Reading skills at high watermark: Top of the class

THAT Ireland’s 10-year-olds have the best reading skills in Europe and are among the top-performers in the world is an achievement worth celebrating.

This story was subject to the following clarification:

This editorial, published on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 celebrating the fact that Irish ten-year-olds have the best reading skills in Europe orginally stated that the number of Irish children with only "basic" reading skills had increased. However, the number of students defined as having only "basic" reading skills is falling, a fact we are happy to correct and also celebrate.

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THAT Ireland’s 10-year-olds have the best reading skills in Europe and are among the top-performers in the world is an achievement worth celebrating.

That this point could not have been reached without an exceptional commitment from teachers, schools, parents and a culture with an ever-deepening appreciation of the power of education is worth celebrating too.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study examined reading skills among hundreds of thousands of fourth class pupils across 50 countries had found the proportion with advanced reading skills had reached record highs.

More than one in five Irish children were classed as “advanced” readers, compared to an international average of one in 10.

This is a considerable achievement.