Rebuilding Ireland - Improve or fail — it is that simple

ONE of our comfort blankets during the decade of hubris was the belief that we had a premier grade education system producing an endless stream of world-class graduates.

In the last few weeks several reports, including one from the Department of Education and another from the OECD, have told us otherwise. They, combined with concerns about declining standards expressed by university leaders or multinational companies struggling to find suitably qualified workers, make it impossible to pretend that we have the kind of education system we need any more.

There is good news though. There seems to be a changing culture of expectation and regulation in the Department of Education. Traditionally the Department worked hand-in-glove with the teachers’ unions and that relationship made it difficult to raise issues about standards and results but that seems to be changing.