Highest ever number of students are completing second level
The number of students staying in school to complete their second level education is now at its highest rate ever.
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn TD, has today (Fri 13th of May) welcomed the publication of the "Report on Retention Rates of Pupils in Second Level Schools" conducted by the Department.
It shows that the number of young men staying in secondary school has risen dramatically by 11.7% in 8 years.
The percentage of students who sit the Leaving Cert overall has risen by more than 6% to 87.7% in the same time period.
The report, published on the Department's website, presents the retention rates of pupils who entered the first year of the junior cycle in the years from 1991 to 2004 and completed second level schooling no later than 2010.
Commenting on the report, Minister Quinn said: "I am particularly pleased to see the high number of young men who are now completing their Leaving Cert exams. This is a very welcome development."
82.4% of males are staying on to sit their Leaving Cert, according to today’s report, which is a dramatic rise of 11.7% in 8 years. However, a small gap remains between the sexes with 86.5% of females completing second level.
The Minister continued, "It is also heartening to see the average Leaving Certificate retention rate in DEIS schools increased by 5 percentage points from 68.2% to 73.2% for students who entered second level in 2001 to 2004."
"While issues in the labour market have probably had an impact on the improvement in retention overall, measures taken by this department such as the extra resources provided to the 200 second level schools under DEIS and programmes like the School Completion Programme have certainly played their part."
Students who attend voluntary secondary schools continue to have the highest retention rates at both Junior Cert and Leaving Cert stages. VEC schools have, on average, lower rates of retention to Leaving Cert, especially for males, although the gap is narrowing; it should also be noted that many transfer to apprenticeships and other forms of training, which are not taken into account in the report.
In terms of geographical spread, County Longford has the highest retention rate in the country at 89.4%, followed by Mayo at 88.6%. Cities tend to have lower rates of retention than other areas. Limerick City (77.6%), Dublin City (80.1%) and Cork City (80.6%) had the lowest rates.
There is further good news in the report which shows that last year the proportion of early school leavers in Ireland was 10%, down from 13% in 2004. The latest data for all 27 EU member states in 2009 shows Ireland, with 11%, ahead of the EU averages of 14% for the 27 member bloc and 16% for the EU 15 respectively.