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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
— October – November 2013
T
HE impact of rising economic ine-
quality on inequality in education
is profound, especially over time.
Education is essentially a compe-
tition for advantage in an unequal society.
Those who have most resources and wealth,
outside of education, can and will use it to
gain advantage for their children within
schools and colleges. Under-resourced pub-
lic services like education, services on which
those with lowest incomes depend heavily,
cannot guarantee equality of opportunity
for all.
Wealthier parents can afford to, and are
enabled to, subsidise their children privately.
Their private annual expenditures on edu-
cation through fees, grinds, tutoring, trips,
summer camps, IT supports, etc often far
exceed total state expenditure on a given
child per annum. As Michael Marsh noted
in his book ‘Class Dismissed’ (), eco-
nomic inequality is at the root of educational
inequality, and enabling economic inequality
to rise annually is a way of actively promot-
ing educational inequality.
Yet this is precisely what has happened
and is happening in Ireland as the rich are
getting richer and the poorest are getting
poorer: between and , the
wealthiest ten percent of households experi-
enced an % increase in disposable income
while the poorest ten percent had a %
drop in disposable income. (CSO, :
, Figure d).
This pattern persisted with the new
government, as poverty rates increased
between and : “In , the
at risk of poverty rate increased to .%
from .% in …. Almost one quar-
ter (.%) of the population experienced
two or more types of enforced deprivation in
up from .% in ” (CSO, SILC,
:). The OECD’s ‘Economic Survey
of Ireland’ (OECD, : ), published
in September, confirms that “Poverty and
social exclusion have increased since the
crisis…”
Cuts to Educational Services and
Supports: Punishing the Poor
Not only have the current and previous gov-
ernments enabled economic inequalities to
rise, they have compounded this injustice
by cutting or greatly reducing the supports
that lower-income households need to par-
ticipate as equals in education. Blanket cuts
to child benefit in the recent budget had the
greatest impact on those who are poorest; as
have the very significant decreases in Rent
Allowance, which eat into the very meagre
budget of the poorest families in the State.
Both recent governments have also
reduced the resources that schools and col-
leges need to support those who do not have
access to discretionary funding from their
families. While the unjustifiable cuts to edu-
cational services for children with learning
disabilities have received some public atten-
tion, relatively little attention has been given
to the significant reduction in language sup-
ports for immigrant children, despite the
evidence from the census that one in
seven children under the age of is from
an ethnic minority (excluding Traveller) or
migrant background. Traveller-specific edu-
cational supports have also been devastated
with a cut of % in recent budgets. This
happened despite compelling evidence that
Travellers are among the most educationally
disadvantaged groups in Ireland. As many
immigrants and Travellers are not only eco-
nomically and socially vulnerable, but also
lack a powerful, organised public voice, this
makes the attack on their educational sup-
ports especially reprehensible.
Class Inequality and
Educational Attainment
A survey by Barnardos in found that,
on average, parents are spending € for a
child in senior infants, € for children in
fourth class in primary school and € for
children going into first year in second-level
education. Yet the Back to School Allowance
in was only € for children aged
four to eleven and € for a child aged
or over, for that minority who are enti-
tled to it. This is an enormous disparity
Economic inequality creates
educational inequalities
…and class-based cuts to education, an engine for equality, subvert other rights
and goods for the most vulnerable. By Kathleen Lynch
Different
childish
views of
equality
NEWS
SPECIAL
Secondary Education
between expenditures and supports. When
this is combined with the reduction in school
transport supports (unless the child has a
medical card), and the planned reductions
in one–parent-family payments, it is clear
that both the current and previous govern-
ment policies have been to punish the most
vulnerable and the most voiceless.
Policies that increase economic inequali-
ties and reduce public educational services
and supports will exacerbate an already
unequal educational system. Emer Smyth
and Selina McCoy’s ‘Investing in Education’
(: , Figure .) report showed that
there were already significant social-class
differences in attainment before the financial
crisis. At the end of primary school, children
from higher professional backgrounds had
a mean literacy score of (out of a possi-
ble ) while those from semi- or un-skilled
manual backgrounds had a score of and
those in households where neither parent
was employed had a mean score of . These
social-class-related differences are huge and
are compounded by, and contribute to, dif-
ferences in educational attainment at junior
and leaving certificate levels, all of which, in
turn, translate into further class inequali-
ties in gaining access to higher education.
What the government is doing is making a
bad educational situation worse for the most
disadvantaged.
Cuts in Higher Education:
Keeping people in their place
Although there has been no major discussion
of the impact of cuts on low-income work-
ing-class, immigrant, disabled, lone-parent
or mature students in higher and further
education, the impact has been considera-
ble. Between and , students were
among the groups that showed a statistically
significant change in their at-risk-of-poverty
rate. While .% of students were at risk
of poverty in , this rose to .% in
. This means that almost one third of
students are now at risk of poverty (CSO,
: ).
There have been a number of really per-
nicious cuts in further and higher education
that are profoundly class-biased and that
have led to this situation. New entrants
under the Back to Education Allowance
(benefitting the disabled, lone parents and
the unemployed) will no longer get main-
tenance support. This makes it almost
impossible for those mature students on
low incomes, or those with young children
who need childcare, to return to third-level
education. Moreover, those students who
are from low-income families and on grants,
at undergraduate level, and who need to do
a further degree/diploma to qualify for a job
(such as the PDE required for teaching) are
now facing a situation where they will not
have their fees paid unless they are on the
poverty line, and they will receive no main-
tenance grant.
Families on very average or low incomes
have to pay fees of €, per year for each
child in college. The removal of grants for
most postgraduate education affects those
on lowest incomes most; and it creates a
comparative advantage for those whose fam-
ilies can support them to do Masters degrees
or equivalent, gaining credentials that are
increasingly required to make one profes-
sionally employable in many walks of life.
Taking into account involuntary part-
time work, and workers marginally attached
to the labour market, the youth employment
rate [in Ireland] is closer to % (Figure )
[and that] Ireland has one of the largest rates
of youth who are neither in employment
nor in education (NEET) (Figure , OECD
Economic Surveys: Ireland : -).
Given this situation, it is both counter-intui-
tive and counter-productive (especially given
the plan to have a highly skilled economy) to
prevent students from low-income families
from qualifying fully for the professions that
they planned to enter, by cutting basic sup-
ports for fourth-level education. Surely the
solution is to tax those higher earners who
benefit from public higher education (includ-
ing taxing capital which is often unearned),
rather than penalising those who need to be
educated?
Education as a Human Right
Education is a basic human right and is rec-
ognised as such in Article of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and Article
of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The reasons why education
is defined as a fundamental
right are important to artic-
ulate publicly at a time when
education is increasingly
defined as a market commod-
ity that should be provided on
a ‘pay as you go’ basis:
First, education is indis-
pensable for realising other
rights, including the right
to political, economic and
cultural participation.
Second, education has an
intrinsic value for the devel-
opment of the individual,
enabling the person to exer-
cise capabilities, choices
and freedoms. Third, edu-
cation enables individuals
and groups to overcome
other social disadvantages
and prior discriminations,
and builds capacities to
succeed. Fourth, educa-
tiona; credentials are vital
for getting access to other
goods, especially employ-
ment. Finally, education is
a Public Good as well as a
Personal Good. It enriches
cultural, social, political
and economic life.
Education is a right that needs to be pro-
tected. Neither the loudness of a group’s
political voice nor the strength of its politi-
cal clout electorally, should determine who
can get access to, and participate equally in,
education in a just society.
Kathleen Lynch works in the Equality Studies
Centre, UCD School of Social Justice
At the end
of primary
school,
children
from higher
professional
backgrounds
had a mean
literacy score
of 43 (out of
a possible
50) while
those from
semi- or
unskilled
manual
backgrounds
had a score
of 28
“
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Income 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Equivalised disposable
income per individual 19,768 21,229 23,610 24,380 23,326 22,138 21,440
At risk of poverty threshold
(60% of median inclome) 10,057 10,566 11,890 12,455 12,064 11,155 10,889
Poverty & Deprivation Rates % % % % % % %
At risk of poverty rate 18.5 17.0 16.5 14.4 14.1 14.7 16.0
Deprivation rate 14.8 14.0 11.8 13.8 17.1 22.6 24.5
Consistent poverty rate 7.0 6.6 5.1 4.2 5.5 6.3 6.9
