From Cultural Nationalism to Human Capital Production: Schooling in the Gaeltacht in a Changing Ireland, 1967–1998

Abstract

The broad context to the considerations of this chapter is the fact that as economic improvement became a national objective in Ireland from the early 1960s, a growing awareness that improvement in education was also necessary emerged. A central argument was that while the nation’s declining population retarded the growth of national production, the high levels of emigration that gave rise to this situation would not decline until a high rate of economic development and competitive efficiency became evident. Related to this was the contention that increased capitalisation without expansion in the provision of education would not be sufficient to improve productivity. The State’s view was that if such expansion took place, it would have to play a major part in directing the future role of schools and schooling. An outcome was the introduction of a “free” post-primary education and free school transport scheme in 1967. This led to a great increase in students from the Gaeltacht attending post-primary secondary schools. This development is considered, along with social and economic changes in life in the Gaeltacht, and the place of Irish in the education system nationally.