A major international conference on education that will be attended by leading figures in the OECD begins in Dublin today.
The Paris-based OECD is arguably the most influential external force in Irish education policy. Every year it provides an authoritative account of how the Irish education system is faring and benchmarks this performance against other OECD nations.
The OECD influence is particularly strong in the Republic as there is no British-style office for standards in education to assess performance.
Publication of school league tables of a type common in many developed nations is also prohibited under the Education Act.
The conference, New Education Policy Challenges, will explore themes such as social exclusion and the objectives of education.
It will also consider the changing role of teachers and trends in higher education.
The secretary-general of the Department of Education and Science, Mr John Dennehy, is chairman of the OECD education committee.
The OECD was the first international group to highlight the low literacy levels in Irish education, and its findings have had a major influence on policy.
Its policies place a strong emphasis on educational disadvantage, strategic planning by education systems and the rights of citizens as education consumers.
In recent years the performance of the Irish education system has improved significantly.
According to the OECD's annual Education at a Glance report, this State spends a relatively small amount of money on its students, but still manages to get pupils to perform strongly in key areas such as reading, science and, to a lesser extent, maths.
In the most recent survey, Irish pupils are placed fifth in relation to reading ability (out of 27 countries) and eighth when it comes to science literacy. As for maths, the performance is less impressive, with Irish pupils coming in at 15th position.
This relatively good performance comes despite long-standing underinvestment in education.
For example, the Republic is among the bottom seven spenders when it comes to primary education and the bottom nine at second level out of 27 countries surveyed.
Dr Tom Kellaghan of the Education Research Centre said yesterday that the OECD had been a force for radical change in the Irish education system.
"Its emphasis on combating education disadvantage has helped frame much of our policy," Dr Kellaghan said.