Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is set to unveil a €40 million investment package to combat educational disadvantage early next month.
The new package will see the creation of 300 new posts in education. There will also be measures, including a sabbatical scheme, to attract and retain teachingers.
Administrative principals will also be provided for primary schools in disadvantaged areas.
An accompanying report is expected to be sharply critical of the "lack of coherence in current efforts to combat the problem". These involve about a dozen programmes.
The scale of the literacy and numeracy problems in disadvantaged areas was underlined yesterday in a report released by the department.
It says one-quarter of pupils in poorer areas suffer severe literacy difficulties. In some schools, more than half have severe literacy problems.
The report also details some schools where over 55 per cent of children aged between five and 12 were at the lowest level in maths.
The department also released details yesterday of the latest reports by its inspectorate.
This showed that the number of inspections, while still relatively low, are increasing. This is because the inspectorate no longer has responsibility for exams.
The report found that only 12 of the 700 postprimary schools in the State were subject to Whole School Evaluation (WSE) in the four years to 2004. The Government has played up the importance of WSE as an alternative to school league tables, which are opposed by Ms Hanafin.
The WSE system focuses on the entire school, rather than individual teachers. But the figures show that the system - first mooted a decade ago - is taking a long time to implement.
The report from the inspectorate also says about one-sixth of English teachers were subject to an inspection in the last four years. The inspection rate in some other subjects is lower.
Surprisingly, only three inspections were conducted on educational provision for non-nationals, despite the boom in numbers in this area.
In other areas, inspectors expressed concern about standards in Irish at primary level. At secondary level, they reported how Irish was being taught entirely through English in some cases.
At postprimary, they also highlighted how modern languages were "not being used as the language of instruction . . . and this was considered to have a negative impact on pupils' achievement".
The inspectorate also highlights the difficulty in taking disciplinary action against underperforming teachers. At primary level, 12 teachers were investigated for underperformance, but only one was sacked.
In vocational schools, two of five teachers under investigation "resigned early".
• Smaller class sizes in disadvantaged areas.
• Better identification of disadvantage in schools.
•A new integrated schools support programme for schools with concentrated levels of disadvantage.
• A strengthening of literacy and numeracy supports, including additional funding for junior cycle at second level.
• The provision of home/school/community liaison services to more schools in disadvantaged areas.
