The Educational Research Centre (ERC) launched a new report on June 30th 2021 examining the home and school learning environments of 15-year olds in DEIS and non-DEIS schools. The report – Beyond achievement: home, school and wellbeing findings from PISA 2018 for students in DEIS and non-DEIS schools – also describes findings regarding students’ attitudes, educational and career aspirations, and wellbeing.
Some of the key positive findings were that students in both DEIS and non-DEIS schools had access to a wide range of extra-curricular activities, and virtually all participating students had principals who reported that there were school policies in place to student support wellbeing. School principals reported that all students had access to extra-curricular sports. Large majorities of students also had access to other extra-curricular activities including lectures or seminars; band, orchestra or choir; maths competitions; or art clubs. Another welcome finding was that parents of students in DEIS schools generally held positive views regarding school policies aimed at supporting parental involvement in education.
On the other hand, the authors found unauthorised absences were more commonly reported as a hindrance to learning in DEIS schools compared with non-DEIS schools. About three-quarters of students in DEIS schools (77%) and half in non-DEIS schools (51%) had principals who identified unauthorised student absence as a hindrance to learning. Just over one-in-five students in DEIS schools (22%), compared to 7% in non-DEIS schools, had principals who reported that student use of alcohol or drugs hindered learning. Students in non-DEIS schools valued education more highly than students in DEIS schools (with higher scores on an index measuring students’ attitudes towards the value of schooling). In both DEIS and non-DEIS schools, boys reported valuing education less than girls.
At second level, in 2007/08, all participating schools were asked to facilitate a questionnaire survey of all students in First year and Third year. The questionnaire covered a number of issues, including students’ experience of transition from primary to post-primary school, their attitudes to school, their leisure activities, and their educational aspirations. Students’ responses revealed that, in general, they held very positive attitudes to school, although a minority of ‘disaffected’ students was identified.
In 2012/13, all of the 195 second-level schools in the SSP were visited and interviews were conducted with principals. The visits also facilitated the administration of a questionnaire concerned with implementation issues including planning. Interview and questionnaire data, along with feedback provided by those that visited schools, formed the basis of an evaluation report on implementation at second level (Weir, McAvinue, Moran & O’Flaherty, 2014). That report also described socioeconomic and educational trends using data provided by the DE and the State Examinations Commission (e.g., Junior Cycle retention rates and Junior Certificate Examination performance) in SSP and non-SSP schools since the programme began.
Recent analyses of trend data in educational outcomes for more recent years confirm the earlier findings (McAvinue & Weir, 2015; Weir & Kavanagh, 2018).
The most recent work of the ERC DEIS team has focused on secondary analysis of PISA data at post-primary level. In November 2020, the first of two PISA-DEIS reports was launched. It examined the achievement of 15-year old students in DEIS schools, comparing the achievements of students in DEIS and non-DEIS schools in 2018 and in previous PISA cycles.
Findings show that In PISA 2018, the average reading score in DEIS schools was at the level of the OECD average. Although average reading achievement was lower in DEIS than in non-DEIS schools, the difference between the two was smaller in 2018 than in 2009. In PISA 2018 mathematics and science, students in DEIS schools scored below the OECD average and also scored below students in non-DEIS schools.
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The second of the two PISA-DEIS reports was released in June 2021. It is available to download here:
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