IPPN

'Apartheid' slur on Gaelscoileanna not based on facts

Published: 18 December 2008

Parents are not getting an unfair advantage by sending their children to Irish-medium schools, writes Muireann Ní Mhóráin

AN EYE-CATCHING phrase like "educational apartheid" may grab attention but it should have some basis in reality. That reality, in Kate Holmquist's recent assault on Irish medium education, is an anecdotal world in which middle-class, privileged parents are said to be gaining an unfair advantage for their children by the novel route of having them attend all-Irish schools.

The facts, she says, speak for themselves. However, the series of factual errors by the often excellent Holmquist is remarkable. Political correctness aside, the use of a term like apartheid has to have some consciousness of its historical reality.

The Stillorgan she refers to (the schools she singles out are not actually in Stillorgan) is a long way from Soweto. Still, the suggestion that its citizens are enjoying an educational leg-up by opting for Irish-medium schools is worthy of examination.

It is correct to state that pupils who answer certain subjects in Irish at the written State examination are awarded extra marks - between 3 and 10 per cent - but this happens on a sliding scale. High-achieving pupils who go on to study, say, medicine benefit minimally from the bonus and only a tiny number nationally gain entrance by being awarded these additional marks.

In any language, 14 of the top 25 non-fee-paying schools ("fee-paying" Gaelscoileanna do not exist) in The Irish Timesleague table of feeder schools are not, as we are informed, Irish-speaking institutions. Only two of the schools are Gaelscoileanna. A further two teach some students through Irish. It is common for schools to have Irish language names, eg Clochar Ãosa agus Mhuire, but not to teach through Irish.

Next statement: "Every year, the most Leaving Cert students with the most As come largely from Irish-speaking schools."

In schoolyard parlance: Says who? No official figures are available quantifying the exam grades achieved by any category of pupil, nor is it currently legal to publish any such league tables.

We are blithely assured that "students from Irish-speaking schools are more likely to get on the university course of their choice, whether it's law, medicine or the arts".

This is simply not the case, as The Irish Timescorrectly reported in its Feeder Schools 2008 analysis: nearly 70 per cent of the top-ranked schools are fee-paying, English-medium schools.

Attending an Irish-speaking school, your child "will be surrounded by mostly middle-class children". Post-primary Gaelscoileanna in the Dublin area are based in Cabra, Clondalkin, Donaghmede, Glasnevin, Lucan and Tallaght, as well as Booterstown. All cater for pupils in their catchment areas and beyond, without regard to socio-economic background.

The child will also be likely "to have smaller classes", apparently. Any reference to published figures? Any basis in fact whatsoever? None.

Holmquist informs us things have "got to the stage now where having dyslexia is considered an enviable bonus amongst secondary school students, because it exempts these students from having to do Irish". Readers can make up their own minds on the virtues of this phrase.

The consoling quip "if only they'd written their letters the wrong way and become exempt" can be dismissed as juvenile.

A fantastic scenario is conjured up of parents and teachers struggling heroically to enable the children in their care to "communicate well" in English, only for all this good work to go to waste, as the unfortunate pupils are then disadvantaged by "being made to study Irish".

International evidence shows that children with language difficulties benefit from learning an additional language. In any event, the progress of these children would logically be stymied by "being made" to work their way through mathematics, history, science, French etc.

Bonus points for Mathematics would support progressive economic policy, we are now told. But bonus points for studying through Irish? Regressive at best, a form of racism at worst.

The inspiration for this polemic seems to have been an overheard conversation as Gaeilge on the Dart. Sadly, it reeks of "dúirt bean liom go ndúirt bean léi".

And as for the paper of record? Must try harder.

Muireann Ní Mhóráin is chief executive of An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta