Education and Socio-Economic Class: A Statistical Analysis of 1971 Irish Census Data

From unpublished tables supplementary to the Census of Population of Ireland, 1971, Volume XII, the educational status of the population aged 14 or over whose education had ended is analysed by social group. There are considerable differences between the levels of education reached in the different social groups. The low percentages for post-primary level are similar for agricultural and semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers. The rapidity of improvement in education by age is analysed by a method of gradients. Gradients of improvement are shown to have increased with the passage of time in the 80 or so years before 1971.