Irish children are the best in Europe at reading, thanks to major improvements among fourth-class pupils in the last five years.

Irish primary pupils are the best in Europe at reading and boys here have improved their skills more than girls in the last five years.

An increasing number of children are missing more days of school, with figures also showing a spike in the number of students expelled at post-primary level.

Junior Certificate students will no longer be asked in exams to prove Pythagoras’ or anybody else’s theorems under a revised junior cycle maths course.

TDs and Senators will not begin considering where the €1bn needed to secure the future of the third-level education system should come from until next month at the earliest.

Several important education agencies and colleges have had no board or no chairman for several months, in some cases for over a year.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has announced appointments to the first board of the Educational Research Centre (ERC) — 10 months after it became a statutory agency.

Tests of children’s reading and maths ability are being overhauled in response to the early success of a strategy to improve standards.

Children’s Books Ireland (CBI), the national organisation for the promotion of children’s books and reading, is deeply concerned about recent comments by the Minister for Finance regarding the desirability of iPads for every child over the age of five.

Schools are failing to match students’ rising home access to computers and the internet, an international report reveals.

More educational support at home and less time hanging out with friends or online could be reasons why rural children’s education is not as affected by poverty, as those living in towns and cities.

Children with disabilities and their schools could be forced to continue with reduced support while they wait another two years for automatic access to special teachers.

YESTERDAY’S confirmation that primary pupils’ reading and maths skills have improved significantly for the first time in 30 years is to be unambiguously welcomed.

Subjects see significant improvements for first time in 30 years, though concerns remain for DEIS schools

The first students to learn a new maths course did better than others on international tests — but do not like the subject as much as those taught the older way.

A new way to give schools extra staff to support children with disabilities should not preclude the Government from giving those pupils full rights to adequate education, a parents’ group told TDs and senators.

Irish teenagers’ relative inexperience at using computers for schoolwork may be behind unexpectedly low scores in international problem-solving tests.

Pupils’ reading and maths scores are continuing to improve in disadvantaged schools that get extra staff and supports from the Government.

The results in PISA 2012 science tests have been hailed as testament to the long-term returns from Ireland’s investment in teacher training and curriculum reform in the subject.

Irish students have been ranked among the brightest in the world, according to new figures from the OECD.

Almost 56,000 children are missing from school every day despite improvements in overall attendance levels.

A new report shows a growing number of Irish primary school students are tired and hungry going to school.

Teachers in almost two thirds of primary school classrooms are struggling to teach their students because the children have not had enough sleep.

A quarter of 10-year-olds in Irish schools are bullied at least once a month and non-Irish children in particular bear the brunt of the cruel treatment.

I DOUBT even Job could hold it together in my house when it comes to supervising homework.

The gap between the reading skills of the country’s richest and poorest students widened during the last decade, figures reveal.

At least three children in every primary school fourth class are being bullied every week, and it is having a significant effect on their education.

A survey of 4,500 Irish 10-year-olds found that 12% were bullied in school on about a weekly basis. What one child may see as a bit of fun may be considered bullying by the child who is the victim of such fun. Thus it is particularly important that people should recognise the different forms that bullying takes.

Irish 10-year-olds are above average at maths, reading, and science but their scores fall short of the top-performing children in the world.

The Project Maths syllabus designed to improve how the subject is taught at second level is moving in the right direction but there are still challenges, research on its implementation has found.

Reading with your child is a gift no matter what the format — but printed books remain the best way to develop literacy, research suggests.

Students at fee-paying and religious-run schools significantly outscored those at vocational schools in reading tests.

A lack of interest in reading and a carefree attitude to finishing tests are the main reasons why Irish teenagers scored badly at international level, experts believe.

Three reports released today are highlighting the benefits of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) scheme to primary schools in disadvantaged areas.

MORE than one in three second-level English teachers feel inadequately trained to help tackle the poor literacy level of some students.

THE dramatic fall in Irish teenagers’ scores on international literacy tests could partly be down to more students switching off before reaching the end, an analysis of their performance revealed.

SUCCESS in tackling early school-leaving may be a factor in Ireland’s recent drop in average reading and maths standards.

WHILE girls are more likely to pick up a book or chat about a recent read to their pals, boys turn to the internet more than girls to find news or look up information on a particular topic.

IRELAND’s ambitions to be seen as a smart economy have suffered a serious setback as the reading skills of teenagers here have fallen more than in any other developed country in the last decade.