In medieval Gaelic Ireland, centres of learning were monasteries and bardic schools.
The first state-funded educational institutions in Ireland were Church of Ireland diocesan schools established in the 16th century. The first printing press in Ireland was established in 1551, [1] the first Irish-language book was printed in 1571 and Trinity College Dublin was established in 1592. [2]
The Education Act 1695 prohibited Irish Catholics from running Catholic schools in Ireland or seeking a Catholic education abroad, until its repeal in 1782. [3] As a result, highly informal secret operations that met in private homes were established, called "hedge schools." [4] Historians generally agree that hedge schools provided a kind of schooling, occasionally at a high level, for up to 400,000 students in 9000 schools, by the mid-1820s. [5] J. R. R. Adams says the hedge schools testified "to the strong desire of ordinary Irish people to see their children receive some sort of education." Antonia McManus argues that there "can be little doubt that Irish parents set a high value on a Hedge school education and made enormous sacrifices to secure it for their children....[the Hedge schoolteacher was] one of their own". [6] The 1782 repeal of the 1695 penal laws had made the Hedge schools legal, although still not in receipt of funding from the Parliament of Ireland.
Formal schools for Catholics under trained teachers began to appear after 1800. Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762-1844) founded two religious institutes of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers. They opened numerous schools, which were visible, legal, and standardised. Discipline was notably strict. [7]
From 1811, the Society for the Promotion of the Education of the Poor of Ireland (Kildare Place Society, which evolved into the Church of Ireland College of Education), started to established a nationwide network of non-profit, non-denominational schools, in part funded through the production and sales of textbooks. [8] By 1831, they were operating 1,621 primary schools, and educating approximately 140,000 pupils. [9]
In 1831, the Stanley letter led to the establishment of the Board of National Education and the National School system using public money. The UK Government appointed the commissioner of national education whose task was to assist in funding primary school construction, teacher training, the producing of textbooks, and funding of teachers. [8]
Hedge schools declined after 1831 as the Catholic bishops preferred this, as the new schools would be largely under the control of the Catholic Church and allow better control of the teaching of Catholic doctrine. [10]
Since the Partition of Ireland, the systems in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have diverged
Edmund Ignatius Rice, F.P.M., C.F.C. was a Catholic missionary and educationalist who founded two institutes of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.
Education in the Republic of Ireland is a primary, secondary and higher education. In recent years, further education has grown immensely, with 51% of working age adults having completed higher education by 2020. Growth in the economy since the 1960s has driven much of the change in the education system. For universities there are student service fees, which students are required to pay on registration, to cover examinations, insurance and registration costs.
In the Republic of Ireland, a national school is a type of primary school that is financed directly by the state, but typically administered jointly by the state, a patron body, and local representatives. In national schools, most major policies, such as the curriculum and teacher salaries and conditions, are managed by the state through the Department of Education. Minor policies of the school are managed by local people, sometimes directed by a member of the clergy, as representative of the patron, through a local 'board of management'. Most primary schools in the Republic of Ireland fall into this category, which is a pre-independence concept.
A private school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools, are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowment. Unless privately owned they typically have a board of governors and have a system of governance that ensures their independent operation.
A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes.
John William Draper was an English scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first detailed photograph of the moon in 1840. He was also the first president of the American Chemical Society (1876–77) and a founder of the New York University School of Medicine.
St Patrick's, Carlow College, is a liberal arts college located in Carlow, Ireland. The college is the second oldest third level institution in Ireland and was founded in 1782 by James Keefe, then Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and his co-adjutor bishop Daniel Delany.
Catholic schools are parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. As of 2011, the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school system. In 2016, the church supported 43,800 secondary schools and 95,200 primary schools. The schools include religious education alongside secular subjects in their curriculum.
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Edmund Rice.
Venerable Honora Nagle, known informally as Nano Nagle, was a pioneer of Catholic education in Ireland despite legal prohibitions. She founded the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM), commonly known as the Presentation Sisters, now a worldwide Catholic institute of women religious. She was declared venerable in the Roman Catholic Church on 31 October 2013 by Pope Francis.
Daniel Delany DD was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Educated at the Irish College in Paris, he taught at the English Boys College of St Omer, 265 kilometres north of Paris.
Hedge schools were small informal secret and illegal schools, particularly in 18th-century Ireland, teaching the rudiments of religious education to children of 'non-conforming' faiths. Prior to the 1792 repeal of the Education Act 1695, only schools run by subscribers to the Anglican faith were allowed to operate. Instead, Catholics and Presbyterians set up secret and illegal schools that met in private homes.
Events from the year 1782 in Ireland.
Lavalla Catholic College is a dual-campus independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the towns of Traralgon and Newborough in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. Currently, the school has approximately 1,200 students enrolled across all campuses.
Educate Together is an educational charity in Ireland which is the patron body to "equality-based, co-educational, child centred, and democratically run" schools. It was founded in 1984 to act as the patron body for the new multidenominational schools that opened after the establishment of the Dalkey School Project. As of 2024, Educate Together is the patron of 96 national schools in Ireland. In 2014 three Educate Together Second Level Schools opened in Dublin 15, Drogheda and Lucan along with the first Educate Together school outside Ireland, in Bristol in the United Kingdom. In joint patronage with Kildare and Wicklow ETB, Educate Together opened another second-level school, Celbridge Community School, in 2015.
Education in Malta is compulsory through age sixteen and is offered through three different providers: the state, the church, and the private sector. The state is responsible for promoting education and instruction and ensuring universal access to education for all Maltese citizens the existence of a system of schools and institutions accessible to all Maltese citizens. The objectives of education in Malta include intellectual and moral development and the preparation of every citizen to contribute productively to the national economy. Although Maltese citizens had access to education during the Arab administration of 870 to 1090, the arrival of a number of religious orders in the following four centuries brought religious-based education to the island for wealthy families. The arrival of the Knights Hospitaller saw the establishment of the University of Malta, around which a number of primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions were established. Education in Malta has been universally available at the primary level since the ejection of the Knights Hospitaller by the French in 1798, when state-funded elementary schooling was established. In 1878, English replaced Italian as the primary language of instruction, and education was made compulsory in 1946 in response to a number of children not attending school due to poverty between World Wars One and Two. The age at which education became compulsory was lowered to five years in 1988
Education in the Republic of Ireland is mostly denominational at primary and secondary level. That is to say, most schools are associated with a particular religion or Christian denomination. Denominational schools include most national schools at primary level, which types are publicly funded by the Department of Education. The school's patron or the chair of the board of management will often be a cleric or religious. The denomination influences the ethos, although in subjects other than religion a standard curriculum is prescribed by the Department of Education for all publicly funded schools. Denominational schools can give priority of admission to pupils of the given denomination with the exception of catholic schools but not refuse to admit pupils based on religion.
Catholic education in Australia refers to the education services provided by the Catholic Church in Australia within the Australian education system. From 18th century foundations, the Catholic education system has grown to be the second biggest provider of school-based education in Australia, after government schools. The Catholic Church has established primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Australia. As of 2018, one in five Australian students attend Catholic schools. There are 1,755 Catholic schools in Australia with more than 777,000 students enrolled, employing almost 100,000 staff.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, or SSA, is an Indian Government programme aimed at the universalisation of Elementary education "in a time bound manner", the 86th Amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 6 and 14 a fundamental right. The programme was pioneered by former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It aims to educate all children between the ages of 6 and 14 by 2010. However, the time limit has been pushed forward indefinitely.
Manus "Mandy" Kelly was an Irish rally driver, businessman, and Fianna Fáil politician from Glenswilly in County Donegal. He won the Donegal International Rally three consecutive times, in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Elected in the 2019 local elections to serve on Donegal County Council, he died less than a month later, aged 41, while competing in the 2019 Donegal International Rally.