Analysis of Factors Causing Young Irish People to Leave School Early

This report examines the factors contributing to the increasing number of school dropouts among young Irish people at the second and third levels of education. The report analyzes five peer-reviewed articles, identifying key themes and findings. These include the impact of truancy, social factors such as gender, parental education, and community deprivation, as well as school-related issues like academic achievement and the school environment. The research also considers the influence of course specialization and students' preparedness for college courses. The studies highlight the importance of addressing academic, social, and economic factors to improve student retention rates and educational outcomes in Ireland. The report synthesizes these findings to provide a comprehensive overview of the complex issue of school dropouts.

SOCIAL CARE PRACTICE -
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
Topic: What are the factors that caused young Irish people to drop out of school at second and
third level?...................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5
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INTRODUCTION
The topic that has been selected for the CA exercise i.e. the reason behind increased
number of Irish students dropping out of school before the second and third level is a rising issue
or concern for the Irish Government. The Irish Times concluded that as many as 6000 Irish
Students studying in third level failed to reach the second level and hence the concern regarding
the educational qualifications and various other aspects has come on the forefront ('It's not just
getting your foot in the door': Over 6,000 third-level students don't make it to 2nd year, 2017).
Therefore, citing the current issue and the importance and cruciallness to research about this
problem was the major reason behind selection of this topic as the topic for the assignment. In
this report, five peer reviewed articles would be taken into consideration and a brief summary of
what has been presented by the authors on those articles will be presented to draw relevant
conclusions. This will assist in ascertain what are the scholars point of view regarding the
increased number of school dropouts in Ireland.
MAIN BODY
Topic: What are the factors that caused young Irish people to drop out of school at second and
third level?
Article 1: Darmody, M., Smyth, E. and McCoy, S., 2018. Acting up or opting out? Truancy in
Irish secondary schools. Educational Review. 60(4). pp.359-373.
In this article the researcher analysed the relationship that sexists between the truancy
levels in the Irish Society and its link to the performance of the student. It was found by the
researcher that truancy level is extremely high in the working class of the Ireland as compared to
other classes and the schools in which the majority of the students belonged to the working class
were also found to be high in the truancy levels. The researchers argued that the reason behind
this was that the young people tend more towards disorder and are less supportive which makes
the truancy levels high in such young students. The researchers used relevance theory in order to
conduct an empirical analysis of the habits of the individuals and institutionalisms concluding
that institutional habitus is a very major factor in influencing the development of truancy levels
amongst the Irish people. Basically, the authors stated, truancy is a form of resistance that is
adopted by the students in order to portray that they are not satisfied or do not agree to the
current systems and practices that have been adopted in their schools. This regularly increasing
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truancy levels are directly associated with the decrease in the retention level of the students in the
Irish Schools.
Article 2: O'Connell, M. and Freeney, Y., 2019. The intention to leave education early among
Irish Junior Certificate Students: Variation by school. Irish Educational Studies. 30(3). pp.305-
321.
The researchers concluded in this research paper that there are various social factors that
are linked to the students dropping off from the school earlier i.e. before completing their entire
education. These factors involve gender, education of parents, income level, community
deprivation etc. and these are the factors responsible behind shaping patterns of dropping out
form school at an earlier stage in their life. In their research, the researchers used theory of
planned behaviour using which they tried to ascertain the reason behind the mentality of the
early Irish schoolers to leave their education without completing it entirely. They selected 20
Irish schools teaching in the second levels were selected for the purpose of conducting the
research and it was ascertained that three of the major components responsible for the such drop
out amongst the students were academic results, demographic factors and the cultural gap in
school that intervened with the manner in which education is supposed to take place in the school
and shape an individual.
Article 3: Frostad, P., Pijl, S.J. and Mjaavatn, P.E., 2015. Losing all interest in school: Social
participation as a predictor of the intention to leave upper secondary school early. Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research. 59(1). pp.110-122.
The researcher, in this research paper found put that the number of students dropping out
of school was constantly on rise and had become a major issue in the country now leaning
towards becoming a serious case of crisis for the country. This research paper further
strengthened the claim that the three major factors responsible behind this increase rate of
dropout were demographic, social or cultural, academic achievement and school factors. In this
research paper 2045 students that were enrolled in the second levels of upper secondary schools
in Norway were taken for conducting the study and were analysed using the hierarchical
regression model. The researchers concluded that the intention of dropping out from the school
was the dependent variable in the study and the independent variable on which this variable
depended were the support of the teacher, loneliness in the school environment and culture etc.
these factors influenced the intention of the student to drop out from college very strongly and
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other factors like friendships and the acceptance levels amongst the peers were not as influential
a factor as the other two factors.
Article 4: Gormley, I.C. and Murphy, T.B., 2016. Analysis of Irish third‐level college
applications data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society). 169(2).
pp.361-379.
In this article, the researcher tried to ascertain where the education system of Ireland was
going wrong in imparting education to the youth of the country and for the purpose stated they
decided to review the entire procedure of admission in the Irish College for third level students.
The researchers suggested that the higher degree of courses and their specialisation given in the
structure i.e. syllabi of the college made many of the young students disambiguated where they
were not able to recognise themselves and hence the glamour of these higher order courses led to
these youth of Ireland leaving the better and more rewarding option of choosing vocational
course that would have given them the necessary income and education. Mixture model was used
to analyse the application that were made for the degree and it was ascertained that gender was a
major influential factors in selecting such high level courses and the geographical location as
well as discipline of the school were further additional factors that were involved in the students
choosing this course and late dropping out of the colleges or schools.
Article 5: 'It's not just getting your foot in the door': Over 6,000 third-level students don't make it
to 2nd year. 2017. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.thejournal.ie/dropouts-
universities-college-3361109-Apr2017/>
In the article published in The Journal, it was concluded that the dropout rate in the
schools was approximately 15% and the student union in Ireland declared that the reason behind
such increased dropout rates was that the students were not adequately prepared for pursuing the
college courses. It was concluded in the research that although the ambitions of the students were
higher, it was not feasible for students to choose these high level courses and therefore, this has
become a rising concern for the authorities of Ireland. Also the fact that many of the students
were mentally pressurised to live up to the expectations of the parents, friends and families and
this made them choose higher level courses just because it would make them more satisfied and
later on due to their incompetent knowledge they were forced to leave or drop out form the
college wasting both financial and emotional resources which could have been used to enrol and
get education in other more viable options.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Darmody, M., Smyth, E. and McCoy, S., 2018. Acting up or opting out? Truancy in Irish
secondary schools. Educational Review. 60(4). pp.359-373.
O'Connell, M. and Freeney, Y., 2019. The intention to leave education early among Irish Junior
Certificate Students: Variation by school. Irish Educational Studies. 30(3). pp.305-321.
Frostad, P., Pijl, S.J. and Mjaavatn, P.E., 2015. Losing all interest in school: Social participation
as a predictor of the intention to leave upper secondary school early. Scandinavian Journal of
Educational Research. 59(1). pp.110-122.
Gormley, I.C. and Murphy, T.B., 2016. Analysis of Irish third‐level college applications
data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society). 169(2). pp.361-379.
Online
'It's not just getting your foot in the door': Over 6,000 third-level students don't make it to 2nd
year. 2017. [Online]. Available through: < https://www.thejournal.ie/dropouts-universities-
college-3361109-Apr2017/>
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