Pupils living in a lone-parent household averaged significantly lower reading test scores than those living in other family units, according to the largest survey of reading ever carried out in Irish primary schools.
The report, launched yesterday, finds no improvement in overall literacy standards in the past six years, despite the economic upturn and vastly increased Department of Education funding.
It also shows how some 30 per cent of children from poorer backgrounds have serious reading difficulties - three times the national average.
The report says 44 per cent of poorer children are taught by unqualified teachers or those with less than one year's experience. In response, the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said she would be exhorting primary school principals to address this issue at their annual conference shortly.
The report - based on tests conducted on some 8,000 pupils in 1st and 5th class - confirms a clear link between home environment and reading ability. The main findings include:
Children who are read to regularly before they start school performed brightly in the survey.
Pupils whose parents have rules limiting the time allowed for TV or computer games have higher average scores.
Children covered by medical cards, or where parents have no educational qualifications, tend to have low test scores.
Few teachers use computers as part of English lessons.
There has been no increase in the number of books and other educational material available in homes.
Girls tend to do better.
The report is critical of the learning support regime. Almost 50 per cent of learning support teachers, it says, have not completed a recognised one-year course in remedial educating learning support.
Ms Hanafin said the new action plan for educational inclusion - Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, launched last year - aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities are prioritised.
The report, Succeeding in Reading?, was prepared by Dr Eemer Eivers, Dr Gerry Shiel, Rachel Perkins and Dr Jude Cosgrove of the Educational Research Centre at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin.
