Written answers

Tuesday, 11 October 2005

Department of Education and Science

Literacy Levels

9:00 pm

Photo of Liam TwomeyLiam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the percentage of children who leave primary school with literacy difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27580/05]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of children leaving primary school with literacy and numeracy difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27568/05]

Photo of Mary HanafinMary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 93 together.

There is no facility within the education system to measure the percentage of young people leaving post-primary schools with literacy difficulties. However, the results of PISA, the programme of international student assessment, provide detailed information on the standards of reading literacy among Irish 15-year-olds.

In the second cycle of PISA, which was carried out in 2003, Ireland ranked sixth in reading out of the 29 OECD countries for which results were analysed. Only three countries, Finland, Korea and Canada, had significantly higher scores than Ireland.

The percentage of Irish students in the 2003 survey whose performance in reading was at or below level 1, the lowest level of proficiency, was 11%. The corresponding OECD average was 19.1%. The results of the first cycle of PISA which took place in 2000 displayed similar differences in favour of Ireland. These outcomes provide strong evidence that, with regard to reading, there are proportionately fewer low achieving students in Ireland compared to the OECD.

Closer examination of the category of low achievement referred to above reveals that 2.7% of Irish students performed below level 1 compared with the OECD average of 6.7%. This indicates that the proportion of students with serious reading difficulties in Ireland is less than half that of the OECD average. The results of PISA 2000 provide similar evidence with regard to the prevalence of reading difficulties of this nature among Irish 15-year-olds.

Notwithstanding what I have outlined, young people with poor levels of literacy are a source of concern for my Department. To address their needs, learning support teacher services are available to all second level schools. Currently, there are 531 whole-time teacher equivalent posts for learning support. In addition, a total of 1,599 whole-time teacher posts are provided at second level to cater for students with special educational needs. All of these teachers prioritise the development of literacy skills. There are also a number of initiatives at post-primary level that have students with literacy difficulties as their target group. The junior certificate school programme focuses specifically on developing literacy skills and schools participating in the school completion programme are given considerable financial resources to provide targeted students with opportunities to improve their literacy skills in accordance with their identified needs.

DEIS, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, the new action plan for educational inclusion that I launched last May, includes the expansion of a number of measures designed to improve literacy levels among pupils in disadvantaged communities. These measures include increased funding for the school book grant scheme which is paid to schools based on the number of needy pupils enrolled. Also included is the extension of the demonstration library project under the junior certificate school programme, JCSP, on a phased basis to additional second level schools. This will support the implementation of whole school literacy strategies in the schools concerned.

The reduction of the numbers of students with literacy difficulties continues to be a key priority for my Department

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