Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 189: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science the amount allocated by her Department for literacy initiatives and teaching at primary level; the amount allocated for literacy in DEIS schools at second level; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14321/10]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 190: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science the means by which literacy rates among second level pupils are measured by her Department; the supports that exist for students at second level experiencing literacy difficulties; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14322/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 189 and 190 together.

Promoting literacy and numeracy skills is a core element of the ongoing work of schools and it is not possible to identify this expenditure separately. The 2004 National Assessment of English reading was published by the Educational Research Centre in 2005, and examined the achievement of some 4000 pupils in first and fifth classes in primary schools. The results show little variation in achievement compared with the previous survey in 1998, or over the period since 1980. Lower pupil achievement was strongly associated with socio economic status, medical card coverage and low parental educational attainment. Other factors associated with poorer average scores include being a member of the Traveller community, speaking a first language other than English or Irish, living in a lone parent household or being part of a large family. Factors associated with higher levels of achievement were parents reading to their child, parents reading for enjoyment, the availability of books and educational resources in the home, and parental rules about watching TV and playing computer games.

The Educational Research Centre in their report on Reading Literacy in Disadvantaged Primary Schools (2004) found that the proportion of pupils with serious literacy difficulties in schools serving disadvantaged communities averages in the region of 27-30% or about three times the national average.

The DEIS Action Plan, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, sets out a range of measures to address educational disadvantage, and promoting proficiency in literacy and numeracy is a central tenet of the approach set out. The measures include:

additional literacy and numeracy advisers to support and advise schools in adopting an effective whole-school approach;

extra resources for intensive professional development programmes for teachers;

access to numeracy/literacy supports and measures at primary level;

further development of paired reading initiatives implemented through the Home School Community Liaison Scheme;

after school and holiday time supports assisting children's literacy;

access to family literacy programmes.

Expansion of the Junior Certificate Schools Programme in DEIS schools;

provision for school library and librarian support in post primary schools with most disadvantage.

In addition, from the beginning of 2007, standardised testing in English Reading and Mathematics has been implemented on an annual basis for all pupils at two stages of the primary cycle, supported by an annual grant to schools (€1.792m in 2009) for the cost of test materials, manuals, test scoring services or test related software. This work is complemented by a separate programme of national monitoring so that national trends in different categories of school can be tracked over time. Schools in the DEIS programme have already been sampled by the Educational Research Centre in 2007 and will be again in May of this year. The sample of English medium schools has been undertaken in 2009, and Irish medium schools will be sampled in 2010. The results will be published when the study is finalised.

At post primary level, literacy levels are monitored through Ireland's participation in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, in 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009. The PISA 2006 study assessed performance of 15 year olds across 57 countries in maths, reading and science. Ireland performed very well in English reading, ranking 5th of 29 OECD countries and 6th of 56 countries (USA results were omitted for technical reasons). Only one EU country, Finland, achieved a higher mean score than Ireland in reading. The mean score in Ireland was 517, compared with 547 in Finland, the highest scoring of all countries in the survey. In Ireland, 3.2% of pupils performed below Level 1, 9% at Level 1, 20.9% at Level 2, 30.2% at Level 3, 25.1% at Level 4 and 11.2% at Level 5. This compares with OECD average figures of 7.4%, 12.7%, 22.7%, 27.8%, 20.7% and 8.6%. The results for PISA 2009 will be published when available.