Overview
- Offers the first comprehensive study of schooling in Irish-speaking districts, the Gaeltacht, throughout the twentieth century
- Argues that the lack of equal opportunity in education served to keep Irish speakers from these communities in a marginalized position in Irish society
- Explores the lived experiences of pupils and teachers who attended Gaeltacht schools
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book offers the first full-length study of the education of children living within the Gaeltacht, the Irish-speaking communities in Ireland, from 1900 to the present day. While Irish was once the most common language spoken in Ireland, by 1900 the areas in which native speakers of Irish were located contracted to such an extent that they became clearly identifiable from the majority English-speaking parts. In the mid-1920s, the new Irish Free State outlined the broad parameters of the boundaries of these areas under the title of ‘the Gaeltacht’. This book is concerned with the schooling of children there. The Irish Free State, from its establishment in 1922, eulogized the people of the Gaeltacht, maintaining they were pious, heroic and holders of the characteristics of an invented ancient Irish race. Simultaneously, successive governments did very little to try to regenerate the Gaeltacht or to ensure Gaeltacht children would enjoy equality of education opportunity. Furthermore, children in the Gaeltacht had to follow the same primary school curriculum as was prescribed for the majority English speaking population. The central theme elaborated on throughout the book is that this schooling was one of a number of forces that served to maintain the people of the Gaeltacht in a marginalized position in Irish society.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Tom O’Donoghue is Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia, Australia, and an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences, Australia, and of the Royal Historical Society, UK.
Teresa O’Doherty is President of the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin, Ireland. Her most recent book is Teacher Education in Ireland: History, Policy and Future Directions (co-authored, 2017).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Irish Speakers and Schooling in the Gaeltacht, 1900 to the Present
Authors: Tom O'Donoghue, Teresa O'Doherty
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26021-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26020-0Published: 16 August 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26023-1Published: 16 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-26021-7Published: 02 August 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 265
Topics: History of Britain and Ireland, History of Education, Minority Languages, Cultural History, Memory Studies