The proportion of students dropping out of school before completing their Leaving Certificate remains higher than pandemic levels, with nine in 10 sitting their exams on average.
The latest school retention report, which tracks secondary school students who enrolled, or began first year, in 2018, noted 90 per cent sat their Leaving Cert exams in 2023 or 2024.
This was unchanged from the 2017 cohort and remained below that of 2015, who completed exams during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report shows 92.1 per cent of that 2015 cohort received either a calculated grade in 2020 – those issued during the pandemic due to related disruption to school attendance – or sat their Leaving Cert exams in 2020 or 2021.
RM Block
Since then, the retention rate has fallen slightly each year to 91.7 per cent for the 2016 cohort and again to 90 per cent for the 2017 and 2018 cohorts.
In total, 6,406 pupils who enrolled in 2018 did not complete their Leaving Cert. Most left school between their first and second year of the senior cycle when 1,015 girls and 1,338 boys dropped out.
When broken down by local authority, Meath had the highest Leaving Cert retention rate at 92.7 per cent. Roscommon had the lowest at 86.9 per cent, followed by Dublin city at 87.1 per cent.
The report does not include other pathways early school leavers may have taken, such as Youthreach, apprenticeship training or early entry into the workforce.
Publishing the latest figures on Monday, the Department of Education said they show “strong overall retention levels”.
Despite the slight dip, the State has the second-highest student retention rate in the European Union, with 96.5 per cent of those aged 20 to 24 being educated up to “at least upper secondary level”.
This compared to an EU average of 85.1 per cent. The State was behind only Croatia (97.7 per cent).
Separately, the gender gap has narrowed from 3.2 to 2.9 points, with girls more likely to sit their Leaving Certificate exams than boys.
The proportion of male students completing secondary school was 88.6 per cent, while for female pupils it was 91.4 per cent.
Voluntary secondary schools – schools owned or managed by religious orders and fee-paying schools – continue to have the highest retention rate, with 91.6 per cent sitting a Leaving Cert exam.
This was followed by community and comprehensive schools (89.7 per cent). Education and Training Boards (ETB) schools had a retention rate of 87.2 per cent.
Separately, the gap in retention between Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) and non-Deis schools narrowed by 1 per cent to 7.7 per cent, with the higher retention rate in non-Deis schools.
The report also shows 98.4 per cent of students completed the Junior Cycle, the highest retention rate on record.
Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton said the “record levels of retention” across the post-primary system demonstrate the “real and sustained impact of our investment in education”.
