PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOURAL

Participation in Decision Making

Effective student participation in school decision-making contributes to the improvement of school practices ³⁷ and builds the confidence and self-esteem of students ³⁸

Participation in making the school rules

Measure

The percentage of children aged 9-17 who report students at their school participate in making the school rules.

Key findings

• In 2006, 22.5% of children aged 9-17 reported that students at their school participate in making the school rules (see Table 60).

Differences by gender, age and social class

• The percentage of children who reported that students in their school participate in making the school rules is relatively stable across gender (see Table 60).
• The percentage of children who reported that students in their school participate in making the school rules was higher among younger children and children from lower social classes:
  • 42.9% of children aged 9, compared to 15% aged 15-17;
  • 24.1% of children in SC 5-6, compared to 19.6% in SC 1-2.

Differences by geographic area

• Children in the Dublin region are more likely (28.1%) to report that students at their school participate in making the school rules, while children in the Mid-West region are least likely (17.2%) to report this (see Table 61).

International comparisons

• From the 2006 HBSC Survey, using the ages of 11, 13, and 15 only to draw international comparisons, 24.9% of Irish children reported that students in their school participate in making the school rules (see Figure 23). This compared with the HBSC average of 33.8%.
• Among the 7 countries and regions that used this HBSC item, the lowest percentage for this indicator was found among children from Ireland (24.9%) and the highest among children from Macedonia (50.3%). Overall, Irish children ranked 7th (last).
• Among the 14 countries and regions that used this HBSC item in 2002, Irish children ranked 13th (23.5%).

Technical notes
All data presented are drawn from self-report, self-completion questionnaires completed by children in schools. Thus, they are subject to potential biases in relation to self-presentation and memory. These measures may suffer from social desirability bias.

Percentage differences are presented for descriptive purposes only and may not reflect a statistically significant finding.

Social class (SC) is classified into one of the following groups (introduced in 1996 by the CSO), defined on the basis of occupation:
SC I: Professional
SC 2: Managerial
SC 3: Non-manual
SC 4: Skilled manual
SC 5: Semi-skilled
SC 6: Unskilled

NUTS is an acronym for the EU Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. This classification was legally established by EU Regulation No. 1059/2003 on 29 May 2003. In Ireland, NUTS is classified hierarchically as Level 1 – Ireland; Level 2 – Regions; and Level 3 – Regional Authorities. The 8 Regional Authorities in Ireland (NUTS 3 regions) were established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (see Appendix 2).

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