Tackling the decline in literacy is a must

Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn announced a new strategy to ensure that every pupil has mastered literacy and numeracy before finishing secondary school. “No child should leave school unable to read and write and use mathematics to solve problems,” the minister stated.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that Ireland’s global ranking in the literacy of 15 year olds fell from 5th in 2000 to 17th in 2009 of 39 countries surveyed within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. At the same time the country fell from 15th to 25th in mathematics.

Part of the dramatic decline in the country’s ranking in the PISA study may be attributed to a significant decline in the school dropout rate. Now there are many more 15-year-old students continuing in school, rather than dropping out, as was the case when earlier studies were conducted.