As an issue, education is struggling to make an impact in the election campaign. In general, there is little to set the pulse racing in the main policy documents. Education has very clearly slipped down the political agenda.
Voters may grumble about particular schools and about the inequality of our education system. But as a voter priority for Election 2002, education still trails well behind other issues.
Opinion poll evidence suggests that up to 70 per cent of the public are reasonably satisfied with the state of the education service. There are good reasons to be cheerful. As the recent OECD figures suggests, the average 15 year-old in this State is more literate and more skilled in maths and science than most of his/her counterparts in other countries.
But there is a great deal that is wrong with Irish education. The Leaving and Junior Certificate require urgent reform. The third-level sector remains dominated by the middle and upper classes. Support for those with learning difficulties and disabilities is often meagre. Science education desperately needs to be given a new priority. The Department of Education appears to lack any visionary zeal.
Fianna Fáil's document, published yesterday, Investing in Education, is hailing its record of vastly increased spending in education over the past five years and promising a €1 billion school building programme. The party is standing on the decent record of the current government in education; it is a low-key, low-risk policy document.
Fine Gael's vision is of world-class education for all. It wants to boost eligibility for higher-education grants by 80 per cent and it wants an automatic entitlement to an assessment for all children with learning difficulties. It also talks about developing "systems of accountability" in the school system.
Labour lays considerable emphasis on the need to invest in education as a means of bridging the wealth gap in this economy. The PD manifesto says it wants targeted investment to combat education disadvantage and a new school buildings programme.
In all of the party policies, there is a commendable emphasis on the pressing need for more resources and on the need to address educational disadvantage. But there is a regrettable lack of big, ambitious ideas which will have a profound impact on the shape of Irish education.