Delma Byrne

Immigration and school composition in Ireland

In the last decade, Ireland has experienced a rapid increase in immigration on a scale previously unknown in the countrys history. Over this time, Ireland has been transformed to an increasingly heterogeneous country in terms of nationality, language, ethnicity and religious affiliation. These changes have also impacted on the composition of Irish schools. The article draws on data collected for a large-scale study of primary and second level school provision for immigrant students. The findings indicate the absence of the degree of school segregation found in many European countries, mainly due to the geographical dispersal of the immigrant population and the wide variety of national groups represented. However, the interaction between geographical location, parental choice of schools and school admissions criteria means that immigrant students are overrepresented in larger schools, schools located in urban areas and those with a socio-economically disadvantaged intake.

Cumulative disadvantage? Educational careers of migrant students in Irish secondary schools

Recent rapid immigration of a diverse group of migrant children into an almost exclusively White Irish school population makes Ireland an interesting case study for migrant education. This article explores key points in the careers of migrant secondary school students in Ireland from an equality perspective. The article draws on data gathered as a part of a large-scale study specifically designed to investigate provision for migrant children in Irish schools. The results of the study show that migrant students in Ireland face a number of educational barriers in terms of access to schools, placement in classes, year groups and types of secondary school programme. This disadvantage is likely to impact on their future life-chances in terms of progress to further education and their place in the labour market, as well as their general social positioning in the Irish society.

‘The sooner the better I could get out of there’: barriers to higher education access in Ireland

As economic circumstances in Ireland, as elsewhere, remain difficult and applications for higher education entry reach record numbers, there has been renewed focus on higher education access. This article draws on the findings of a major Irish study which focuses on a group that has not shared in the general trend towards increased higher education participation – the offspring of the ‘lower non manual’ group. This article draws on the findings of that study to examine the barriers such young people face in accessing higher education. It is based on a combined analysis of 10 years of School Leavers’ Survey data and in-depth life-history interviews with school leavers whose parent(s) were employed in such non-manual jobs. Overall, the study points to the role of cultural, educational and economic factors shaping the higher education entry patterns of young people. It addition it highlights the importance of examining within as well between class patterns of educational attainment.

An Introduction to Computerised Analysis of Qualitative Data.

Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the use of qualitative research, particularly in the human sciences. Such a move has resulted in an increasing number of researchers across disciplines using various types of qualitative software specially designed for managing text and facilitating analysis of qualitative data. However, we feel that limited information is available on the nature and practical use of these programmes in the Irish context. This has led to various misconceptions regarding the use of such programmes. In addition, international literature has highlighted the importance of making the qualitative research process more transparent in terms of describing in detail the analytical procedures applied in qualitative research. This article seeks to open up the debate surrounding qualitative data analysis and provoke discussion about the use of qualitative software packages in educational research. Based on a mixed-methods educational research project involving a substantive qualitative component, this article explores the joy and despair associated with using Qualitative Solutions Research (QSR) Non-numerical Unstructured Data: Indexing, Searching and Theorizing Version 6 (‘N6 software’), and aims to dispel some of the myths that exist around using such software.

New School, New System: The Experiences of Immigrant Students in Irish Schools

Since the exceptional economic growth of the last decade, Ireland has been transformed from a country of emigration to one of immigration, with a marked increase in the numbers of immigrant school-age children and young people. This chapter draws on data collected for a pioneering mixed methods study on school provision for immigrant students in Ireland, comprising both primary and secondary school sectors. It uses cultural transmission theory as a framework for examining the nature of interaction between immigrant students and Irish students and teachers. Immigrant students are found to occupy an ambiguous position: On the one hand, they are ‘outsiders’ with little familiarity of the nature of the Irish school system, while on the other hand, the highly educated profile of immigrant families means that they often possess the kinds of cultural capital valued by the school system.

Effectively Maintained Inequality in Education: An Introduction

A growing literature has investigated socioeconomic inequality in education crossnationally. One promising theory of inequality is effectively maintained inequality (EMI; Lucas, 2001). EMI observes that all outcomes, including educational attainment, have two dimensions: (1) a quantitative dimension (e.g., the number of years of education obtained) and (2) a qualitative dimension (e.g., the program of study pursued). The contention is that analysts must consider both dimensions to ascertain trends and dynamics of inequality. Given the multidimensional nature of goods, when applied to education EMI contends that socioeconomically well-off children will receive qualitative educational advantage even if quantitative outcomes are equalized or quantitative advantage is impossible. Thus, EMI contends that equalizing quantity is insufficient to undermine inequality, because inequality in the types of education obtained can effectively reproduce patterns of advantage and disadvantage. Certainly, many analyses have usefully treated the quantitative or qualitative dimensions of education. EMI, however, addresses both dimensions simultaneously. As nations expand the quantity (e.g., number of years of study) possible and elaborate the qualitative positions (e.g., types of study) possible, assessing both dimensions simultaneously may greatly illuminate the complex dynamics of inequality. EMI postulates have been translated into expectations for statistical analyses. Under EMI statistical significance—that is, the difference between the statistical coefficient and zero—is not the focus. Instead, under EMI we should observe effects of socioeconomic status such that our predictions should differ for theoretically focal persons simply on the basis of socioeconomic background.

BERA Review 2006: Education Research and Policy.

The review examines the relationship between educational research and policy, from the post‐war period to the present, throughout the United Kingdom. Its purpose is to (a) illuminate the changing relationship between education research and policy, and (b) to clarify the different ways in which that relationship is understood. Its overarching purpose is to enable the education research community to locate current debates about research and policy within historical and theoretical frames of reference, and to enable researchers to locate themselves and their work in this contested area. The review is structured in three main sections. The first explores the shifting meanings of research and policy, with attention to the ways in which particular definitions of research produce consequences for the ways in which policy is understood, and vice versa. From these discussions, which include differences between applied, basic and strategic research, and between ‘policy science’ and ‘policy scholarship’, the authors offer a typology of education research–policy relations. The second section explores the meanings of research and policy in historical context, and examines the growth of research in education from the post‐war years to the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the key themes in the relationship are introduced, and the historical origins of some current controversies are traced and explored. The third section looks at the research–policy relationship in the current context, with attention to the growth of evidence‐informed policy‐making, and to major disputes and controversies about research quality and methodologies. Throughout the review the focus is largely on education research in England, but comparative points, drawn from the history and contemporary experience of the Centre for Educational Sociology (CES), are made about research‐policy relations in Scotland, as are wider points about international developments.

Seven Principles for Assessing Effectively Maintained Inequality

Effectively maintained inequality (EMI) was proposed as a general theory of inequality, but the theory flows from a decades-long tradition of studying social background effects on educational attainment. After an orienting discussion of several historic challenges of the study of social background effects on educational inequality, proposed and adopted solutions to those challenges, and subsequent critiques of those solutions, we offer and justify seven principles that, if followed, produce a solid assessment of EMI. After conveying the seventh principle, two illustrative ways in which EMI addresses historic challenges with studying inequality are conveyed.

Student Retention in Higher Education

As education systems place increasing emphasis on accountability, it is timely to assess the factors that contribute to student retention in higher education. This chapter examines how Irish HEIs compare in their student retention patterns and if this changes when compared on a like-for-like basis, taking account of student characteristics such as prior academic performance. The results show that wide institutional differences in retention to a large extent reflect differences in the types of students enrolling in different colleges. However, some colleges with more disadvantaged intakes fare better, all else being equal, pointing to the role of academic supports, teaching and learning approaches, as well as student engagement in college life in promoting success.

Effectively Maintained Inequality in Educational Transitions in the Republic of Ireland

While it is well established that the structure and organization of the education system affects youth transitions, less attention has been paid to the study of qualitative distinctions at the same level of education over time in the Irish context. Using data from the School Leavers’ Survey over the period 1980-2006, this paper considers the hypothesis of effectively maintained inequality in the case of the Republic of Ireland. The data capture young people’s transitions during three distinct and remarkable macro-economic fluctuations, and makes a particularly interesting test case for EMI. Over the cohorts under investigation, Ireland had changed from a recessionary economic climate and prolonged economic stagnation for much of the 1980s to a booming economy by the middle of the mid-2000s and one of the most dynamic economies in the world during the “Celtic Tiger” period. The patterns of social-class inequality over a 30-year paper reported in this article suggest that qualitative differences at the same level of inequality represent a persistent barrier to greater equality in the Irish context. Specifically, we find three notable patterns to support the hypothesis of EMI with regard to tracking decisions taken in the transition from lower secondary to upper secondary, subject-level differentiation in the upper secondary mathematics curriculum, and access to university higher education.