Despite low funding and large classes, Irish pupils have still managed to perform well in the latest OECD statistics, writes Emmet Oliver,Education Correspondent.
The traditional rule which is meant to govern education spending is succinct: "The more you put in, the more you get out." However, the latest statistics from the OECD in relation to Ireland would seem to suggest that "the less you put in, the more you get out".
According to the OECD's annual Education at a Glance report, this State spends relatively small amounts of money on its students, but still manages to get pupils to perform strongly in key areas such as reading, science and to a lesser extent maths.
The annual review of educational standards provides broadly good news for schools, parents and teachers. Fifteen-year-old pupils all over the country were tested by OECD researchers.
Irish pupils are placed fifth in relation to reading ability (out of 27 countries) and eighth when it comes to science literacy. As for maths, the performance is less spectacular with Irish pupils coming in at 15th position.
The performance however contrasts sharply with earlier OECD surveys - particularly among the adult population - which found that a quarter of the population was functionally illiterate.
While the figures for reading are quite strong, many pupils still appear to be struggling. For example, while over 14 per cent of pupils reach what is known as level five (the ability to perform "sophisticated reading tasks"), about one in 10 is only at level one or two. Despite this, the standard of reading in Irish schools - at least at second level - appears to be good. But is this down to generous funding and support from a succession of governments? Apparently not.
The OECD has produced a detailed analysis of how much each State spends per pupil at primary, second and third level. While the State's overall spending on education is reasonable, the spending per individual pupil, as opposed to teachers' salaries, is poor.
For example, the Republic is in the bottom seven spenders when it comes to primary education and the bottom nine spenders at second level out of 27 countries surveyed.
Denmark, Switzerland, the US, Austria and Norway all spend $6,000 or more per annum on their pupils. The Republic only manages about $3,000 on each pupil.
The reluctance to boost spending at primary level (and thereby cut into budgets at second and third level) is made worse by the large primary class sizes.
It is noted that Ireland has far more pupils in primary classrooms than most OECD countries, with the exception of Asian economies such as South Korea. The pupil-teacher ratio at primary and second level is also very poor, the OECD says. This has long been a complaint of the teacher unions and only the poor performance of countries such as South Korea and Mexico prevents Ireland from coming last in these categories.
With education spending low and classrooms crowded, it is hard to explain the strong performance of Irish pupils, but the report does provide some clues. They seem to get plenty of support from their teachers and parents and are given regular homework, which crucially is corrected by their teachers. This does not happen in several other countries.
While Irish pupils are recorded as being bored a lot of the time, they told the OECD researchers the climate in their classroom was good - at least most of the time.