The Department of Education have published a School Retention Report today which shows that retention rates in schools have reached an all time high at an average of 90.6%. The report is based on analysis of 56,075 students who entered secondary school in 2008 and then progressed to sit the leaving cert either in 2013 or 2014.
Some other key findings:
- The number of students completing the Leaving Certificate continued to increase with 90.6% of the 2008 entry completing the Leaving Certificate
- The rate of completion for the previous year’s cohort was 90.1%.
- The rate of completion a decade ago (1998 cohort) was 83.6%
- The retention rate for males continues to improve and the gender gap for those students entering secondary school was 2.67%. This compares to a difference of 3.59% for the previous year’s students. For the 2008 cohort 91.93% of females completed the Leaving Certificate while 89.26% of males completed the Leaving Certificate.
- The average retention rate for DEIS schools continues to increase with 82.1% of those entering secondary school in 2008 completing the Leaving Certificate. By comparison the completion rate in 2001 was 68.2%
The full report can be accessed on education.ie.