W2A-018 UCC entrants-0.txt
Inequalities in Preparation for University Entrance: An Examination of the Educational Histories of Entrants to University College, Cork

INTRODUCTION

University students are a highly selected population in that of all those who seek university places in any given year only a proportion succeed. While the selection process is 'objective' in that places are allocated on the basis of examination results, studies of third level entrants have indicated that students from the higher socio-economic groups are over-represented within the higher status (and higher points) faculties (Clancy 1982, 1988).

Most students obtain their places on the basis of achievement in the Leaving Certificate examination. Some achieve entry on the results of the Matriculation Examination of the National University of Ireland (NUI). Indeed, many students seeking places in NUI colleges sit both examinations as the two sets of results may be combined to calculate points in the allocation of places in these colleges. One can thus 'improve' one's chance of a university place in the NUI by sitting both examinations.

Students usually sit for the Leaving Certificate and/or the Matriculation at the end of a five year post-primary programme. There are, however, schools which take six years to complete the course. Schools offering the longer course tend to be the more prestigious academic secondary schools, many of them fee-paying. There are undoubted advantages to a six year programme. Students are usually older and more mature when sitting the Leaving Certificate. The extra year also permits students to develop academic and other skills of lasting value. Students taking six year programmes sit the same examinations and compete for the same university places with those from five year schools. This must give them at least some advantage in the competition for university places.

In recent years some schools have been given the option of offering an extra 'transition' year to pupils between the end of the junior and the beginning of the senior cycles. This extra year will undoubtedly perform the function of permitting the maturation of students prior to taking the Leaving Certificate. In addition, transition programmes provide all students, those seeking third level entrance and those intending to complete formal education at the end of the senior cycle, with skills and knowledge of a wider and more practical type than would be attained within the traditional curriculum. However, not all schools have sought, or been given, this option. Further, when available within any given school, the transition year may be optional, or may be available to selected pupils only, for example, those who are adjudged too young to proceed to senior cycle, or those who are perceived by the school authorities as being capable of benefitting from it, however this may be judged.

Students failing to obtain a university place, or their preferred place, may re-sit for one or both examinations, on one or more occasions. There are indications that this practice is becoming more popular. In some third level institutions, including universities (though excluding University College Dublin and University College Cork), students are permitted to combine the results of more than one sitting of these examinations for purposes of scoring 'points ', though this practice is to be discontinued as and from 1992. However, students will continue to have a second or further chance to compete for a third level place without penalty apart from an extra year in school and the payment of the appropriate fees.

It might be argued, then, that students competing for university and other third level places to not do so on an equal footing. Some students have prepared for five years, others for six, even seven, as some who repeat the examinations do so following a six year school programme. Students who re-sit on one or more occasions might also be considered to have benefitted from examination practice.

The vast majority of Irish children receive their education within 'recognised' post-primary schools. All these schools, including those charging fees, receive government funding, the amount and type being dependent on the type of school. Nonetheless, students at fee-paying schools are charged significantly less than the economic cost of their education as are students who elect to repeat the Leaving Certificate within 'recognised' schools. Thus, much of the extra preparation for third level entrance is paid for from public funds, although it is individuals who benefit.

Students preparing for examinations leading to third level entrance may also seek extra help in one or more subjects. Occasionally, this may be obtained at home, from family or friends, or schools may offer some students additional classes. More commonly, however, such help is obtained outside the family and school from individuals or groups who offer specific examination coaching in one or more subjects. In recent years there appears to be an increase in the number of individuals and tutorial colleges offering specialised individual or small class tuition. The colleges may also run short intensive revision courses in the school holidays, and some also provide a full-time Leaving Certificate course, aimed mostly at students repeating for better results.

None of these groups or individuals receives any state support. They operate as business enterprises, charging relatively high fees on an hourly or yearly basis. We do not know how many students use these facilities, and for what subjects. Nor do we know who uses them, or whether they give students an advantage when competing for scarce third level places. That their numbers appear to be growing and that they are paid for out of individuals'pockets seems to indicate that at least some people believe that extra tuition is valuable. As a relatively expensive 'optional extra' it is likely that the students who use such facilities are from the more advantaged social backgrounds. They may also be lower ability students, though this is not necessarily the case and we have no evidence to support it.

How do students select from among the various educational options outlined above? Are different patterns evident among students from different social backgrounds? These are the concerns of this study.

METHODOLOGY

The study is a pilot study of an exploratory nature. It was limited to Irish students who entered UCC in 1989 and who had competed for their university places through the Central Admissions Office (CAO), that is, those who were awarded university degree places on the basis of 'points '. We thus excluded all foreign students and mature students who are awarded places on a quota basis. Information was collected from students in the classroom using an administered questionnaire. We attempted complete coverage of the population to simplify data collection.

In faculties where first year students follow common courses, the problems of locating students were few. The faculties of Arts and Science posed particular problems. Science students should have proved less difficult to contact than students in Arts as all science students are required to take on or two courses in Mathematics. Coverage of these two classes ought to have given us access to all first science students. As Arts students are not required to take any common subject, we selected two large classes that are timetabled back to back in first year, Sociology and French. Almost 80 per cent of all first Arts students were registered for one or other of these courses and on further investigation we discovered that a high proportion of the remaining students were registered in Applied Psychology. Coverage of these three classes should have provided us with access to over 90 per cent of all first Arts students.

Non-attendance at class proved the greatest obstacle to complete coverage and we were less successful than we had hoped in obtaining information from all the students. The Arts and Science faculties were the most problematic with non-attendance of up to 25 per cent in at least one of the classes we visited. In addition to non-attendance there were some students who refused to complete the questionnaire. The number here were small, however, and it was non-attendance rather than refusals which account for the difference between the numbers we obtained and the numbers in the targeted population. Complete coverage was obtained in Social Science, and almost complete coverage in Commerce (97 per cent). The coverage in the other faculties was: Electrical Engineering 88 per cent, Medicine 87 per cent, Law 82 per cent, Dentistry 81 per cent, Civil Engineering 80 per cent, Arts 66 per cent and Science 63 per cent. In all we obtained information from 77 per cent of the targeted population, which is three hundred and sixteen students short of complete coverage. We feel the coverage is adequate for a pilot study.

THE RESULTS

Information was collected from 1058 students, all of whom entered UCC in 1989 and had competed for their places through the CAO. Only students who had received their second level education within Ireland were included. Over 70 per cent of the students were from Cork city or county; 21 per cent were from the rest of Munster, 6 per cent were from Leinster and the remainder came from Connaught and Ulster, including the six counties of Northern Ireland. They ranged in age from seventeen to twenty-one. The mean age was eighteen. More than half the students were women (59.6 per cent).

The students came from all social classes (see Table 1), but as in previous studies of university entrants the higher social classes were over represented (Clancy, 1982, 1988). Seventy-five per cent of our respondents came from families where the chief earner was in a non-manual job, or was a farmer with over 50 acres. Twenty-eight per cent of students were in receipt of higher education grants and 1.6 per cent held scholarships.

Most students, then, depended on their parents to provide the finance for their education, though a small number of students supported themselves wholly or in part. Over sixty percent were from families where neither parent had received third level education.

Previous studies of third level entrants found that students from secondary schools were more likely to enter universities than those who had been educated at community, comprehensive or vocational schools. Our population displayed the same pattern. Eighty-five percent of our respondents had attended secondary schools, 12 per cent had been to community or comprehensive schools, and a mere 3 per cent had been to vocational schools. Almost 25 per cent of all students had attended fee paying secondary schools. We did not calculate the transfer rate for each type of school but we found that 23.6 per cent of all first year entrants to UCC in 1989 had attended one of three fee paying schools in Cork city. We estimate that between them these three schools cater for just under 10 per cent of the post-primary pupils in the city. Further, an examination of the schools attended by students from Cork city indicate that students from non-fee paying schools in predominantly middle class areas of the city are over represented in our population.

We asked students to indicate the length of secondary programme they had followed, the number of times they had attempted Leaving Certificate and/or Matriculation, whether they had repeated any year during their post-primary education, the amount and type of extra tuition they had received (if any), and the subjects in which it was obtained. They were also asked to indicate the cost of any coaching they had received. With this information, we were able to identify the ways in which students prepared to compete for university places.

Length of post-primary school programme

Seventy-three percent of the students had attended schools which offered a five year post-primary programme. One in five of these students, however, had spent six years at post-primary level prior to university entrance. Students in five year programmes extended their stay in school in one of two ways: (1) they repeated the Leaving Certificate (68 per cent) or (2) they opted to repeat a year earlier in the post-primary programme. Students who took this latter option usually repeated 5th year, though there was a small number, seven in all, who had retaken the first year in post-primary school.

Two hundred and seventy-seven, or 26.2 per cent of the total population, had followed a six year post-primary programme. Here, too, there were students who had extended their post-primary education by at least one year. The number doing so was small (33) but it amounts to 12 per cent of all students from six year programmes. As with those in five year schools two methods of extending the programme were employed. Two thirds of these'seven year' students spent the extra year repeating the Leaving Certificate, the others, with one exception, repeated 5th year.

In all, 421 students spent six or more years at post-primary level. This is 40 per cent of all first year entrants to UCC in 1989.
