Second-level students have said they are bored in class because their courses are out of date and impractical.
The OECD reported earlier this week that 67 per cent of Irish students are bored in school. This was the highest level recorded in the survey of industrialised states.
The Union of Secondary Students (USS) said yesterday students were left unchallenged by courses with few practical elements or relevance to young people.
"Outdated courses and the failure to deliver improvements in various curricula is contributing to the lack of interest shown by students," said USS president, Mr Daire Hickey.
However the group said even though the rate of boredom was high, they were still achieving very high grades compared to their European counterparts.
The group pointed to the dispute between the ASTI and the Department of Education over the introduction of new syllabi in home economics and biology. The teachers' union refused to introduce the syllabi because of its long-running pay campaign.
Mr Hickey said the USS believed improvements to biology and home economics courses were very important in helping to prevent boredom. "We would like to see teachers implement these courses as soon as possible, as students are continuing to suffer," he said.
"Courses should be made more practical and hands on, the Leaving Cert as a whole should be revised as it is completely out of date and quite stressful; the USS supports a restructuring of the Leaving and Junior Certs along with improvements in many courses," he said.
Asked what subjects USS wanted to see changed, Mr Hickey said English was the main one.
"English should be updated, we should be educated on the more alternative uses of the English language by using media studies and film, with less of a stress being put on the current texts and course material," he said.
The OECD report highlighted the low spending of Irish governments on education and Mr Hickey said this had to change.
"It is known that for every 1 per cent of money the Government spends on a student they will receive about 10 per cent back, and the Government should be taking advantage of the willingness of Irish students to learn, study and progress by feeding them with the knowledge they need, for the students of today are the workers of tomorrow."