It has been reported in the last twenty-four hours that the
Twenty-Six County Minister for Education, Joe McHugh, intends to keep
Irish as a compulsory subject at Leaving Certificate level. While this
news is welcome, there is no room for complacency in relation to the
place of our native language with the education system.
Many Irish language activists believe that senior civil servants
within the Department of Education and Skills have opinions of the Irish
language that range from ambiguous to outright hostility. The same
Department is now overseeing two crucial, and interlinked, evaluations
that may have serious implications for the teaching of Irish at
secondary level across the state.
The first of these evaluations concerns the process by which
exemptions from the Irish language are attained at Leaving Cert level.
Irish is currently compulsory for all students bar those who have
achieved an ‘exemption’ from taking the subject.
The Department is evaluating the process by which exemptions are
granted amid strong suspicions that many students are ‘gaming the
system’. For example it has been established that 58% of students who
are granted exemptions for reasons of ‘learning difficulties’ still
study another European language.
Language advocacy groups have already highlighted the inadequacies of
the online survey that has been produced by the Department of
Education and Skills. The range of questions that are asked is
extremely narrow and survey responses are limited to only 120 words.
The Department Inspectorate’s own research underlining the benefits of
learning a second language is also omitted.
Despite Joe McHugh’s assurances there are real concerns that senior
mandarins within the Department will again push for Irish to be made an
optional subject at some point in the future.
The second evaluation, by the National Council for Curriculum and
Assessment, has to do with more fundamental changes to the entire
Leaving Certificate. Again, it appears that Department official are
working quietly in the background to make the outcome of this process a
foregone conclusion.
Media reports have spoken of on-going ‘discussions’ within the
Department that are geared towards 1) reducing the number of subjects
taken at Leaving Cert level, 2) introducing a fully optional based
course, and 3) expanding the number of subjects available to focus more
on ‘practical’ subjects. All these outcomes, taken separately or as a
whole, threaten the status of the Irish language within the education
system.
Many teachers, parents and students would agree with a reformed
Leaving Cert that can adapt to individual students’ strengths. In
developing such a system there is a very real danger, however, of the
Irish language being demoted to an optional ‘niche’ subject.
Educational and linguistic experts have already clearly outlined how
making a subject like Irish ‘optional’ closes off the actual choice of
studying it for large swathes of students. Without a satisfactory
demand for the language in many schools, classes will not be run. In
such schools, the minority will be shut off from the language and a
one-way process of language erosion will be set in motion.
The current attempts within the Department to marginalise Irish as a
meaningful part of students lives in the southern state cannot be
separated from the insidious influence of private corporations on the
entire education system. With increasing frequency the general public
is told that the current education system is not ‘fit for purpose’ –
when that purpose is defined as a production line manufacturing an
obedient, narrow-skilled workforce for the US-dominated Tech and Pharma
sectors. The same siren voices tell us that subjects like Irish and
History are luxuries that cannot be afforded in the modern world.
Much easier to manipulate a ‘labour force’ who have skills in coding,
engineering, biology, finance, and so forth, but no critical faculties,
cultural understanding, or sense of place which would guide them in how
best to apply these skills in an ethical manner. Much easier to
control a non-union workforce that knows little of the historic fight
for union recognition, for secure employment, for fair wages and the
right to a home, education and healthcare.
There is no reason that Irish cannot remain a central component in a
reformed educational system. The key ingredient in ensuring that it
flourishes, both within it and outside of school walls, is political
will and investment. The public must make their voices heard on this.
Otherwise, we risk handing over the survival of an integral part of our
culture to neoliberal Department functionaries only interested in
providing worker drones for industry at the lowest possible cost to the
state.
The teaching of all subjects, including Irish, should be under
constant review to take account of new research, information and
methodology. The supports which were available to teachers going to the
Gaeltacht to achieve full fluency need to be reinstated. The quality of
Irish teaching in English speaking schools hinges on the initial
investment made in teachers during their training years and the quality
of their training at third level. Wider societal attitudes also
influence the quality of teaching across all levels.
Instead of attempting to marginalise Irish, the well established
benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism ought to be highlighted.
Giving up on the idea that Irish should be central to the learning of
all students right through their education is essentially giving up on
the idea of a collective and distinct Irish Nation.
Of course, the neoliberal dogma prevalent in civil service and
government circles today is completely comfortable with such a
surrender. ‘Reforms’ that are ultimately about ridding the education
system of pesky subjects like Irish and history must be resisted. Our
children deserve an education systems that encourage them to think about
their place as human beings and citizens as opposed to as worker-drones
and consumers.
Éirigí 
