PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - EDUCATION
Transfer to Second Level Education
Consequences of early school-leaving include an increased likelihood of long-term unemployment, low-skilled and poorly paid employment, and an inability to access life changes, leading to social exclusion. 25
Measure
The percentage of children leaving national school, by destination.
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Key findings
- Over the period 2002-2006, over 95% of children leaving national school are known to have progressed to another form of schooling, either at first or second level (see Table 40). Between 2.6%-3.0% were accounted for by emigration. Less than one-half of 1% of children leaving national school were known not to have progressed to other schools, while the destination of a further 0.7%-1.2% of these children was unknown. These final two categories accounted for 1,165 children in 2006.
Table 40 : Percentage of children leaving national school, by destination (2002-2006)
| Destination | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Attending another school within the State | 96.2 | 95.9 | 96.2 | 96.3 | 95.5 |
| Emigrating | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.0 |
| Not attending other school | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| Unknown | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Total no. of children | 76,691 | 78,024 | 77,584 | 76,187 | 75,991 |
Source: Education Statistics, Department of Education and Science
- Boys are more likely than girls to leave national school and not attend any other school. In the period 2002-2006, the proportion of boys in this group of school-leavers ranged from 53.6% in 2005 to 62.4% in 2004 (see Figure 12).
Figure 12: Percentage of national school-leavers not attending other school, by gender (2002-2006)
Source: Education Statistics, Department of Education and Science
Technical notes
Data in Table 40 and Figure 12 refer to children leaving ordinary classes in national school. Data on children leaving national school in the State and their destination are collected by the Department of Education and Science via school-based returns and are published in its Annual Statistical Report.
The reference period for the data presented here runs from October to September. Data for the year 2006, for example, refer to children leaving school between 1 October 2005 and 30 September 2006.