Early School Leaving in Ireland The Matrix of Influences Explored

In Ireland, five per cent of young people leave school with no qualifications. In all, almost twenty per cent leave without attempting the Leaving Certificate. Early school leaving is associated with poor labour market outcomes, social exclusion and a range of other difficulties. Explanations tend towards the epidemiological and focus on the action of a matrix of risk factors and causal processes. However, this explanatory framework is contested by practitioners and qualitative researchers. Many young people have been encountered in YOUTHREACH who do not conform to the morbid stereotype. The purpose of this thesis is to test the explanatory framework for early school leaving. It accomplishes this through a combination of case study observations of a representative sample of early school leavers in YOUTHREACH centres and interviews with the Observers who conducted the case study observations. The outcomes confirm the value of the matrix as a general framework for explaining early school leaving. Learning and other needs are found amongst the subjects. Aspects of family functioning feature, as do school-based factors.. It appears that schools operate within learning/ behavioural norms and when the relationship between child and school breaks down, the school is unwilling to retrieve it. Risktaking is much in evidence. Some subjects are clearly already established offenders and live in extreme situations. However, it is also the case that many subjects are lawabiding, some even timid and many families are quite normal. The research also finds unexpected outcomes, for example that a majority of subjects do not have problems of identity or self-esteem. This highlights the shortcomings of the matrix as a basis for resolving the difficulties of individual young people - no element applies to all. Overall, the ‘matrix of influences’ helps to explain early school leaving in general, but not the individual process. Every child is different - each individual’s pathway is personal, idiosyncratic and incidental. As a result, while preventive measures demonstrate many local and individual successes, early school leaving is at the same level now as in 1997. Why do preventive measures have so little effect? Partly it is because the outcomes reflect Irish society (as do schools). The prevailing explanations are pathological and responses follow suit, but in fact leaving school early may be a rational response to an intolerable situation, A number of new paradigms are recommended in this thesis as a result, for example education completion rather than school completion. New paradigms demand changes at the level of approaches, relationships and organisation and a keener understanding of lifelong learning. The formal education system has much to learn from the nonformal system, in youth work, YOUTHREACH and adult and community education. But most fundamentally, the learner must be returned to centre stage

Convergent evolution of the blue-sensitive <i>SWS2</i> opsin at the molecular, functional, and ecological level.

<p>The duplication of <i>SWS2</i> in the ancestor of most spiny-rayed fish 198 million years ago was followed by a red-shift in <i>SWS2A</i> and a blue-shift in <i>SWS2B</i> [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref022" target="_blank">22</a>, <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref047" target="_blank">47</a>], paralogs that are divergently expressed among bluefin killifish (<i>L</i>. <i>goodei</i>) living in blackwater and clearwater habitats [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref024" target="_blank">24</a>]. Two key amino acid polymorphisms of the ancient paralogs causing shifts in their absorption spectra have reevolved within threespine stickleback and are now divergently selected between blackwater and clearwater habitats in Haida Gwaii—convergent evolution at the molecular, functional, and ecological level. Clearwater spectra (left photo) are blue-shifted with increasing depth, typical of marine habitats and oligotrophic clearwater lakes on Haida Gwaii [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>]. Tannin-stained blackwater (right photo) absorbs almost all up- and sidewelling light, making it a nearly nocturnal habitat, except for red-shifted downwelling light visible in a small cone above the observer. Unedited photos taken with a GoPro Hero 4 (GoPro Inc.) pointed towards the zenith at approximately 20 m depth in clearwater (Palau) and at 4 m depth in blackwater (Drizzle Lake).</p

Haplotype structure and extended haplotype homozygosity around <i>SWS2</i> and <i>LWS</i>.

<p>Left panels show phased haplotypes, right panels the decay of haplotype homozygosity around selected SNPs, each for the adaptive radiation (upper panels) and the selection experiment dataset (middle and lower panels). The selective sweep signature seen in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1</a> is caused by a long run of reference alleles (blue, upper left panel). This led to an extended haplotype homozygosity (EHH) signal at SNPs in the top H12-window (dashed lines in top right panel): haplotype homozygosity decays slowly around the reference allele (blue) for these SNPs, but rapidly around their alternate alleles (red). Decay is similar for <i>SWS2</i> key amino acid substitutions A109G and S97G (full lines). In the selection experiment (middle/lower panels), the same EHH decay is found for the reference haplotype, but the alternate haplotype shows reduced decay, in particular in the transplant population Roadside Pond. Rows in the left panel show haplotypes with imputed SNPs and monomorphic sites with missing data (white). Columns represent SNPs with color code relative to the threespine stickleback reference genome, a freshwater stickleback female [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref006" target="_blank">6</a>]. Gene positions are indicated with boxes above the figure. The haplotype matrix and EHH values can be found in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.s002" target="_blank">S1 Data</a>.</p

Predicted homeodomain binding sites are required for R2 expression domains in specific joints.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Eight predicted homeodomain binding sites (S1-S8, blue boxes) are found across R2 subregions. Four of these UNIPROBE predicted sites are found in both mice and humans, including S2 in sub-region R2a-c, S5 and S6 in sub-region R2d, and S8 in sub-region R2e. (<b>B</b>) Targeted mutagenesis of conserved S6 within the hindlimb regulatory zone of R2 eliminates normal <i>lacZ</i> signal in the knee (red arrowhead) but not elbow or shoulder, tissues where this enhancer region is predicted to have little to no influence on expression. Mutagenesis of sites S(7+8) within the forelimb regulatory zone of R2 eliminates expression in shoulder (red arrowhead) but not elbow or knee, tissues where this sequence is predicted to have little to no influence on expression. (<b>C</b>) Histology at E14.5 of wild-type R2 (left) versus mutant R2 (right) constructs reveals specific reductions (red arrowheads) in joint domains for each construct. Abbreviations: s, shoulder; e, elbow; k, knee; sc, scapula; h, humerus; f, femur; t, tibia.</p

Modular regulatory architecture of <i>GDF5</i> spans the region linked to Osteoarthritis (OA) susceptibility in humans.

<p>(Top) Summary of the different stripes and anatomical domains controlled by separate regulatory enhancers (colored) in the <i>Gdf5</i> gene in E14.5 developing mouse forelimbs (FL) and hindlimbs (HL). (Bottom) Association of various human SNPs (grey circles) with adult knee OA in cases vs. controls (based on [<a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006454#pgen.1006454.ref027" target="_blank">27</a>]). Y-axis is the -log P-value of the trait association for SNPs across the interval. X-axes show genomic megabase locations (bottom axis) of human sequences orthologous to R1 (green), R2 (red), R3 (blue), R4 (purple), and R5 (orange) elements (top axis). The highest scoring variant tested in the human study, rs143383 (dark circle), is located in <i>GDF5</i> 5'UTR, immediately downstream of the R2 region. Note that significant association extends over a broad region, and many linked human variants have not yet been tested, including common human variants in R2, R3, R4, and R5 (see <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006454#pgen.1006454.s004" target="_blank">S4 Table</a>).</p

Population information.

<p>Population information.</p

Signature of selective sweep in blackwater-adapted stickleback and “reversed sweep” after transplant to clearwater habitat.

<p>Significantly reduced nucleotide diversity (middle left) and Tajima’s D (T_D, bottom left) in the blackwater source population Mayer Lake compared to genome-wide expectations (right) indicate a selective sweep in this population, consistent with the signature seen across the adaptive radiation (cf. Figs <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.g001" target="_blank">1</a> and <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.g002" target="_blank">2</a>). After transplant to a clearwater habitat, however, the alternate haplotype has increased in frequency (<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.g002" target="_blank">Fig 2</a>), leading to one of the strongest differentiation signals in the genome (F_ST, top left panel) and a significantly positive Tajima’s D. Such a pattern is consistent with a transient phase of a reversed selective sweep. Dashed horizontal lines indicate the 0.1%- and 99.9%-quantiles for each statistic based on their genome-wide distribution in regions with similar recombination rates (right panels); boxes above the figure indicate the position of genes, with black boxes and vertical dashed lines highlighting the position of the two cone opsins <i>SWS2</i> and <i>LWS</i>. Sliding-window F_ST, nucleotide diversity and Tajima’s D values and genome-wide distributions of each statistic can be found in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.s002" target="_blank">S1 Data</a>.</p

Cone opsin amino acid polymorphisms across the Haida Gwaii stickleback radiation and selection experiment.

<p>Note the high frequency and nearly perfect linkage of <i>SWS2</i> amino acid polymorphisms. Columns represent single individuals per population, rows represent amino acid polymorphisms. Color codes show the genotype probabilities and amino acid alleles relative to the threespine stickleback reference genome (S97C: reference = S, alternate = C; rr: homozygous for reference amino acid, aa: homozygous for alternate amino acid, ra: heterozygous genotype). Amino acid positions are relative to the bovine rhodopsin protein. Light transmission ratios at 400 nm (T400) for the different water bodies are given in percent in the lower panels, with the grey area representing blackwater lakes [<a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.ref016" target="_blank">16</a>]. Genotype probabilities can be found in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.s002" target="_blank">S1 Data</a>, T400 values in <a href="http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001627#pbio.2001627.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p