Good results despite bigger class sizes

IRELAND has some of the most able students in the EU, despite having bigger class sizes and above average student-to-teacher ratio, the CSO report reveals.

Girls in Ireland performed much better than boys in reading literacy tests in 2003 with an average score of 530 for females compared to 501 for males.

These scores combined to give Ireland the second highest reading literacy for 15-year-old students among EU countries.

Ireland was also above the OECD average in mathematical and scientific literacy.

However, Ireland had a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.7 at primary education level in 2002/2003, the fifth highest reported ratio in the EU.

The overall student-to-teacher ratio for first and second level education for Ireland in 2002/2003 was 15.4.

In 2002/2003, the average class size in Ireland for primary education was 24.0 which, mirroring the student-to-teacher ratio, was one of the highest among EU countries.

Public expenditure on education in Ireland (including capital expenditure), as a percentage of both Gross National Income and Gross Domestic Product was static during the 2001-2003 period.

In terms of GNI, Ireland was just above the EU 25 level in 2001 and 2002 and at the same level in 2003. When expenditure is examined per pupil/student in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), Ireland was almost 7% below the EU average.

Real expenditure per student in Ireland increased by 77.1% for first level students and by 53.9% for second level students over the period 1995-2004 when measured in constant 2003 prices. However, the corresponding increase at third level over the period was a more modest 5.4%

These contrasting trends are partly explained by the trend in student numbers.

The numbers of students decreased by 9.2% at first level and by 9.0% at second level between 1994/1995 and 2003/2004. However, over the same period, the number of third-level students increased by over 50%.

Ireland had a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.7 at primary education level in 2002/2003. This was the fifth highest reported ratio in the EU. The overall student-to-teacher ratio for first and second-level education for Ireland in 2002/2003 was 15.4.

In 2005, 39.2% of the population aged 25-34 in Ireland had third-level education compared with 28.5% in the EU.