Report finds Protestant boys underperforming in Northern Ireland schools

A report from the North's Equality Commission has found that educational inequality remains a serious problem in Northern Ireland, with Protestant working class boys in particular underperforming compared

with Catholic working class boys.

Generally the study reported that boys persistently underperform compared with girls, with this trend beginning in primary school and continuing through to GCSE and A-level.

"Although there have been overall increases in the levels of attainment for all pupils, males have persistently lower levels of attainment than females," the Equality Commission reported in its draft publication, Key Inequalities in Education.

“Similarly, Protestants persistently have lower levels of attainment than Catholics at GCSE, GCSEs including English and Maths, and A-level,” it added.

The report examined how social-economic status had an impact upon the overall attainment of schoolchildren. “When we look at the educational attainment of males and females from different community backgrounds in respect to their socio-economic status, there is persistent underachievement and lack of progression of working class Protestants, particularly males,” it found.

“Protestant male pupils entitled to free school meals (a measure of social disadvantage) have the lowest rates of attainment in respect to GCSE and A Level results. They also have the highest proportions of non-attainment, and the lowest proportions of school-leavers moving on to higher education,” it added.

Higher education

The Equality Commission found that the persistently lower levels of attainment for Protestant pupils might be a reason why fewer Protestant schoolleavers entered higher education than Catholics. “Catholics are persistently more likely to enter higher education than other groups. Protestants are persistently more likely to enter job training than the other groups.” The report added, “Despite overall increases in the attainment levels of all students, there is a persistent and overarching trend of higher proportions of Catholics achieving the education targets in all three areas (GCSEs, GCSEs including English and Maths, and A-levels), than both Protestants and “Others”. Furthermore, between 2007/08 and 2011/12, the gap between Catholics and Protestants widened for all three education targets.”

The Equality Commission study also found that ethnic minorities suffered educational inequality. While minority ethnic school-leavers are slightly more likely than white school-leavers to enter higher education, they are also more than twice as likely to enter unemployment, after leaving school as their white peers, it added. “Similarly, minority ethnic students are less likely to gain employment after leaving higher education than white students.”

Racist bullying

The report also found that minority ethnic students suffered racist bullying in school. It reported that children from the Traveller and Roma communities had some of the lowest levels of attainment, with the most “negative experiences of education” encountered by Irish Traveller children.

It also found that “transphobic bullying is a significant problem in school settings and such experiences left young people feeling profoundly isolated”.

Citing statistics from 2007 it reported that 97 per cent of students studying home economics were female compared to 35 per cent of those studying economics.

And quoting from 2013 figures it reported that “there was no statistically significant difference” between the scores of boys and girls when examining performance in science or mathematics.

The Sinn Féin education Minister, John O’Dowd, said he took the issue of educational inequality very seriously. “It cannot be solved quickly and while we have made some progress in recent years, this is a multi-faceted, societal issue and one the education authorities and schools cannot tackle on their own,” he said.