School leaver study saved by investment

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The Irish Examiner revealed a year ago that the department had withdrawn financial support it previously provided for the School Leavers’ Survey, by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) annually between 1980 and 1999 and again in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

The most recent report published last March showed that investment in disadvantaged schools has failed to significantly reduce the numbers dropping out of formal education before the Leaving Certificate. It showed that 86% of those who left school in 2004 and 2005 had sat the exam, although almost one-in-five males left school with no qualification higher than the Junior Certificate.