Online literacy 'above average'

Irish teenagers are above average at reading digital and online texts, according to an OECD educational study.

The latest volume of the organisation’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) measured the ability of 15-year-old students to read, understand and apply digital texts, including e-mails and websites.

It found Irish teenagers ranked seventh out of 16 OECD states behind South Korea, New Zealand, Australia and Japan but above countries like Belgium, Norway and France.

The above-average result contrasts with the poor performance of Irish students in the traditional paper-based literacy tests, published by the OECD last year.

The former study found Irish 15-year-olds had fallen from fifth to 19th in the literacy rankings, the steepest decline of any developed country.

A striking feature of the latest study was that fewer students (12 per cent) across all countries had difficulties in digital reading compared with the traditional reading (17 per cent), reflecting the greater levels of computer literacy among young people.

Ireland’s average score on the digital reading assessment, at 509 points, was 13 points higher than its average score of 496 points on the traditional paper-based literacy test.

While girls performed better than boys in every OECD country, the report found, the difference was less marked than in print reading, with girls scoring an average of 24 points more, compared to a difference of 39 points in print, the equivalent to one year of schooling.

In Ireland, the difference between boys and girls was found to decrease from 39 score points to 31 score points.

“Harnessing boys’ relatively strong digital reading performance may be a way to improve their overall reading ability and engagement,” the report recommended.

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said: “While it is reassuring to see that Irish students compare very well with their OECD counterparts in this study, there is clearly no room for complacency about reading standards in our schools.”

“The results of this digital literacy test and the Pisa 2009 tests published last year seem to confirm that a decline has occurred in reading standards in Ireland over the last decade.”

Sheila Nunan of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation said: “Contrary to what was claimed by many commentators last year when the results of the print reading tests were announced, there is no meltdown in Irish educational standards.”

ASTI teacher union representative Pat King said the report indicated Irish schools and students had embraced new technology and “teachers are steadily weaving technology into the fabric of second-level education”.

The report indicated the percentage of students using computers in Irish schools, at 62.9 per cent, was significantly lower than the OECD average of 74.2 per cent.

Head of education policy at employers’ group Ibec Tony Donohoe, said: “Ireland’s ability to remain a leading provider of technology-based goods and services is dependent on digital literacy levels. These figures demonstrate the gap that we have to close.”