70 of 7,800 schoolbooks see price hike

School book publishers say they have kept price increases and new editions to just 1% of thousands of titles in the last three years and that more than one-third are now available in ebook format.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn secured commitments from most publishers last summer to develop a code of practice aimed at helping reduce costs to parents.

Among the requirements are a restriction on bringing out revised editions except where there are major changes to subject courses, and that older editions would be kept in print even after new editions are released.

The Irish Educational Publishers’ Association (IEPA) said a survey of its 10 members, who publish more than 90% of school books used in the country, has found there have been nominal price increases since 2009 despite a 25% rise in the cost of paper.

There was a 0.7% rise in the prices of 70 books out of 7,800 publications available from 2009 to 2012.

The companies, which employ more than 250 people, said that contrary to public misconceptions just 40 of 2,061 titles were revised last year.

This was less than 2%, and the rate fell to just 0.6% this year, with changes to exams or curriculum, feedback on content, and changes in legal, technological, and political landscape given as reason for any revisions.

The companies published fewer than 3% of their titles in ebook form three years ago but that has risen to almost 35%.

IEPA general secretary Cliodhna O’Donoghue said the figure was much higher at some of the bigger firms, and that the rates would continue to rise.

“Our members believe that a full curriculum in digital format would help reduce the weight of the school bag, enhance the teaching and learning experience, and enable significant savings to be passed on to parents,” she said.

However, the IEPA has also called for the 23% Vat rate on educational ebooks to be reduced and has asked Finance Minister Michael Noonan to do so.

Ms O’Donoghue said there was no reason the zero Vat rate on printed schoolbooks should not equally apply to online versions.

There is fast-growing use of tablet computers such as the iPad, and other devices for schoolbooks, bringing benefits of increased student engagement and significantly lighter schoolbags.

However, many parents told the recent Barnardos school costs survey they found the layout for the hardware added hugely to their education budgets.

The same survey partially backs the IEPA findings on book prices, which the organisation said have fallen on many items such as past exam papers.

The Barnardos report shows average costs of books for pupils in fourth class at primary and first year of second level were less or unchanged since last year, but books for senior-infant level rose from €75 to €85.

Almost two thirds of textbooks produced by IEPA companies are printed in Ireland and many are supplemented by free online resources and teacher resources.

* See 'Lighten the schoolbag load' this weekend in Lifestyle