Parents have little or no access to vital information about their schools and their children's education and no one has a duty to provide this information, a conference heard yesterday.
Prof Kathleen Lynch of UCD's Equality Studies Centre, who was speaking at the National Parents' Council (primary) annual conference in Limerick yesterday, said there are three classes of parents in terms of their knowledge of the education system.
One group, known as insiders, all have university degrees and have the resources to manage the education system well.
Another class, known as intermediaries, are slightly less privileged. Although they might know a lot about the way the education system here works, they often lack the resources and confidence to challenge it.
However, outsiders are the least well-off socio-economically and do not know the basic facts about entry to third level, she said.
"More importantly, no one inside or outside schools informs them about such matters and they \ inadequate and fearful in approaching schools about their children's education.They literally do not know the right questions to ask."
Prof Lynch also called for the establishment of a national equality action plan for education, which would set targets based on student outcomes as well as inputs.
A disproportionately high number of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds take foundation-level mathematics.
"What this means in practical terms is that students who are not taking the higher-level papers at Junior level cannot take higher level papers for the Leaving Certificate.They simply cannot compete, therefore, for entry for many of the more prestigious degree courses," Prof Lynch said.