Towards a Better Future

Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System
students from 8 th to 14 th . Tables B1:1 in Education at a Glance, both years, show a reduction in
expenditure per student, primary to tertiary, of 6.3% (2015, p. 219; 2016, p, 192). Ireland’s overall
expenditure in 2013 ranked below several of the countries where it was ahead the previous year, e.g.
France and Australia and the overall OECD average. In 2013, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the UK
were ahead of Ireland’s ranking on this variable. Ireland, however, remained ahead of Estonia, Latvia,
Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and, perhaps more surprisingly, slightly above New Zealand. In 2013,
it fell below the OECD average (OECD, 2016a, p. 192). However, as Table 1 illustrates, expenditure
per student in secondary education remained above the OECD average. As Figure 1 shows, Ireland’s
per-student expenditure in 2013 was almost exactly in the middle of all the countries for which
information was presented, but was slightly below the OECD average. While the decrease in Irish
expenditure was 6.3% between 2012 and 2013, it was 7% compared to 2008 levels, while the average
across the OECD increased by 8% over the 2008-2013 period (OECD, 2016b).
On average, across OECD countries, expenditure on core education services represents 84% of total
expenditure per student from primary through tertiary education, and exceeds 90% in Ireland,
Luxembourg, Mexico and Poland. It should be noted that, in common with a number of other
countries, Ireland’s expenditure per student increased from 2000 to 2010 but, due to the economic
crisis, it decreased 2011-2012 (OECD, 2015, p. 222). Between 2012 and 2013, as we have seen above,
it decreased even further (OECD 2016). In OECD countries, expenditure per student by educational
institutions averages 22% of per capita GDP at the primary level and 25% at the secondary level.
The relationship between per capita GDP and expenditure per student by educational institutions
is difficult to interpret. However, there is a clear positive relationship between the two at both the
primary and secondary levels of education – in other words, poorer countries tend to spend less per
student than richer ones. Although the relationship is generally positive at these levels, there are
variations, even among countries with similar levels of per capita GDP, and especially those in which
per capita GDP exceeds $30,000. Ireland and Austria, for example, have similar levels of per-capita
GDP but spend very different proportions of it on primary and secondary education. In Ireland, the
proportions are 19% at the primary level and 25% at the secondary level (below or at the OECD
averages of 22% and 25%, respectively), while in Austria, the proportions are 21% and 31%,
respectively, and are among the largest at the secondary level (OECD, 2015, p.213).
Expenditure per student by educational institutions is largely influenced by teachers’ salaries, pension
systems, instructional and teaching hours, the cost of teaching materials and facilities, the programmes
provided (e.g. general or vocational) and the number of students enrolled in the educational system
(OECD 2015, p.209). Countries have different priorities for allocating their resources. For example,
among the ten OECD countries with the largest expenditure per student by educational institutions at
the lower secondary level, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United States have
among the highest teachers’ salaries after 15 years of experience at the lower secondary level. Austria,
Finland, Luxembourg and Norway have some of the lowest student-teacher ratios at that level.
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