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Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today welcomed the findings of a report that shows a rise in the number of students completing second level education.

The report, “Report on Retention Rates of Pupils in Second Level Schools” was conducted by the Department of Education and Skills. According to the findings, the number of students staying in school to complete their second level education is now at its highest rate ever. 

The number of young men staying in secondary school has risen by 11.7% in 8 years, while the percentage of students who sit the Leaving Cert overall has risen by more than 6% to 87.7% in the same time period.   

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.”

“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.”

82.4% of males are staying on to sit their Leaving Cert, compared to 86.5% of females. 

The report also 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.