Children with learning disabilities have a much more negative experience of school than pupils who have no special needs, according to the first comparative research into this area.

Children living with a mother who suffers from depression are more likely to miss school.

Children from a mix of social, religious, and other backgrounds attend all primary schools but Catholic schools are still dominated by Catholic pupils, research shows.

Girls may have taken slightly greater advantage of the bonus points offered for Leaving Certificate maths, judging on a gender breakdown on numbers taking the higher-level exams.

Children involved in too many after-school activities perform nearly as badly at maths and reading as those spending too much time watching television, a study reveals.

SOME children get 18 fewer days of maths teaching a year than others because of huge variations between and within primary schools.

YOUR child is more likely to get a better primary education if their teacher is young or female or if they attend a single-sex or fee-paying school.

Girls spend more time in school learning religion while boys focus more on history, geography and physical education, a new study has found.

STUDENTS from poorer backgrounds may suffer most from a budget cut that could see schools reduce guidance counselling next year, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will warn today.

THE absence of a tracking system to follow the progress of pupils from the start of primary school is hampering work that could help improve education policies, according to a leading researcher.

HUNDREDS of teenagers could be missing out on the chance of a higher education each year because they are not told the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) programme they take restricts their access to college.

BAD school experiences, financial constraints and poor information are among the main barriers to prevent students from lower socio-economic groups studying at third-level.

FUNDING difficulties, poor guidance at school and the lure of full-time work have raised barriers to thousands of young people from low-paid families accessing third-level education.

A SMALL-SCALE version of important research on school-leavers, for which funding was cancelled by the Department of Education, is about to get under way thanks to investment by a range of bodies.

THE Government’s economic think-tank has stressed the need to continue its survey of school leavers now more than ever, after budget restrictions have forced its abandonment.

THE dramatic rise in top Leaving Certificate grades being awarded over the past 15 years has been reversed in the last two years.

The children of unemployed parents are eight times more likely to skip school regularly than those of working people, according to new research published today.

THE percentage of students completing second-level education has not increased in the past 15 years, a major survey has revealed.

MISBEHAVIOUR and class streaming are causing greater numbers of students from working class backgrounds to switch off from school in the run-up to the Junior Certificate, research has found.

SECONDARY school students are more likely to stick with their studies through to Leaving Certificate if the school they attend offers sports and other extra-curricular activities, new research has found.

MORE girls began college courses than boys in 2004, research for the Higher Education Authority (HEA) shows.

UNQUALIFIED school-leavers are five times more likely to be unemployed, new research shows.

THE Government should invest more money in post Leaving Certificate courses which provide a gateway to third-level education, according a report released yesterday. The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) studied the education and training of school leavers between 1982 and 1998 who did not immediately go on to third-level education.