ANALYSIS: The latest education report shows how split Irish society still is, writes Emmet Oliver, Education Correspondent
The somewhat jaded assertion that we have one of the greatest education systems in the world is easily and often made in polite society, but rarely subjected to any serious scrutiny.
When occasionally the system is placed under the microscope plenty of weaknesses are visible. The latest examination comes from UCD academic Prof Patrick Clancy, who has collated an impressive range of statistics on who goes to college.
What they appear to show is there are two education systems, not one.
The first one exists in the leafy suburbs of south Dublin, where teenagers come from homes headed by a senior manager or professional. The parents in these homes often attended college themselves and the school-leaver can look forward to getting a place at university with some confidence. They often attend a fee-paying school.
The other system is based in the inner city, west and north side suburbs of Dubin. Fee-paying schools are thin on the ground. The participation rates are often less than 10 per cent and the parents in these areas often have not finished secondary school, never mind third level.
While much of this is known, Prof Clancy has put a geographical shape on the problem.
By analysing data from colleges, the CAO and the Department of Education, he has managed to make the gap between the education winners and losers look all the more stark.
For example, he finds that in north inner-city Dublin only 17 young people managed to make it to third level. This compares with 336 in Foxrock/Glencullen and 481 in Terenure/Rathmines.
The divisions are not purely geographic, though - they exist at school level too. Prof Clancy also found that 71 per cent of those in fee-paying secondary schools get to college, compared to 50 per cent of community schools and 38 per cent of vocational schools. Prof Clancy has been researching third-level entry statistics for many years and the social stratification in Dublin and elsewhere has altered little.
However, even the small changes over the last few years seems to indicate that things are getting worse, not better.
When Prof Clancy published his last batch of figures, there was predictable concern at the following participation rates: 21 per cent in Finglas/Ballymun and 19 per cent in Clondalkin/Neilstown.
But in what Prof Clancy yesterday described as a "disturbing" trend, participation in these areas of Dublin has declined since 1992. Finglas/Ballymun, in his latest report, has a third-level participation rate of 14 per cent, with the Clondalkin/Neilstown area slipping back to 13 per cent.
Prof Clancy said yesterday fresh research would be needed to gauge comprehensively the reasons behind this decline. The news for these areas is more alarming when one considers that other areas have made gains in the intervening period.
For example, middle-class families have moved into areas such as Kilmainham/Inchicore, Ringsend and other parts of the south inner city in recent years and this is understood to have contributed to improvements in third-level participation, says Prof Clancy. Outside Dublin, the report shows steady improvements in the west, with Galway topping the league table with an almost 57 per cent participation rate.
Donegal, already facing troubled times economically, would seem to have a problem, with just over 35 per cent of its population attending college in the Republic. However, a further 10 per cent attend colleges in the North.
So what can be done to close the glaring gaps? The colleges all have access programmes now, but these are badly funded and cannot cater for large numbers of students. Getting students into college is about more than just points, however. Often students have the points for a place, but with no culture of third-level learning in their home, the chance of getting a job appears more appealing.
Also, colleges are often not great at making courses attractive to people at work or mature learners who missed out on third-level education earlier in life. Dr Don Thornhill, the chairman of the HEA, has said this will have to change. "More of the same will not be enough," he has told the colleges.
The colleges will have to start building their courses around people in the future, not the other way around.