Policy issues concerning Education

A report from the Educational Research Centre examining the home ‎and school learning environments of 15-year olds in DEIS and non-DEIS schools provides a detailed examination of the home and backgrounds of students in DEIS and non-DEIS schools and examines broader issues including wellbeing, the value that students place on education, their motivation, and aspirations for future learning and employment.

The impact of Covid-19 on our education system cannot be understated. It will widen the learning gap between rich and poor, impose long-term losses of income on all students - with disadvantaged students suffering greater learning losses and greater impacts on their lifetime earnings.  It could reverse much of the progress made on addressing educational disadvantage to date.

Training, upskilling and reskilling will be fundamental to Government’s response to impact of COVID-19 on the labour market, meeting our carbon neutrality target and the challenges posed by digitisation.  Apprenticeships and traineeships will be a crucial part of the response.

The gender employment gap is the difference in rates of employment for men and women.  New figures from Eurostat shows that education has a key role to play in closing this gap. For those with low educational attainment, the gap is wider than it was a decade ago.