Does Speaking Irish Help You Get Ahead?

A paper in the current edition of the Economic and Social Review by Iarfhlaith Watson and Máire Nic Ghiolla Phádraig from UCD (I wonder if either are Irish speakers themselves) considers whether being able to speak Irish is advantageous. For one thing, those attending Gaelscoileanna tend to do well in the Leaving Cert. Further evidence is presented in a previous ESR paper Borooah et al. (2009). The authors provide a useful summary of what is likely to be the actual prevalence of Irish speaking. Clearly selection is an important issue, and there is a full discussion of this in the paper. They conclude that “the advantage is held by a so-called “middle-class” elite, which is more likely (to claim) to speak Irish, rather than by an Irish-speaking elite."

The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 42, No. 4, Winter, 2011, pp. 437–454

Linguistic Elitism: the Advantage of Speaking Irish Rather than the Irish-speaker Advantage

IARFHLAITH WATSON and MÁIRE NIC GHIOLLA PHÁDRAIG,University College Dublin

Abstract: This paper contributes to the discussion of linguistic elitism in this journal (Borooah et al., 2009). Two main questions are addressed. First, most “census Irish speakers” are not in fact Irish speakers and the majority of Irish speakers proper are not a coherent group. Second, the Irish language is part of the cultural capital which can be acquired by people with an “advantage.” The argument is made that people with an advantage are more likely to speak Irish rather than Irish speakers being more likely to have an advantage.

The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 40, No. 4, Winter, 2009, pp. 435–460

Language and Occupational Status: Linguistic Elitism in the Irish Labour Market

VANI K. BOROOAH, University of Ulster
DONAL A. DINEEN, University of Limerick
NICOLA LYNCH, University of Limerick

Abstract: This paper, using data from the 2006 Irish Census, provides evidence of the structural advantage of Irish speaking, relative to non-speaking workers in Ireland’s labour market with advantage and disadvantage being defined in terms of occupational outcomes. To the best of our knowledge there has been no systematic investigation of any advantage enjoyed by Irish speakers in Ireland and allegations of the comfortable middle class ambience of the Gaelscoileanna have remained at the level of anecdote. Since linguistic elitism is a feature of many societies and since Irish enjoys the constitutional status of the national and first official language of Ireland, such an investigation was, arguably, overdue. This is then compared to the structural advantage of Irish speaking workers in Northern Ireland and of Welsh speaking workers in Wales. Our conclusion is that after controlling for as many relevant factors as the data permitted, a considerable part of the difference between Irish speakers and non-speakers in Ireland, in their proportionate presence in the upper reaches of occupational class, was due to structural advantage. The major contribution of this paper is to lift the debate about the economic position of Irish speakers in Ireland above the level of hearsay: dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi.

Don't put your daughter in a mixed-sex school : some evidence

Casual empiricism suggests that parents in Ireland want their daughters to go to single sex schools but their sons to mixed sex schools. Trying to measure the effects of these different school types is obviously tricky because it is endogenous. The paper below looks at the case of girls in Switzerland with some quite interesting results – one that will probably be welcomed by a lot of Irish parents.

Academic Performance and Single-Sex Schooling: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Switzerland

Gerald Eisenkopf, Zohal Hessami,Urs Fischbacher, Heinrich Ursprung

We study the effects of random assignment to coeducational and single-sex classes on the academic performance of female high school students. Our estimation results show that single-sex schooling improves the performance of female students in mathematics. This positive effect increases if the single-sex class is taught by a male teacher. An accompanying survey reveals that single-sex schooling also strengthens female students’ selfconfidence and renders the self-assessment of their mathematics skills more level-headed. Single-sex schooling thus has profound implications for human capital formation and the mind-set of female students.

The effects of truancy

Regular contributors to this blog never played truant from school. That is why they are leading happy and fulfilling lives as economists. Nonetheless significant numbers of schoolchildren do and, particularly if it has a negative effect on their educational attainment, we should be concerned about it.
The paper by Buscha & Conte examines this question using mixed effects estimators applied to data for Britain. And yes it does impact negatively on students' educational attainment though it is not a simple relationship.
An old working paper by me looks at some of the determinants of truancy applying simpler methods to PISA data for 6 countries

Bonus Points for Maths at UCD

As reported today in the Irish Times, and on the front-page of the UCD website, the UCD Academic Council have decided to introduce bonus CAO points for Leaving Certificate Higher Level Mathematics for a trial period of four years, commencing in 2012. The idea of a trial period is a welcome addition to the debate surrounding bonus CAO points for Leaving Certificate Higher Level Mathematics (henceforth "bonus points"). Instead of making a decision now in the absence of any (quasi-) experimental evidence, why not experiment with this measure and subsequently make a decison? Of course, the best we can hope for in this case is quasi-experimental evidence; one would imagine that randomising bonus points to different students (or schools) would be potentially very difficult. Not to mention the issue of fairness in the college admissions process. But maybe somebody can come up with a suggestion that would address all of these concerns. In any event, the precise scheme for the awarding of bonus points will be decided in the coming weeks; the objective is to have a single scheme for all institutions that will be awarding bonus points.

The UCD announcement contains a lot of additional content; it states that the introduction of bonus points will "only be successful if it is part of a suite of measures to interest students in mathematics, to ensure the best possible teaching and to support student learning... We will research the impact of bonus points to ensure it is equitable and effective." Specific research questions to be investigated are as follows:

* How much time, compared to other subjects and compared to other students
internationally do students spend on mathematics?

* What is the impact of bonus points on the uptake of higher level mathematics?

* Do bonus points have an effect on equity of access to third level?

The UCD statement recommends the introduction of two examinations; one testing basic mathematical competency, which if passed would secure a pass overall and entry to third level, and another to test advanced mathematics ability. This is as much of a distinct recommendation as introducing bonus points, and arguably a measure that could encourage take-up of Higher Level Maths in the absence of a bonus points scheme. Behavioural economists will recognise the potential role of loss aversion in how Leaving Cert. students decide whether or not to persist with Higher Level Maths. Only 16% of Leaving Certificate students take the higher level paper on the day of the examination but almost 40% of students register with the State Examination Commission to take the paper.

Also, the UCD statement identified three possible dangers:

* That bonus points may contribute to increased competition, or a worsening
points race

* That students who do not require high points might not see bonus points as
much of an incentive to persist with higher maths

* That higher level mathematics would not be available to some students,
particularly in schools in poorer areas, and that this would worsen issues of
access to university. (In 2009, 79 schools had no higher-level candidates
sitting mathematics in the Leaving Certificate. According to UCC Registrar
Professor Paul Giller, about half of second-level maths teachers do not have
maths as a major subject in their degree).

Finally, some outstanding issues in the debate on bonus points are as follows:

(i) Tom Boland, the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), has asked whether the bonus points would be awarded only to those who are going on to take a third-level course that requires maths. (According to David Quinn from the Irish Independent: "Those who are good at more literary subjects like History or English will be effectively penalised because they'll find it even harder to compete for university places with those who are good at Maths").

(ii) A HEA report on Career Opportunities in Computing & Technology mentions that Higher level maths and certain science subjects (i.e. physics and chemistry) are seen by many students to be particularly difficult and requiring a level of work that is not conducive to the objective of maximising CAO points. Is bonus points for Maths enough, or should there be bonus points for certain science subjects aswell?

(iii) According to the Irish Independent, the existing courses for which bonus points are available -- including all courses at UL and some courses at DIT -- do not have a higher rate of application from higher-level students, nor do they have a higher number of applicants than courses in the same disciplines where the bonus is not available.

(iv) Also according to the Irish Independent, when bonus points for higher-level maths were removed on foot of curriculum reform in 1993, participation in the subject at higher-level actually increased.

(v) According to David Quinn, journalist at the Irish Independent, "those who are already good at the subject will simply get more points without helping those who are currently failing it".

(vi) Kevin Denny has some comments related to bonus points on Ferdinand von Prondzynski's University Blog: "Is the idea that this initiative will propel more students into technical subjects like science and engineering at third level, thus helping the smart economy etc? This might be a laudable objective but it seems terribly naive to think that having effectively bribed students to do more maths in secondary school that they will just keep going i.e. that this will make them change what they wanted to study at university forgetting that they weren’t that crazy about maths in the first place. Maybe, maybe not but it seems more likely to me that they will take the points and run i.e. study what they wanted to study anyway."

(vii) A separate comment by Kevin Denny on Ferdinand von Prondzynski's University Blog: "There is a good basis for bonus points for maths unrelated to these arguments namely that ability at maths is a better proxy for general cognitive ability. So if we think that more able students should get priority, as the points system does, then a student who does better at Leaving Cert maths than another student is better in general even if they have the same total points (i.e. that student will do significantly better in university)."

(viii) A survey conducted by Engineers Ireland found nearly two-thirds of ordinary-level maths students said they would not opt for higher-level maths even if offered bonus points. The online survey was completed by 122 students who sat higher- or ordinary-level Leaving Cert maths this year.

(ix) On a separate but related point, it has been recommended that Maths should be compulsory for CAO points purposes to ensure students persevere with the subject, according to a report submitted to the Minister for Education Mary Coughlan.

Boys just want to have fun?

RTE today carried the shock news that girls outperform boys in the Leaving Certificate. To be fair the article notes that this is not new and is observed internationally. What I am not aware of is evidence (and no, anecdotes - even from taxi-drivers- do not count) on why this is so.
There is no shortage of theories of course: the feminization of teaching, the feeling of displacement and general uselessness by males due to the evils of feminism etc etc. But this seems an important enough trend to be worth studying and, even, doing something about.

Fairness and efficiency in university admission

My recent paper on the non-effect of fee abolition in Ireland emphasized the socio-economic gradient in secondary school attainment: low SES means low points and therefore a low probability of progressing to university. Fees are a side-issue, at best.
This problem is not unique to Ireland, of course: exactly the same pattern was described in a recent study for the UK. A recent book published by the Brookings Institution suggests ways of dealing with this issue in the US where there is a pronounced SES gradient in the SAT tests. One suggestion is for expanded use of affirmative action programs beyond their traditional emphasis on race. In essence, the idea is that universities take into account the fact that for some people doing well is harder and not because of their innate ability.
Access Programs here, like UCD's New ERA, do this although the scale is necessarily small, see here for an evaluation of its effectiveness we did at the Geary Institute. Some people might take the view that moving away from our simple points-based CAO application system would be messy and expensive. But, on the other hand, the present system is hardly efficient from a national point of view given that it means a huge chunk of our potential labour force is not getting the education that it needs to be at its most productive. Relative to the huge losses arising from not educating our population adequately (for evidence see here), the administrative costs are peanuts.
My own view is that making such adjustments at the point of progression i.e. adjusting the admission criteria to take account of SES, while worth pursuing, is not the best solution. We need to address the causes, not the symptoms of the problem. That is, we need to address the reasons for under-achievement at school level. Access programs do this too as do some government initiatives although their effects are largely unknown.

1 in 3 Men Unemployed, Under the Age of 25

I mentioned some statistics about current conditions in the Irish labour market in a recent post. 1 out of 8 individuals in the Irish labour force are unemployed. Taking account of labour force withdrawal and reduced working time, it is estimated that approximately 1 out of 7 are in some form of labour market distress. Gender breakdowns indicate that 2 out of 3 of these individuals are male. The latest Live Register figures show that almost twice as many men are claiming unemployment benefit (or allowance), compared to women.

Despite many posts on this blog flagging youth and graduate unemployment (a recent one is here); I was still somewhat surprised to read in today's Irish Independent that 1 in 3 men under the age of 25 are now unemployed. I decided to take a look at the most recent QNHS publication; the figure of 1 in 3 is indeed correct. Table 14 from the QNHS publication (shown below) indicates that 36.9% of males ages 15-19 are unemployed; and that 31.7% of males aged 20-24 are unemployed. This approximates to one third of males under the age of 25 being currently unemployed. The number of persons under 25 years of age on the Live Register are available on Table 2b (page 3) of Friday's Live Register release: the figure is 84,400. (Click on the table below to see a larger picture of QNHS Table 14).


What else can we learn from the table above? Looking at both genders under the age of 25, approximately 27% are currently unemployed; this figure is over double the current national average of 12.5%. The gender difference in unemployment is most marked in the 20-24 age-group; twice as many males (compared to females) are unemployed in this category. There are also twice as many males unemployed in the 25-34 age-group. These ratios are in line with the national figures for unemployment (2 out of 3 unemployed individuals are male). Across both genders, the highest concentration of unemployment is in the 15-19 age-group, followed by the 20-24 age-group; and monotonically decreasing for higher age-groups.

Finally, what can we infer about graduate unemployment? If we consider the 20-24 age-group on its own, we see that one quarter of these individuals are unemployed; and that males account for two thirds of the unemployment figure. Only a subset of individuals in the 20-24 age-group hold graduate qualifications; what we know about this demographic comes from the QNHS Special Module on Educational Attainment that ran from 2003-2008 (see Table 2 on page 6 of the Pdf). In March-May of 2008 (the most recent data available), 25% of the 20-24 age-group holds a third-level qualification (non-degree, degree, or above). 45% of the 25-34 age-group holds a third-level qualification as at March-May 2008; the higher attainment level of the 25-34 age-group suggests that graduate unemployment is as much (if not more) of a problem for this age-group.

To re-cap, we know from the QNHS Special Module on Educational Attainment that 25% of the 20-24 age-group, and 45% of the 25-34 age-group, had third-level qualifications as at March-May 2008. From the most recent QNHS we know that 24.2% of 20-24 year-olds, and 14.1% of 25-34 year-olds, are unemployed. However, it is important to be careful at this juncture, because we cannot yet tell whether unemployed individuals (aged 20-24 or 25-34) are more or less likely to have third-level qualifications. Though it only refers to March-May 2008, the most indicative source of information about graduate unemployment appears to be the breakdown of ILO employment status by educational attainment and age-category in the QNHS Special Module on Educational Attainment. Table 5 in the QNHS Special Module shows the employment rates of persons aged 25 to 64 by highest level of education attained. Unfortunately, 25-64 is the only age-range used; and QNHS Database Direct does not include the educational attainment variable.