Seán’s statistical work examines impact of early school-leaving

Does leaving school early leave you at a disadvantage in the workplace? Most would assume that it does and in his researches for the BTYSTE, Coláiste Mhuire student, Sean Murphy from Delvin confirmed that was the case, and, using statistical analysis set out about finding the extent to which early school leaving affects life outcomes and the levels of implicit bias among Irish employers.

He also examined whether educational disadvantage is perpetuated through intergenerational academic attainment and bias, building on the work he did that qualified him for participation last year as well.

Fifth year student Sean, whose mentor was teacher Eva Acton, explained that in order to collect the data he needed, he developed a version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to explore whether employers unconsciously associate positive traits for higher education and negative traits with lower education.

To gather the views of employers, Sean sourced an impressive 75 anonymous employers to participate in his study.

“Additionally, a survey was distributed to eight adult education centres across Ireland to gather insights on experiences, including experiences of discrimination or bias using the perceived discrimination scale,” says Sean.

Interestingly, those on the early school leaver side reported that they did experience discrimination, sometimes being treated with less courtesy or respect, or being perceived as less intelligent or trustworthy compared to others.

The conclusion at which Sean arrived was that there is implicit bias among Irish employers regarding education levels, and that can result in discrimination in certain cases.

“More than 50% of employers’ results indicated a preference for higher education over lower education,” says Sean.

“These findings highlight the need to address the systematic obstacles that contribute to inequality and limit opportunities for many people.”