New research has revealed schools in Ireland are open for roughly the same amount of time each year as those in other European countries.

Education network Eurydice carried out a study for the European Commission that found the country's policy that primary schools must operate for at least 183 days and secondary schools for 167 is not too dissimilar to rules in other nations, the Irish Examiner reports.

However, the amount of holiday time given to pupils during the summer differs significantly between primary and secondary schools, which is fairly unusual in the EU.

Over summer, Irish primary schools are closed for nine weeks, while secondary establishments are shut for 12 weeks.

In other countries, the length of the summer break tends to be exactly the same for students at both levels.

Lithuanian schools have some of the shortest summer holidays, with children given as little as five or six weeks off, while Turkish and Latvian schools are closed for 13 weeks.

Written by Donal Walsh

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