The government's chief inspector has revealed there are 60 schools in Ireland that are rated as seriously underperforming.

Nearly half of these continue to have severe weaknesses despite the intervention of the Department of Education's school improvement group, the Irish Times reports.

Chief inspector Dr Harold Hislop said the education system in Ireland needs greater accountability in order to improve standards.

"The most effective educational systems have good levels of quantitative and qualitative data to monitor student progression and achievement and to monitor the effectiveness of schools," he said.

Dr Hislop added a change in culture to encourage principals to more closely evaluate the performance of their staff would be beneficial.

Since being established in 2008, the school improvement group has dealt with 39 primary and 21 post-primary schools, with reforms including changes to management or teaching staff, further inspection visits and in some cases, financial penalties.

Studentnews.ie has also reported the Department of Education has promised a tough new crackdown on underperforming teachers, which could see those failing to new new standards facing the sack.

Written by Donal Walsh
 

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