Later today Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, will launch an important report on literacy standards in primary schools.
The survey, the largest of its kind, tracks the performance of children in first and fifth class in some 150 schools. A parallel survey on standards in maths - also prepared by the Education Research Centre (ERC) at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra - will be released shortly.
Findings in the surveys present a very mixed picture. Literacy standards for most of the population remain relatively high. Irish teenagers regularly come near the top of the international OECD surveys on literacy. There is little evidence, on the basis of the primary school report, that there is much change. Overall standards are being maintained, despite the introduction of the new Primary School Curriculum five years ago, which introduced a range of new subjects, leaving less time for English in some classrooms.
The news on maths is also mostly positive. There has been no marked decline in standards - even though the new curriculum means less time for teaching this key subject. The overall picture, however, remains mixed. Irish 15 year-olds continue to languish in mid-table, according to the OECD international rankings.
While the broad picture on literacy is relatively positive, the performance of children in poorer areas and schools designated as disadvantaged makes for depressing reading. The survey confirms earlier findings indicating that 30 per cent of children in these areas suffer severe literacy problems, three times the national average. Literacy levels remain at a persistently worrying level among this group.
Critically, no progress has been made in narrowing the gap between disadvantaged and more prosperous pupils over the past five years. During this time, there has been a plethora of expert groups and committees, reading initiatives and reports on the issue of educational disadvantage but, on the basis of this report, little in the way of progress.
In response to the report, Labour's Jan O'Sullivan, yesterday accused Ms Hanafin of paying lip-service to the whole problem of educational inequality. The Minister will roll out her new strategy on educational disadvantage, Delivering Equality of Opportunity to Schools, shortly. This is designed to provide more coherence in overall strategy and to correctly identify those schools with the greatest need. The ERC report confirms nothing less than a literacy crisis among the most disadvantaged children in this society.