Secondary school students are bored with what they describe as "outdated" and "irrelevant" Leaving and Junior Cert curriculums, a students group has claimed.
The Union of Secondary School Students (USS) says the majority of students it has surveyed claim to be bored and see no relevance in the courses they study.
The USS says courses need to be made more "practical and hands on" and called for a restructuring of both the Leaving and Junior Certs.
However, the union was quick to point out that despite the "boredom", Irish students still achieved high grades in comparison to their European counterparts.
The USS said a number of subjects needed to be "re-assessed" if the overall performance of students is to improve.
English, for instance, it said, should be updated to include studies of alternative uses of the language as well as media studies with less emphasis put the current texts.
The group made reference to the latest OECD report which it said highlighted "the fact that our Government spends very little on education".
It urged the Government to reconsider its education spend in the upcoming budget.