Disadvantaged school spend urged

The Government should continue investing more in disadvantaged schools — the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has said.

As Education Minister Ruairi Quinn awaits a review of the impact of planned cuts to additional teachers in disadvantaged schools, a report from the international think-tank shows the reading scores of disadvantaged students here are low, relative to others in this country.

Drop-out rates before Leaving Certificate level have fallen to some of the lowest in developed countries.

Analysis of results of the OECD’s 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests show Irish teenagers with low socio-economic status are more likely than those in most countries to be at the lowest reading levels compared to those at the other end of the social scale.

Ireland’s overall PISA results have prompted a major policy focus on literacy and numeracy.

The latest OECD report also shows disadvantaged schools tend to reinforce students’ socio-economic inequalities as they do not mitigate the negative impact of disadvantaged backgrounds on academic progress.

The OECD also advises strengthening supports for students who are falling behind as more effective than having students held back in school. Almost one-in-eight students here have repeated a school year by the age of 15.