The annual Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on Irish education is a welcome independent assessment of the sector. Its findings confirm what teacher unions have been saying for several years: investment in education is failing to keep pace with our increasing wealth.
The main points of the survey make grim reading. The Republic languishes near the bottom of the international league table when it comes to spending on primary and second-level education, relative to our wealth. Total spending is only half of that in countries such as the US and Switzerland. Ireland spends about 4.4 per cent of its GDP on education, well behind the internationally-recognised benchmark of at least 6 per cent.
In an RTÉ radio interview yesterday, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin switched the focus to educational outputs which, she said, placed Ireland close to the top of the international league. Although this is true in relation to literacy - Irish 15-year-olds are among the strongest performers in the OECD - the results in maths and science are much less impressive. In these disciplines, Irish teenagers rank only in mid-table when a much better performance is required to drive the so-called knowledge economy. Ms Hanafin also said that the OECD figures, based on spending patterns up to 2003, failed to reflect a 23 per cent rise in spending over the past two years.
Although this is true, the fact remains that Irish spending on education remains well below the 6 per cent of GDP threshold. Much of the new spending has been diverted to the school building programme and amounts to "catch up" expenditure after a generation and more of chronic under-investment. Yes, real progress has been made in the education budget in recent years - for which both Ms Hanafin and her predecessor, Noel Dempsey, deserve credit - but this State still does not have the kind of education infrastructure which reflects its wealth and prosperity.
The Association of Secondary Teachers is not being unfair when it accuses the Government of running a good education system "on the cheap". Under-investment is still evident in many schools with inadequate meeting and staff rooms, old or non-existent sports/PE facilities and run-down science laboratories. The lack of computer and broadband facilities is telling; the OECD says there is only one computer for every nine to 10 second-level students in Ireland, a dismal ratio compared to the US, where one computer is available for every three children.
Despite this, the Irish education system is very successful, thanks in no small measure to the dedication of teachers, students and - not least - parents. Yesterday's Junior Cert results showed a very high number of students obtaining high grades, with 10 per cent obtaining an A in the new science course. The Government invested heavily in new labs to facilitate the course and this has reaped its reward. Who says investment in education does not pay?