ARINS: Education across the island of Ireland

The Royal Irish Academy

In this month’s ARINS podcast, our host Rory Montgomery is joined by Anne Devlin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the ESRI, to unpuzzle the findings from the ISIA paper she co-authored with Seamus McGuinness, Adele Bergin and Emer Smyth: 'Education across the Island of Ireland: Examining Educational Outcomes, Earnings and Intergenerational Mobility' (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/884143). In this, our first episode exploring education north and south, Devlin explores how economic background impacts educational attainment and the way in which education in turn impacts the labour market north and south. In comparing levels of educational attainment, one measure, early school leaving for example, is known to have long-term ramifications for individuals shaping their labour market outcomes as well as their overall well-being. Other measures shaping education attainment include work status and the interaction between social background, measured by parental education and the impact on educational success or failure. Devlin and her colleagues explore why it is that in 2005 educational attainment north and south was broadly similar but by 2014 the mean wage gap was 27 percent in favour of Ireland, approximately 25 percent of this difference can be explained by lower levels of educational attainment in Northern Ireland. Anne Devlin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Economic Analysis Division having joined the ESRI in December 2020. Her research interests include labour economics and the economics of disability as well as a particular interest in economic inactivity in Ireland, north and south. She completed her PhD in Economics at Queen’s University Belfast in June 2021. Her PhD research investigated the high levels of disability in Northern Ireland and whether there is a relationship with the ‘Troubles’. This is episode 22 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at www.arinsproject.com. ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.