Education in Ireland

Published date01 March 1968
DOI10.1177/002085236803400108
Date01 March 1968
AuthorT.J. McElligott
Subject MatterArticles
Education
in
Ireland
by
T.
J.
McELLIGOTT,
Teacher,
Mountjoy
School,
Dublin
UDC
379.1
(417)
Education
in
the
Republic
of
Ireland
was
organized
and
has
developed
in
three
branches,
viz.
primary,
post-primary
and
university.
At-
tendance
at
school
is
compulsory
for
children
between
six
and
fourteen.
Article
42
of
the
Constitution
sets
out
the
principles
underlying
education
in
Ireland :
1.
The
State
acknowledges
that
the
primary
and
natural
educator
of
the
child
is
the
Family
and
guarantees
to
respect
the
inalienable
right
and
duty
of
parents
to
provide,
according
to
their
means,
for
the
religious
and
moral,
in-
tellectual,
physical
and
social
education
of
their
children.
2.
Parents
shall
be
free
to
provide
this
edu-
cation
in
their
homes
or
in
private
schools
or
in
schools
recognised
or
established
by
the
State.
3.
The
State
shall
not
oblige
parents
in
violation
of
their
conscience
and
lawful
pre-
ference
to
send
their
children
to
schools
estab-
lished
by
the
State,
or
to
any
particular
type
of
school
designated
by
the
State.
The
State
shall,
however,
as
guardian
of the
common
good,
require
in
view
of
actual
condi-
tions
that
the
children
receive
a
certain
mini-
mum
education,
moral, intellectual
and
social.
4.
The
State
shall
provide
for
free
primary
education
and
shall
endeavour
to
supplement
and
give
reasonable
aid
to
private
and
corpo-
rate
educational
initiative,
and,
when
the
pub-
lic
good
requires
it,
provide
other
educational
facilities
or
institutions
with
due
regard,
how-
ever,
for
the
rights
of
parents,
especially
in
the
matter
of
religious
and
moral
formation.
5.
In
exceptional
cases,
where
the
parents
for
physical
or
moral
reasons
fail
in
their
duty
towards
their
children,
the
State
as
guardian
of the
common
good,
by
appropriate
means
shall
endeavour
to
supply
the
place
of
the
parents,
but
always
with
due
regard
for the
natural
and
imprescriptible
rights
of the
child.
All
primary
schools,
usually
called &dquo;
nation-
al
schools &dquo;
are
managed
by
clergymen
and
are
denominational
in
character.
The
word
&dquo;
national &dquo;
in
this
context
may
obscure
the
fact
that
they
are
really
parish
schools
under
local
clerical
management.
And,
even
as
the
schools
are
not
owned
by
the
state
so
are
the
teachers
not
civil
servants.
Legally,
they
are
employed
by
the
managers,
even
though
it
is
the
state,
as
the
manager’s &dquo;
agent &dquo;,
which
pays
their
salaries
directly
to
them.
The
managerial
system
is
quite
clearly
a
compromise
between
those
who
would
have
complete
state
control
and
those
who
stand
for
confessional
schools.
To
the
extent
that
it
gives
power
to
religious
communities,
it
en-
sures
that
lay
interests
are
subordinated,
but
it
is
none
the
less
true
to
say
that
public
opinion
is
emphatic
that
education
in
Ireland
must
be
religious
and
that
it
must be
denominational.
The
number
of
national
schools
is
slightly
over
4,700
(including
740
one-teacher
schools)
and
this
figure
is
likely
to
decrease
in
the
coming
years
despite
a
slowly
increasing
pop-
ulation.
As
in
other
countries,
efforts
are
being
made
to
close
small
schools
and
bring
the
pupils
concerned
to
larger
schools
where
better
educational
facilities
can
be
provided.
While
the
educational
advantages
of
such
a
policy
are
many,
there
are
formidable
social
obstacles
to
implementing
it.
The
scattered
nature
of the
population,
the
identification
of
the
school
with
the
parish,
the
need
to
main-
tain
many
small
confessional
schools,
are
all
strong
counter
forces
that
cannot
be
ignored.
As
recently
as
April
of
this
year,
the
present
Minister
of
Education,
Mr.
Brian
Lenihan,
appealed
to
parents
&dquo;
not
to
be
moved
by
tradition
and
sentiment
to
oppose
the
closing
of
a
school,
but
to
realise
that
in
the
larger
school
their
children
would
have
new
opportu-
nities
&dquo;.
The
amalgamation
of
small
schools
will
also
ensure
a
more
rational
use
of the
teaching
personnel
thus
improving
the
pupil/teacher

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