Hundreds of primary and second-level schools are set to win disadvantaged status and gain access to much better resources under plans to be announced shortly by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
The main feature of the plan will be a new school support programme for 750 disadvantaged schools.
Some 600 of these will be at primary level (split evenly between rural and urban schools) and 150 will at second-level.
Officials have been compiling a list of schools which merit disadvantaged status. This will replace the current list, which has been criticised for being out of date.
Officials at the Education Research Centre at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin, have been using new criteria to identify schools as disadvantaged.
The new criteria include;
Greater focus on drop-out rates after Junior Cert in second-level schools.
Greater focus on the number of medical card holders in a school.
More attention on literacy and numeracy standards in both primary and second-level schools.
Securing disadvantaged status is hugely important for schools as it gives them access to a large range of supports. In practice, it means smaller classes and more extensive learning support programmes.
The new School Support Programme is an attempt to bring more coherence to the various strategies on disadvantage. It aims to bring together and build upon no less than 10 existing schemes and initiatives.
Ms Hanafin will also be giving details of a new sabbatical scheme for teachers in disadvantaged areas. This will entitle teachers to paid sabbatical leave after a number of years working in a disadvantaged schools.
Schools in these areas often struggle to attract and retain staff. The new programme is designed to make teaching in these areas more attractive especially to younger teachers.
However, some critics believe a British style "hello money" scheme, where teachers are paid extra to teach in these areas, is needed.
These initiatives form part of a new strategy for tackling disadvantage, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools.
Ms Hanafin said: "The programme will mean better identification of levels of disadvantage in our schools and a single integrated programme of supports for schools with concentrated levels of disadvantage."
She told school principals last week that the process of identifying the most disadvantaged schools was just complete and qualifying schools would be notified shortly.
