Primary school pupils in Ireland are getting better at reading and maths, according to a new report released today.

The latest national report shows standards are getting better among both boys and girls, and the first significant improvement, from one assessment period to another, in over thirty years.

It is the first time since 1980 that Irish pupils are showing an increase in either literacy and numeracy.

The Minister for Education, Jan O'Sullivan, says it's down to hard work by teachers and parents:

“That indicates very positive work done by the schools, by the students, by the teachers and indeed the parents as well because ... a mixture of different strategies were used in the overall strategy and certainly this is very positive news in terms of literacy and in terms of numeracy,” she said.

The improvements were announced today in the performance report on the 2014 National Assessments of English reading and Mathematics.

Prepared by the independent Educational Research Centre, the assessments involved a representative sample of over 8,000 pupils in 150 primary schools, using secure tests.

The results showed a significant jump in the standards of sixth class pupils from the 2009 assessment, and the first significant improvement recorded in over 30 years. The last major improvement was between 1980 and 1972.

Ms O’Sullivan warned that there was still room for improvement, saying: “the results leave scope for improvements, especially in maths and in DEIS schools”.