Education Flashcards
(14 cards)
How has Education targeted equality of opportunity?
- Within education there has been a shift in equality of opportunity policies over time.
- From universal initiatives designed to promote equality of access
- To targeted initiatives designed to promote equality of access and equality of participation (approximating with equity on illustration)
- equality vs equity picture- baseball game, fans watching
Indicator of inequality in education rates in Dublin?
Estimated participation rates in higher education by Dublin
postcode (HEA, 2014)
- Dublin 6 99% – Ranelagh, Rathgar
- Dublin 10 16% – Ballyfermot, Cherryorchard
- 3.5% of medicine enrolments come from disadvantaged areas… 36.3% of medicine enrolments come from affluent areas” (HEA,
2019: 40)
- Bourdieu (1996) calls the ‘ideology of the gift’ – upper class children are naturally gifted/talented/ academic ability comes easily to them/without effort.
What are Pobal Maps?
- A geographical information system that maps affluence and disadvantage in Ireland.
- A way of seeing how educationally unequal we are as a society – spaces of privilege and disadvantage geographically close but very far apart in social and economic terms, especially in urban areas.
How is Educational Inequality expressed in Social classes?
- Parental Education: twice as likely to go to college if parents had 3rd level degrees rather than those without. (cultural/economic capital)
- Environment: less likely to go to college if from disadvantaged area/DEIS school (social capital/social networks)
- Cost: expense a deterrent for families just above funding threshold, wealthy families invest in children’s education (economic capital)
What issues were facing educational disadvantage in Ireland?
Acknowledgement of it as a problem signalled a shift in approaches to educational opportunity from formally ensuring access (reforms in the 1960s) to trying to ensure equity or fair participation in a more substantive way. But the definition/problem focused on deficit – students are not deriving appropriate benefit, rather than broader/systemic inequalities that involve advantage as well as disadvantage.
What changes were made at first and second level education?
- Lead to creation of DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) in 2005.
- Criteria for inclusion are based on deprivation indicators (e.g. the age dependency rate, population change, primary education figure, third level education figure, male and female unemployment rates).
- Approx. 30% of students attend a DEIS school – not all from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Approx. 20% of primary schools ‘DEIS’ schools
- 26% of second level schools ‘DEIS’ schools
- DEIS interventions have improved numeracy and literacy scores,
the retention rate after Junior Certificate and the transfer rate to
third level but gaps remain with non-DEIS schools (Gilmore and Singleton, 2024
What stills needs to be done for 1st/2nd level education
At macro level, contributors such as Lynch (2019) argue that a comprehensive effort needs to be made across all areas of social policy to reduce unequal educational outcomes, including efforts taxation, social protection, housing, labour market and childcare policy to ensure equality.
- At the meso level – with education policy, initiatives such as DEIS need to focus on closing the gap rather than raising the floor. This implies focusing on progression and attainment – through mentoring students, forging stronger connections between DEIS schools and third level education – enhancing HEAR programmes etc.
* Some meso level policy change is happening but there is less change at the macro level.
What changes are being made at third level/higher education?
Fourth such plan: Targets particular groups and sets out actions to
increase their participation in higher education so students in higher education fully reflect the make up of Irish society.
This includes The socio-economically disadvantaged, Travellers and Roma, People with disabilities including ID(intellectual disability)
Within the first group, recognition o different life situations that can
impact on participation in higher level education.
But no data on these life situations and no specific targets associated with them.
What targets are being outlined in the third level education plan
54% from socio-economically disadvantaged areas by 2028 does not bring this rate up as far as 2019/2020 average (63%).
Focus on funding to enhance existing direct supports SUSI (eligibility thresholds), Fund for Students with Disabilities (FSD), Student
Assistance Fund (SAF) and funding for HEIs for particular initiatives (HEAR and DARE)
What was the Education Act 1998?
Education Act 1998 obliges Minister for Education to make available the support services and a level and quality of education appropriate to meet the needs and abilities of every person, including children with SEN, and children from culturally diverse backgrounds.
However, in a form of ‘state-sanctioned exclusion’ (Ledwith and Reilly, 2013: 321), until legislation in 2018, exemptions allowed schools preserve their religious ethos, prioritising those with similar religious backgrounds
What issues do Travellers face in gaining education?
- Traveller parents have to navigate schooling for their children coming from their own experiences of education as an ‘alienating and unfriendly experience’ (Boyle et al., 2020:1400)
- he invisibility of Traveller lives in the curriculum is also a challenge – lack of Traveller Cultural Awareness Training and Teacher Training Programmes, compounds the problem of alienation
- But also examples of good practice – including Traveller parents in school supports/activities, cultural awareness training provided by Travellers
What changes did the Admissions to School Act 2018 make?
- Disallow the use of waiting lists (being phased out over a 5
year period) and the charging of admission fees. - Admission policies will not be allowed to prioritise pupils of
particular religions or denominations, i.e. use religion as an
admission criterion (with exceptions for minority religious
pupils/schools in over-subscribed schools). - Replace ‘first come, first serve’ rule with an annual admissions notice publishing date on which applications open and close
What are different types of religious schools
Denominational – tied to one religion and religious education
Inter-denominational – more than one religious patron and religious education taught accordingly.
Multi-denominational – typically do not provide one form of religious education and teaches about diverse faiths and religious
- Catholic schools declining due to number of schools being closed
down or merged, rather than divested, (118 Catholic schools between
2012 and 2022
- However, in 2022, 88.5% of primary schools are still under Catholic patronage
What are the rates of second level religious schools?
In 2021 730 Schools in Ireland: 344 (47%) are Catholic. 359 (49%) are inter-denominational (ETBs/vocational/tech schools) or multi-
denominational (Educate Together)
