Gareth O'Callaghan: Ireland's education system still fails too many Leaving Cert students

Despite recent reforms, Ireland's education system still undervalues vocational skills and overlooks students who learn in different ways

The culmination of secondary school in Ireland is still a series of timed exams that rely on an ability to regurgitate precise selections of knowledge and interpretation from a massive five-year accumulation of information in multiple subjects. File picture

You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. It’s a proverb often attributed to the Irish writer Jonathan Swift (although its use predates him). Swift was a scathing critic when it came to the inequality at the heart of society, including in education.

The saying suggests that you can’t turn something inferior, or ugly, into something of value, or attractive. During my school days, it was a phrase that one teacher took great pleasure in trotting out, usually when he was handing out exam results.