Abstract
This article explores social class and gender differences in entry to the two main higher education sectors, universities and institutes of technology, among school leavers in Ireland over the period 1980–2006. A rational choice perspective is adopted, with participation hypothesised to reflect the costs and benefits attaching to attending the two types of institution. The initial expansion of higher education resulted in a widening of the participation gap between the higher professional and other groups, with some reduction thereafter as higher professional groups reached near-saturation levels. The removal of higher education tuition fees in 1996 was not sufficient to increase working-class participation in a context where other direct costs remained high and employment represented an attractive option. The period analysed saw a significant shift in the gender composition of higher education entrants, with young women now making up the majority. This article points to the value of taking a dynamic approach to analysing higher education participation, unpacking the effects of expansion in provision and of the costs and benefits attached to higher education entry.
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Notes
Shavit and Blossfeld (1993), however, find little evidence of maximally maintained inequality in their study of 13 countries.
These figures refer to institutions recognised by the Department of Education and Skills and so exclude private colleges.
Entry for those without upper secondary qualifications is generally only possible for those aged 23 years or more rather than for school leavers.
An alternative approach would involve graphing the probabilities of entering higher education sectors over time. In such a figure, both relative and actual participation rates will change over time. Because the focus here is on relative differences in entry by social class, we use odds ratios rather than probabilities to present a clearer picture. Odds ratios are commonly used in social stratification research, including research on higher education entry (see, for example, Roksa 2008).
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McCoy, S., Smyth, E. Higher education expansion and differentiation in the Republic of Ireland. High Educ 61, 243–260 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9375-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9375-x