1. Education This teaching and learning resource has been produced by the Irish Qualitative Data Archive as part of the NUI Maynooth/NDLR Learning Innovation Community Support Project, Teaching and Learning Through the Archive. The presentation includes short interview excerpts from the Life Histories and Social Change Project, http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th- century-ireland where the respondent have given their consent to be identified.Irish Qualitative Data Archive, 2012 Additional teaching resources are available at http://www.iqda.ie/content/teaching- resources Development of this resource funded by National University of Ireland Maynooth / National Digital Learning Repository Attribute as follows: Irish Qualitative Data Archive [distributor], 2012.

2. Education 3. Concept: ModernityA series of historical changes or processes in the materialworld [which also involve] intellectual assumptions thatlegitimate and sanction those changes(Tovey and Share 2003, p. 20) 4. Education is intricately bound up withquestions about modernity: it is seen as a keyto modernisation and as adriver ofsocial, economic and cultural change. (Tovey and Share 2003, p. 188) Image courtesy of The National Library of Ireland 5. Areas covered by this presentation1. Education in the 1920s and 1930s:Independent Ireland2. Education in the 1950s: economicdecline3. Education in the 1960s:industrialisationImage courtesy ofThe National Library ofIreland 6. Themes running throughpresentationEducation and modernity in Ireland Decline of traditional authority Growth of meritocracy Meeting requirements of industrial societyThe contradictory effects ofeducation Reproducing inequalitiesImage courtesy ofThe National Library ofIreland 7. 1. Education in the 1920s and 1930s: Independent Ireland 8. 1. Education in the 1920s and 1930s:Independent IrelandEducation wasa major instrumentin the political Image courtesy of Jane Grayconsolidation andrejuvenation ofindependent Ireland(Fahey quoted inTovey, Share andCorcoran, 2007) 9. 1. Education in the 1920s and 1930s: Independent IrelandThe School Attendance Act of 1926 made schoolattendance compulsory for all children from six untilfourteen years of age.Sanctions for non-compliance extended from visits andformal warnings to fines on parentsand, ultimately, committal to industrial schools,where children could be detained up to the age of16 (Fahey quoted in Tovey, Share and Corcoran, 2007).This had significant impact on the contribution ofchildrens labour in the family, particularly inagriculture. Fahey (1992) calculated that theImage courtesy of implementation of this Act had direct consequencesThe National Library ofIreland for about a third of families with school-agechildren. 10. Think about...Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slideand think about the following questions.Q1. The interview participant describes having to leave schoolat 14, to earn your living slaving for people. How did therequirement to attend school conflict with other demandsfor children and their families?Q2. The Education Act (1926) meant that all children wererequired to attend school to the age of 14. How did Themodernising effects of education*lead+ to a significantreordering of the relationships between children, familiesand the state (Tovey and Share 2003, p. 203)? 11. An account of school in the 1930sAudio clipSource: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH111 (female, born in 1924)http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandINT:When did you start going to school, can you remember?RESP: What age was I?INT:Yeah.RESP: Between six and seven, it was that time.INT:That would be about 1930.RESP: Yes and finished at 14 and out the road then to earn your living slaving for people, and it was literally slaving.INT:What can you remember from school?RESP: It was the same as above, the same as there today as it was then, they put a wing onto it extra since.INT:How many people were in the school at the time?RESP: I dont know around 110 Id say.INT:Pupils? My goodness thats big. And did you have much of a walk to it?RESP: We had to walk about a mile and a half and in the summer without a shoe on our foot of course. Then the roadswerent tarmacadamed, they were sandy and stones and youd hit your toe on a stone and youd be bleeding andthe dirt going into it, there was no such talk about [unclear] or nothing, no disinfectant, you let nature deal with it.INT:And did all of you go to the same school, was it mixed?RESP: It was mixed, it is mixed today too. My grandchildren go to the same school there up above.INT:And all 5 of you went there but you were all staggered. Yourself [sister]RESP: [sister 1], myself, [sister 2], [brother 1], [brother 2]INT:And the three girls were first. Can you remember those first days, did you have a favourite subject?RESP: No I dont remember the very first days but I remember it short after, I remember the teacher was there, twoteachers, one of them was a right devil. We were in 2nd and 3rd class that time now, she used to bring us out on theplayground, we used to get long summers at that time, I dont know where they have gone to, but we used to get biglong summers and she used to bring us out on the playground and shed sit in the middle in a chair and wed bestanding around her and shed be teaching our lessons. And if you missed something shed send you over there inthe hedge to pull a bunch of nettles to scorch yourself. And we used to be up at night with the itch in our legs withthe nettles, they got all itchy at night. Wasnt she cruel? ... [continues about corporal punishment] 12. 2. Education in the1950s: economic decline 13. 2. Education in the 1950sThe 1950s, a miserable decade for the Irisheconomy, when real national income virtuallystagnated and net emigration reached its 20thcentury peak ( Grda quoted in Tovey, Shareand Corcoran, 2007).New emphasis on meritocratic education in thedevelopment of human capital (Breen et al.quoted in Tovey, Share and Corcoran, 2007).Despite the objective to moderniseeducation, little changed in day-to-dayschooling, particularly for working class andImage courtesy of rural households.The National Library ofIreland 14. Think about...Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slideand think about the following questions.Q1. Why were the interview participants parents reluctant tointervene when the teacher dished out corporalpunishment?Q2. The interview participant talks about the voluntarycontribution of fuel (turf) that each farm was expected tocontribute towards heating the school. How did suchpractices reproduced traditional power relations withinthe school? 15. An account of school in the 1950s Audio clip Source: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH202 (male, born in 1945)http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandRESP: So I suppose my own routine had been at home every day and the next thing going into this place that I suppose looked enormouslooking, it was only, it was a two class school and there was a husband and wife as teachers and the wife was responsible from juniorinfants up to 1st class and then the master took 2nd class up to 6th class. It was one large building with a dividing wall in the centre.So youd arrive into this room and there was about close to 100 in the school, so you are talking about 50 in this one room with thisone teacher standing up at the top.INT:Did they have a cailin helping them out?RESP: No just the two of themINT:50 to 1. Can you remember them as teachers?RESP: YesINT:Were they strict, were they fair? Were they?RESP: She was extremely fair and was strict to the degree of control but not over. He should never have been a teacher, he wasdiabolical, absolutely and totally diabolical. Corporal punishment was dished out like nobodys business, he would lose the headseveral times during the week and threw chairs around the room, hammered the blackboard, hopped the chalk at people, youwere slapped every day. If you arrived in and were given 10 sums to do and for every sum that you had wrong youd get two slaps.If you had spellings, for every wrong spelling you had one slap. You could come home in the evening and your hand would literallybe raised up here. Actually I remember one time I arrived home and I had a cut up along there where I was actually cut with thecane and he had poked the fire, there was one fire up at the very end with a pipe coming out of it and extending down the floor,but the master stood with his back to the fire, and the teacher in the other room done exactly the same thing, but he used to pokethe fire with his cane and hed use the same rod. And I remember being cut and an infection in here and my wrist being bandaged.INT:Did you ever tell your mum or dad that you thought this guy was over the top?RESP: Well they were aware because if you were getting dressed and iodine was applied to everything and it would sting the livingdaylights out of you but it was applied to you. And if you cut your hand youd just get the iodine, I can remember that. And theywere very reluctant to do anything about it because they felt if you done anything about it that you would be selected, perhapseven more so. And there was an expected voluntary contribution and the contributions used to consist of turf from the bog andeach farmer that had a farm was expected to contribute the turf, and I remember even being conscious of the fact that he used totake note of the amount of turf being brought up by horse and cart at that stage, no tractors. And the turf would be heapedoutside the school wall and the older kids would be asked to bring it in and stack it up in the hall way. When you went to theschool there were doors on both ends and the junior school was to the right and the senior school was to the left and you walkedinto a hallway where there were rows of hooks to hang your coats, there wasnt even lockers at that stage, some of them would becoming in Wellington boots even. And some of them had shoes and some of them hadnt either. But this turf used to be stacked allalong the wall inside to keep it dry. And he sort of referenced that, oh yeah there was a fine load of turf today, other peopledidnt come with as much, I still remember that. 16. 3. Education in the1960s: industrialisation 17. 3. Education and Industrialisationfrom the 1960sFrom the 1960s: policy change towards export- oriented strategy and attracting foreign investmentDevelopment of new employmentopportunities, increase in middle-class and skilledmanual work1965: Publication of report on Investment inEducation. It was positioned very much againstthe background of the programme ofindustrialisation and the opening up of the Irisheconomy and was centred on the idea ofImage courtesy ofThe National Library ofmanpower planning (Tovey and Share 2003, p.Ireland 203) 18. Video clipwA depiction of education in the 1960sExtract from: The Rocky Road to Dublin (1968). Click to playDocumentary film by journalist Peter Lennon and cinematographer Raoul Coutard Note: This short clip from The Rocky Road to Dublin is available on www.youtube.com at the following location, and is subject to being made available at this location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05k59EhMEEI 19. 3. Education and Industrialisation from the 1960s, continuedGrowing emphasis on equality of opportunityFree secondary education was introduced in Ireland in 1967Despite this, strong distinction between types ofschool perpetuated social exclusion of certaingroups, so that secondary and boardingschools catered for middleclass children, whilechildren from working-class or small-farmfamilies attended local vocational schoolsImage courtesy ofThe National Library of(Whelan and Hannan quoted in Share, ToveyIreland and Corcoran, 2007). 20. Think about... Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slide and think about the following questions.Q. The interview participant says that, everybody wanted to get into the other schools in Dublin. How does this contradict the idea of equality of opportunity that was promoted in education at this time? 21. Audio clipChoosing schools in the 1980sSource: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH315 (male, born in 1970)http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-ireland INT:So where did you go to secondary school? RESP: [name of school in north Dublin town] INT:How come you went to [name of school] and not in [town]? RESP: There was no schools in [town], no secondary schools in [town] INT:There wasnt? Cos they used to go to the one in [village], didnt they? RESP: Yeah it was [village], well I think the deal was INT:Cos I went to [village], and the [town] bus used to come over RESP: Yeah the [town] bus would have come over via [village], and that was it, it was [village], [other town], or into town. So I think the deal was you had to do entrance exams into the schools in Dublin and if you managed to get into a school in Dublin well done, otherwise you were on the bus to [village] INT:So going to school in Dublin would have been considered better? RESP: Yes than going to the school in [village] cos what happened in [town] was youre going to have to get on a bus and the people who failed the exams for the Dublin schools were on that bus. That was the deal and because of that it was seen as theyre the dummies going across to [village] because they couldnt get into the other schools and everybody wanted to get into the other schools in Dublin 22. Think about...Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slideand think about the following questions.Q1. The interview participant talks about struggling to getinto his career of choice in avionics. How well dideducations objective of developing human capital for amodernising economy match the experience of theindividual?Q2. What other factors, apart from education, wereinfluential in manpower planning and the developmentof human capital? 23. Career planning in the 1980sAudio clipSource: Life Histories and Social Change Project, LH315 (male, born in 1970)http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th-century-irelandINT:And what would you say your parents would have wanted you to get out of school at that time? Obviously if theysent you to the one in Dublin they were keen on education.RESP: YeahINT:What type of job would you say they wanted you to do?RESP: Well my dad would have wanted me to get an apprenticeship that was from the word go an apprenticeship, getyourself a jobINT:A trade?RESP: Get yourself a trade, yeah. Hes only had two jobs, he worked in the Air Corps and he went to Aer Lingus and his movewith Aer Lingus, sent him from Aer Lingus to SLR, but hes in the same job and working with the same people.INT:So a good steady, pensionable jobRESP: YeahINT:So he wanted you to get a trade and what would you have wanted, what type of job did you want?RESP: I wanted to get into, again I wanted to get into the airline industry. I wanted to get into avionics and stuff like that butthere was no jobs available at that time and there was no apprenticeships. I left school in 87INT:Did you do your Leaving [final exams]?RESP: Yeah I did my Leaving Cert., I left school in 87 and couldnt get a job. I spent six months trying to get a job with tenpounds a month from my mum just to keep me inINT:There was no jobs around?RESP: Yeah there was no jobs absolutely nothing, and I wasnt allowed go on the dole that was one thing theywere adamant about thats why she gave me moneyINT:Thats interesting. Why?RESP: Her reason was you couldnt get a job in the bank if you were ever on the dole and at that stage if youd everbeen on the dole, if you ever signed on you couldnt get a job in the bankINT:I never knew thatRESP: MmmINT:Really?RESP: Yeah. So she saw it as a stigma, if youd ever been on the dole 24. Think about...Listen to the interview excerpt on the next slideand think about the following questions.Q. Having listened to all of the interview excerpts consider the following statement:While education has been associated with the development of scientific rationality, specific types of interpersonal relationships, achievement orientation and a facility with technology, it has also provided an arena for the maintenance of attitudes, behaviour and relationships that have been seen as barriers to the development of a modern sensibility (Tovey and Share 2003, p. 205). 25. ReferencesLennon, Peter and Coutard, Raoul . Extract from: The Rocky Road to Dublin (1968), available on www.youtube.com at the following location, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05k59EhMEEITovey, H. and Share, P. (2003) A Sociology of Ireland, 2nd Ed., Dublin: Gill & McMillan. 26. Note on this teaching resourceIQDA Teaching Resources by Irish Qualitative Data Archive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at http://www.iqda.ie/content/life-histories-and-social-change-20th- century-ireland.Life Histories and Social Change was funded by the Irish Research Council (IRCHSS).Images on slides 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 17 and 19 courtesy of The National Library of Ireland. Reproduction of this images is with the written consent of The National Library of Ireland only.This teaching resource was prepared by Ruth Geraghty. IQDA would like to acknowledge LindaOKeefe and Aileen OCarroll for their work on this teaching resource.Preparation of this teaching resource was assisted by an NDLR Learning and Innovation Projectgrant from the NUI Maynooth Centre for Teaching and LearningIrish Qualitative Data Archive, 2012