Bilingual secondary schools in Dublin 1960–1980

• Published in: International journal of the sociology of language 1988, Vol.1988 (70), p.89-108
• Main Author: O Gliasain, Micheal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Ireland; Secondary Education
• ISSN: 0165-2516; 1613-3668
• DOI: 10.1515/ijsl.1988.70.89

The Republic of Ireland began a movement to revive the Irish lang following the granting of independence in 1922. Although curriculum could be directly controlled in state-run primary schools, secondary schools were privately run & had to be encouraged to offer Irish lang instruction through financial assistance & a public testing & certification system. The program was successful, producing about 50% all-Irish or bilingual schools by the 1960s; however, by 1980 there were only two bilingual secondary schools in Ireland. Factors that operated to cause a loss of effectiveness of the state incentives are examined based on analysis of secondary data, Dept of Education statistics, & a case study of students in a formerly bilingual private secondary school in Dublin. It was found that the failure of native capitalism to sustain the population led to increasing efforts from the 1950s on to woo foreign investment, which in turn led to changes in secondary school curricula to meet the new demands of technological jobs. Whereas state-controlled jobs still required certification in Irish, upward mobility in private industry required other types of skills. Prospects for future revival of Irish are limited due to the lack of opportunities to use the lang & the continuing decrease in state-controlled employment. 3 Tables, 24 References. Modified AA