s horizons are broadened, not burdened.”

__ENDS__

Contact:
For media queries please contact,
Robyn Keleghan: [email protected] / M + 353 85 800 1275

Notes to Editors:

• Children’s Rights Alliance spokespeople are available for media interview; other speakers available upon request.
• This event is online via Zoom on Monday 2 September, between 10.30am and 12.30pm. Tune in online here.
• Speakers include: Cliodhna O’ Neill, Acting Assistant Secretary for Schools, Students and Social Inclusion, Department of Education; Dr Cormac Forkan (Applied sociologist, UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway), Michael Gillespie (General Secretary, Teachers Union of Ireland), Fiona Moore (Parent, iScoil), Julie Ahern (Director of Legal, Policy and Services, Children’s Rights Alliance).
• Youth panellists: Darragh (22) Darjia, (18), Abi (17) and Adrien (18) will also speak about their own experience of education.
• The Department of Education publishes the Retention Report on early school leavers. As an example, the retention rate to the Leaving Certificate stood at 92.1% for the 62,248 pupils of the 2015/2016 entry cohort i.e., were 4,912 pupils left school early.
• The Children’s Rights Alliance Child Poverty Monitor 2024 is available here. (Education: pages 47 – 63)
• Barnardos Back to School Survey 2024 is available here.
• The 2024 OECD Report is available here.

End Child Poverty Week is supported by Community Foundation Ireland, The Fidelis Foundation, the Katharine Howard Foundation and Rethink Ireland. The week-long series of events focuses on five thematic areas of child poverty, the root causes and the best practice solutions needed to break the cycle of poverty for children and young people. Details of the other events are available here.

About the Children’s Rights Alliance:
Founded in 1995, the Children’s Rights Alliance unites over 150 members working together to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to be a child. Further information is available at: www.childrensrights.ie or on Twitter, @ChildRightsIRL #EndChildPovertyWeek #ChildrensBudget25