Education and Ethnicity

This article examines the policy pursued by the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland regarding the Irish language following their establishment in 1831 until the achievement of Irish independence in 1922. In particular, it focuses on the implications of the policy of the exclusion of the Irish language from the primary schools for pupils whose home and only language was Irish. The curricular policy adopted by the Commissioners in the early decades was one which stressed the politieal acculturation and socialisation process of post‐Act of Union (1801) policy of the English administration in Ireland.

The article highlights efforts made to get the policy amended and the legitimation of the Irish language within the schools. However, the Commissioners were adamant that no change of policy would occur. With the rise of the cultural nationalist movement in the last quarter of the nineteenth century significant pressure was placed on the Commissioners to change their policy. They rejected the arguments made in favour of the language, but felt forced to make minor concessions in 1879 and in 1883. The establishment of the language revivalist Gaelic League in 1893 brought a more persistent criticism to bear on the Commissioners. However, even this had no influence on the new curriculum introduced for primary schools in 1900. Yet, continued pressure won the acceptance of a bilingual policy for schools in Irish‐speaking areas in 1904. This was a landmark development in the conflict. The paper notes that the sustained opposition of the Commissioners was one of the reasons why people considered that a changed political administration, inspired by a cultural nationalist ideology, would be able to achieve language revival through the schools following political independence in 1922.