Right: Dr Selina McCoy


There has been no improvement since 1991 in the percentage of students completing second-level education, according to a major survey.

The ESRI 2006 Annual School Leavers’ Survey looked at 2000 young people who finished second level in 2003 and 2004. It found 82% had obtained a Leaving Certificate, 14% had completed the Junior Certificate and 4% had no qualifications. These rates have remained static since 1991, at 79% to 82%.

“This is despite the fact that there has been considerable policy attention over recent years focused on boosting second-level retention rates, with revised curricula in many subjects and increased supports for students with special needs,” said co-author Dr Selina McCoy.

Dr McCoy said it was getting harder for those without the Leaving Cert or Junior Cert to find work, partly because they are now competing for low-paid jobs with growing numbers of women returning to work, college students in part-time employment and immigrants.

“They might get short-term casual work but they’re not going to get anything better than that. The booming economy may have been a factor in people continuing to leave school but things could change as it slows down again ... 

“The Department of Education’s target of having 90% school completion is a bit idealistic, but it’s an issue which still has to be addressed as the Leaving Certificate is a minimum requirement for most jobs now,”  Dr. McCoy added.

The main reasons for students dropping out of school were because they were unchallenged or bored at school, or had difficult relationships with teachers, the ESRI survey found. It also found that more males drop out than females. In 2004, 77% of males leaving school had sat the Leaving Certificate, compared to 86% of females.

The good news is that many of those who leave school early are taking alternative courses through further education, Youthreach, Community Training Centres and Senior Traveller Training.

Meanwhile, Census figures compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), and reported in the Irish Examiner last week, show that 6.3% of 15-year-olds were no longer in full-time education last year, compared to 3.1% of the same age group in 1996.

Speaking in the Dail, however, Minister Mary Hanafin said that there were question marks around the reliability of the CSO statistics:

"The CSO provided this information to the Taoiseach, stating it was not a straightforward question to 15-year-olds about their standard of education and whether they were still in school. The question was to the effect that if they were under age 15 they should skip to number 34 on the next page, and the CSO said that a higher number than expected skipped the entire question on education,” Ms Hanafin said.

“It is widely accepted that we cannot depend on that figure because of the nature of the way in which that question was put. It was a filtering question rather than a direct question put to 15-year-olds,” she said. (Source: Irish Examiner)