OECD Reviews of Migrant Education: Ireland 2010

By international standards, immigrant students in Ireland, on average, perform as well as their native peers at age 15. However, non-English speaking immigrants face particular challenges and do less well. Ireland is undertaking measures with a focus on language support and intercultural education. There is scope to improve access to quality early childhood education and care for all, especially for immigrant children; strengthen learning opportunities for language support teachers; concentrate efforts on mainstreaming language support and intercultural education into regular curriculum, teacher education and research; enhance capacities of teachers and school leaders to be more responsive to the growing linguistic and cultural diversity of students; ensure access to school, home and community liaison services for immigrant families; collect better data to further encourage schools to adopt diversity and inclusive education; and set up a framework for continuous feedback embedded in policy evaluation and school inspection.