The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today welcomed the publication of the report on School Size and the Quality of Teaching and Learning.
The report from the Departments Inspectorate found that there is no significant relationship between school size and the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in schools.
This report will form part of the Small Primary Schools Value-for-Money Review, currently being finalised by the Department.
Announcing the publication of the report, Minister Quinn said: I welcome the valuable information in this report and would like to thank the Inspectorate for all their work in compiling it.
The report shows that while there are, in some cases, differences between small schools and larger schools, in respect of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, these differences are not directly associated with the size of the school.
The report draws on information gathered through school inspections and through questionnaire surveys of parents and pupils.
The data from whole-school evaluations show that the quality of English lessons is marginally better in larger schools, while there is little difference between the quality of mathematics lessons in smaller schools compared with larger schools.
The report also found that parents of pupils in larger schools hold slightly more positive views on the quality of teaching than do parents in smaller schools.
However, the Inspectorate points out that none of these differences are statistically significant.
The Minister concluded by stressing that the report was not an attack on small schools but rather a valuable tool in the debate on such schools.
"I recognise that small schools are an important part of the social fabric of rural communities," he said, And they will continue to be a major feature of our education landscape.
However, at a time of great strain in our public finances we have to ensure that the very valuable but limited resources available to the education system are used in the best way possible.