Analysis: the latest PISA results illustrate we need a new recognition of the widening gap between rich and poor, DEIS and non-DEIS
When the PISA 2022 results were released at the end of the year, much was made of the impressive statistics that show that Irish teenagers are top of the OECD countries in literacy levels. However, within these figures not all of our students are performing at this level: many have fallen behind and that gap is only getting wider. Why is this and what can we as a country do to help all of our children reach their full potential?
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science. This gives insight into how well education systems are preparing students for real life challenges and future success, according to the OECD. Irish students are significantly above the OECD average in all three domains and Ireland has moved from eighth place to second place among the 81 countries. But the performance of students from areas of socio-economic disadvantage should be a cause of serious concern to us all.
Students in DEIS schools attained an average reading score of 486.5, a score 37.3 points lower than their counterparts in non-DEIS schools. Additionally, students in Ireland who experience the greatest levels of disadvantage as measured by Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS), achieved a mean reading score that is significantly lower than the mean scores of all other students, and is 75.6 points lower than the most advantaged students.
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From RTÉ News, Irish teens outperform peers in literacy
The PISA report divides students into quartiles based on their ESCS index. The bottom quartile represents those students experiencing the greatest levels of disadvantage, while the top quartile includes the most advantaged students. Students in the bottom quartile of the ESCS index in Ireland achieved a mean reading score that is notably lower than the mean scores of all other students. This suggests that there is a significant difference in reading performance between students with higher and lower levels of economic, social, and cultural advantage according to the OECD report. The report highlights that the mean reading score in the bottom quartile is 75.6 points lower than that of the most advantaged students in the top quartile, a 14% difference.
The figures are replicated in Mathematics and Science, with the gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools at 35.6 points in Mathematics and 39.7 points in Science. These scores represent an average of more than 7% difference between DEIS and non-DEIS schools, but also a gap of over 14% between the most advantaged and most disadvantaged.
Not much has changed for children attending DEIS schools. According to Gilleece et al. (2020), the 2018 PISA results also found significant disparities in student achievement between DEIS and non-DEIS schools. The study also revealed a substantially higher proportion (one fifth) of students in DEIS schools performing below Level 2, the minimum proficiency level required for independent functioning, across all three subject areas as defined by the OECD, representing a gap of over 13%.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, DEIS schools call for a complete overhaul of scheme
So why are things not improving? The challenges for DEIS schools trying to bridge the learning gaps are enormous in the context of so many children living in consistent poverty. The numbers have risen from 5.2% to 7.5%, or almost 90,000 children, according to Children's rights alliance. It is also plain to see that COVID impacted on all the PISA scores across the OECD, but COVID had a disproportionate impact on those in our society who did not have any financial buffer.
Recent DCU research of DEIS schools under the Horizon’s Europe Project SCIREARLY is highlighting the challenges faced by students in poor areas. Lacking the technology, services or infrastructure to engage them with their schools, or the parenting strength to control them over COVID, and living in areas with no facilities, a perfect storm was created for many adolescents, resulting in their becoming detached from the social and educational mainstream. They discovered the freedom within a locked-down world where adults became distressed and distracted as schools had to close their doors. It has served to clarify how important schools and all the associated services are to these young people. They are a sanctuary away from often very traumatic lives, often filled with witnessing substance abuse, violence and crime.
Over lockdown, teachers, including myself, brought food packages and laptops to children's homes. Covid had a profound impact on the lives of our students, with many single mothers trying to manage teenagers cooped up with nothing, no internet, little food and nothing to do, nowhere to go. 'Many adults got involved in drugs,’ according to one DEIS principal, ‘while their sons took to their bikes and found a freedom that taught them they could live outside of society, left to their own devices’. These were 6th class kids who had no graduation from primary and no secondary to go to. The second years were just at the wrong age too, according to another DEIS Principal, ‘out looking for fun, some way of whiling away the day with many taken advantage of as drug runners. It gave them a purpose and a sense of belonging. Many took to the streets and got involved in all kinds of antisocial behaviour and learned how to get away with so much’.
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Another second level DEIS principal commented that ‘while my own children totally benefited from being at home with us as they developed a more elaborate vocabulary being included in more adult conversations, witnessed work related activities, watched and discussed the news collectively - this was while my students were on the streets, no school, no soccer to go to so they learned how to be part of gangs as their families became more dysfunctional under the restrictions.’
The recent research in DCU through Horizon’s Europe Project on Early School Leaving in Ireland highlighted the impact of COVID on the education of a generation of these young people. Parents, often single mothers, are left trying to pick up the pieces, trying to get their child back to school, back into a routine after they have found complete freedom. The research found that these young people have also learned how the system worked or rather doesn't work, that the system is not to be feared as much - they see how slowly everything works, how the services are not joined up - ‘they are sent from one service to another’ as one homeschool teacher said, as he tries to support mothers getting their child out of bed and to settle back in school.
Attendance has been seriously impacted according to John Barry, DEIS principal (just retired) which has a serious knock-on impact on academic achievement, particularly as learning milestones were missed. He also commented that full employment in the country creates a demand for young workers, so many adolescents are working as the increase of cost of living has a disproportionate impact on disadvantage, with inflation taking a bigger percentage of their income. All of this on top of COVID fuels a culture of ‘it’s ok to miss school’ in a community of dysfunctional families and parents who are just in survival mode, as described by Doyle and Keane (2019), ‘Education comes second to surviving’ .
Read more: 3 big questions in Irish primary school education right now
Students in DEIS schools continue to be significantly behind in the PISA results but most importantly in life’s opportunities that education brings. Abundant resources need to go into these schools, such as more trauma-informed counselling, interagency wraparound services, additional home school support and an equitable curriculum. A range of intensive literacy interventions such as the Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP) Library project where dedicated literacy librarians create a safe space - an environment where students can engage positively with reading and learning, are needed in all DEIS schools in such areas. Clearly, advantage brings educational success so we need to advantage our DEIS schools. Currently, second level DEIS schools do receive additional support, and while this is impactful and successful, it's simply not enough. For example, there is no difference in the class sizes and no additional teacher allocation.
We need a new recognition of the widening gap between rich and poor, DEIS and non-DEIS. We need to change the narrative from the neo-liberal individualism to an understanding that these are children, who, through no fault of their own, are poor. They are not "lazy", or "unintelligent" or "unambitious" or "thugs" or "scumbags". Currently there is an increased number of children living in consistent poverty, one in seven children, with just over 4,000 of them homeless. It is widely accepted that education is the route out of poverty and proficiency in literacy is a key component of that.
We need to get them into school, support them to stay, support their parents, build their engagement, heal their wounds, nourish them, ensure their academic success and guide them into a future of possibilities for themselves, whether through 3rd level or apprenticeships. Resources must be given to schools to provide such ‘intensive care’ programmes for so many children who are at the margins. Without a radical reexamination of DEIS supports there is an acceptance of a proportion of our children destined to fail, destined to continue on a spiral of intergenerational poverty.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
