Rural pupils in poverty perform better

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.

The findings emerged from research into why pupils of rural primary schools supported by a Department of Education programme to tackle disadvantage do significantly better in reading and maths than those at urban schools in the same scheme.

The performance trend that has emerged in various reports was investigated by Susan Weir and Darina Errity of the Educational Research Centre in Dublin and Laura McAvinue from University of Limerick’s psychology department.