SEAN F. O LEARY,
A chara, - I write in response to the recent series of ad-hoc surveys (such as that published by the Farmers' Journal and reported widely) which purport to rank schools and counties in regard to the percentage of students progressing to third-level education.
A number of commentators and self-appointed experts have made much of the "findings" of these surveys. I believe it is very important that the general public be made aware of the deeply flawed foundations of these analyses and conclusions.
The data on which the ad-hoc surveys are based relate only to the university sector and ignore totally the 14 institutes of technology and other third-level colleges.
The institutes alone account for 40 per cent of third-level student population and their absence therefore constitutes a major omission by any standards. The students of DIT, for example, are ignored, although their alma mater is the largest third-level college in the State.
The partial information presented is extremely misleading both in terms of geographical and individual school participation.
For example, poor participation rates of 25 per cent and 20 per cent are published for counties Waterford and Wexford respectively. These rates are meaningless as they disregard the students of the Waterford Institute of Technology, which is the pre-eminent college in this area. Another example is the patently ridiculous figure of 15 per cent quoted for Co Donegal. The survey, of course, ignores cross-border colleges and the Letterkenny Institute of Technology, the sole third-level college in that area.
The accuracy of the ad-hoc surveys can be gauged by comparison with Dr Patrick Clancy's authoritative 1998 National Survey of Access to Higher Education. For example, Dr Clancy estimated Co Sligo participation rates at 48 per cent for males and 63 per cent for female. The partial information "analysed" by the ad-hoc survey contends that Sligo participation rates are only 25 per cent.
The prime reason I have written this letter is, in my capacity as a third-level lecturer, I and my colleagues have been approached by many distressed and angry teachers and students whose schools have been "ranked" on partial and misleading information. For example, a well-known mid-Cork school with a long tradition of third-level participation is ranked with a percentage progression in the mid-20s; the real figure for that school for third-level progression in September 2002 was close to 90 per cent.
The conclusions of ad-hoc surveys based on grossly inadequate information are worthless and have done a great disservice to students, parents and teachers. I suggest that they be filed away in the appropriate receptacle - the nearest waste-bin. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN F. O LEARY,
Abbeyview,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.