Structural Inequalities in the Irish Education System and the Role of Community Education in Removing Barriers to Participation

Structural inequalities in the Irish Education System and the role of Community Education in removing Barriers to Participation

In this essay the concept of educational disadvantage will be explored as a product of the unequal distribution of wealth and privilege.  It will look at how the Irish education system is geared towards those with adequate economic means and specific attitudes and values which can be identified as being middle class.  It will then look at the specific group of people with low levels of literacy skills and examine how participation in community education has allowed them to overcome their difficulties by providing safety and supports and by validating their experience and knowledge and allowing them to regain the dignity and self-esteem robbed from them by the education system.

We live in an unequal society where communities and individuals are divided by class, income, attitude and expectation.  Nowhere is this inequality more apparent than in the education system.  It is most obvious when examining the figures for early school leavers (pre-Leaving Cert) (OECD, 2013), however, it is present from the day a child is born.  It manifests itself in sub-standard healthcare, poor nutrition, inadequate housing and denying her the ambition and expectations that other children take for granted.  In the realm of Education this inequality is identified as “educational disadvantage” and has been the subject of much consideration by policy makers and front-line workers within the social, educational and political institutions of Ireland for many years (Combat Poverty, 2003) (INTO, 1994) (Labour Party, 2004) (Collins, Healy, & Reynolds, 2011) (Downes & Gilligan, 2007).  Successive governments have tackled this thorny issue with a variety of schemes being implemented that have, with greater or lesser success, tackled areas such as equality of access, specific learning difficulties, pre-school provision, etc .  However, there is a general consensus amongst front-line organisations that successive government initiatives, although welcome, have been limited by their schools-based approach and have failed to address the issue of poverty and systemic social injustice that lies at the root of educational disadvantage (Spring, 2007), a view that was succinctly expressed in a report by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation that Poverty, in particular childhood poverty is a result of the “structural inequalities which characterise our society and which map our children's futures from the moment their lives begin.” (INTO, 1994).

It is apposite at this juncture to take a brief look at the structure of the education system in Ireland.  All formal education in Ireland is now state funded with  1st and 2nd levels directly under the control of the Department of Education and Skills which oversees the running of the schools setting regulations for management, resourcing and staffing of schools, prescribing curricula and paying teachers’ salaries (Department of Education and Science, January 2004)^[1].  Schools at these levels have historically been run and managed by the Churches (primarily Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Church of Ireland) and religious orders (Tovey & Share, 2000).  In recent years this effect has been mitigated slightly by the establishment of schools such as Educate Together which were started and run as non/multidenominational schools and by boards of management comprising parents and other interested parties with representation from the local VEC (ETB).  Most schools (with the exception of Technical Schools) tend to follow a highly academic curriculum leading to a final examination that determines the 3rd level education that can be undertaken.  At 3rd level the universities and colleges are funded through the Higher Education Authority (HEA) which is a statutory body in charge of planning and policy development for higher education and research.  It also fulfils a regulatory role overseeing and setting standards while safeguarding institutional autonomy and academic freedom (Higher Education Authority, year unknown).  Given that there is a relative homogeneity between schools at 1st and 2nd levels due to their historic foundations and structure and the fact that they all of follow the same National Curriculum it follows that any inequalities in that structure will be apparent throughout the system and reinforced by repetition.  

The Combat Poverty Agency has defined educational disadvantage thus:  “… a situation whereby individuals in society derive less benefit from the education system than their peers.” (Combat Poverty, 2003).  So, why do some individuals derive less benefit than others?  The purpose of the mainstream Irish education system is twofold: employment and socialisation (Tovey & Share, 2000). These purposes are inherently conservative in nature – they deliberately set out to preserve the status quo, supporting the capitalistic system of perpetual economic growth and propagating the “moral, spiritual, religious, cultural and social” values traditionally respected in Ireland (Clancy, 1999).  In other words this approach to education is based firmly on an interpretation of values supplied by and supporting the dominant culture.  It therefore stands to reason that there will be substantial sections of Irish society that are, by definition, excluded from full participation in the social, cultural and economic discourses that comprise the dominant, middle class, culture.  Baker & Lynch (2005) maintain that the social class bias in this situation is, in many cases, so strong that a type of educational aristocracy of inherited privilege is emerging with the tacit support of the state in practice if not in principle.  This manifests itself in the number and variety of barriers to education, both structural and psychological, experienced by those who do not conform to the middle class standards by which performance is measured.  

An obvious example of a group of people who are excluded from participation in education are those who, having gone through the school system (or, in most cases, a part of it), leave without having gained adequate literacy skills.  A lack of these skills has an immediate marginalising effect on those affected.  They are at a huge disadvantage when interacting with bureaucracy, services providers, employers, etc.  Their ability to improve their economic circumstances are compromised and their participation in the democratic processes of society is curtailed.  Moreover, because of the way in which the education system is structured the onus for success or failure within that system is thrust onto the individual.  In this way those people whom the system has failed are spat out with an overwhelming sense of their own failure; labelled as “stupid”, resigned to a life of drudgery and frustration.  The psychological implications of this are immense.  Literacy learners often exhibit a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence that is debilitating.  They label themselves as “stupid”, “slow”, “useless”, demonstrating the internalisation of externally imposed standards of success.  There is also the stigma of being seen as “illiterate” to contend with and people with literacy difficulties will go to enormous lengths to conceal what they see as their failure.  This in turn can lead to self-imposed isolation and loneliness as they will often turn down opportunities to become involved in social or community activities or fail to put themselves forward for greater responsibility or promotion in their work.  Speaking to these learners the common theme running through their understanding of why they didn’t “do better” at school is that they were allowed to fall behind and no support was offered to those who were struggling with school work.