A groundbreaking report by NUI Galway on educational inequality - the first of its kind to be published in Ireland - has found a significant social return on investment for alternative education programmes.
The report has documented for the first time that the average progression rates of students in seven alternative education programmes (who complete QQI Levels 3 to 6 qualification ) amounted to 80 per cent between January 2018 and July 2020. The progression rate reached in excess of 90 per cent for some projects.
While Ireland has a high post-primary school completion rate, with 92.3 per cent of students completing the Senior Cycle in both 2018 and 2019 (DES, 2020 ), school completion rates in schools serving areas of acute economic disadvantage are statistically and significantly lower than in schools serving more affluent populations (Houses of Oireachtas, 2019 ).
A significant proportion of the eight per cent of pupils not completing post-primary education avail of alternative or second-chance education.
Apart from Youthreach, which is a State-provided programme of second-chance education, very little systematic, robust, scientific information has ever been gathered on Ireland’s alternative educational provision landscape. This is aggravated even further by at least a three-year delay in the publication by the Department of Education of a formal review of alternative education.
To address this gap in knowledge, the report focused on seven projects awarded funding under Rethink Ireland’s €7.5 million education fund (2017-2020 ). The research investigated the extent to which practices used by these projects can serve as models of excellence in overcoming inequality in education.
The fund was open to projects focused on improving educational outcomes for those experiencing educational disadvantage, supporting students to progress from Levels 3 to 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ ). The seven projects (six in Dublin, one in Cork ) involved were An Cosán VCC; iScoil, Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities; Aspire2; Citywise Fast Track Academy; Cork Life Centre; and Trinity Access 21.
The average progression rates, amounting to 80 per cent over the course of the three-year study, shows that in most cases, people in these projects had significant success in progressing their education, with completion rates comparable to those within the mainstream system.
Social value return
The study also found that the total social return on investment value generated for project beneficiaries was just over €68 million, with a total cost of €7,790,285 for the seven awardee projects over three years. For every €1 invested in the seven projects, €9 of social value was created.
Social value return and benefits include increased independence, maturity, increased self-confidence, and a more positive future outlook. Some 55 per cent of the social value was directly created by Rethink Ireland’s Education Fund investment of €4,302,479, where for every euro invested in the seven projects, €12 of social value was created.
The report also presents critical challenges, findings, and a call to action for a more equal and diverse future education in Ireland.
The research team, led by Dr Cormac Forkan from the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre in NUI Galway, carried out the three-year academic evaluation of the education fund.
“Our work allowed us to look inside the ‘black box’ of how these projects support their learners," Dr Forkan said. "This model shows how the projects developed and implemented innovative approaches, called ‘actions’, to address various areas of the five strategic goals in the Action Plan 2016–2019. We found that progression is of course about participants moving along Levels 3 to 6 of the QQI framework of qualifications and achieving ‘hard outcomes.
“However, our data and subsequent model shows that it is also about their personal transformation and development of their soft outcomes, like increased independence (maturity ), increased self-confidence, and a more positive future outlook. Our new evidence-based model on Educational Progression and Transformation recognises that awardee projects provide critical and enabling actions for their participants in both of these domain areas and ultimately address better wellbeing for participants.”
Martina von Richter, impact and operations director, Rethink Ireland, added: “Rethink Ireland is delighted with the results of this thorough and innovative academic evaluation. The work of the Education Fund awardees is outstanding and we now have proof that their alternative models of education work and have a far reaching and sustainable positive impact on their learners.
“Every young person should be supported to reach their full potential and the evaluation demonstrates clearly the need for substantial change in Ireland. The alternative education sector in Ireland needs to be recognised and supported by the Government, and integrated into the mainstream education sector so that all learners have the opportunity to benefit from them.
Policy recommendations
“Young people don’t come in one size fits all, and neither should their education.”
The report makes a number of policy recommendations including the development of a cross departmental strategy on tackling educational disadvantage by tackling the social and economic inequalities facing children, young people, and their families, using the learning on what works from this study on alternative educational provision.
It also recommends the Department of Education formally recognise alternative education providers as educational providers in their own right and fund them in the same way as the formal education system. It suggests a forum for mainstream and alternative education providers to exchange evidence-based knowledge and experiences to support all students, along with a showcase where awardee projects can share their knowledge on tackling education inequality with mainstream and alternative education providers and with broader society.
The full report is available online at rethinkireland.ie/reports
