Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 182: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the research which he has commissioned on issues of literacy in schools and the wider community. [21996/11]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has received any report on conflicting literacy measures for Irish pupils in international surveys; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21998/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 182 and 184 together.

Irish 15-year old students have participated in two recent international studies of achievement levels in literacy and numeracy. These were the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 which tested students' reading literacy, mathematical literacy and scientific literacy using traditional pencil-and-paper tests and the OECD PISA 2009 Digital Literacy Assessment which assessed students' ability to read computer-based text. Details of the performance of Irish students in these studies are available in "PISA 2009: The Performance and Progress of 15-year-olds in Ireland – Summary Report" and "Digital Reading Literacy in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2009): Summary of Results for Ireland", both of which have been published by the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra. The OECD PISA 2009 Digital Literacy Assessment showed that Irish students' ability to read computer-based text was significantly above the average of the 19 OECD countries that took the test. The above-average results of Irish students on the digital literacy tests contrasts with their average-level performance in the 2009 round of the traditional pencil-and-paper PISA literacy tests. These results suggest that the reading standards of Irish 15-year olds may be better than the results achieved on the traditional pencil-and-paper test in 2009 but not at the above-average levels scored by Irish students in 2000.

Three reports have been commissioned by my Department that examine in further detail the performance of Irish students in the PISA 2009 assessments. Two of these have been received and published: "Comparisons of Performance in Ireland PISA 2000 to PISA 2009: A Preliminary Report to the Department of Education and Skills" which was completed by the Educational Research Centre and "Independent Review of the 2009 PISA Results for Ireland" which was completed by Statistics Canada. Both reports are available on the website of my Department and the website of the Educational Research Centre. A third report has yet to be completed by Statistics Canada.

In order to provide international comparative data on the performance of Irish students at primary level, Ireland has joined the primary-school phases of the Progress on International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Testing was undertaken in the sample schools in Ireland in spring of this year and the outcomes of the study are expected to be published by the IEA in December 2012.

National data on the achievement of primary-school pupils in reading and mathematics is collected and published on behalf of my Department by the Educational Research Centre in the periodic National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading. The most recent report, based on data collected in 2009 was published in 2010 and is available on the website of the Centre.