Protestant teenagers growing up in working-class areas of Northern Ireland are under-|performing in society, new research has revealed.
Young males are the worst under-achievers, with Protestant boys less likely to do well in exams or go to university than their Catholic counterparts, Sarah Rainey reports in The Belfast Telegraph.
Just one in 10 young Protestants currently at school will go on to further education, compared to one in every five young Catholics from a similar background, according to the report.
The findings were put together by a working group of teachers, academics and community activists, led by independent MLA Dawn Purvis.
Chairman of the working group, Mark Langhammer, said the results were “absolutely shocking”.
“It doesn’t surprise me but it is hard to take in nonetheless,” he said.
“Schools attended by Protestant children do tend to be socially segregated. If our suggestions don’t bring about change then whoever the new Education Minister is will need a serious look at themselves. We’ve been careful not to produce a wish-list of demands, but to pick some systematic issues that could be put in place without excess cost.”
The research comes almost a year after the group launched a public consultation on under-achievement by Protestant males from disadvantaged families
It calls for the Executive to introduce a child poverty strategy and encourages parents to get involved in their child’s education from a young age.
The research also suggests the immediate creation of a single education authority and increased funding for early years schooling.
Ms Purvis said she hoped the consultation would be a “positive contribution to bring about real change”.
“Report after report has highlighted the fact that educationally we fail too many of our children, that a high proportion of those live in inner east Belfast and that the country’s most dominant non-progressor group was working-class Protestant boys,” she said.