There are many in Ireland, mainly among the education fraternity, who profess that this country has one of the best education systems in the world. They argue that Ireland's economic success in recent years is largely attributable to our well-educated workforce, the product of our fine schools. But, when looked at more closely, does this contention really hold up, writes principal teacher, Brendan McCabe

Is it just possible that our economic success story has more to do with years of good fiscal planning, our attractive location as an English-speaking country on the periphery of the EU, and, most especially, our very attractive tax incentives for foreign industry?

It is easy to succumb to the old clichés. One senior education figure even professed that there are "no bad teachers in Ireland" in a recent radio interview.

One of the clear inadequacies in primary schools is the ingrained inequality of the system. Middle-class and better-off parents invariably send their children to playschool for at least one year before embarking on their primary education - poorer parents cannot afford this.

This means that from their very first day in primary school there is a discernable difference in progress and educational attainment between the "haves" and the "have nots", and, sadly, this gap continues to widen. The laudable efforts by Trinity College Dublin and other universities to widen access to those from disadvantaged backgrounds are, in most cases, addressing the problem at the wrong end.

Perhaps if class size in infant reception classes was kept small, teachers could then attempt to redress these inequalities. But this is not the case. Despite the fact that the Department of Education and Science will say that the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools is 26:1 the reality is that, in many schools, infant classes of as many as 35 pupils is not uncommon. What teacher could possibly handle a class of that size and provide the type of individual attention needed to effectively address educational differences?

So what about literacy and numeracy levels when measured against other developed countries? Are we top of the bunch? Not at all.

The most recent OECD report would indicate that we are just about middle of the road, which, when measured against the amount of education spending in Ireland compared to other countries, is perhaps not so bad, but nonetheless, a long way short of top of the class.

And what about other subjects? One subject which virtually all teachers agree is in near crisis is Gaeilge (Irish). Standards are declining at an appalling rate. The reasons for this are diverse, but pupil and parental apathy has to be high on the list.

In addition, many young teachers coming out of colleges of education have only a most rudimentary grasp of the language. With the emphasis in the Revised Curriculum on communication and spoken language it is inconceivable that they will be able to teach Gaeilge effectively.

Secondary teachers point to lots of anecdotal evidence suggesting that, after only a very short time of learning a modern language in secondary school, pupils have a greater facility with that language than they have with Irish despite eight years of learning it in primary school.

The standard of teaching in other subjects fluctuates greatly depending on the knowledge and enthusiasm of the teacher. Physical education would be a case in point. Some schools, where there are teachers with an interest in sport, teach the subject very well. Others give it minimal attention.

The same pertains to music. Some schools are blessed, because of the knowledge of one or two of their teachers, with beautiful choirs and school bands. The standard of singing being reached in many other schools though doesn't stretch much beyond "Cockles and Mussels" and Rolf Harris's Two Little Boys.

The teaching of visual arts has the same dilemma. It's what comes of expecting primary teachers to be generalists rather than employing specialist teachers to teach specific areas of the curriculum.

The biggest weakness in the primary-school system in the last 10 years has been the scarcity of trained teachers. On any given day in our schools thousands of children are being taught by well-intentioned but untrained "teachers". This may be acceptable for a few days, but in many cases it extends over one, two or indeed all three terms. It is simply wrong that any child should be taught all year by an untrained teacher.

So let's get real now. Quality assurance in our schools is simply not being adequately monitored. Teachers are examined by inspectors during their first year of service and after that only when the school undergoes a general inspection every five years (and because of the workload of the inspectorate, in reality every seven or eight). Those teachers who are doing great work (the majority) receive little affirmation, while those who are not (the minority) are going undetected.

Everything that is best in our education system is attributable to the goodness and efforts of individual teachers. Thankfully, the majority of those in our teaching force are competent, committed people. Sadly, many of them would say they work well in their classrooms despite the support of the Department of Education not because of it.

Brendan McCabe is principal of St Colmcille's School, Kells, Co Meath. He is writing here in a personal capacity.