Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Education

4.1 Ireland: Leaving Certificate candidates, 2013
 
number higher level candidates as a % of total candidates% higher level candidates attaining A or B grades
Subject (higher level)BoysGirlsBoysGirlsBoysGirls
English15,10818,16756.869.532.839.6
French5,5778,60821.032.937.644.2
Irish6,10810,55722.940.449.958.6
       
Biology9,25114,18234.854.239.243.6
Chemistry3,0993,65811.614.049.747.3
Mathematics6,9456,06926.123.240.631.2
Physics3,5891,24313.54.848.851.4
       
Construction studies6,18039223.21.542.241.1
Design and communication graphics3,53748013.31.847.251.7
Engineering3,58615613.50.639.237.2
       
Art2,4915,3759.420.623.940.4
Home Economics7218,1792.731.323.742.2
Music1,8343,8796.914.864.068.1
       
Total Leaving Certificate candidates126,62026,147    
Source: State Examinations Commission
1 The above data exclude candidates in the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme. School candidates, repeat candidates, external candidates, VTOS and PLC candidates are included in the table.

 

  • Just over half (50.4%) of students taking the Leaving Certificate in 2013 were male.
  • Just under seven out of ten (69.5%) girls sitting the Leaving Certificate took English at higher level compared with 56.8% of boys. There were also higher proportions of girls taking Irish and French at higher level.
  • Less than 1% of girls took Engineering as a higher level Leaving Certificate exam subject compared with 13.5% of boys.
  • 1.5% of girls took Construction studies at higher level compared with close to a quarter (23.2%) of boys while 1.8% of girls took Design and communication graphics compared to 13.3% of boys.
  • Over half of girls (54.2%) took Biology at higher level compared with just over a third (34.8%) of boys.
  • Over a quarter of boys (26.1%) took Mathematics at higher level compared with 23.2% of girls.
4.2 Ireland: Third level graduates1 by field of study, 2012
number %
Field of educationMenWomenMenWomen
Agriculture6063522.21.1
Arts and humanities3,0254,71411.015.0
Education1,2183,6754.411.7
Engineering, manufacturing and construction6,1811,09222.63.5
Health and welfare2,1137,7527.824.6
Science4,3802,78416.08.8
Services1,6351,2916.04.1
Social sciences, business and law8,2419,80830.031.2
Total27,39931,468100.0100.0
Source: Department of Education and Science
1 At ISCED levels 5 and 6 (see Appendix 1). Total excludes graduates where field of education was not stated.

 

  • Women represented 53.5% of all third-level graduates in Ireland in 2012. 31.2% of female graduates were in social sciences, business and law while just under one quarter (24.6%) were in health and welfare.
  • Three out of ten male graduates were in social sciences, business and law while 22.6% were in engineering, manufacturing and construction.
  • Women represented nearly four out of five (78.6%) graduates in the health and welfare field and three-quarters (75.1%) of graduates in education.
  • The vast majority (85%) of graduates in engineeering, manufacturing and construction were male.
4.3 Ireland: Students as proportion of population aged 18-24, 2008 and 2013
%
           2008          2013
AgeMenWomenMenWomen
18 years69.178.782.287.5
19 years45.461.468.073.0
20 years40.950.356.368.0
21 years29.037.048.256.5
22 years22.823.444.834.8
23 years13.113.624.124.6
24 years10.310.817.615.7
Total 18-24 year olds31.136.449.251.6
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • The proportion of students among men in the 18-24 age group rose by over 18 percentage points between 2008 and 2013, from 31.1% to 49.2%.
  • Over the same time period the proportion of students among women in the 18-24 age group rose by over 15 percentage points, from 36.4% to 51.6%.
  • in 2013 87.5% of 18 year old women were students compared with 82.2% of 18 year old men.
  • This pattern, of a higher proportion of women, continued up to and including 21 years. For 22 year olds, more men than women were students while the proportions at ages 23 and 24 were very similar.
4.4 Ireland: Persons aged 25-34 with a third level qualification, 2004-2013
%
YearMenWomen
200435.642.4
200535.144.6
200633.246.9
200734.347.6
200835.050.1
200938.551.0
201038.952.3
201139.353.2
201241.454.2
201342.755.3
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • The percentage of men and women aged 25-34 with a third-level qualification increased over the period 2004-2013.
  • The percentage of men with a third-level qualification fell from 35.6% in 2004 to 33.2% in 2006. Since then the percentrage has increased steadily to stand at 42.7% in 2013, a rise of 7.1 percentage points since 2004.
  • There was a considerably larger increase for women aged 25-34 with a third-level qualification, from 42.4% in 2004 to 55.3% in 2013, an increase of 12.9 percentage points.
  • More women aged 18-24 have a third level qualification than men and this gap widened between 2004 and 2013 from 6.8 to 12.6 percentage points.
4.5 Ireland: Persons aged 35-64 by highest level of education attained, 2013
000s% of category
Level of education attainedMenWomenMenWomen
Primary or no formal education103.586.811.79.7
Lower secondary146.0114.716.512.9
Higher secondary191.5212.621.723.8
Post leaving certificate120.5105.813.611.9
Third level303.0352.434.339.5
Not stated19.720.22.22.3
Total884.2892.4100.0100.0
Source: CSO QNHS

 

  • 22.6% of women aged 35-64 had at most lower secondary education in 2013 while the percentage of men in this age group was 28.2%.
  • Nearly four out of ten (39.5%) women aged 35-64 had third level education in 2013 compared with 34.3% of men.
4.6 Ireland: Classroom teachers1, 2003-2012
%
 ISCED 1ISCED 2-3
 PrimarySecond level
YearMenWomenMenWomen
200313.586.540.259.8
200416.483.640.060.0
200515.984.139.460.6
200617.182.937.962.1
200717.882.237.962.1
200817.282.836.363.7
200915.384.736.663.4
201015.184.935.364.7
201115.184.934.965.1
201215.184.931.768.3
Source: Eurostat
1 Full-time equivalents

 

  • Women accounted for 84.9% of teachers at primary level in Ireland in 2012, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points since 2003.
  • At second-level, women accounted for 68.3% of teachers in 2012 which was an increase of 8.5 percentage points since 2003.
4.7 EU: Classroom teachers and academic staff, 20121,2
%
 ISCED 1ISCED 2-3ISCED 5-6
 PrimarySecond levelThird level
CountryMenWomenMenWomenMenWomen
Greece34.665.443.456.666.034.0
Denmark31.468.629.270.8::
Luxembourg28.271.850.549.557.442.6
Spain24.275.844.955.159.440.6
Finland21.178.935.164.949.750.3
Portugal20.379.730.669.456.443.6
Belgium19.280.838.861.253.846.2
Netherlands18.181.955.045.059.140.9
Sweden18.181.942.257.857.542.5
France18.082.042.457.663.336.7
Cyprus17.083.035.364.760.939.1
Malta15.284.836.563.568.631.4
Ireland15.184.931.768.362.537.5
Germany14.285.841.258.863.636.4
United Kingdom13.087.040.959.159.340.7
Romania12.487.630.369.751.348.7
Poland12.088.029.071.056.543.5
Austria8.991.137.063.064.635.4
Croatia6.793.329.870.253.546.5
Latvia6.593.517.482.642.557.5
Slovakia6.193.923.176.954.945.1
Bulgaria5.894.220.679.452.447.6
Estonia4.795.321.978.1::
Hungary4.195.928.171.961.638.4
Italy3.996.130.969.163.836.2
Slovenia3.596.526.074.061.538.5
Czech Republic2.897.234.265.863.037.0
Lithuania2.197.916.983.144.555.5
       
Turkey47.152.957.542.559.140.9
Norway26.173.939.160.955.144.9
Switzerland21.678.456.243.869.930.1
Iceland19.780.336.463.654.545.5
Macedonia19.780.342.757.352.847.2
Source: Eurostat
     
1 Data refers to full-time equivalents. See country notes in Appendix 1 of report.
2 2011 data used for Croatia, Estonia, Italy, Malta, Sweden, Iceland and Turkey. 2011 data used for Luxembourg except for third level for which 2010 used. 2009 data used for Denmark at primary level and for Ireland at third level. 2007 data used for Greece.

 

  • In 2012 15.1% of primary school teachers in Ireland were men. The highest reported levels of male participation at primary level among other EU countries were in Greece and Denmark where about one-third of all primary teachers were male.
  • The lowest level of male teachers at primary level in the EU was in Lithuania at just 2.1%.
  • In Ireland in 2012 over two-thirds (68.3%) of second-level teachers were female.
  • At second-level there were more female than male teachers in all EU countries except for Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
  • At third-level in Ireland 62.5% of academic staff were male and men outnumbered women in all EU countries for which information was available except in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.
4.8 EU: School management personnel, 20121
     
%
 ISCED 1ISCED 2-3
CountryMenWomenMenWomen
Netherlands55.944.173.426.6
Greece66.533.570.629.4
Austria17.982.165.534.5
Belgium45.554.563.936.1
Italy::61.438.6
Ireland55.644.459.440.6
Finland55.444.657.043.0
Luxembourg72.727.352.947.1
France27.672.452.347.7
Sweden26.573.547.152.9
Slovakia18.181.941.958.1
Romania21.478.639.460.6
Cyprus23.476.638.261.8
Poland22.577.537.063.0
Slovenia26.973.136.663.4
Bulgaria20.879.229.370.7
Lithuania17.382.7::
United Kingdom24.375.7::
     
Switzerland48.551.571.029.0
Iceland16.183.957.442.6
Norway41.358.747.552.5
Source: Eurostat
    
1 2011 data used for Greece, Luxembourg, Sweden and Iceland. For second level, 2007 data used for Ireland and 2011 for Italy.

 

  • There were more men than women in school management positions at primary level in Ireland in 2012 with 55.6% of these positions taken by men.
  • The proportion of primary school managers who were male in the reporting countries varied from 17.3% in Lithuania to 72.7% in Luxembourg.
  • In Ireland in 2009, less than half (40.6%) of second-level school management personnel were female.
  • Of the EU countries for which data was available, the Netherlands had the lowest proportion of female school managers at second-level at 26.6% while Bulgaria had the highest at 70.7%.