Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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36. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the latest data available to her on literacy and numeracy performance across schools; if she will indicate how great is the deviation between highest performing and lowest performing schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44991/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Since 2012 primary schools have been administering standardised testing on an annual basis to all pupils in 2nd, 4th and 6th classes.

The data requested is not available as the results of standardised tests are confidential to each individual school and therefore are not published. Primary principals and teachers have access to their own school results and are reported to their Boards of Management and the individual pupil’s results are communicated to their parents/guardians. The aggregated results of the tests must be reported to my Department.

The Department does not publish or make available any data from standardised tests including that for individual schools or national averages. It is very important that the Department does not provide data that could enable the compilation of league tables.

The results of standardised testing can help schools to evaluate progress in literacy and numeracy, help to pinpoint areas for improvement and support teachers in ensuring that literacy and numeracy learning experiences meet pupils’ needs. The results of any one standardised test should not be used in isolation, nor used as baseline data for predicting future achievements, nor for solely informing decisions regarding the provision of interventions or targets within learning plans for pupils. Information from ability tests, teacher observations, parental reports, as well as the views of the pupils are also very important aspects of a thorough assessment.

In this Department, the aggregate data is used as part of a range of tools to create a profile of schools' learning support needs when allocating special education teaching resources.

Internationally, Ireland retains its place amongst a subset of high performing countries in literacy, numeracy and science, this is shown in the most recent results from tests such as PISA 2022, PIRLS 2021 and TIMSS 2019, published by the Educational Research Centre.

Since the inception of the DEIS programme, considerable progress has been made in terms of narrowing the achievement gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools in literacy and numeracy. Recent international and national large-scale assessments such as PIRLS, PISA and NAMER have shown that, despite the impact of COVID-19, there was little evidence of a decline in average reading or mathematics scores DEIS schools. These findings are to be welcomed in the context of international evidence of learning loss and the particular impact of COVID-19 on pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

However, while there has been a narrowing of the gap, my Department recognises that more needs to be done. My department is committed to supporting literacy and numeracy in our schools. Ireland’s Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy 2024-2033: Every Learner from Birth to Young Adulthood' and five-year implementation plan were published on 15th May 2024. This strategy builds on the achievements and ambition of the 2011 Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. The strategy sets out a clear vision and a comprehensive approach to supporting all children and young adults in developing essential literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy skills, knowledge, and dispositions, including successfully navigating an ever-evolving digital world. The five-year implementation plan has over 100 actions set out under overarching 22 objectives. This serves as the blueprint that transforms the strategy into actionable steps.