Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
The OECD Directorate for Education and Skills develops and analyses quantitative, internationally
comparable indicators and it publishes these annually in a volume entitled Education at a Glance.
Together with OECD country policy reviews, the stated purpose of these indicators is to assist
governments in building more effective and equitable education systems. The most recent editions
of this report at the time of writing were 2015 and 2016. As with so many compendiums of official
statistics, there is a time lag in the availability and analysis of data. Most of the figures in the 2015
Education at a Glance refer to the years 2012 or 2013 and the figures in the 2016 edition refer mainly
to the year 2013/14. In this chapter, we draw upon these two volumes to provide a picture of the
financing and resourcing of selected aspects of education in Ireland, in comparison with OECD
and EU averages, and with selected other countries. All references to Education at a Glance 2015 and
2016 will be indicated by page numbers.
SOME DEFINITIONS
Some key terms must be understood when reading the comparative information provided by the
OECD on financing and resourcing. The indicators on costs, salaries and expenditure are normally
expressed in US dollars (USD). To provide more accurate comparisons, the data for each country
are also converted using Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs). When expressing costs/expenditure etc.
they are calculated for each country in relation to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). All definitions
can be reviewed on the OECD website www.oecd.org.
Purchasing Power Parities
These are the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies
by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries. In their simplest form, PPPs are
simply price relatives that show the ratio of the prices in national currencies of the same goods or
services in different countries. PPPs are also calculated for product groups and for each of the various
levels of aggregation up to and including GDP. Expenditure and costs are expressed in USD
throughout the Education at a Glance volumes. We will use the $ to indicate USD where relevant.
Gross Domestic Product
The OECD state that Gross Domestic Product or income (GDP) is the aggregate used most
frequently to represent the economic size of countries and, on a per capita basis, the economic wellbeing
of residents. Calculating PPPs is the first step in the process of converting the level of GDP
and its major aggregates, expressed in national currencies, into a common currency to enable these
comparisons to be made.
Reading from an Irish perspective there are a couple of things to consider. A country’s progress can
be measured in a number of ways. The most commonly-used measures are the rate of national
economic growth (or income) as measured by Gross National Product (GNP) or Gross Domestic
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