‘Children from these communities’: unequal school provision, segregation, and the Irish educational landscape

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper assesses equality in Irish post-primary education, focusing on the provision of state-funded education and specifically on the provision of schools not segregated by religion, gender, or the charging of fees. Using the concept of the educational landscape, it integrates a macro-micro perspective that combines an analysis of national data generated by the Central Statistics Office and the Department of Education and Skills with a case study in Dublin. It shows that educational provision is far from equal in Ireland. Outside of Irish cities, it is largely the norm for the state to provide schools that do not separate or exclude children on the basis of religion, gender, or ability to pay. However, within Ireland's cities, such provision is much lower, and the educational landscape remains highly segregated. Moreover, within Dublin, it is not only the provision of inclusive (i.e. not segregated) post-primary facilities that is unequal, but the provision of post-primary education more generally. This spatially unequal educational investment may be linked to other inequalities experienced by Dublin's teenagers, with children in areas of low and segregated school provision spending a disproportionately large share of their time travelling to school compared to children in areas of higher state investment.