Collapse in Gaeilge standards sparks call for review
Education Minister Mary Hanafin has admitted her disappointment at research published yesterday, showing that competence in Irish has almost halved in mainstream schools and has fallen significantly among children being taught in the Gaeltacht.
The study by Trinity College Dublin’s Dr John Harris does, however, show that the decline is less pronounced in Gaelscoileanna since the last major research in 1985.
The tests were carried out in 219 schools in 2002, assessing listening, speaking and reading standards.
The results show pupil performance across all learning objectives in Gaeltacht schools is generally high, but lower than in Gaelscoileanna. Only 73% of Gaeltacht pupils attained mastery of ‘general comprehension of speech’, compared to 96.3% in Gaelscoileanna.
A cause of concern for the author was the fall from 87% to 73% of pupils in the Gaeltacht with a mastery in fluency of oral description.
Dr Harris said the results in relation to ordinary schools reinforce the view of the Irish Language Commissioner that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive review of every aspect of the learning and teaching of Irish. He recommended more intensive Irish training for teachers, teaching parts of other subject courses through Irish and more parental involvement.
Mayor of Co Cork Michael Creed said the report is further evidence of the need for Ms Hanafin to sanction an all-Irish education centre for Ballyvourney first announced in 1999.
Ms Hanafin admitted she was disappointed by the study’s findings but said: “I would be very hopeful that the communicative approach, which is of the essence of the curriculum, will bring about significant improvements in all aspects of the teaching and learning of Irish in the future.”
