UNDERSTANDING THE DATA

While a national debate regarding the fairness of the Leaving Certificate examination process continues, an analysis of student performance at school level has never been more pertinent. The 2020 school league tables have been compiled using a consistent methodology which facilitates year-on-year comparisons since 2009.

Each year we consider the number of students that achieved a place in a third level institution as a percentage of the total number of students that sat the Leaving Certificate at each respective secondary school.

In order to complete such a longterm analysis, certain accommodations have to be made. For example, third level bodies generally do not break out figures for students who previously attended a college or university. This can lead to instances where the number of students that achieved a third level place from a particular school exceeds the number of students reported as sitting the Leaving Certificate. In such cases, we cap the percentage of students achieving a third level place from a specific school at 100pc.

Other factors to take into consideration are instances where schools have introduced a transition year, amalgamated or closed. In such cases, we will break out the individual percentages up to the point of change. If schools have amalgamated, then we report the amalgamated figure from that year forward.

Such changes inevitably inject a significant amount of variation in the percentages reported for some schools, and so it is important not to draw far-reaching conclusions with respect to a particular school without taking its background into account. This being said, when considered over the full period the data does yield important insights.

The trends regarding the performance of fee-paying schools versus non fee-paying schools may be well documented. What the data shows is that this performance gap has been narrowing over the past decade. The data also highlights a significant difference in performance between single sex and mixed gender schools at Leaving Certificate level. What does this say about the school environment and the pressures facing young students today? How does the Leaving Certificate examination address these issues, and what could it do better?

The education of future generations is a cornerstone of our economic model, and as a society we strive for each generation to have a better education than the one that went before. In order for this to happen, we need to measure the results and the tables presented here play a part in that process. However, the fact that one school outperforms another in terms of the number of students that attain third level places is a very narrow lens with which to judge institutions. Opportunities for sport, the arts and all manner of extracurricular activities are not measured. Neither is the school ethos nor the mental health of the students attending.

We fully acknowledge that these tables are high-level, contain known limitations and lack context. They will only ever inform part of the picture.