6. Educational Achievement

6.1 Mean performance on the PISA reading literacy scale, 2003 (age 15)

Ireland's 15 year olds achieved a mean score of 515.5 on the PISA reading literacy scale in 2003. This is significantly higher than the OECD country mean of 494.2. Ireland's ranking in reading literacy is 7th out of 40 countries, 6th out of 29 OECD countries and 2nd out of 20 European countries. Just three countries have mean scores that are significantly higher than Ireland's (Finland, Korea, and Canada).

Source: OECD, PISA 2003 database (https://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html)

6.2 Mean performance on the PISA reading literacy scale (age 15) and Average Class Size at Primary level, 2003

Ireland's ranking in reading literacy is 2nd out of 20 European countries, while our average class size at Primary level is the highest of the 17 countries for which data are available.

Source: OECD, PISA 2003 database (https://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html) and Eurostat - Education statistics (UOE)

6.3 Mean performance on the PISA reading literacy scale (age 15) and average class size at lower second-level, 2003

Ireland's ranking in reading literacy is 2nd out of 20 European countries, while our average class size at lower second-level is the 5th lowest of the 16 countries for which data are available.

Source: OECD, PISA 2003 database (https://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html) and Eurostat - Education statistics (UOE)

6.4 Mean performance on the PISA mathematical literacy scale 2003(age 15)

Source: OECD, PISA 2003 database (https://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html)

6.5 Mean performance on the PISA scientific literacy scale, 2003 (age 15)

Source: OECD, PISA 2003 database (https://www.pisa.oecd.org/document/5/0,2340,en_32252351_32236173_33917573_1_1_1_1,00.html)

6.6 Percentage of pupils with low reading literacy proficiency (level 1 and lower) in the PISA reading literacy scale (2003)

All individuals need a core set of competencies and skills for employment, social inclusion, lifelong learning and personal fulfilment. The latest data, from 2003, show that 19.8% of 15-year-old pupils in the EU countries participating in the OECD PISA survey were found to be low achievers in reading literacy compared to the EU Benchmark for 2010 of 15.5%. Ireland was the 2nd best performing EU country with only 11 percent of 15 year olds categorised as low achievers.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a collaborative project of the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Its purpose is to address the question of how well young people (15 year olds) are equipped for future participation in society, in the labour force, as citizens, and as individuals through an assessment of some key skills. As such, its focus moves away from traditional school-based learning towards a more literacy-based approach.

The reading literacy scale was divided into five levels of proficiency. Students who achieve at Level 5 (the highest level) are capable of completing the most complex reading tasks on the PISA assessment, such as working with dense text, and making high-level inferences. In contrast, students who achieve at Level 1, the lowest level, are most likely to succeed only on the more basic reading tasks developed for PISA, such as locating a single piece of information in an elementary level text. Proportionately fewer students in Ireland scored at or below Level 1 on the combined reading literacy scale (11.0% compared to the OECD average of 19.1%), and slightly more scored at Levels 4 and 5 (35.5% compared to an average of 29.6% across the OECD). Ireland is the 2nd best performing EU country in terms of the percentage who achieve at Level 1. The relatively strong performance of Irish students is due more to the comparatively high performance of low achievers rather than the high performance of high achievers.

Percentage of pupils with reading literacy proficiency level 1 and lower in the PISA reading literacy scale - (2003)

Source: OECD PISA 2003 Database and EU Commission Staff Working Paper: Progress towards the Lisbon Objectives in Education and Training, 2005

6.7 Top 10 Subjects in the Leaving Cert 2006/1984

Source: State Examinations Commission

6.8 Leaving Certificate Candidates in Certain Subjects by Sex 1984/2004

Source: State Examinations Commission.

6.9 Percentage of Leaving Certificate school candidates who received a minimum of 2, 4 and 6 Grade C3s or higher on higher level papers

Source: State Examinations Commission