Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A very interesting report in The Irish Times looks at how our primary school children are doing compared to other children across 60 countries in the developed world. The report concerned the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study which showed that we are doing all right but are not great. We are doing quite well in reading but quite poorly in mathematics and science. One conclusion I have come to is that there is a correlation between how well we do and the amount of time we spend on these subjects. We are spending far less time on mathematics and science compared to our counterparts in other countries. What stunned me was that for the first time Northern Ireland is doing extremely well and has come fifth in the world in this area so it is way past us. It is time we had a debate in the House with the Minister for Education and Science to examine what Northern Ireland is doing better in this area.