Educationally maintained inequality? The role of risk factors and resilience at 9, 13 and 17 in disabled young people’s post-school pathways at 20

Figures & data

Figure 1. Higher education access gaps.

Figure 2. Higher education pathway gaps.

Figure 3. Key characteristics by disability status.

Figure 4. Disability type by key socioeconomic factors.

Figure 5. Key characteristics by DEIS status.

Table 1. Binary regression results for higher education attendance.

Variables	Model 1: SEN/Disability and gender (B)	Model 2: Wave 1 controls (B)	Model 3: Wave 2 controls (B)	Model 4: Wave 3 controls (B)
Constant	2.039***	2.067***	1.017	3.179***
SEN/Disability:
Intellectual	0.194***	0.473**	0.692	0.776
Specific Learning	0.485***	0.716	0.822	0.966
SEM and Behavioural	0.342***	0.49***	0.588*	0.610*
Physical/visual/speech	0.829	1.017	1.318	1.179
Other	0.429**	0.529*	0.487*	0.501*
(Base: no SEN/disability)
Male	0.939	0.948	0.755**	0.834^#
Economic vulnerability at wave 1, 2 or 3		0.543***	0.593***	0.708**
Parent has 3rd level degree		1.64***	1.406**	1.24
Parental expectation: 3rd level degree		1.802***	1.408**	1.215
More than 30 books in house		1.184	1.027	1.036
Academic issues at 9		0.559***	0.804	0.902
More than 10 days of school missed at 9		0.648***	0.637***	0.645***
DEIS school at 9, 13 or 17		0.479***	0.513***	0.6***
Teacher conflict at 13			0.668***	0.821
Positive engagement at 13			1.44***	1.354**
Drumcondra Test score at 13:
2nd quintile			1.804***	1.458*
3rd quintile			2.981***	2.024***
4th quintile			3.609***	2.092***
5th quintile			4.184***	2.015***
(Base: 1st quintile)
Fewer than 9 Junior Certificate honours				0.275***
Pseudo R-Squared	0.046	0.136	0.171	0.185
N	4692	4488	4336	4188
N Schools	839	817	814	804

Note: Data from GUI, Child Cohort, wave 1, wave 2, wave 3 and wave 4 (at 9, 13, 17 and 20 years).

***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05, ^#p < 0.1.

Table 2. Multinomial logistic regression results for post-school setting.

Variables	University Level 8	IT Level 8	HE Level 6/7	FET	Did not Finish Programme	No post-school education or training
Constant	(Base outcome)	0.415***	0.217***	0.538***	0.077***	0.182***
SEN/disability:		1.801***	1.3	2.164***	2.05*	2.599***
Gender		1.184	1.162	0.892	1.54*	1.457*
Economic vulnerability		1.921***	2.04***	2.523***	2.246***	3.644***
Parental expectations at 9		0.57***	0.278***	0.297***	0.707	0.311***
Academic issues at 9		1.612*	2.598***	2.784***	1.008	3.179***
DEIS school		1.468***	2.596***	3.339***	2.463***	2.363***
Pseudo R-squared	0.088
N	4488
N schools	817

***p < .001; *p < .05.

Table A1. Descriptive statistics: Percentage participating in HE.

	%
All	60.5
Gender
Female	61.9
Male	59.2
Disability type
No SEN or disability	66.4
Intellectual/general learning	27.7
Specific learning	48.9
SEM and behavioural	40.1
Physical/visual/speech	62.1
Other	46.0
Economic vulnerability at Wave 1, 2 or 3
No economic vulnerability	68.0
Economic vulnerability	45.4
Parental education
Parent without 3rd level degree	56.9
Parent with 3rd level degree	79.6
Parental expectation at 9
Parental expectation: No 3rd level degree	41.5
Parental expectation: 3rd level degree	68.1
Book indicator at 9
Had less than 30 books in the house	53.6
Had more than 30 books in the house	65.3
Academic performance at 9
Without academic issues at 9	69.1
Had academic issues at 9	40.9
School attendance at 9
Less than or equal to10 days absent at 9	63.5
More than 10 days absent at 9	50.1
Attended DEIS School either at 9, 13 or 17
Not attending DEIS school	67.8
Attending DEIS school	42.4
School engagement at 13
Negative engagement	50.6
Positive engagement	66.7
Conflict level with teacher at 13
Low conflict level	64.7
High conflict level	46.1
Academic Performance at 13
1st quintile (lowest performers)	34.4
2nd quintile	54.6
3rd quintile	70.5
4th quintile	76.5
5th quintile (highest performers)	81.6
Number of Junior Certificate Honours Achieved at 17
9 or more Junior Certificate honours	85.9
8 or fewer Junior Certificate honours	47.3

Table A2. Descriptive statistics: percentage in different postsecondary pathways.

	University Level 8	IT Level 8	IT Level 6/7	FET	Dropout	No post school ET
Gender
Female	39.9	15.6	6.4	24.2	4.0	10.0
Male	34.4	17.3	7.5	20.7	5.6	14.5
Disability at 9
No SEN or disability at 9	43.1	16.6	6.7	19.4	4.7	9.5
SEN or disability at 9	17.3	15.9	7.1	33.1	4.9	21.8
Economic vulnerability at Wave 1, 2 or 3
No economic vulnerability	45.1	16.5	6.5	18.7	4.4	8.9
Economic vulnerability	21.1	16.4	7.9	29.9	5.5	19.2
Parental expectation at 9
Parental expectation: No 3rd level degree	16.6	14.5	10.4	35.0	3.8	19.7
Parental expectation: 3rd level degree	45.2	17.2	5.7	17.6	5.1	9.2
Attended DEIS School either at 9, 13 or 17
Not attending DEIS school	44.1	17.6	6.1	17.3	4.5	10.4
Attending DEIS school	19.8	13.5	9.1	35.2	5.6	16.9
Academic performance at 9
No academic difficulty at 9	46.1	17.0	6.1	17.2	5.4	8.2
Academic difficulty at 9	16.8	14.8	9.3	34.5	3.2	21.4

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO). Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under licence for this study. Data may be obtained by registered research organisations with the permission of the Central Statistics Office. Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). It is managed by DCEDIY in association with the CSO. Results in this paper are based on analyses of data from Research Microdata Files provided by the CSO. Neither the CSO nor DCEDIY take any responsibility for the views expressed or the outputs generated from these analyses.