Abstract
During the early years of Starkie’s tenure, the suggestion that there should be an imposition of a levy for education on the local rates was very contentious. The 1902 Bill in England had provided for the establishment of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) that were obliged to provide for elementary, secondary, and technical education within their jurisdictions. They had power to levy a rate for education and were responsible for disbursing local and central funds. That newly simplified system was administratively much more convenient than what had operated under the National Board in Ireland. Since Ireland belonged to a legislative Union the Treasury was under pressure to coordinate as far as possible the different administrative systems within the Union. The Treasury’s concern was to optimize government funds. As a result, because education in Ireland was costing so much more than it was in England, it is not surprising that the Treasury expressed continuing anxiety about the issue. In the first section of this chapter we deal with Starkie’s frustration with that system. We then outline a new direction in funding that was taken. Finally, we outline concerns about teachers’ working conditions.
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Notes
- 1.
W. J. M. Starkie, ‘The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade. Belfast 1911’, p. 6.
- 2.
A. Hyland, An Analysis of the Administration and Financing of Primary and Secondary Education in Ireland 1850 to 1822.
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Ibid.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 235.
- 6.
Ibid., p. 249.
- 7.
W. J. M. Starkie, “The history of Irish primary and secondary education during the last decade”, delivered at the inauguration of the University Extension Lectures, Belfast, 1900, p. 6.
- 8.
Seventy-second Report of the CNEI for the school year 1905–1906, p. 10. Traditional schoolhouse plans only provided one large class-room and disregarded sanitary and lavatory accommodation. Under The Revised Programme the Commissioners insisted upon as essential that each teacher would have a separate classroom while in larger schools accommodation would also be made for specialist rooms to facilitate the introduction of new subjects, for example cookery and laundry. In addition appropriate sanitary accommodation should be included as standard in all schools in response to modern requirements.
- 9.
W. J. M. Starkie, The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade, p. 4.
- 10.
SP 9209 #266 7 March 1903 Letter from Philip Hanson at Dublin Castle to Starkie. Hanson was referring to the report and recommendations of the School Building Committee.
- 11.
Ibid.
- 12.
W. J. M. Starkie, The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade, p. 4.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 5.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 7.
- 15.
Seventieth Report of C.N.E.I. for the year 1903, pp. 4–5. That report bears the date 1905 as its publication was suppressed for two years.
- 16.
Ibid., p. 5.
- 17.
Seventy-first Report of the CNEI for the year 1904, pp. 22–23.
- 18.
Ibid., pp. 23–24.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 24.
- 20.
A. Hyland, An Analysis of the Administration and Financing of Primary and Secondary Education in Ireland 1850 to 1822, p. 252.
- 21.
Ibid., p. 294. During this period the Vote for Primary Education increased from £1,287,943 to £1,390,833.
- 22.
Seventy-second Report of the CNEI for the school year 1905–1906, p. 11.
- 23.
Ibid., p. 15.
- 24.
M.C.N.E.I. 19 June, 1906.
- 25.
Seventy-second Report of the CNEI for the school year 1905–1906, p. 15.
- 26.
Ibid., p. 262.
- 27.
During Starkie’s tenure nine Chief Secretaries were appointed: Gerard William Balfour apptd. 4.7.1895; George Wyndham, apptd 9.11.1900; Walter Hume Long apptd. 12.3.1905; James Bryce apptd. 14.12.1905; Agustine Birrell apptd. 21.1.1907; Henry Edward Duke apptd. 3.8.1916; Edward Shortt apptd. 4.5.1918; James Ian MacPherson apptd. 13.1.1919; Sir Hamar Greenwood apptd. 6.5.1920.
- 28.
D. W. Miller, Church State and Nation, p. 152.
- 29.
Ibid., p. 153.
- 30.
Ibid., p. 156.
- 31.
L. Ó. Broin, The Chief Secretary: Augustine Birrell in Ireland (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), p. 28.
- 32.
D. W. Miller, Church State and Nation, p. 183.
- 33.
An Claidheamh Soluis, 11 May 1907.
- 34.
An Claidheamh Soluis, 18 May 1907.
- 35.
Ibid.
- 36.
L. Ó. Broin, The Chief Secretary, p. 15.
- 37.
D. W. Miller, Church State and Nation, p. 189.
- 38.
Irish School Weekly 28 May 1904; SP 9202 #194 24.3.1905 Letter from Bishop Foley to Starkie in which he acknowledged that “it cost £17,000 to administer £70,000.”
- 39.
The Seventy-fourth Report of the CNEI for the year 1907–1908, p. 5.
- 40.
Ibid., p. 6.
- 41.
The Grant valued at £120,000 per annum was never committed in total to educational developments.
- 42.
W. J. M. Starkie, The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade, p. 6.
- 43.
Ibid., p. 24.
- 44.
Appendix to Second Report of the Dill Commission, p. 379.
- 45.
Ibid., p. 25.
- 46.
Second Report of the Dill Commission, p. 334.
- 47.
A. Hyland, An Analysis of the Administration and Financing of Primary and Secondary Education in Ireland 1850 to 1822, p. 266.
- 48.
Ibid., p. 294.
- 49.
SP 9209 #484 8.4.1918.
- 50.
SP 9209 #283 2.4.1919.
- 51.
Letter from Enid Starkie to Alyse Gregory, 1943 cited by Richardson, J. Enid Starkie, p. 15.
- 52.
SP 9209 #103 Letter from Davies, Irish Office in London to Starkie dated 31.5.1906.
- 53.
Rule III: “To avoid fairs, markets and meetings, but above all political meetings of every kind; to abstain from controversy; to be imbued with the spirit of obedience to the law, and loyalty to the Sovereign, and to do nothing, either in or out of school, which might have a tendency to confine it to any denomination of children.”
- 54.
Second Report of the Dill Commission, p. 327.
- 55.
W. J. M. Starkie, Private Statement of Evidence to the Dill Commission, p. 52.
- 56.
B. MacNamara, The Valley of the Squinting Windows (Dublin: Maunsel & Co., 1918). It raised a storm of protest. Starkie visited the Macnamara’s (pen-name) father’s school at Ballinavally near Devlin Co. Meath 5 June 1918 and noted in his diary that Mr. Weldon was boycotted on account of his son’s novel.
- 57.
J. Coolahan, ‘Education in the Training Colleges 1887–1977’, in Two Centenary Lectures (Caryfort, 1977), p. 31.
- 58.
Bonaparte Wyse Papers N.L.I. PC 647–49 file #12.
- 59.
W. J. M. Starkie, Recent reforms of Irish education, pp. 33–34.
- 60.
SP 9209 #291 Copy of a letter from Starkie to Headlam the Treasury Remembrancer, 27.8.1917. When Samuels consulted Starkie on the composition of the Molony and Killanin committees he rejected the appointment of Culverwell to either Commission with the remark; “I would rather drown him!” SP 9211 6.4.1918.
- 61.
W. J. M. Starkie, Recent reforms of Irish education, p. 28.
- 62.
Ibid., p. 39.
- 63.
W. J. M. Starkie, The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade, p. 33.
- 64.
A group of Junior Fellows including Starkie a retired Junior Fellow made their submission to the Fry Commission. Starkie’s submission did not endear himself to the bishops who were actively campaigning for a Catholic University.
- 65.
The appointment of the first six permanent inspectors was made by the lord Lieutenant and the Treasury in March 1909. W. J. M. Starkie, The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade, p. 28.
Bibliography
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Hyland, A. ‘An Analysis of the Administration and Financing of National and Secondary Education in Ireland, 1850 to 1922’ (Trinity College Dublin, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, 1982).
MacNamara, B. The Valley of the Squinting Windows (Dublin: Maunsel & Co., 1918).
Miller, D. W. Church State and Nation, 1898–1921 (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973).
Ó Broin, L. The Chief Secretary: Augustine Birrell in Ireland (London: Chatto & Windus, 1969), p. 28.
Starkie, W. J. M. The History of Irish Primary and Secondary Education During the Last Decade (Belfast: Queen’s University, 1911).
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O’Doherty, T., O’Donoghue, T. (2021). Continuing Efforts to Improve Irish Primary School Education. In: Radical Reform in Irish Schools, 1900-1922. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74282-9_6
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