Meeting 5

Education Statistics Liaison Group (ESLG) Meeting 5

Location: Central Statistics Office, Ardee Road / Microsoft Teams

Date: 28th February 2025

Attendance:

27 people attended the 5^th ESLG meeting in the CSO Rathmines office and remotely via Microsoft Teams, representing 11 Public Services Bodies. A full list of those in attendance can be found at the end of this document.

Agenda

Item 1: Welcome and Updates: Paul Morrin – Central Statistics Office (CSO), Tomás Ó Ruairc – Department of Education (DoE), Oliver Ratcliffe – Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) 

• Paul Morrin and Tomás Ó Ruairc opened the meeting and welcomed members to the liaison group. The minutes of the last meeting were circulated in advance and were taken as read. 

Organisational Updates from CSO

• The CSO relaunched the National Data Infrastructure under three pillars of Standards, Skills and Services. Further information is available at www.nationaldata.ie
• The CSO is currently developing a new Data Strategy which will be published later in the year.

Updates from DoE 

• The department is part of an OECD research evidence and data network which brings together researchers and policymakers and the network will feed into medium- and long-term strategic planning.
• The department recently registered as an approved research organisation for the purposes of accessing Research Microdata Files (RMFs) in the CSO.
• There are a number of publications pending on teaching supply, including projections of teacher demand/supply. The ‘Signs of Life’ report is a good example of a pathfinder project in collaboration with the CSO, The Teaching Council and DoE.
• A Chief Information Officer is in place at Assistant Director General level and a new data function is established in the Department.
• Noted that there is an increasing appetite in the department for data on educational outcomes, transfers and on attendance patterns.

Updates from DFHERIS

• The methodology for enrolment projections in Further Education & Training (FET) has been finalised. Final projections are intended for publication following incorporation of the CSO's updated regional population projections (which were published end of January 2025).
• The Education Indicators for Ireland report, prepared with DoE, will be published before the end of March and will include several new sections following consultations with units across the Department, e.g. student accommodation.
• The Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) survey has been published for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Item 2: Enrolment Projections - Alisha Ratigan (DoE)

Alisha Ratigan (DoE) provided an overview of work undertaken on primary and post-primary enrolment projections. The presentation showed how the projections relied on three different migration scenarios which were recently published by the CSO Demography Division. 

Questions / comments:

Paul Morrin (CSO) queried if it was possible to measure the impact of delayed fertility and if it was related to a shortage of housing. Alisha clarified that the fertility rate is updated annually based on the number of births published by the CSO.

There was discussion that there are separate regional projections in the Department that align to new areas of housing development and that these will be incorporated into the statistical projections.

Item 3: OECD’s Research and Innovation Careers Observatory (ReICO): Demographics and Outcomes of Doctorate Holders in Ireland - Oliver Ratcliffe (DFHERIS)

Oliver Ratcliffe (DFHERIS) provided an overview of the OECD’s Research and Innovation Careers Observatory (ReICO) initiative. He described Ireland’s contribution using data from Census 2022, described the challenges in providing required data and looked ahead to future transmissions. 

Questions / comments:

Paul Morrin (CSO) made an observation that it would require more Government departments and agencies to capture the highest level of education to fulfil the data requirements.

Nora Condron (SOLAS) suggested employment permits data on migrants from outside the EEA as a possible additional data source to capture the level of education held by migrant workers. 

Item 4: Use of Education Data in Growing Up in Ireland 1998 Cohort at Age 25 - Daniel Watts (CSO)

Daniel Watts (CSO) delivered a presentation on the findings of the Growing Up in Ireland Survey of the 1998 cohort at age 25. He outlined that most respondents, at age 25, have completed their time in education and that over 80% were in employment. He also highlighted that respondents with lower levels of education were more likely to be diagnosed with depression or anxiety at age 25 and were less likely to have political engagements in the past year. 

Questions / comments:

Rob Kelly (CSO) queried if 25 year-olds who had migrated to Ireland since 1998 were included in the sample. Daniel confirmed that they were not - the sample were the original cohort that were sampled when they were aged 9 in 2007.

Shauna Dunlop (SOLAS) thanked Daniel and all the GUI team and noted with interest the relationship between education and mental health.

Thomas O’Ruairc (DoE) thanked Daniel for the presentation and noted that high progression rates in education can mask underachievement by certain cohorts and he noted the importance of education attainment and health outcomes. Daniel also provided further clarity on how the survey and admin data was combined.

Vincent Downey (SUSI) asked if there were plans to show breakdowns of the GUI cohort by SUSI recipients. Daniel replied that it is possible in future releases.

Daniel also confirmed that there are no further releases planned on the non-resident cohort who were part of cohort 98 but are now living abroad.

Use of Education Data in Growing Up in Ireland 1998 Cohort at Age 25 (PPT 1,438KB)

Item 5: AOB / Open Discussion

Aoife Crawford (NALA) sought recommendations on data that could be used to establish a cohort of life-long learners and adult literacy levels. PIAAC was suggested as the main data source in this area and the CSO will provide further assistance.

Rob Kelly (CSO) gave an update on education projects in the SSCU section

• A release on apprenticeship outcomes will be published soon using data provided by the NAO and Solas.
• An update to the release on health graduate outcomes will be published in late Q2 for additional health care professionals and provide information on where graduates work.
• An update to the release on early learning care graduates will be published in Q2.
• Work is ongoing in collaboration with SUSI to estimate approximate reckonable income for both SUSI and non-SUSI students and learners.
• A new statistician in the section, Lisa, is working with data provided by SOLAS.
• There is a project examining the socio-economic status of students in schools using Census 2022 data to derive households and administrative data such as from the Department of Social Protection to derive deprivation indicators. The project will examine education transitions and outcomes.

Nora Condon (SOLAS) gave an update that the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SLMRU) are finalising their annual publication, Monitoring Ireland’s Skill Supply, which examines awards data by field of learning and NFQ level from 1-10 that may be available for the labour market.

Action items:

1. Organise next ESLG meeting.
2. Circulate presentations slides from meeting to all ESLG members.
3. Ask for volunteers to present at the next meeting.