Education is a strange beast. It’s one of these public policy areas where everybody has an opinion – well, because everybody has some engagement with school.
Whether it’s our memories of primary, secondary, or (for some) college, we all have memories of our education that colour our perspective of what schools are, and hence, what schools can or should be.
For a number of years Irish governments have sought to provide a more empirical assessment of schools and Irish Education in general.
To this end we have the rankings from the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), and its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Should a country fall back in its ranking, then there will be a huge fuss made. Programmes may be implemented, and blame may be spread.
As with many other countries, Ireland has high hopes for our Educational Attainment. This is measured in a number of ways: How many adults complete second level; what’s the combined score for reading, maths and sciences.
In 2018 PISA tested students in 79 countries. The average score for reading, maths and sciences was 488.
In Ireland the score was 505.
The PISA average for completing higher second level education is
Another key indicator for the OECD is ‘Educational Attainment’, by which they mean the percentage of adults from 18-64 who have completed higher second level education.
Ireland has an 85% rate for educational attainment, while Sweden’s rate is 83%. Close enough to identical. The OECD average is 79%, so both countries are ahead there.
Ireland’s PISA score was 505, compared to Sweden’s 503. The OECD average is 488, so both countries are well ahead.
(Source: OECD Better Life Index)
If we’re so close, why choose Sweden for comparison?
Well, the difference is in the spending. OECD has also tracked government spending in Education. As you’d expect, in Ireland we spend less than our international counterparts. (values are in US Dollar)
| Primary | Secondary | Tertiary | Total | |
| OECD Avg | $10,658 | $11,942 | $18,105 | $40,705 |
| Sweden | $13,997 | $13,902 | $26,215 | $54,114 |
| Ireland | $9,589 | $11,379 | $17,400 | $38,368 |
Ireland has long scrimped on spending in education. There was a brief moment of well-funded education in the early parts of this century, but the economic crash ended that. Ask any school leader and they will have stories of frustration and trying to scrimp and save in order to run their school.
So how is it that our education scores beat the OECD averages, even though we spend less on education than one of our closest matches?
Simple. As teachers we care deeply about our students, and will do anything within our power to achieve the best possible outcome for them. By refusing to let down our students, we have created an atmosphere where it is now expected that we continue to do so, despite continual underfunding. In this at least, we have become our own worst enemies.
When we are asked to compare Irish Education to Finland, then maybe we could take to heart this quote from the same OECD report:
“While teachers in Finland have always enjoyed respect in society, a combination of raising the bar for entry and granting teachers greater autonomy over their classrooms and working conditions than their peers enjoy elsewhere has helped to raise the status of the profession.”
So the next time anybody wants to talk about educational reform, here’s a radical idea.
How about funding Irish education properly?
John Hurley 