Responding to School Disaffection: Insights from the Republic of Ireland.

Abstract

Dr Timothy Murphy Senior Lecturer Carnegie Faculty of Sport and Education Leeds Metropolitan University Headingley Campus Beckett Park Leeds LS6 3QS Introduction In a recent publication, Fitzgerald (2003) inquired if the educational system in the Republic of Ireland was catering adequately for the less able learners and/or those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This paper responds to the question by providing an overview of educational inequality in the Irish context with a particular focus on what are referred to as critical transition points, at which particular cohorts of students are perceived to be in danger of dropping out of the system. It will also provide an examination of the explanations that are typically put forward to explain the persistence of educational inequality in the Republic of Ireland. Such persistence is all the more glaring when one considers the amount of investment that has been allocated to it, particularly since the middle of the 1960s. The concluding section will highlight specific strategies for tackling the vitally important question of educational disadvantage in the Irish context.