Following months of Covid-era school closures and disruption to education, there had been understandable concerns over potential learning loss experienced by children. Schools in Ireland shut for longer than many other jurisdictions. Teachers reported higher levels of absenteeism when schools reopened.
This week, however, brought surprisingly good news: Irish primary schoolchildren excelled in an international study on reading ability. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) examined reading skills among hundreds of thousands of pupils across almost 60 countries. On paper, at least, Ireland moved up the leaderboard from fourth in 2016 to second in 2021. This should be interpreted with some care, on the basis that Ireland along with more than a dozen other countries tested their pupils six months later. Nonetheless, Ireland is one of a small group of high-achieving countries and reading performance has at least remained stable since 2016.
There was also encouraging news in a separate study – the National Assessments of Mathematics and English Reading – at primary level. Similarly, it found achievement in both maths and reading have remained stable since the last study in 2014.
A few factors have undoubtedly contributed to this strong performance. The dedication of teachers and the wider school community has played a key role. Department of Education policies aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy, as well as school self-evaluation, have provided a strong foundation. Parents and children also played their part, with reading rates increasing during lockdown periods.
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Remaining challenges include narrowing the gap between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and the wider school population, as well as a performance gap between boys and girls.
Overall, Ireland can be proud of its education system. There are pressures – teacher shortages and creaking school infrastructure, to name a few – but there is no doubting the benefit of investing in education. Above all it helps to ensure children can realise their full potential.