Children of professionals get an average of almost 140 more points in the Leaving Cert compared with those born to lower-skilled parents.
Similarly, students from two-parent families do better in their end-of-school exams than those from one-parent families.
The research findings are among a number gathered as part of a new report, The State We Are In: Inequality in Ireland 2024, produced by the Tasc think-tank.
It highlights the persistence of inequality from parents to their children, but also flags progress being made in boosting educational outcomes for students attending disadvantaged – or Deis – schools over the past decade.
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Data on Leaving Cert points is drawn from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study, which followed children born in 1998 until they were 20 years old.
It found the average Leaving Cert points score for students in the study was 386.
Children of professionals got an average of 464 points compared with 326 points for those whose parents were the lowest skilled, a 138-point gap.
Those from two-parent families (397 points) also did better on average than those from one-parent families (338).
In addition, students whose parents had a university education were substantially more likely to be in university themselves.
Some 86 per cent of those whose mother had a degree were in higher education, compared with just 48 per cent whose mothers’ highest level of education was the Junior Cert or less.
The report also cites data showing the class divide between students in fee-charging schools and others.
In fee-charging schools, for example, 60 per cent of students attending were in the richest 20 per cent of households.
Furthermore, more than half of the students in fee-paying schools had a primary caregiver with a third-level degree, compared with fewer than a quarter who did so in all other types of schools.
Overall, the report finds that, despite Ireland’s relatively low levels of educational spending, our educational outcomes are impressive.
It says various programmes pursued by the Department of Education to address educational inequality have had some “real successes”.
For example, the proportion of early school-leavers from Deis – disadvantaged – schools had fallen significantly over the past decade, while the percentage of students progressing from Deis to higher education rose from 45 per cent in 2012 to 60 per cent in 2022.
Despite these successes, the report notes that educational outcomes for students in non-Deis schools are better than those in Deis schools.
“These facts are not surprising, but the stark reality that children’s future lives are so heavily determined by the position they are born into in our unequal society illustrates a fundamental injustice,” the report states.
“Nevertheless, whatever the limitations of addressing educational inequality by itself, high-quality primary and secondary education are entitlements enjoyed by everyone in society. This is something that people can be secure in, contrasting strongly with the insecurity that people on low incomes experience in many other aspects of their lives.”
The report says that while there are many things governments can do to address income inequality, such as introducing a living wage or boosting income supports for workers on low incomes, education can play a central role in creating a more equal society.
“Key to building a society of equals is the provision of high-quality universal services, such as education, that can be used to address disadvantage. However, it should not be expected that education can address social inequality by itself,” the report concludes.
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