This article was downloaded by: [University of California Davis]On: 12 November 2014, At: 15:02Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office:Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

International Journal of Bilingual Educationand BilingualismPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscriptioninformation:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rbeb20

Minority-language Education in a Situation ofConflict: Irish in English-medium Schools inNorthern IrelandEugene McKendry aa Graduate School of Education , Queen's University , Belfast, NorthernIrelandPublished online: 22 Dec 2008.

To cite this article: Eugene McKendry (2007) Minority-language Education in a Situation of Conflict: Irish inEnglish-medium Schools in Northern Ireland, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,10:4, 394-409, DOI: 10.2167/beb451.0

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2167/beb451.0

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in thispublication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsedby Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liablefor any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and otherliabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, inrelation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantialor systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, ordistribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and usecan be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Minority-language Educationin a Situation of Conflict: Irishin English-medium Schools inNorthern Ireland

Eugene McKendryGraduate School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, NorthernIreland

While Irish-medium education has developed strongly over the last 20 years, mostIrish speakers in Northern Ireland learn the language in English-medium schools,which currently provide the majority of teachers in the bilingual Irish-mediumsector. This paper discusses the background to Irish in Northern Ireland fromthe plantation of Ulster to the aftermath of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. TheLinguistic Atlas of Ireland and census returns provide demographic data. Theposition of Irish in the education system must be evaluated in the context oflanguages provision in the curriculum in general, not only in Northern Ireland, butin the UK as a whole. The lower status that Irish had in the European Union untilrecently has relegated it to a disadvantaged curricular position, where schools canonly offer the subject after provision is guaranteed for major mainland continentallanguages. Examination entries figures are analysed to trace trends in uptake.Curriculum reviews in Britain and Northern Ireland that make languages optionalfrom age 14 in a more crowded curriculum are discussed. While Irish should remaina reasonably popular choice for pupils, the future of the language in English-medium schools in Northern Ireland is not assured.

doi:10.2167/beb451.0

Keywords: curriculum, education, schools, English, Irish, Northern Ireland

Historical OverviewPrior to partition in 1922, the condition in history of the Irish language in

what is now Northern Ireland was, on the whole, comparable to whatpertained in the rest of Ireland. Broadly similar social, economic, political andcultural factors lay behind the linguistic decline of Irish throughout Ireland,indeed of Gaelic generally throughout Scotland and the Isle of Man as well.But, while retaining the broader context, we must also consider the distinctivecircumstances in the North of Ireland if we are to understand the evolution ofeducational provision for Irish there.

Up until the beginning of the 17th century, there was cultural cohesion inthe Gaelic world, as epitomised by the bardic tradition, stretching from Kerryin South-western Ireland to North-eastern Scotland, or as referred to in Irish,O Chiarraı go Cataibh. Moreover, the northernmost province of Ulster hadremained the most steadfastly Gaelic province of Ireland, resisting the Englishcrown and maintaining strong links with Gaelic Scotland.

1367-0050/07/04 394-16 $20.00/0 – 2007 E. McKendryThe International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism Vol. 10, No. 4, 2007

394

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

It is ironic, therefore, to reflect that the defeat of the Irish at Kinsale inCounty Cork in 1601, in the south, had its most durable reverberations in thenorth. In the wake of Kinsale many Ulster chiefs left Ireland in 1607, in theFlight of the Earls/Imeacht na nIarlaı , leaving the way open for the Plantation ofUlster in 1609.

The extirpation of the Irish language was part of the colonisation intent andprocess. Sir John Davies, one of the architects of the plantation, declared in1612:

We may conceive and hope that the next generation will in tongue andheart and every way else become English so as there will be no differenceor distinction but the Irish Sea between us. (Davies, 1969: 272)

This vision has been fulfilled only partially, as the current situation inIreland, north and south, shows. The plantation of Ulster was an enterprise forBritish/Englishness, for Protestantism and for the English language andculture, although many of the planters did come from Gaelic-speakingScotland (O Snodaigh, 1995: 24�34). There has, of course, been some shiftingof allegiances and intermarriage during the intervening centuries. Moreover,the crucial role of a minority of Protestants among Irish language enthusiastsand revivalists from the late 18th century through to the present day must berecognised (O Snodaigh, Pritchard), although it should not be overstated.

The modern political and community divide in Northern Ireland iscommonly defined in terms of religion, between the historically dominantProtestant Unionist majority and the Catholic nationalist minority. The latestcensus of 2001 records a total Northern Ireland population of 1,685,267, with44% designated as ‘Catholic’. Today, English dominates in Northern Ireland,among people of all political and religious affiliations, but Irish hasmaintained its tenuous, yet tenacious presence.

Irish in the Northern Irish StateDeveloping 19th and early 20th century nationalism and republicanism,

culminating in the Partition of Ireland in 1921, and the politicisation of aspectsof the language movement prior to the Easter Rebellion of 1916, had alienatedmost Unionist and Protestant opinion. From its inception Northern Ireland,‘a Protestant state with a Protestant parliament’, as prime minister LordCraigavon described it in 1934, regarded the Irish language as subversive and athreat. When convenient, Unionist education policy preferred to emphasise thelink with Britain, culturally as much as politically. This attitude led forexample to the blocking in the 1950s of a proposal to establish a SchoolsBroadcasting Council for the BBC in Northern Ireland, as it was felt that ‘. . . itwould be a mistake to regard Northern Ireland as in any way different fromEngland’ and that ‘. . . productions from Great Britain were all that the pupilsin Northern Ireland’s schools needed’ (Cathcart, 1984: 175).

Irish had no official status in Northern Ireland. The government had nobilingual policy and one could not deal with the administrative authorities inIrish, or get Irish or bilingual official forms (Committee on the Administrationof Justice, 1993: 8). The language was treated with scorn and hostility, although

Irish in English-medium Schools 395

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

no overtly punitive policy was adopted. It was neglected, considered irrelevantand, in education particularly, treated as a foreign language of little use. Forexample, archival records from 1928 contain an internal Ministry of Educationmemo that states ‘. . . we should avoid carefully any impression that we desireto encourage the teaching of the language’ (Andrews, 1991: 94). The durabilityof such attitudes to Irish in education is recorded in Dunn et al . (2001: 41).

Political Developments since the 1970s Affecting IrishThe introduction of ‘Direct Rule’ from Westminster after the dissolution of

the Northern Ireland parliament in 1972 heralded a more mellow officialclimate. Article 5a of the 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement, while making no specificreference to Irish, does recognise ‘the rights and identities of the twotraditions’ and the need to consider ‘measures to foster the cultural heritageof both traditions’ (Hadden & Boyle, 1989: 30�31). In the official review of theAgreement, published in May 1989, the language is explicitly mentioned. Thegovernments recognise the ‘importance of the Irish Language in this context(i.e. the effort to improve community relations) and undertake to supportefforts to enhance awareness and appreciation of this particular strand of theCultural Heritage’ (Hadden & Boyle, 1989: 85). While it is difficult to quantifythe direct effect of such statements, various initiatives at Government and locallevel can be cited, such as the Department for the Environment publishing abilingual map and gazetteer, the Royal Mail delivering letters addressed inIrish if they have the correct postcode and some District Councils having Irishlanguage committees (McKendry, 1995: 30).

The Belfast Agreement, popularly referred to as the Good Friday Agree-ment, was signed by the British and Irish governments in 1998. In the sectionon ‘Economic, Social and Cultural Issues’, the governments ‘recognise theimportance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguisticdiversity, including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots andthe languages of the various ethnic communities’ (Agreement 1998 §3). In thecontext of its intention to sign the Council of Europe Charter for Regional orMinority Languages (which it duly did in March 2000), the British governmentalso undertook, ‘where appropriate and where people so desire it, to takeresolute action to promote the (Irish) language’ (Agreement 1998 §4).

An outcome of the Good Friday Agreement is the setting up within therecently established Northern Ireland government Department of Culture,Arts and Leisure of the Linguistic Diversity Unit to develop policy for thevarious linguistic communities and develop guidance for public servants tohelp them meet their obligations under the Council of Europe Charter. In thearea of education, however, particular mention is made in the Agreement of astatutory duty on the Department of Education ‘to encourage and facilitateIrish-medium education’. Ironically, this emphasis on Irish-medium educa-tion, while a major advance for the language generally, runs the risk of leavingthe position and promotion of Irish in English-medium schools in NorthernIreland in the shade. Another development was the setting up of the Cross-Border Language Body, Foras na Gaeilge, charged with the promotion of theIrish language. An Education Officer based in Belfast was appointed in 2003.

396 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

Time will tell how this will impact upon Irish in Northern Ireland. Despitethese developments, negative attitudes and animosity towards the languagepersist among a wide section of Northern Ireland society (see, for example,McCoy, 1997: 155), as is regularly illustrated in the letters and opinion columnsof local newspapers.

The Demography of Irish in Northern IrelandThe 1911 census was the last one to include a question on the speaking of

Irish for the whole island (Adams, 1964). The language was represented withineach of the six counties of what became Northern Ireland, with 2.3% of thecounties’ population, almost 29,000 people, reporting themselves as Irishspeakers in 1911, mostly in the rural areas (Table 1).

The distribution of Irish speakers in the census revealed definite, if residual,Irish-speaking communities in areas such as the Glens of Antrim and RathlinIsland to the east and, significantly, a fragile linguistic continuum extending allthe way from the shores of Lough Neagh across Tyrone, the heart of Ulster,into the strong Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking areas) of Donegal, now in theRepublic of Ireland. These results show that a small, if ageing, indigenousnative Irish-speaking population existed at the foundation of the NorthernIreland state. It should be noted in passing that three of the nine UlsterCounties, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, are excluded from the NorthernIreland state although the term ‘Ulster’ is often used by Unionists as asynonym for Northern Ireland.

Wagner (1981: XVIII�XIX) traced the subsequent decline of Irish in EastUlster. He collected the material for his Linguistic Atlas in 1950 (1952 forRathlin Island) and found what he described as ‘the ruins of a language’(Wagner, 1981: X). Today the intergenerational transmission has been broken inthese areas. But arguably, through education in the 20th century, Irish isactually stronger throughout Northern Ireland now than in the period prior topartition, although the predominant profile of speakers has changed from firstlanguage to second language speakers. A similar point about the role of theschools in maintaining Irish in the Republic is made by Harris and Murtagh(1999: 336�337) and O Riagain (2001: 204).

No further Census language question was included in Northern Irelanduntil 1991 (Table 1) when the Registrar General reported a somewhatsurprisingly high figure of just over 142,000 people, or slightly less than 10%of the total population, responding positively to the questions ‘Can the personspeak, read or write Irish?’ The wording of the question on language was

Table 1 Irish in Northern Ireland census returns

1911 Census 1991 Census 2001 Census

Total population 1,250,031 1,502,385 1,617,957

Knowledge of Irish 28,725 142,003 167,490

Percentage of population 2.3% 9.45% 10.35%

Irish in English-medium Schools 397

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

identical to that on Gaidhlig in the 1991 Census for Scotland (DHSS/RGNI,1993: vii). The Scottish Census revealed a community of 65,000 people with aknowledge of Gaidhlig (Mate, 1997: 317) � less in number and percentage thanfor Irish in Northern Ireland, although more representative of an inheritedcompetence. This comparison with Scottish Gaelic (closely related to Irish) issignificant when considering the adequacy of planning and provision for theIrish language.

As responses were given by self-evaluation, the figure of 142,000 Irishspeakers is somewhat optimistic. The fact that over 79,000 respondentsindicated that they could ‘speak, read and write Irish’, however, indicates asubstantial proportion of the population having a significant competence in thelanguage. All in all, 26% of the Catholic population, but only 2% of Protestants,answered the language question positively in 1991. This coincides almostexactly with the assessment of the proportion of the population who are Irishspeakers according to the Continuous Household Survey of 1987 (Sweeney,1988) where it was calculated that 25% of Catholics and 2% of Protestants havesome knowledge of Irish.

The 2001 census (NISRA, 2002/3) was changed to include ‘understandspoken Irish’ as well as the ability to speak, read and write the language, andrecorded an increase to 167,490 in the number of people claiming knowledgeof Irish. This represents 10.35% of the total Northern Ireland population of1,617,957. The Irish-competent population is predominantly young, with13.7% of those recorded in 2001 as having some knowledge found in the15�24 age group but only 4.9% in the 65� age range. This age profile reflects adependence on the school system.

The disparity in competence in the language in the two communities isconsistent with the fact that Irish is not taught in State (predominatelyProtestant) schools. The language is commonly identified with the Catholicschool system and an Irish Catholic culture and, unjustifiably, with a rejectionof the Northern Ireland state (identified with the Unionist, Protestantmajority).

School Provision in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland developed a ‘step by step’ policy with respect to

educational changes introduced by central government for England and Walesalthough its education system has a number of features that distinguish it fromGreat Britain (McEwen & Salters, 1995: 133). In particular, selection at age 11,introduced through the Education Acts of the 1940s and mostly abandoned infavour of a comprehensive school system in Britain in the 1960s, has beenretained in Northern Ireland. The Transfer Test, popularly called the 11�examination, divides pupils between the roughly 35% who are accepted intoGrammar schools, and the rest who attend Secondary, formerly called‘Intermediate’, schools, with a few Comprehensive schools. The transferarrangements are currently under review.

The other distinguishing feature is the religious divide in education. State orcontrolled primary, Grammar and Secondary schools cater predominately forthe Protestant community, while the Maintained sector makes similar

398 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

provision for the Catholic community. There is also the Integrated sector,which was set up in the 1970s to promote more harmonious relations betweenthe Protestant and Catholic communities through educating children together.The post-primary Integrated sector is non-selective, and attracts pupils whofail to get a Grammar school place. The number of pupils attending Integratedschools is small (ca. 4% in 1999, McEwen, 1999: 22), but growing.

Finally, Irish-medium schools have emerged in Northern Ireland over thelast 30 years, with 3713 pupils attending Irish-medium nursery, primary andpost-primary schools in 2004�2005 (Comhairle na Gaelscolaıochta, 2005: 7).

Irish in SchoolsThe census figures for Irish underline a tenacity explained by the position of

the language in the schools of the Catholic community where there exists awidespread belief in the validity and importance of Irish. In contrast, there isan enduring suspicion and antipathy surrounding the language among thewider Unionist, Protestant community, to the extent that the language wasdubbed the ‘green litmus test’ of community relations (Cultural TraditionsGroup, 1994: 6). Unfortunately, other than some Integrated schools, not asingle non-Catholic school offers Irish, not even those established Protestant-ethos Grammar schools that attract an often sizeable number of Catholicpupils. The Irish language cultural organisation, Gael Linn (1997), did providea cultural heritage programme that was taken up mostly in lower sixth form,the penultimate year in Grammar schools, as an enrichment course in non-Catholic schools. This programme proved to be popular, but unfortunately theintroduction in 2001 of the Advanced Subsidiary examination to this schoolyear has reduced such opportunities for diversity.

It would be naıve, moreover, to believe that the Catholic school system has apolicy of promoting Irish. Indeed, one could argue a scenario of the languageoften surviving rather than flourishing in a context where education wasrecognised by the Catholic minority community of Northern Ireland as theprimary vehicle of upward mobility:

The Catholic school system was only ever a channel for Irish culturewhere teachers had a personal interest in Irish language, music andhistory and who were encouraged, or at least not hindered, by theirclerical management. (O’Connor 1993: 318)

In more affluent areas many (parents and teachers) further suggest thatwhen there is any clash between arts and science timetabling, Catholicschools tend to drop Irish first. Several people told me that they foundoutright hostility among other parents to the teaching of the Irishlanguage in school. It seemed clear to them that the schools were makingno counter-effort. (O’Connor, 1993: 319)

The first purpose-built Integrated school in the province was established in1981. Integrated education became a Government priority during educationreform in 1988 and remains a stated aim. The role of Irish in the Integratedschool was considered by Spencer.

Irish in English-medium Schools 399

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

The integrated school certainly aims to transmit the vast secular andreligious culture which is held in common by the two major communitiesand to stress that they do hold it in common. But it has two further aims.It seeks to nurture within each pupil what is specific to the tradition of hisown community. And it aims to show each pupil something of thespecific tradition of the other community, so that, cognitively, he/she atleast knows, understands and at best respects and appreciates it. Thus,the integrated school must offer the Irish language, Gaelic games, Irishdancing and music as options for all pupils. (Spencer, 1987: 108)

Unfortunately, there has been a negativity in much of the Integratedmovement’s approach to Irish (McEwen & Salters, nd: 23�25; O’Connor, 2002:53, 178). Many Integrated post-primary schools do not offer the language, orhave only introduced it belatedly. A recent interview in the Irish languagenewspaper LA with the chairman of the Northern Ireland Council forIntegrated Education (NICIE), however, holds promise of improvement (LA,1 November 2002: 20).

Current Curriculum Provision for IrishIrish-medium provision in Northern Ireland can be categorised among the

strong models for bilingual education (Baker & Jones, 1998: 470); Irish in English-medium schools is a weak form of education for bilingualism under thistypology. It is an example of the ‘Mainstream with Foreign Language Teachingprogramme’, where the typical child is a member of the language majoritypopulation and the language of the classroom is majority language withLanguage 2/Foreign Language lessons. The societal and educational aim isLimited Enrichment, and the desired language outcome is Limited Bilingualism(Baker & Jones, 1998: 470).

While the emergence of Irish-medium education in Northern Ireland holdssignificant potential for Irish and for the development of an Irish-speakingcommunity outside the school environment, for most people access tothe language is through the traditional English-medium school route.

Until the 1960s in the UK ‘the learning of languages had hitherto been thepreserve of the Grammar schools’ (Moys, 1996: 83). The change to comprehen-sive schools in Britain in the 1960s led to the emergence of a ‘Languages for All’policy with languages made available across the ability range in post-primaryschools. In Northern Ireland, the retention of the Grammar/Secondary dividemeant that traditionally only the Grammar school minority of pupils studied asecond language, mostly French, although Irish was commonly taught inMaintained/Catholic Secondary schools, as well as in all Catholic Grammarschools. The ‘Languages for All’ philosophy was adopted in Northern Ireland’spost-primary schools as well, with mixed results. In Britain, ‘for many pupilsthe experience of language learning did not incline them to continue once thesubject became optional, and around 70% of all pupils abandoned the learningof a foreign language by the age of fourteen’ (Moys, 1996: 84). In NorthernIreland, the drop-off was notable in the non-Grammar schools. The NorthernIreland Inspectorate reported in 1990 that while a majority of pupils embarked

400 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

upon language studies in Year 1 post-primary, by Year 3 only one-quarter ofthese schools provided modern languages for all pupils (DENI, 1990: §4.45).

Optional language teaching in primary schools was permitted and one canstill argue the cross-curricular potential and cultural heritage relevance of Irish,such as place and personal names, dialect and pronunciation, already high-lighted in the 1974 Primary Teachers’ Guide � ‘These factors are of considerablehelp in the teaching of Irish and confer certain advantages no other secondlanguage can claim to the same extent in Ireland’ (DENI, 1974: 106).

Education Reform (1989)As a result of the legislation enacted in the Education Reform (Northern

Ireland) Order in 1989, the equivalent of the 1988 Education Reform Act inEngland and Wales, a common Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC) wasintroduced on a phased basis from 1990 for all pupils in Northern Ireland.

As in England and Wales, compulsory education in Northern Ireland wasdivided into 4 Key Stages, over 12 years until age 16:

Key Stage 1 (age 4�8, school years 1�4) PrimaryKey Stage 2 (age 8�11, school years 5�7) PrimaryKey Stage 3 (age 11�14, school years 8�10) Post-primaryKey Stage 4 (age 14�16, school years 11�12) Post-primary

Key Stage 4 leads to the Graduate Certificate of Secondary Education(GCSE) examination, usually taken in six to ten subjects. The first year post-compulsory leads to the Advanced Subsidiary (A/S) examination (4 subjectsrecommended) and the final school year leads to the Advanced GCE orA-Level, which determines entry into higher education.

In 1992 a modern language was phased in as a compulsory subject for thefirst time in post-primary education in Northern Ireland. The aspiration tomake languages more widely available was prompted in no small part by theUK joining the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. Unfortunately,since this date the position of Irish in Northern Ireland’s schools has beenseriously undermined by the failure of the Republic of Ireland’s government toseek recognition for Irish as a working language when they joined the EEC inthe same year. No adequate explanation has ever been given for this decision,which was not provoked by pressure from Brussels (O Murchu, 2002: 9). In2004, however, the Irish Government sought official working language statusfor Irish in the European Union. This status was granted by the Union in June2005 and should significantly improve the position of Irish in NorthernIreland’s schools in the future. The disadvantage suffered hitherto by Irish inNorthern Ireland was clearly exemplified by Dr Mawhinney, the educationminister at the time of Education Reform, when he said ‘Parents who choose tohave their children take Irish instead of one of them (European mainlandlanguages), at a time when the importance of the European dimension isgrowing, should think carefully about the future consequences of such adecision’ (Irish News newspaper, 22 March 89). Another negative effect wasthat the current NIC requires post-primary schools to offer one of French,

Irish in English-medium Schools 401

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

German, Italian or Spanish. Only then may they offer Irish as a choice (GB &NI, 1989: §5(5); Schedule 1; Schedule 2). This has given rise to the currentpattern of language provision, which mirrors the main models in existence inother parts of the UK (Neil et al ., 1999: 18), defined as follows:

a. Sole modern language : only one modern language is offered to pupils inYear 8 (first year post-primary).

b. Split provision : Two or more languages are offered in Year 8. All pupilslearn one language, for instance 50% take French and 50% take Irish.

c. Modular provision : Pupils are given experience of several languages inYear 8 before having to choose one to continue with at Key Stage 3.

d. Dual provision : all pupils in Year 8 learn two modern languages.

The greatest difference found between provision in Northern Ireland andBritain was the popularity of Model d, Dual provision , under which schoolsoffer two languages for all pupils, usually French and Irish. The differencebetween split provision and dual provision is that pupils in the dual model haveexperience of two languages during Year 8. Over 30% of schools in NorthernIreland followed this dual model, compared to 10% elsewhere in the UK.Although the Neil et al . study did not analyse distinctions between the twomain school sectors in Northern Ireland � the Controlled/Protestant and theMaintained/Catholic � the dual language provision deserves closer attention.

The advantages and disadvantages of this dual model as outlined by Neilet al . (1998: 25) are, on the positive side, that pupils do not equate modernlanguages with learning French, the dominant school language, and theybecome aware of the possibility of expressing themselves in more than onelanguage. On the negative side, they have less exposure to each language,confusion is possible and it can be a burden for less able pupils. It is notablethat all instances of dual provision in the study are curricular mechanisms toaccommodate Irish, as schools are not allowed to offer Irish alone under therequirements of the NIC. Moreover, there are a number of circumstanceswhere dual provision acts to the disadvantage of Irish. For example, ifstreaming applies in a school or individual pupils are withdrawn for corecurriculum support, the author has noticed that withdrawal is most often outof the Irish class, as it has a lower curriculum status.

Teacher EducationThe one-year Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) in Modern

Languages offered by the Graduate School of Education (GSoE), Queen’sUniversity Belfast, is the only course providing a teaching qualification for Irishin English-medium post-primary schools. Bachelor of Education (BEd) gradu-ates from the primary-oriented Saint Mary’s University College in Belfast aresometimes appointed to post-primary schools at the discretion of the schoolsthemselves. PGCE students often carry out Teaching Practice in Irish-mediumpost-primary schools and frequently find subsequent employment there,although the current PGCE course is not designed for the Irish-mediumcurriculum. Negotiations are currently (2005) underway to support Irish-medium post-primary teacher education in the GSoE in Queen’s.

402 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

Numbers taking Irish in State ExaminationsIt is important to persuade a large proportion of pupils in each cohort to

persist with Irish as a subject in order to maintain a pool of speakers thatmakes a bilingual policy viable in a situation where natural transmission of thelanguage from one generation to the next is rare.

GCSE and post-16 examination entries each year are useful indicators oflanguage health and outcomes. Table 2 gives the figures for entries for theyears 1996�2003, as provided by CCEA and the Department of Education.

While the numbers for French remain strong, diversification for languagesother than French was encouraged in the 1990s, leading to a decrease in thatlanguage and a marked increase in Spanish. German has decreased, aselsewhere in the UK, while Italian struggles to remain in schools. It is notablethat Irish, despite being available only in Catholic schools and a few Integratedschools, increased its entries and retained second place overall until 2002,when it fell behind Spanish.

In 2001 there were two more Irish candidates from non-Grammar thanGrammar schools, with a small number entering from further educationand other sources (Table 3). Precise figures for languages other thanIrish are not so readily available as their candidates are entered for theEnglish and Welsh Examination Boards, for which disaggregated Grammar/non-Grammar figures are not available, as well as for the NorthernIreland CCEA Board, which alone caters for Irish. There is a concern that

Table 2 Number of GCSE entries by language (percentage change over period inbrackets)

French Irish Spanish German Italian

1996 13838 2021 1561 1496 156

1997 13275 2171 1737 1371 128

1998 13213 2180 1801 1380 93

1999 13195 2350 2105 1390 109

2000 13318 2484 1987 1489 199

2001 13394 2452 2444 1412 207

2002 13099 2638 2639 1390 164

2003 12478 (�9%) 2641 (�30%) 3013 (�94%) 1244 (�16%) 163 (�5%)

Table 3 Grammar and Non-Grammar GCSE entries for Irish

Grammar Non-Grammar

2001 1231 (50%) 1233 (50%)

2002 1276 (49%) 1341 (51%)

2003 1295 (48%) 1385 (52%)

Irish in English-medium Schools 403

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

the post-14 curriculum review discussed below will cause a marked de-crease in numbers taking languages through to GCSE in non-Grammarschools (Table 3).

An increasing percentage of non-Grammar to Grammar for Irish is alsoreflected in post-16 figures where the pattern of pupils taking Irish at GCEAdvanced Level shows a lower level of pupils continuing with Irish than forGerman and Spanish (Table 4). The recent introduction of the A/S underlinesthe lower uptake of Irish post-GCSE, with about half as many entries asGerman or Spanish in percentage terms (Table 5).

Curriculum ReviewCurriculum review is on the agenda in Northern Ireland and in Britain. For

England, the Green Paper 14�19: Extending Opportunities, Raising Standards waspublished in February 2002 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES,2002a) and called for a rethink of aspects of post-primary education. The

Table 4 GCSE to GCE 1996� 2003

GCSE GCE (A-Level) Percentage

French 1996 13,838 1224 8.9

2003 12,478 834 6.9

Spanish 1996 1561 278 17.8

2003 3013 418 13.9

German 1996 1496 198 13.2

2003 1244 201 16.2

Irish 1996 2021 257 12.7

2003 2641 249 9.4

Table 5 GCSE to Advanced Subsidiary (A/S)

GCSE A/S Percentage

Irish (2001) 2452 (2002) 333 13.6

(2002) 2638 (2003) 284 10.8

French (2001) 13,394 (2002) 1273 10.5

(2002) 13,099 (2003) 1191 9.1

German (2001) 1412 (2002) 331 23.4

(2002) 1390 (2003) 290 20.9

Spanish (2001) 2444 (2002) 565 23.1

(2002) 2639 (2003) 528 20

404 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

department took the unusual step of publishing a separate paper, LanguageLearning (DfES, 2002b), to underline the Government’s expressed commitmentto modern languages in the wider context of reform. In introducing worthynew elements such as citizenship and strengthening vocational education into acrammed curriculum, one is left with the dilemma of what to exclude or reducein order to make time available. In the Green Paper for England the issue hasbeen dealt with, perhaps evaded, by allowing an ‘entitlement’ to a language inKey Stage 4, but languages will no longer be compulsory in England post-14,although a primary language entitlement was also proposed. The importanceof ‘entitlement’ as against a recommendation is discussed in Fergusson (2002).

Following the publication of these documents, the DfES set up a LanguagesNational Steering Group to develop a strategy from the Green Paper proposals.Languages for All: Languages for Life. A Strategy for England confirmed ‘thatschools will no longer be required to teach Modern Foreign Languages to allpupils’ post-14 (DfES, 2002c: 26), but that there would be a language entitlementin the primary school.

However, the removal of languages from the compulsory curriculum inEngland has resulted in an alarming degree of opting out at Key Stage 4 (over50% in 22% of schools reporting) and a loss of motivation for languages in KeyStage 3 (CILT, 2003, 2004).

It is important to see the Northern Ireland developments in the widercontext of these proposals in England, and also to realise that the localproposals are even more radical.

Curriculum Review in Northern IrelandSince the introduction of the current amendments to the NIC in 1996, the

Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment(CCEA) has undertaken a programme of ‘monitoring and research’. A majorresearch project, the Northern Ireland Key Stage 3 Cohort Study, was carried outby the National Foundation for Educational Research between 1996 and 2000(Harland et al ., 2002; CCEA, 2002b). It was designed to discover the views ofKey Stage 3 pupils (age 11�14) and their teachers on the curriculum. Pupils’perceptions included:

Modern Languages and the creative arts were consistently seen as thesubjects least useful for the future. They were also perceived as the leastimportant for pupils’ current needs. (CCEA, 2002a: 10)

Music, RE, Irish, drama and art were found to be the least vocationallyrelevant subjects, becoming gradually less important over the threeyears. (CCEA, 2002a: 10)

The follow-up report on the Key Stage 4 cohort reported pupils’ views that‘languages were thought to be not useful’ (CCEA, 2003b: 6), while oncontinuity and progression ‘Irish doesn’t, but the rest follow-on’ (CCEA,2003b: 12).

Phase 1 of the CCEA Northern Ireland public consultation took place inSpring/Early summer 2000. The emphasis was on developing skills andcompetences, and ‘each subject should identify its contribution to the generic

Irish in English-medium Schools 405

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

skills framework’ (CCEA, 2000: 34). The essential skills and competences to bedeveloped were identified as:

. Personal and Interpersonal Skills

. Critical and Creative Thinking Skills

. Communication

. Using Mathematics

. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The final Pathways proposals for curriculum and assessment at Key Stage 3were published in 2003 (CCEA, 2003a).

As an outcome of these proposals and the consultation process, theeducation minister, Barry Gardiner MP, made a keynote speech, RaisingStandards , in June 2004, announcing new post-primary transfer arrangementsand a new ‘Real-World Skills’ curriculum, emphasising ‘Standards, notStructures’. The CCEA review proposals have been accepted in full by theminister. By the time the last transfer (11� ) test is due to take place in 2008, theminister claims ‘the educational landscape in Northern Ireland will havebegun to change’. Under the new arrangements (see Table 6) all Key Stage 3pupils will study a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum, which will include aModern Language for all pupils, while Key Stage 4 pupils will have to makechoices from a more flexible Entitlement Framework including increasedopportunities for pupils to choose ‘applied’ vocational courses.

At Key Stage 4, the compulsory elements will be confined to Learning forLife and Work, and Key Skills to allow greater flexibility in choice, thusrelegating languages and other subjects to optional status.

Specific reference was made to languages in the CCEA review consultationdocumentation and the Key Stage 3 Cohort Study, and so also in the minister’sspeech. He announced that he would ask CCEA to take forward its workregarding the introduction of language teaching in primary schools. Althoughthere is no primary entitlement as in England, CCEA has set up a PrimaryLanguages Working Party and produced a document and DVD (CCEA, 2005)to encourage the teaching of languages, including Irish, in primary schools,with the hope that by 2013 a second language will be an integral part of theprimary curriculum. Mr Gardiner said that all the issues could best beexamined in the context of a Languages Strategy. In this he is following theexample of England, as discussed above, where the DfES has alreadyimplemented such a strategy with a range of provisions supporting languages.

The proposals challenge many accepted views of education. The move fromknowledge and content to a skills-led curriculum is a paradigm shift in thefundamentals of curricular philosophy, and we have noted the particularchallenges to language learning, both in the English proposals and here inNorthern Ireland. There will be a particular threat to Irish in the competitiveenvironment of schools where less time will be available for languages, whichwill find themselves increasingly in competition with each other � even more soin a curriculum where the opportunities to study two languages will decrease.The legal disadvantage suffered by Irish under the 1989 Education ReformOrder, which still applies, will become more acute. Schools are still required to

406 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

provide one of French, German, Spanish or Italian before they can offer Irish.School management will need to channel staff resources and timetabling slotstowards the compulsory areas of the new curriculum, particularly the newlyintroduced areas such as Citizenship. If languages are optional at Key Stage 4,there is no reason to believe that the take-up will be any more enthusiastic inNorthern Ireland than has proven the case in England. Irish could well bedropped from the curriculum of many non-Grammar Catholic schools, and it isextremely unlikely that any state or controlled post-primary school will nowintroduce Irish, having ignored the language since the foundation of theNorthern Ireland state. Under curriculum review, the traditional cultural andcross-curricular advantages and justification for Irish in the primary schoolremain. The instrumental and vocational values that now underpin the learningof languages are arguably less pressing in the primary school context. There willhowever be a concerted effort to introduce a range of languages into Primary,resulting in a competitive environment where the limited resource support forIrish could leave the language at a distinct disadvantage. The emphasis upondeveloping skills and attitudes across the curriculum from primary onwards iswelcome and the skills of language learning can be transferred from onelanguage to another. Positive experience and attitudes towards languages andlanguage learning (preferably from Irish in the Primary School) will standpupils in good stead when, in later life, they embark upon the learning of otherlanguages for specific purposes and requirements.

Curricular changes that might impact on the provision and uptake of Irishin English-medium schools in Northern Ireland are particularly importantbecause of the large number of pupils who might be affected, compared forexample with the relatively smaller number attending Irish-medium schools.Irish will remain on the curriculum of many English-medium schools inNorthern Ireland, but pupils’ curricular choices depend upon factors beyondthe school gate, most particularly the perception of the language’s utilitarianrelevance and its status, both within the local education legislation, and in thewider theatre of Europe, where the granting of working status for the languagein 2005 should improve its condition.

CorrespondenceAny correspondence should be directed to Eugene McKendry, Graduate

School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, 69/71 University Street,Belfast, co. Antrim BT7 1HL, Northern Ireland, UK (e.mckendry@qub.ac.uk).

References

Adams, G.B. (1964) The last Language Census in Northern Ireland. In G.B. Adams (ed.)Ulster Dialects: An Introductory Symposium (pp. 111�145). Cultra: Ulster FolkMuseum.

Agreement reached in the Multi-Party Negotiations (’The Good Friday Agreement’) (1998)Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of Ireland.

Andrews, L.S. (1991) The Irish language in the education system of Northern Ireland:Some political and cultural perspectives. In R.M.O. Pritchard (ed.) Motivating theMajority: Modern Languages in Northern Ireland (pp. 89�106). London: UU/CILT.

Baker, C. and Prys Jones, S. (1998) Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education.Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Irish in English-medium Schools 407

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

Cathcart, R. (1984) The Most Contrary Region � The BBC in Northern Ireland 1924�1984.Belfast: Blackstaff Press.

CILT: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (2003) LanguageTrends 2003. On WWW at http://www.cilt.org.uk/trends2003.htm. Accessed 1.8.05.

CILT (2004) Language Trends 2004. On WWW at http://www.cilt.org.uk/key/trends2004.htm. Accessed 1.8.05.

Comhairle na Gaelscolaıochta (Irish Medium Education Council) (2005) Plean Corpar-aideach/ Corporate Plan 2005�2008. Belfast: Comhairle na Gaelscolaıochta.

Committee on the Administration of Justice (1993) Staid agus Stadas na Gaeilge idTuaisceart na hEireann/The Irish Language in Northern Ireland. Belfast: CAJ.

Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) (2000) NorthernIreland Curriculum Review. Phase 1 Consultation. Belfast: CCEA.

CCEA (2002a) Is the curriculum working? A summary of the Key Stage 3 Phase of theNorthern Ireland Curriculum Cohort Study. Belfast: CCEA.

CCEA (2002b) Curriculum Review: A new approach to Curriculum and Assessment 11�16.Belfast: CCEA.

CCEA (2003a) Pathways: Proposals for Curriculum and Assessment at Key Stage 3. Belfast:CCEA.

CCEA (2003b) Talking 4: The Pupil Voice on the Key Stage 4 Curriculum; Report 4 of theNorthern Ireland Curriculum Cohort Study. Belfast: CCEA.

CCEA (2005) Languages are Child’s Play. Belfast: CCEA.Cultural Traditions Group (CTG) (1994) Giving voices: the work of the Cultural Traditions

Group 1990�1994. Belfast: Community Relations Council.Davies, Sir John (1612; IUP edn. 1969) A Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland was

Never Entirely Subdued. Shannon: Irish University Press.Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI) (1974) Primary Education:

Teachers’ Guide. Belfast: HMSO.DENI (1985) Good Practice in Education, Paper No. 2 � Modern Languages in Northern

Ireland. Belfast: DENI.DENI (1990) Secondary Education 1990. A Report by the Inspectorate. Bangor: DENI.Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2002a) Green Paper. 14�19: Extending

opportunities, raising standards. Consultation Document HMSO.DfES (2002b) 14�19: Extending opportunities, raising standards: Summary. HMSO.DfES (2002c) 14�19: Extending opportunities, raising standards: Young People’s Summary.

HMSO.DfES (2002d) 14�19: Extending opportunities, raising standards: Language Learning.

HMSO.DfES (2002e) Languages for All: Languages for Life. A Strategy for England. HMSO.DHSS/RGNI (Department of Health and Social Services/Registrar General Northern

Ireland) (1993) The Northern Ireland Census 1991: Irish Language Report. Belfast:HMSO.

Dunn, S., Morgan, V. and Dawson, H. (2001) Establishing the demand for services andactivities in the Irish Language in Northern Ireland. Research Report No. 1, PolicyEvaluation and Research Unit. Belfast: DCAL.

Fergusson, J. (2002) Entitlement to languages: A Scottish perspective. CommunityLanguages Bulletin Issue-10, 12. CILT, London.

Gael Linn (1997) Aspects of a Shared Heritage. Armagh: Gael Linn.Gardiner, B., MP Raising Standards. Final Speech delivered 23 June 2004. http://

archive.nics.gov.uk/edu/040623b-edu.htm Accessed 1.8.05.Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1989) Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order,

1989. Belfast: HMSO.Hadden, T. and Boyle, K. (1989) The Anglo-Irish Agreement. Commentary, Text and Official

Review. Dublin/London: Edwin Higel and Sweet & Maxwell.Harland, J., Moor, H., Kinder, K. and Ashworth, M. (2002) Is the Curriculum Working?

The Key Stage 3 Phase of the Northern Ireland Curriculum Cohort Study. Slough: NFER.

408 The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014

Harris, J. and Murtagh, L. (1999) Teaching and Learning Irish in Primary School: A Review ofResearch and Development. Research Report 25. Dublin: Institiuid TeangeolaıochtaEireann.

Irish News (1989) 22 March.LA newspaper (2002) An t-Oideachas Iomlanaithe, 1 November, p. 20.Mate, I. (1997) Changes in the Celtic-language-speaking populations of Ireland, The Isle

of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales from 1891 to 1991. Journal ofMultilingual and Multicultural Development 18 (4), 316�330.

McCoy, G. (1997) Protestant learners of Irish in Northern Ireland. In A. Mac Poilın (ed.)The Irish Language in Northern Ireland (pp. 131�170). Belfast: Ultach Trust.

McEwen, A. (1999) Public Policy in a Divided Society: Schooling, Culture and Identity inNorthern Ireland. Aldershot: Ashgate.

McEwen, A. and Salters, J. (nd) Integrated Education: The Views of Parents. Belfast:Leverhulme Trust/School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast.

McKendry, E. (1995) Gaeilge/Irish in Northern Ireland. In E. Nı Dhea, M. Nı Neachtainand A. O Dubhghaill (eds) Na teangacha Neamhfhorleathana agus Oiliuint Mhuinteoirı:Ag dıriu ar an ngne Eorpach [The Lesser Used Languages and Teacher Education: Towardsthe Promotion of the European Dimension ] (pp. 28�36). Limerick: Mary ImmaculateCollege.

McKendry, E. (2001) Modern languages education policies and Irish in NorthernIreland. In J.M. Kirk and D.P. O Baoill (eds) Language Links. The Languages of Scotlandand Ireland (pp. 211�222). Belfast: Clo Ollscoil na Banrıona, Queen’s UniversityBelfast. Belfast Studies in Language, Culture and Politics 2.

Moys, A. (1996) The challenges of secondary education. In E. Hawkins (ed.) 30 Years ofLanguage Teaching (pp. 83�93). London: CILT.

Neil, P.S., Phipps, W. and Mallon, R. (1998) Diversification of the First Foreign Language inNorthern Ireland. Belfast: NICILT/Queen’s University Belfast.

Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) (2002) Northern Ireland Census2001: Key Statistics Report. Belfast: Stationary Office.

O’Connor, F. (1993) In Search of a State. Catholics in Northern Ireland. Belfast: BlackstaffPress.

O’Connor, F. (2002) A Shared Childhood. Belfast: Blackstaff Press/Integrated EducationFund.

O Murchu, M. (2002) Cas na Gaeilge 1952�2002, Ag Dul o Chion. Dublin: An Aimsir Og.O Riagain, P. (2001) Irish language production and reproduction 1981�1996. In J.A.

Fishman (ed.) Can Threatened Languages be Saved? Reversing Language Shift, Revisited: A21st Century Perspective (pp. 195�214). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

O Snodaigh, P. (1995) Hidden Ulster. Belfast: Lagan Press.Pritchard, R.M.O. (2004) Protestants and the Irish language: Historical heritage and

current attitudes in Northern Ireland. Journal of Multilingual and MulticulturalDevelopment 25 (1), 62�82.

Spencer, A.E.C.W. (1987) Arguments for an integrated school system. In R.D. Osborne,R.J. Cormack and R.L. Miller (eds) Education and Policy in Northern Ireland. Belfast:Queen’s University Belfast and University of Ulster, Policy Research Unit.

Sweeney, K. (1988) The Irish Language in Northern Ireland 1987: Preliminary Report of aSurvey of Knowledge, Interest and Ability. PPRU Occasional Paper 17. Belfast: Policy,Planning and Research Unit.

Wagner, H. (1958, rep. 1981) Linguistic Atlas and Survey of Irish Dialects (LASID) (Vol. 1).Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Irish in English-medium Schools 409

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f C

alif

orni

a D

avis

] at

15:

02 1

2 N

ovem

ber

2014