Educational Impact
The Educational Impact Statement (EIS) allows you and your school to provide details of how your disability has impacted on your second level experience. The Educational Impact Statement is used to determine if you meet DARE criteria for educational impact of your disability. The Educational Impact Statement also helps to determine appropriate supports at third level.
The appropriate teacher in your school should complete the EIS checklist with you. Your response to each of these questions should act as a guide for the teacher in deciding what information they may need to gather to complete the rest of the EIS.
The person completing this form should be familiar with the impact of your disability on your academic performance and participation at second level. You must have a PDF viewer installed on your computer before you can use a PDF form. The form can be completed by your school on a PC/Laptop and/or can be printed off and handwritten.
Completing the Educational Impact Statement (EIS)
This section needs to be co-ordinated by either your:
- Guidance Counsellor
- Learning Support Teacher
- Year Head
- Visiting Teacher (for applicants who are blind/vision impaired or deaf/hard of hearing)
- Deputy School Principal
- School Principal
It is important to note that it is unlikely that all 6 sections of the EIS will be relevant to you. Depending on the type of disability and how that disability has impacted on our individual educational experience, certain sections may be relevant and others may not. The teacher completing the form may have to consult with other teachers in the school so that they can accurately answer the questions on the impact of your disability. If you are being home-schooled, please see the Frequently Asked Questions section on www.accesscollege.ie for more information about what you need to submit.
This should be completed by the appropriate teacher in your school in consultation with you. This outlines, from your point of view, the impact of your disability on your education. Your response to each of the six statements should act as a guide for your teacher in deciding what information may need to be gathered to complete the rest of the form.
Steps for completing the Educational Impact Statement
- You or your teacher should download the Educational Impact Statement here from www.accesscollege.ie or www.cao.ie. It is also available here to download from your CAO application, under Section B of the online Supplementary Information Form.
- Your school then needs to complete the form and print off all pages.
- You and your parent/guardian should sign the form.
- Your school principal or deputy principal MUST sign AND stamp the form.
It is important to note that it is unlikely that all 6 sections of the EIS will be relevant to you. Depending on the type of disability and how that disability has impacted on our individual educational experience, certain sections may be relevant and others may not. The teacher completing the form may have to consult with other teachers in the school so that they can accurately answer the questions on the impact of your disability.
Additional Information
Click on one of the links below to find out more about DARE
Meeting DARE's Educational Impact Criteria
In order to meet DARE’s educational impact criteria, applicants must meet the correct combination of two of the following indicators of educational impact:
1. Intervention and Supports
- Have you received additional support in school due to the impact of your disability? OR
- Have you been granted exam accommodations for the Leaving Certificate?
2. Attendance and Disruption
- Have you missed a significant number of school days due to your disability? OR
- Have you missed a significant number of classes or been unable to complete full school days? This may be due to, for example, personal care needs, appointments for learning support, fatigue or your disability/condition means that you need to take breaks from classes.
3. School Experience and Well-being
- Has your potential to participate in extra-curricular activity been constrained as a result of your disability/condition? OR
- Have you, at any stage during your time in second level, required and received support due to the emotional impact of your disability/condition? OR
- Does it take a considerable amount of time for you to complete school work/study due to the impact of your condition? OR Is the time you have to dedicate to school work/study limited due to managing your disability/condition?
4. Learning and Exam Results
- If onset (or deterioration) of your disability/condition occurred while you were attending secondary school, has this impacted on your exam results? OR
- Has your disability caused you to experience additional challenges compared with your classmates in completing homework, studying for exams, participating in class or in accessing the curriculum? OR
- Do you attend a supported or specialised school e.g. School for the Deaf?
5. Other Educational Impact
- Is there another educational impact related to your disability that has not been covered under any of the previous sections above?
6. Dyslexia/ Significant Literacy Difficulties or Dyscalculia/ Significant Numeracy Difficulties Attainment Scores
- Do you have two literacy scores or one numeracy score at or below the 10th percentile from testing carried out on or after 1 February 2023?
Applicants with Dyslexia / Significant Literacy Difficulties or Dyscalculia / Significant Numeracy Difficulties must meet Indicator 6 plus one other indicator to meet the DARE Educational Impact criteria. All other applicants must meet any combination of two indicators from Indicators 1 to 5 to meet the DARE Educational Impact criteria.
You must submit an Educational Impact Statement (EIS) from your current post primary school
- If you are no longer attending school, you should submit an EIS from the most recent post primary school that you attended. EIS forms completed by a PLC or FET college will not be considered when determining DARE eligibility.
- If you have not attended your current school for your entire duration of post primary education AND the EIS from this school does not capture the educational impact of your disability/condition, i.e. the school cannot provide sufficient information for you to be considered under two indicators or more, you should submit a second EIS from your previous school.
Important Information
When your school prints the form, you and your parent/guardian (if you are under 18 on 1 January 2025) should sign the form to indicate you are satisfied that the content is accurate and complete.
- The form MUST be signed by the school principal or deputy school principal and contain the school stamp.
- Applicants are not permitted to alter the responses on the EIS after it has been signed off by the principal/ deputy principal. During the DARE assessment process, where there is doubt over the authenticity of an EIS, DARE assessors may contact schools to verify the information submitted. Applicants found to have altered the EIS will be deemed ineligible.
- It is the responsibility of YOU the applicant to ensure that the Educational Impact Statement is posted to CAO to arrive by 15 March 2025.
Still have more questions?
Check out our FAQ section through the following link.