A child’s educational opportunities are too closely tied to geography and social standing

The well-off family are in a better position to provide add-ons such as grinds

EVEN before they are born, children face a postcode lottery that will determine their chances in life, including the level of education they attain.

The point was strongly made in this week’s annual ‘Education at a Glance’ report from the international think-tank the OECD, where secretary general José Angel Gurría opened his introduction with the words: “We are all born equal, but we are not all born with the same opportunities.”

Opportunity comes in many guises. It includes having well-educated parents, mothers particularly, who understand the value of education, all the way to third level. It also includes having a third-level college in the area.

Money talks. The well-off family are in a better position to provide add-ons, such as the grind in maths, which will give the edge when it comes to garnering CAO points. That helps to smooth the path into prestige college courses such as medicine, which tend to be dominated by those whose parents and grandparents have been there before.

On the flipside are families suffering inter-generational disadvantage, where perhaps no one has gone past Junior Cert, who may not grasp the importance of completing school and going further.

Where they have high ambitions for their children,

they cannot deliver the same opportunities if they are struggling to make ends meet. If a child is one of the almost 4,000 homeless in Ireland, they may not even get to school on a daily basis.

The over-riding, positive message from the census trends is that Ireland is much better educated than it was 10 years ago. But it also points to pockets that are not doing as well as the rest of the nation, communities that run the risk of being left even further behind as ever more people collect their degrees and follow the opportunities, mainly around the cities.

Historically, there was a reliance in Ireland on a job with a small or mediumsized local company that did not require even a Leaving Certificate. It may have sustained several generations, but if it closes, the community is bereft. In a city, there is a good chance of something else turning up nearby. Not so in rural Ireland – and so the young won’t stay, the population gets older and there is no one there with the appropriate qualifications to attract a new industry.

There are also places buzzing like never before, and with a surge in the number of those living there who have a third-level education.

Strandhill, Co Sligo, now a global surfing destination, is one such community. A number of niche, wellbeing and hospitality businesses are capitalising on its big waves, and Sligo auctioneer David Rooney says people are prepared to pay a premium for a house there.

It also has a population with equipped with an education, and the resilience that goes with that, to build on its strengths.