North East Inner City Initiative (NEIC)
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From: Department of Education
- Published on: 1 September 2021
- Last updated on: 25 March 2025
In July 2016, the Government launched a major initiative for Dublin’s North East Inner City (NEIC) to oversee the long term, social and economic regeneration of the area. The Mulvey Report entitled “Dublin’s North East Inner City – Creating a Brighter Future” was published in February 2017 and made a number of recommendations. The NEIC Programme Implementation Board was established and works to implement these recommendations.
The Department of Education supports schools to improve educational outcomes of the pupil cohort. The department is represented on the Programme Implementation Board for the NEIC and has allocated a dedicated NEIC Education Initiatives Manager to work with schools and key stakeholders in the area.
We have been involved in the establishment of the Principals’ Network for schools in the NEIC area and we are involved in the following pilot initiatives:
- P-TECH initiative
- City Connects Pilot Project
- NEIC Multi-Disciplinary Team
City Connects Pilot Project
The City Connects Programme is in place in over 90 schools across 6 states in the US. The programme, operated by Boston College is premised on the fact that poverty has a clear and evidenced impact on educational attainment.
An adaptation of the City Connects programme is now being piloted in the ten NEIC primary schools together with an NEIC multidisciplinary team of enhanced NEPS support and HSE input from speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and HSE psychology already in operation in the schools. The pilot project has been subject to initial evaluation at the end of the 20/2021 academic year and further evaluation will take place at the end of the second year of implementation.
P-TECH Pilot Project
The P-TECH School Model, pioneered by IBM in partnership with educators, is a public education reform initiative that combines secondary school with elements of third-level education and workplace experience. When students graduate from the P-TECH programme, they earn both their traditional second-level qualification and a third-level qualification that is directly aligned to job opportunities in digital technology related roles.
P-TECH is a three-way partnership between a school, a third-level institution and industry partners, all making long-term commitments to the success of the school and its students.
This is a pilot project which has been adapted for implementation initially in three NEIC post primary schools, with plans to expand to a further three schools in 2022. The pilot programme forms part of the Dublin NEIC Initiative and is being funded by the NEIC and the Department of Education with additional support provided by industry partners. The department has commenced initial work on an evaluation of the project which will be undertaken by the Department’s Inspectorate and the ERC.
The North East Inner City Multi-Disciplinary Team
The North East Inner City Multi-Disciplinary Team (NEIC MDT), established in September 2020, is an interagency collaboration between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Education (DE). The NEIC MDT works with ten primary schools in Dublin’s North East Inner City. The NEIC MDT comprises of Educational Psychologists from the DE National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), and HSE Primary Care Speech and Language Therapists (SLT), Occupational Therapists (OT) and Psychologist.
The NEIC MDT provide an on-site, wraparound and timely service to children, their families and school staff and includes both support and development and direct casework within a tiered model framework. The NEIC MDT deliver a range of supports that include: advice and training, preventative work, early intervention, assessment and therapeutic intervention, to all children, their families and school staff.
NEIC Annual Report 2023 - 2024
NEIC Annual Report 2020 - 2021
Integrated Model of In-School Services Document 2023 - 2024