The Inclusion of the Irish Language and Irish History in Primary Schools

2021 ◽  
pp. 205-234
Author(s):  
Teresa O’Doherty ◽  
Tom O’Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Irish History

scholarly journals Writing the Irish past: An investigation into post-primary Irish history textbook emphases and historiography, 1921–69

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colm Mac Gearailt
Keyword(s):  
Primary Schools ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Primary Students ◽  
Free State ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Textbook ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Primary Level ◽  
Irish History

This paper maintains a focus on textbooks published and used at post-primary level in the Irish Free State/Republic of Ireland between the 1920s and late 1960s, in the initial decades of the nascent Free State. Viewed by many as the closest way, after direct fieldwork, of finding out the content of teaching, textbooks have also been seen to act as condensed versions of the society that produced them. The textbooks used rarely changed during this period, for a number of reasons, both practical and ideological. Consequently, it can be accepted that a reasonably similar account of the Irish past was transmitted in print to post-primary students across the period. The article offers an investigation into Irish history textbook historiography, and highlights select examples of how this affected the version of the Irish past being transmitted in print in Irish post-primary schools. It provides the first quantitative analysis and comparison of the central Irish history textbooks in operation during this period. By establishing what textbooks were in use, discussing who they were written by, and then by analysing, cross-comparing and examining their respective emphases, this paper offers an understanding of the general narrative of Irish history as portrayed in secondary schools, from this textual perspective. It focuses predominantly on content inclusion and scope, as opposed to how this content was engaged with. Ultimately, this paper argues that a general narrative of Irish history was maintained across each of the textbooks, which tended to focus on a traditional 'great man' approach to history, with a strong emphasis on high politics. That said, this was not oppressive or rigid, as there was no single consensus view as to what aspects of Irish history were most important within this tradition, with different emphases being placed on various events and figures in Irish history. These differences varied according to the political, class and religious orientation of the author.

Balancing content and language in CLIL

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadhg O Ceallaigh ◽  
Siobhán Ní Mhurchú ◽  
Déirdre Ní Chróinín
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Personal Choice ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Republic Of Ireland ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Shed Light

This research study examined the experiences of teachers and learners as they engaged with a CLIL programme, a physical education course being taught through the medium of the Irish language (L2) in English-medium primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Five primary fourth grade teachers and the students (9–10 years old) in their classes from three primary schools in the Republic of Ireland participated in a unit of physical education (4–8 lessons) through the medium of the Irish language. Qualitative data collection and analysis included direct observation of lessons, an interview with each teacher, teachers’ written reflections and a focus group with 3–5 students from each class. Teachers reported that students became highly motivated as they were given the opportunities to use the Irish language in situations of personal choice. This new autonomy and motivation in turn fostered confidence and competence in language use. Several complex and persistent pedagogical challenges (e.g. balancing content and language in instruction) were uncovered in the analysis of data. This study increases our understanding of the complexity of the processes underlying and shaping a coherent CLIL pedagogy. Findings shed light on the yet-to-be-realised potential of CLIL as a lived embodied reality for all.

Geoffrey Keating’s Eochair Sgiath An Aifrinn and the Catholic Reformation in Ireland

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 133-143
Author(s):  
Bernadette Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Catholic Reformation ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Irish History ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
History Of ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
Set Up

The name of Geoffrey Keating is familiar to generations of students of Irish language and literature. His prose works are fine examples of seventeenth-century Irish writing. He was credited by scholars of Irish with having saved from oblivion many stories of the Gaelic heroes of old in his magnum opus, the Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, a compendium of knowledge on the history of Ireland. Writing in the early part of the seventeenth century, when the native Irish system of learning and patronage of scholars was disintegrating, Keating synopsized many manuscript sources for the history of Ireland into a flowing text full of stories and curiosities. His writings were frequently transcribed and are preserved in countless manuscript copies.Kearing’s literary stature has meant that his tracts were more read for their language and style than studied for their content and it may appear curious at first sight to discover that this father figure of early Irish history and the preserver of the Irish language also wrote two theological tracts, on a continental Catholic Reformation model. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Kearing’s background. Although subsequently hailed as a champion of Gaelic Ireland, Keating was not a product of that society. In fact he was of Anglo-Norman (Old English) descent. He was ordained as a secular priest and was educated at two of the continental colleges set up to train Irishmen for the priesthood, Bordeaux and Rheims, where he came under English Jesuit influence. The precise dates of his sojourn on the continent are not known, but pre-date 1619. It is thought he was born about 1570 and died about 1644, spending most of his life as a priest working in Munster.

Capturing the Trenches of Language: World War One, the Irish Language and the Gaelic League

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-398
Author(s):  
Brian Ó Conchubhair
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
World War ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Irish Nationalism ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Revolutionary Era ◽  
Irish History ◽  
Early Twentieth Century

While the dominant narrative of Irish nationalism occludes Irish-speakers’ participation in the First World War, the war is a key component of the story of the Irish language in the early twentieth century and is the critical element in understanding Conradh na Gaeilge/the Gaelic League's politicization, radicalization and ultimate demise as one of the most powerful forces in Irish cultural politics. Controversies concerning recruitment and conscription played critical roles in shaping public attitudes within Irish-language discourse. The war not only created the conditions for the League's radicalization but also triggered Douglas Hyde's departure as president in 1915. The Great War politicized the Gaelic League and the British reaction to the Rising helped to establish the relationship between physical force nationalism and the Irish language that has become a familiar feature of the cultural memory of the revolutionary era in early twentieth-century Irish history.

scholarly journals Cúchulain in the General Post Office: Gaelic revival, Irish rising

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joep Leerssen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Nationalism ◽  
Post Office ◽  
Irish Nationalism ◽  
Consciousness Raising ◽  
Irish Language ◽  
Irish History ◽  
Easter Rising ◽  
Restricted Number

This article looks at the importance of the Gaelic language for the development of Irish nationalism in the decades leading up to, and following the Easter Rising of 1916. This importance was mainly symbolical: the Irish language was used mainly by revivalist activists, in a restricted number of functional registers, and largely as an enabling platform of other consciousness-raising activities. It is suggested, however, that such a symbolical instrumentalisation is by no means inconsequential and should be analysed as an important feature of cultural nationalism, not only in Irish history.

Time-Based Prospective Memory in Schoolchildren

2011 ◽  
Vol 219 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babett Voigt ◽  
Ingo Aberle ◽  
Judith Schönfeld ◽  
Matthias Kliegel
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Strategic Monitoring ◽  
Primary School Age

The present study examined age differences in time-based prospective memory (TBPM) in primary school age children and tested the role of self-initiated memory retrieval and strategic time monitoring (TM) as possible developmental mechanisms. Fifty-four children were recruited from local primary schools (27 younger children, mean age = 7.2 ± 0.55 years, and 27 older children, mean age = 9.61 ± 0.71 years). The task was a driving game scenario in which children had to drive a vehicle (ongoing task) and to remember to refuel before the vehicle runs out of gas (TBPM task, i.e., the fuel gauge served as child-appropriate time equivalent). Fuel gauge was either displayed permanently (low level of self-initiation) or could only be viewed on demand by hitting a button (high level of self-initiation). The results revealed age-dependent TBPM differences with better performance in older children. In contrast, level of self-initiated memory retrieval did not affect TBPM performance. However, strategies of TM influenced TBPM, as more frequent time checking was related to better performance. Patterns of time checking frequency differed according to children’s age and course of the game, suggesting difficulties in maintaining initial strategic TM in younger children. Taken together, the study revealed ongoing development of TBPM across primary school age. Observed age differences seemed to be associated with the ability to maintain strategic monitoring.

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