It is not at all clear how fees would increase access to third level,writes Evelyn Mahon
It is not surprising that education has once more become a controversial subject. Education has always occupied a key cultural position in Irish life and our educational system is often seen as one of our greatest achievements. While one awaits the review promised by the Minister, there are a number of facts that need to be noted about participation in third-level education in Ireland.
The overall participation in third level has steadily increased over time in Ireland. Forty-six per cent of school leavers entered third level in 1998 as contrasted with 36 per cent in 1992 and 20 per cent in 1980. Our "contest" competitive system is very effective in "warming up" our young people to go to college. This contrasts with sponsor elitist systems, such as in the UK, where admission to third-level places is based on interview performance, letters of recommendation from school principals and predicted exam results.
Entrance to third level in Ireland is meritocratic, based on the points attained in the Leaving Certificate. Entrance to third level is now transparent. The abolition of matriculation and the introduction of a common points system across third-level colleges have made it clear how many points are needed for entry to each course. Anonymised marking in the Leaving Certificate has helped to promote class, school and gender equity at the level of achievement. While class differences in achievement persist, exam achievement, not class background, determines who enters college.
The most striking change over time has been the increase in participation of females, who in 1998 formed 58 per cent of new entrants, reflecting their higher achievement levels in the Leaving Cert. In that year the representation of women was 78 per cent in medicine, 83 per cent in education, 74 per cent in social science, 63 per cent in law.
It is important to note that a discussion on third-level fees has come at a time when third-level education has become feminised, so any negative changes will affect women's educational opportunities.
Research on educational achievement worldwide has indicated a strong relationship between class background and educational achievement. However, the Clancy report (2001) has shown that over time the extent of inequality between classes has actually declined. The evidence he produces shows that the proportion of all social classes entering full-time education has increased and, more interestingly, there has been a diminution of class advantage among what is called the non-manual group (professionals and white collar), always the group most likely to invest in education.
In 1998, first-year students from higher professional family backgrounds constituted 10 per cent of the total intake, almost twice the proportion of places they would have if there was no relation between class and entry to third level; so in Clancy's terms they have a participation ratio of 1.94 and constituted the most over-represented (or advantaged) group in 1998. After them the next most advantaged groups were students whose fathers were farmers, who had a 1.77 participation ratio.
Those who come from lower professional classes are also slightly over-represented at 1.31. While these figures show inequalities, they are a considerable improvement and constitute a decline in inequality since the first Clancy report.
Even between 1992 and 1998, Clancy (2000:71) has estimated a reduction of inequality of 15 per cent (Clancy 2001:179).
This is progress that many other countries would envy.
In 1998, 14 per cent of new entrants to college came from skilled manual and 7 per cent from semi-skilled family backgrounds. While they are under-represented with participation ratios for manual skilled at 0.71 and semi-skilled at 0.70, respectively, it is important to note that the student community in Ireland has become a more heterogeneous one.
Finally, the most under-represented are those from unskilled socio-economic categories who constituted only 3 per cent of entrants in 1998. However, these young students are also the least likely to complete second level in the first place. From the school leavers studies we know that 65 per cent of pupils from these socio-economic backgrounds have Leaving Cert as compared with 90 per cent for higher professional, lower professional and employer and manager backgrounds. This is class disadvantage which needs further analysis.
However, it is difficult to see how the introduction of fees for some would address this inequity in achievement at Leaving Cert. There are many studies on early school leaving and low educational achievement which recommend how these issues need to be addressed.
More importantly, the Clancy Report (2001:146) contains some very interesting and tantalising data that should be discussed in this debate on access to third level. Most notably, there is considerable geographical variation in participation ratios by county. Dublin has the highest inequality index at 3.44, accounted for by the highest participation ratio for those coming from higher social classes (1.60) as contrasted with (0.46) for those from lower social classes. So Dublin has a very distinctive, polarised class structure. This contrasts with counties such as Mayo and Donegal, whose social inequality index is much lower - at 1.07 and 1.18, respectively. They are more equitable educational environments.
Or take a university town like Galway, which has an inequality index of 1.54 as contrasted with Dublin's 3.44. This is because Galway's higher social class advantage at 1.13 is lower than Dublin (1.60) - in effect the advantaged are not as advantaged in Galway as they are in Dublin. In tandem, those coming from lower social classes in Galway are not as disadvantaged, with a ratio of 0.72 in Galway as contrasted with 0.46 in Dublin. These counties provide good practice models that merit further research.
To conclude, it is not at all clear how introducing fees would increase access to third level. In fact it would be a first step towards privatising third-level education. Just as privatised second-level education in Dublin has increased class disparities at second level, the reintroduction of fees is likely to increase rather than decrease class inequities.
• Dr Evelyn Mahon is senior lecturer in sociology at Trinity College Dublin