Over 90% of students stay in school to complete their Leaving Certificate, according to a new report published by the Department of Education and Skills (DES). This is the second year that retention rates have reached 90% and refers to the cohort of students who sat their Leaving Certificate exams in either 2012 or 2013.  The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., is publishing the “Report on Retention Rates of Pupils in Second Level Schools” today.

The report, published on the Department's website, presents the retention rates of pupils who entered the first year of the junior cycle in 2007.  It shows that the retention rates for these students are almost 8% higher than those who began in 1997. The number of young women staying on at second-level has risen by over 8% during this period while the number of young men has risen dramatically by nearly 15%.

Commenting on the report, Minister Quinn said, "I am particularly pleased to see the significant increase in the number of young men staying on to complete the senior cycle.  This is a very welcome development.”
“Ireland’s high retention rates at second level also ties in with our commitments in the Youth Guarantee, which I jointly launched with my colleague Minister Joan Burton last week.  We want to see as many young people as possible staying in education and gaining the right skills and knowledge to be able to secure fulfilling jobs.”
Today’s report shows that there is a small gap between the sexes with 88.36% of males and 91.94% of females staying on in school to sit their Leaving Cert.  

The Minister continued, “It is also very heartening to see that the retention rates in DEIS schools continues to increase and is now at 80.4% for those who entered second level in 2007.  I would like to see this gap narrow, but it is further proof that our DEIS programmes in disadvantaged areas are working.”

The highest Leaving Certificate retention rate in the country was in Meath at 92.94%, followed by Mayo with a rate of 92.93%. There is further good news in the report which shows that last year the proportion of early school leavers in Ireland was 9.7%, down from 10.6% the previous year, and well below the EU average of 14%.  Ireland also has one of the highest proportions of persons aged 20-24 with at least a higher secondary education in the EU (8th of 28 countries). Ireland’s rate of 87% is significantly above the EU average of 80%.

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