DOCUMENT RESUME ED 378 834 FL 022 758 AUTHOR 0 Riagain, Padraig; 0 Gliasain, Micheal TITLE All-Irish Primary Schools in the Dublin Area. Report of a Sociological and Spatial Study of All-Irish-Medium Schools in the Greater Dublin Area, with Special Reference to Their Impact on Home and Social Network Use of Irish. INSTITUTION Linguistics Inst. of Ireland, Dublin. PUB DATE 79 NOTE 201p. AVAILABLE FROM Instituid Teangeolaiochta Eireann, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, United Kingdom. PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143) Tests /Evaluation Instruments (160) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Educational Attitudes; Educational Objectives; Elementary Education; *Family Environment; Foreign CoUntries; Institutional Characteristics; Interpersonal Communication; *Irish; *Language Attitudes; *Language of Instruction; *Language Role; Language Usage; Parent Attitudes; Regional Characteristics; Sociolinguistics; Uncommonly Taught Languages IDENTIFIERS Ireland; *Ireland (Dublin) ABSTRACT A study investigated the extent to which all-Irish primary schools in the Dublin (Ireland) area:(1) provide opportunities for parents not using Irish at home to send children to an all-Irish school;(2) provide impetus for an increase in Irish use in homes of attending children;(3) increase interaction among Irish-speaking families;(4) are related, by their location, to the distribution of Irish-speakers in the Dublin area;(5) bLild the level of Irish-speakers in the communities they serve;(6) encourage parents who value all-Irish education to move to an area served by an all-Irish school; and (7) are systematically related to all-Irish preschool and secondary education through the language. The report describes some general characteristics of the all-Irish elementary schools, then summarizes and discusses findings on the reasons given for sending children to them, home use of Irish, and use of Irish outside the home. Some data tables, the survey questionnaire, and maps of all-Irish school family distribution are appended.(MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. **********************************************************A************ er ee) 00 00 W.4 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY U.S. DEPARTMENT Of EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced IS received from the parson or organization C originating it 0 Minor changes have been made to Improve reproduction twenty TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Pants of vonw or opinions stated in this docu- INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)... ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or pohcy ti q BEST COPY AVAILABLE ALL-IRISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE DUBLIN AREA j INSTITIOID TEANGEOLAf,OCHTA EIREANN ALL-IRISH PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN 1HE DUBLIN AREA REPORT of a SOCIOLOGICAL AND SPATIAL STUDY OF ALL-IRISH-MEDIUM SCHOOLS IN THE GREATER DUBLIN AREA, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THEIR IMPACT ON HOME AND SOCIAL NETWORK USE OF IRISH PADRAIG 0 RIAGAIN MICHEAL 0 GLIASAIN Publication No. 16(B) Price: £2.50 First published: 1979 0 Institillid Teangeolaiochta Eireann Obtainable from Institillid Teangeolafochta Eireann, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2. or through any bookseller ADMHAI L SPE I S I ALTA Is mian le hInstitiliid Teangeolalochta Eireann bufochas a thabhairt do Bhord na Gaeilge as ucht an ch6naimh airgeadais a chuir siad ar fail chun an taighde a bhfuil tuarasc4i1 air anseo a chur i gcrich. Ta suil ag an Institillid go leanfar de chomh- oibrill den saghas seo idir i fin agus an Bord agus gurb iomaf tionscadal taighde sochtheangeolalochta a thior'faidh as an gcomhoibrill sin san aimsir romhainn. SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT Teangeolalochta Eireann gratefully acknowledges its indebtedness to Bord na Gaeilge for financial support and assistance provided towards the carrying out of the survey the results of which are reported herein. It is hoped that this will be but the beginning of a long and successful period of cc-operation between the Institiiiid and the Bord in the field of sociolinguistic studies. CONTENTS Chapter Page Foreword 1 ONE Introduction 4 TWO Some general characteristics of all-Irish primary schools in the Dublin region 14 THREE Reasons for sending children to an all-Irish school 33 FOUR Home use of Irish 56 FIVE Use of Irish outside the home 86 SIX Summary and Conclusions 121 Appendices A Supplementary table:: to Chapter Two B Supplementary table to Chapter Four C English language version of Survey Questionnaire D Distribution maps of all-Irish school families, 1976-1977 -1- FOREWORD The idea for some form of study of the influence of all-Irish medium schools in urban areas was first suggested by Pgdraig 6 Riaggin duringa discussion with myself as Director of I.T.E. in February, 1976, arising out of our work as members of the Joint Committee which has responsibility for the Committee on Language Attitudes Research documentation in the custody of Institidid Teangeolafochta Eireann. The idea was adopted by the Executive Committee of I.T.E. and Mr. 6 Riaggin was asked to formulate specific proposals for a research project to be undertaken by the Institillid under his direction. Discussions on the matter continued during the summer of 1976, during the course of which Bordna Gaeilge made known its willingness to be involved with I.T.E. in the study. In September, 1976 the Executive Committee of I.T.E. finally decided to undertake the project, taking responsibility for the salaries of all Institiuid staff, engaged in the work and for other internalexpenses . incurred, while Bord na Gaeilge undertook sponsorship by makinga subvention to cover the costs of direction and incidental externalcosts. A Liaison Committee, representing the Bord and I.T.t.,was set up to monitor the project. The membership of the Committee was as folllows: Pgdraig 6 Coimin Hilary Tovey Segn de Freine- * Liam 5 Dochartaigh Tomgs 0 Domhnallgin. At a later stage in the work Professor Damian Hannan of the E.S.R.I., Riobard Mac GOrgin of Gael-Linn and Michegl 6 Fathaigh of Bordna Gaeilge took part in consultative discussions in regard to the project. During the course of the earlier meetings the terms of reference for the study were modified to take account of issues that had emerged. As finally formulated the terms of referencewere as follows: Replaced at a later date by Aodh 6 Canainn, Michek Graeand Caoimhfn 6 hUiginn. -2- "To examine the extent to which all-Irish primary schools in the Dublin area: (1) provide opportunities for parents who do not use Irish in their homes to send children to an all-Irish school; (2) provide an impetus for an increase in the use of Irish within the homes of children attending the schools; (3) increase interaction amongst Irish-speaking families through common interests, common participation in parent- teacher associations, extra-curricular activities etc.; (4) are, in their locational distribution, related to the distribution of Irish-speakers 4-1 the Dublin area; (5) build up the levels of Irish speakers in the communitiec they serve through the presence in the area of school leavers; (6) encourage parents who value all-Irish education for their children to move residence to an area provided with an all-Irish school and thereby decrease their isolation from other Irish-speaking families, and (7) are systematically related to all-Irish pre-school and post- primary education through Irish". A preliminary report was presented to the Liaison Committee in January, 1977. A draft report was submitted in October 1977 and the final report in October 1978. I take this opportunity on behalf of I.T.E. to extend to Bord na Gaeilge our appreciation of their assistance to and support of the project. Our thanks are also due to the members of the Liaison Committee and of the consultative group mentioned above, as well as to the Principals and staff of the schools, the parents who allowed themselves to be interviewed and to many others who helped in various ways. Finally, our special thanks are due to P6daig 6 Riaggin and Miche61 0 Glias.4in who expended so much energy on the work. .rte ant.41..zeLv 1 M6rta, 1979 t4 AUTHORS' ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to the following, without whose help the project would not have been completed. First of all, we would like to thank the members of the Liaison Committee and those others mentioned above who advised us from time to time. We found their help and encouragement most stimulating and rewarding. Any mistakes or omission are our own responsibility. At the early stages of the project, the school principals willingly gaNe us of their precious time and were of the utmost assistance in providing us with essential background information and opinions whichwere very valuable in planning and orienting the research. We are most grateful to them. We wish also to record our debt to the interviewing team: Michegl Tovey, Bairbre O'Connor and Pgdraig 0 Seaghdha for their efficiency and good spirits in carrying out a difficult task. Their work was made much lighter, however, by the generous co-operation and interest in the project shown by the respondents themselves: it is to them that we owe our greatest debt and it is our fervent hope that the present report justifies the help they have given us. Finally, we would like to thank the Director of Institiuid Teangeolafochta Eireann, Tomgs 5 Domhnallgin,