Social Change in Ireland: Education

The national school system had its share of problems. One problem at the end of the nineteenth century was poor student attendance since there was no law that mandated that students must attend school. In addition, students needed to pay fees for their schooling. These circumstances brought about the Irish Education Act of 1892. This act intended to make education free and mandatory for students between the ages of six and fourteen. It also adjusted teachers’ income to make up for the loss of student fees. This act was the first that attempted to establish a free education system. It was moderately successful in that the British Treasury allocated the necessary funds to make education free. However, the Treasury did this by taking money from teachers; therefore, it was not very popular.

Another important development at the end of the nineteenth century was the increased influence of the Roman Catholic Church. At the beginning of the century, the Roman Catholic Church had relatively little power and influence compared to the Church of Ireland. The Roman Catholic Church envied the Church of Ireland because the Church of Ireland was a major influence in cultural, political, and education affairs. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, the positions of power for both churches had been reversed. The Roman Catholic Church had successfully used the education system to extend its sphere of influence relative to the Church of Ireland by winning a series of education battles against the government, as discussed below.  Roman Catholic Church leaders used the power of the teaching orders in order to combat the influence of the Church of Ireland. At first, these leaders promoted multidenominational national education and were at the forefront in deciding policy; Archbishop Murray of Dublin was one of the first Commissioners of National Education. However, when Cardinal Paul Cullen succeeded Murray in 1849, the Roman Catholic Church changed its position on the national education system. According to critics, Cullen treated Ireland as “a good Catholic machine fashioned mainly to spread the faith over the world.” By the end of his career, Cullen succeeded not only in converting the national schools to Catholic schools, but also in setting up a Catholic majority on the national board that would determine education policy. At this point, the Roman Catholic Church was now effectively in charge of the Irish education system.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the churches and the government were the only bodies that could make education policy. The boards were made up of people whom the church and state had nominated, and policy decisions were administered by these people. Some groups, such as the political parties and teachers unions, were not satisfied with their lack of power in influencing policy. The teachers struggled with the boards for decades, but they could not affect much change since the managerial bodies had a direct connection with the decision-making institutions, namely the church and state. Today the church and state do not have nearly as much power with regard to education as they did in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Education Act of 1998 has given more power to teachers to decide Ireland’s school curriculum.

With the ascension of the Fianna Fáil party prior to the 1950s, new life was brought into the Irish education system. Young leaders sought to take advantage of the economic success of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s in order to enact a new wave of education reform. In 1966 Donagh O’Malley’s free education scheme made a huge impact on Irish education by making secondary education free for all Irish students. Student enrollment increased dramatically not only in first-level and second-level schools but also in third-level schools. With an increased demand for higher education, policymakers added institutes of technology to the existing third-level colleges and universities. In the 1980s, these technical schools received a large amount of funding from the government. This new focus on technology in education served to lead Ireland to a major economic boom that it has experienced over the past decade.