Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to go to their local secondary school than those from well-off backgrounds, who benefit from a wider choice of schools and significant advantages within the educational system, new research has revealed
According to a study of children making the transition from primary to second level, to be published later today, streaming of children as they enter second level is also widespread in schools. This can have a negative effect on the quality of education which children in lower streams receive.
Social background influences student transfer from primary to post-primary schooling in a number of ways, Ms Maeve O'Brien, the author of Making the Move says. The book is published by the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin.
"Students from lower socio-economic groups in disadvantaged schools almost inevitably moved to their local second-level school without any deep engagement in a process of school selection," Ms O'Brien says.
However, students and their families from better-off backgrounds engaged more carefully in school selection.
"Schools were in fact chosen for reasons of being more exclusive and thus apparently providing a better education than the local school. It appears that at the point of second-level school choice, middle-class parents attempt to preserve and transmit privilege through the school system," Ms O'Brien says.
"It is evident from our interviews with parents in our study that middle-class parents possess greater economic and cultural capital which affords them and their children a greater range of choice than those in more disadvantaged circumstances.
"This allows the privilege of class at the point of school transfer to remain hidden and may perpetuate the myth of equal choice for all at second level transfer."
Streaming of classes at second level also has a significant impact on students' attitudes to schoolwork, the study also reveals, and can have a negative effect on the self-esteem of students in lower streams.
"They stated that they were often not challenged by the work and that being assigned different subjects made them feel different to students in higher streams. In general, students in lower streams appeared to be getting a different quality of education."
Approximately 150 children from 11 primary schools were surveyed before and after they entered 34 second-level schools between 1999 and 2000.
The study also reveals that much valuable energy is "wasted on control of students' appearance", particularly in girls' schools.