School choice and school catchment: Post‐primary education in Galway city

Abstract

While research to date at the national level has adequately illustrated the nature and extent of class bias in Irish education, there has been little attempt to examine the spatial organisation of the system at the local level. Research in Britain on the other hand has shown how catchment areas can become barriers, dividing children along social class lines.' This paper argues the need to carry out a spatial analysis of the educational system, and in focussing on post-primary education in Galway, it examines the varying degrees of educational