This morning tens of thousands of schoolchildren will return to school after the summer break. The good news for parents is that this year, for the first time, there will be one common or standardised school year.
Virtually all schools will open and close at the same time for holiday, mid-term and other breaks. This should be a considerable benefit especially for working parents, who were often faced with an unscheduled school break. It is also good for pupils. The standardised school year makes it abundantly clear that students must receive their full legal entitlement of 183 school days at primary and 167 at second level.
It might bve that the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, should now look at the length of the school year at second level. The tradition of a 12-week summer break dates back to the days when the economy was agriculture based and teenagers were needed around the farm. But does such a lengthy break make sense? Would teenage children not be better off in school for some of this period? It may be there is a case for an additional, say four-week period where students focus on life, social and sporting skills rather than exams.
In broad terms, it is probably fair to say that most parents are satisfied with most schools - and indeed with the Irish education system in general. The most recent OECD reports show students from this State performing well above the international average. The good news is that the teaching profession is continuing to attract students of the highest academic calibre.
The Irish education system has these and other merits but it remains grossly under-resourced and underfunded. Dilapidated schools with leaky roofs remain common at primary level. Special needs pupils often struggle to achieve the support they need. The pupil/teacher ratio remains out of kilter with most other developed states. As Mr John Carr, the general secretary of the INTO, writes in today’s edition you cannot focus on the individual child in any meaningful way when there are up to 30 children in one classroom.
It is also the case that the gap between rich and poor in the education system is widening. Increasingly, the middle classes, especially in Dublin, are opting out of the free second-level schools and into fee-paying schools or grind schools. Meanwhile, very large numbers - especially of young male students - are dropping out of school after the Junior Cert. Only 64 per cent of students on Dublin’s north side do the Leaving Cert exam.
Mr Dempsey deserves credit for the manner in which he has placed educational inequality at the top of his agenda. The challenge now is to ensure continued progress, despite the pressure on Exchequer funds. The Minister should not be diverted from his path - even if it again brings him into renewed conflict with the articulate and the well-heeled.