Social Democrats spokesperson on Education Equality and Access, Gary Gannon, has said clear steps must be taken to end our two-tier education system which means privately educated young people have greater access to college.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the publication today of The Irish Times<\/em> league tables, Councillor Gannon said:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no surprise to see that fee-paying schools dominate when it comes to sending most students to college. Today\u2019s league tables confirm what we already know \u2013 that private schools are a way to lock in privilege, as access to university generally means access to better jobs and increased career potential.<\/p>\n \u201cThe depth of the social divide we see in these findings must be something that concerns everyone who believes that our education system should ensure the very best of outcomes for all our young people, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly there are a range of supports available to children who attend fee-paying schools, both formal and informal, that work very well for them. These supports need to be available to students in all our secondary schools if we are to increase participation in third level among a wider demographic in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n Cllr Gannon, who himself entered third level education via the access programme of Trinity College Dublin, identified four key supports to ensure more young people can progress to college.<\/p>\n These are:<\/p>\n Cllr Gannon added:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have at the moment is a two-tier educational system whereby people with means can \u2018buy in\u2019 a range of advantages for their children \u2013 advantages that they carry with them for the rest of their lives. This only perpetuates the inequities that lead to the inevitably poorer educational and career outcomes for children based on their postcode, not on their skills or intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n ENDS<\/p>\n 5 December 2017<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Democrats spokesperson on Education Equality and Access, Gary Gannon, has said clear steps must be taken to end our two-tier education system which means privately educated young people have greater access to college. Commenting on the publication today of The Irish Times league tables, Councillor Gannon said: \u201cIt\u2019s no surprise to see that fee-paying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,6,8,7],"tags":[247,58,27,248,249],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-general","category-latest-news","category-press-release","tag-access-to-education","tag-education","tag-gary-gannon","tag-inequality","tag-league-tables"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n