Only 6% of adults in north Cork areas have a degree

Only 5% or 6% of adults in the Knocknaheeny and Churchfield areas of Cork City have college degrees and one in three in some parts of the northside have only been educated to primary level.

The figures compare poorly to citywide and national averages and emerged in a report on adult and community education provision in the northside.

The study for social housing organisation Respond shows just 4.7% of people aged 15 or over in Knocknaheeny are educated to degree level or higher. The figures for Churchfield and Fairhill are just over 6%, and are less than 10% in Gurranabraher, Mayfield, Farranferris and The Glen.

The links to unemployment are also clear as Knocknaheeny’s 25% jobless rate is the northside’s highest, followed by Mayfield (19%), while Gurranabraher, Farranferris and The Glen are all at 17% to 18%.

Blackpool and Shandon have the highest numbers with degrees or postgraduate qualifications, at 24% and 28% respectively, against a city and national average of 24%. But the report by research firm SharedInsight, based on Census 2011 data, suggests this could reflect a well-educated immigrant population in the areas.

Authors Siobhán O’Sullivan, Cathal O’Connell and Nicholas McMurry said Cork’s northside is a disadvantaged area with concentrations of rental housing, high levels of lone parenthood, deprivation and unemployment, and below average numbers educated to third-level.

“There are also pockets of newcomer communities who are not fully integrated and who may have unmet needs,” said the report, launched last night in Respond’s St Francis Gardens social housing complex on the former Blackpool Flats site. It shows the northside is well served by providers of community education and training, a key element in effective regeneration of disadvantaged areas, and most are in Farranree, Mayfield and Knocknaheeny. More than 200 courses run by over 40 community education providers range from six weeks to over a year, and cover everything from hobbies and personal development to specific work skills for employment.

As the first detailed analysis of this sector on the northside the report will help Respond decide what areas to focus on in its planned local education provision. “We place a heavy emphasis on education as a tool for social change and transformation. Education must take a central role in ongoing regeneration and community development projects in our city,” said Respond acting area manager, Ned Brennan.

Among the community education staff and co-ordinators who spoke to researchers was a staff member at the City North further education college in Knocknaheeny who was worried that funding being targeted at job-specific courses makes employment the sole motivation for education, but misses the point that vital outcomes like social wellbeing and community development are harder to measure. The report says providers should work more closely when planning courses, more so in light of public spending cuts, and that formal links with industry to develop relevant courses need improvement.

Trailing education league

Adults with no more than primary education:

- Churchfield: 33%

- Gurranabraher: 33%

- Farranferris: 30%

- Knocknaheeny: 30%

- Fairhill: 27%

- Mayfield: 24%

- Commons: 21%

- The Glen: 21%

- Blackpool: 17%

- Shandon: 15%

- Cork City and suburbs: 17%

- National average: 15%