Towards a Better Future

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Chapter Seven: The School System: Equality, Inclusion and Rights take-up of STEM subjects for our economy. However, there is also a developing awareness of the importance of what are called the ‘STEAM’ subjects - i.e. the way in which combining the Arts with the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics can foster greater creativity and innovation. The OECD has pointed out that, in Ireland, while 22% of men study Science, only 11% of women do, with an even smaller proportion of women studying Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction – 3%, compared to 22% of men (OECD, 2016b). Stereotypical choices have significant labour market implications for students and for social, cultural and economic development. There is substantial work to be done in schools of all types in fostering non-stereotypical subject choices among their pupils. While female students out-perform boys in most subjects at Leaving Certificate level and predominate in Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) and other further education programmes (O’Connor, 2007), there is one area of education that is almost entirely male-dominated. This is the apprenticeship area. Apprenticeships are set to provide an increasingly important pathway for school leavers. Currently, apprenticeships operate primarily in a number of designated trades, including engineering, construction, motor, electrical, printing, and furniture, and men have typically accounted for 99.5% of graduates of such programmes (O’Connor, 2007). Submissions to the Review of Apprenticeship Training in Ireland (DES, 2014c), established by the Minister in 2013, considered that an improved gender balance would best be achieved by widening the scope of apprenticeships into new areas such as business administration, ICT, social care, hospitality, financial services etc. The widening of scope forms part of the strategic plan of Solas (Solas, 2014). Following the Review, the Apprenticeship Council was established. It commenced an invitation process for new apprenticeships in order to identify apprenticeships that could expand into new sectors of the economy, across a range of qualification levels and mapping out the sectors where new apprenticeships could make a real difference to both employers and employees (Apprenticeship Council, 2015). This would result in Ireland moving closer to the model that prevails in Germany, which includes both craft and service occupations, although there is evidence that there too such occupations are gender-typed (Smyth and Steinmetz, 2015). Addressing the gender inequality, which characterises this important avenue to employment, will need to be a strong focus both for government policy and for careers advice in schools. Analyses of patterns in European countries, including Ireland, show the apparent advantages enjoyed at school by high-performing girls are not always ‘cashed out’ into later advantage in higher education and beyond (EU Commission, 2009). In Ireland, the OECD and the EU, at all levels of educational attainment and all age-groups women’s earnings range from just 73-79% of those of men (OECD, 2016a, p.126). With regard to educational achievement, it must be borne in mind that gender intersects other differentiating variables and both boys and girls are often disadvantaged sufficiently by their family backgrounds to obscure the effects of gender differentiation (Gorard et al., 1999). For example, working-class girls are often both disadvantaged and not identified as such. — 131 —
Towards a Better Future: A Review of the Irish School System SEXUAL ORIENTATION It is just over twenty years since homosexuality was decriminalised in Ireland. Since then successive Irish governments have introduced a range of legislation giving recognition and rights to people who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or intersex (LGBTI). The relevant legislation includes the Equal Status Act 2000, the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, the Gender Recognition Act 2015, the Marriage Referendum 2015, the Marriage Act 2015 and the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015. Thus, in the last two decades, Ireland has made significant advances in achieving equality for its LGBTI citizens. Ireland is now considered internationally as a forerunner in progress on equal civil rights of LGBTI people (Higgins et al., 2016). There are, nonetheless, still problems to be addressed – especially among the school-going population. The advocacy agency GLEN (2016) has pointed out that it is highly likely that every school and classroom in Ireland has LGBT students. A recent survey of 8,000 young people found a sizeable minority did not identify as heterosexual – 8% identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, while a further 3% were unsure of their sexual orientation. Applying the 8% figure to the current enrolment in second-level schools amounts to approximately 29,000 young people who identify as LGBT. Whether they are ‘out’ or not, this is a sizeable minority (ibid.). A study on the mental health of the LGBTI population shows that 12 is the most common age for people to know they are LGBTI and that, in spite of the societal change, there has not been a significant reduction in anti-LGBTI bullying in schools (Higgins et al., 2016). Such bullying can have a devastating impact on LGBTI teenagers’ mental health. This survey by Higgins et al. showed that, although the general levels of mental health in the LGBTI population were quite good, the youngest age group in the sample (14-18) had the highest level of mental health difficulties. Their rates of severe depression, anxiety and stress were four times higher than rates in a survey of general Irish adolescents (p. 25). Bullying is a very serious issue and may affect any individual or category. The DES (2013b) defines bullying as ‘unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual or group against another person (or persons) and which is repeated over time. The following types of bullying behaviour are included in this non-exhaustive definition: (i) deliberate exclusion, malicious gossip and other forms of relational bullying; (ii) cyber-bullying; and (iii) identity-based bullying such as homophobic bullying, racist bullying, bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community and bullying of those with disabilities or special educational needs’ (p. 8). — 132 —
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Towards a Better Future

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