The Government's failure to support an early-start programme for three- and four-year-olds in disadvantaged areas was condemned by the conference.
The scheme was described by one delegate, Mr Brendan Taaffe, a teacher in Ballymun, Dublin, as an "invaluable assistance" to disadvantaged children, but there appeared little prospect of expanding it because of the lack of State support.
The early-start programme provides over two hours of schooling for three- and four- year-olds. It is designed to help children adjust to school life and is play and activity based. One INTO official said yesterday: "We are talking about helping some kids who have never touched a book, let alone have one read to them at night."
The programme was introduced on a pilot basis in 1994. However, it is only available in about 40 of the 350 schools in disadvantaged areas a decade later.
Mr Brendan O'Sullivan (INTO central executive) said the neglect of the programme underlined the failure of the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, in the area of disadvantage. "On coming into office, the Minister said tackling educational disadvantage would be the highest priority. But we have not noticed. Because in this area we have so many pilot schemes that the Minister could be mistaken for chief executive on an airline."
The early-start programme, like many others in the area of educational disadvantage, is the subject of an ongoing evaluation. Mr O'Sullivan asked: "Just how much evaluation do we need to be persuaded that early intervention is the most critical factor in dealing with disadvantage? All the international research supports that view. Common sense would tell you as much."
A series of reports have praised the impact of the programme. The 1998 Education Research Centre report concluded: "Junior infant teachers judge children who have participated in the programme to be superior to those who have not, in cognitive and language abilities, their adaptation to classroom procedures and their general readiness for school."
The report also said the scheme has been very successful in helping parents to be involved with their children's schooling. Parents have also expressed a high level of satisfaction with the programme.
Mr Taaffe said the programme should form an integral part of any programme designed to level the playing field between children from disadvantaged areas and their middle-class counterparts. The high drop-off rate in disadvantaged areas at second-level could be traced back to the lack of early intervention.
