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Once holding a prominent position on the island, social, economic and political factors throughout the centuries have resulted in decline of the Irish language. The current situation of the Irish language on the island differs markedly between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. While historically the Irish language was used also by the representatives of other religions, over time it became strongly associated with Catholic identity. This paper explores the attitudes towards the use of the Irish language of adult non-Catholic population in Northern Ireland. It explores the link between language and national and religious identities, and seeks to identify factors associated with positive attitude towards the Irish language. The paper draws on 2013 Language Survey.

"This volume explores the role of structure and agency in shaping post-school pathways for migrant-origin young people, providing new insights from migrant-receiving countries and exploring different migration histories and transition systems. Offering an intersectional approach to the field, the book collates the work of leading international scholars to cover a number of jurisdictions across Europe, looking in depth at migrant transitions in different contexts. The chapters examine factors relating to different education systems, migration status, race and ethnicity, social class, gender and resilience, and also consider the implications of COVID-19 and deepening inequalities. The book demonstrates the need for host countries to put in place comprehensive policies in their education and labour market systems to counter ethnic inequalities and discrimination while facilitating and supporting immigrant youth in pursuing their post-school pathways. Ultimately exploring migrant young people's social and economic integration and their lives in general after leaving school, this timely book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of migration studies, sociology of education and equity in education. Policy makers may also find this book useful in guiding educational policy recommendations"--

This article uses two longitudinal cohort studies (Growing Up in Ireland and the National Educational Panel Study) to examine how shadow education relates to academic performance in Ireland and Germany. Patterns of take-up of, and outcomes from, shadow education are found to reflect the particular country context—aimed at maintaining performance to avoid grade retention in Germany and preparing for a high-stakes upper secondary exam in Ireland. Participation enhances academic performance but only for students with lower levels of prior achievement. However, the relationship is not much stronger than with engagement in structured out-of-school activities. Thus, shadow education appears to be one of a number of strategies used by more privileged families to secure educational advantage.

COVID-19 has resulted in a global public health crisis. Measures adopted by governments across the world to reduce transmission have resulted in the closure of educational institutions and workplaces and reduced social interaction. The aim of the article is to reflect on the consequences of the COVID-19 global pandemic for the lives of young people from different social groups, with a special focus on education. It is a desk-based review of empirical research that has emerged in the wake of COVID-19 that has explored the impact of the control measures adopted, resulting in 'learning loss' and the widening of the 'learning gap' among students. The review shows that rather than utilizing the current situation to tackle pre-existing social inequalities in education, current debates often narrowly focus on immediate rather than long-term measures. The article calls for a broader research agenda on the short- and long-term compensatory measures needed to re-engage students, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Acquisition and enhancement of social capital is a continuous process of negotiation and interaction between self and social context. While the concept of social capital has been dealt with extensively in international research, relatively few studies have explored social capital among young people, particularly in the school context. This paper considers access of first-year students (age twelve to thirteen years) to school-based social capital in secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on several theories dealing with social capital, the paper describes factors that are likely to have an impact on the acquisition process. It is argued in the paper that access to teacher- and peer-based social capital may provide valuable resources that ease the transition process for students as they move from primary schools to secondary level.

There is a growing recognition of the importance of `field of study' in social research. However, few of the existing studies explore the extent to which different fields of study facilitate or constrain opportunities to engage in employment and students' perceptions of their work load in higher education. This article aims to explore the workload of higher education students across different fields of study in comparative perspective. Contrasting Ireland and Austria enables us to explore the way in which the institutional context influences student workload. Analyses of the survey data were conducted to explore the extent to which field of study influenced time spent at formal classes, on personal study and in term-time employment. Regression models were used to estimate the effect of field of study, controlling for a number of factors, including higher education institution, personal characteristics and other potential constraints on student time. Finally, we analyse the effect of student workload on overall satisfaction levels.