EXAM fatigue has been partly blamed for the poor performance of Irish 15-year-olds in international reading and maths tests.
It may be more a case of "don't care" on the part of Irish students, rather than "can't do", according to a new analysis of the OECDProgramme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.
There was shock last year when it emerged there was a fall in reading and maths scores for Irish students in the PISA.
A dramatic decline in reading achievement leftIreland performing at only average level in the developed world, while maths performance was also down.
PISA is an international survey of student achievement in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy across over 60 countries in the developed world, carried out every three years.
Governments put a lot of store in PISA for what it tells them about how students compare, and it is watched carefully by multinational employers making decisions about where to locate.
According to the analysis, Irish students "did not engage in, or try as hard", in PISA in 2009 compared with previous tests. They tended to skip many questions in the last quarter of the tests, although the proportion of correct answers in the first quarter of tests did not change.
This was particularly the case in reading tests, while the results for maths suggest that a drop in proficiency was also an issue. A detailed study of PISA 2009 attributes the decline partly to the timing of the test in the run-up to the Junior Cert. About two-thirds of those who took the PISA 2009 were sitting the Junior Cert.
PISA is conducted in March, when many Irish 15-year-olds in the middle of oral and practicals are generally focusing on the June exams.
The UK, by comparison, runs PISA in the autumn, which is well away from pupil exams.
But there is also an acceptance that standards have dropped in Ireland. Based on the initial findings, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn last year announced a new literacy and numeracy strategy.
Since 2000, there has been an increase from 32pc to 44pc in the number of students who don't read for enjoyment.
Another particularly worrying aspect of the analysis is that eight schools had a very low average performance overall in 2009, but they can't say why.
Immigration
A more in-depth analysis of PISA 2009 has been carried out by the Educational Research Centre (ERC) in Drumcondra, north Dublin, as well as an independent review by Statistics Canada.
Researchers identified a number of other possible reasons to help explain some of the decline, including immigration. Immigrant student numbers rose from 2.3pc in 2000 -- predominantly from professional families -- to 8.3pc in 2009, with many of the newcomers from lower socio-economic groups.
The growing popularity of Transition Year (TY) could also be dragging down the results. There has been an increase from 16pc to 24pc in the percentage of students in TY, with a corresponding decrease in fifth year.
