Actas da - Xunta de Galicia

Language Policy Implementation: Constraints and Feasibility Barriers
Table 5: Father’s Social Class by Education
Social Class* Level of Education Achieved
Primary only Intermediate Leaving Third-level Total
% % % % %
I 11 18 32 39 100
II 18 15 32 35 100
III 30 20 37 13 100
IV 44 25 24 8 100
V 43 24 27 6 100
VI 64 21 10 5 100
Source: ITÉ National Survey 1993 (* for details of Social Class scale, see Ó Riagáin
1997).
Although only a minority of post-primary graduates proceed to third-level
education, this minority is not randomly determined. Access to education,
particularly third-level e ducation, is in large part determined by social class
(Breen et al. 1990: 131), as can be seen from Table 5 .
Whereas over one third of respondents in the top two classes proceeded to
third-level education, this was true for only about one twentieth of those from
the two lowest classes. The consequences of these inequalities for social policy
are, of course, the subject of much political debate but, as the foregoing
analysis would suggest, they are also reflected in the class profile of those who
study Irish at the most advanced level in the post-primary sector.
Conclusions
The educational system is a very complex one, comprising different levels
(primary to third level) with different administrations and different sources of
authority at each level. Furthermore, the functions of an educational system
extend beyond a simple educational role. It is also an instrument of economic
and social policy and obviously reflects many other besides purely educational
considerations.
In the past the relative priority attached to cultural and ideological factors
benefited the language by facilitating its inclusion on the curriculum as a
cultural provision. But more recently State policy has moved away from its
earlier ideological orientation. Following the expansion of the post-primary
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