Primary Pre-Independence

Pre-National Schools

Prior to the introduction of the National School System, there was no systematic provision of education in Ireland. The Kildare Place Society and Catholic teaching orders provided education in some places.

Church-related agencies provided schools,  some with and some without state aid. Those provided with government aid were mainly associated with the established church.

The Presentation Sisters found in 1791, the Mercy Sisters founded in 1828, and the Christian Brothers founded in 802 provided the first systematic schools exclusively for Catholics. These teaching orders spread rapidly in Ireland.

During the so-called Penal laws of the 18^th century, informal systems of education for  Catholics grew up; the so-called Hedge Schools. The Irish Parliament’s Catholic Relief Act 1782 abolished the penal restrictions on education.

The Primary School System

The most radical single legal step in education was the so-called Stanley Letter of 1831. This established the National School System throughout Ireland. The Board of National Education in Ireland supervised the National School System. The main aspects of the system are set out in the so-called Stanley Letter.

The patron of the school played a key role in management. The patron was usually a clergyman. The patron requested recognition of the school from the Commissioners for National Schools (the Rules for National Schools), the predecessors.

Voluntary boards of management were introduced in national schools in the 1970s. The boards assumed managerial of the schools with the patron or other manager acting as chairman.

Religious Instruction

The Stanley letter intended that children of different religious persuasions would be educated in a single school and that it would be a fundamental principle that no attempt would be made to interfere with the religious tenets of any description of Christian principle.

Separate religious education was to be provided in accordance with the wishes of the denomination concerned. Notwithstanding the intention of the legislation, the National Schools System became a denominationalised system with separate national schools for the various Christian religions.

A key feature of the system was state finance for the payment of teachers, while patrons, usually a Christian church denomination, retained control of the management of the school.

The Commissioners

The Commissioners for National Schools were empowered to lease schools. Leases were used to set the legal relationship between the patron and the Commissioners s. The lease set out the terms of use of the school property and the governing conditions. Where the school’s sites were owned locally by the patron, a declaration of trust was put in place between the patron and the Commissioners.

The lease or declaration of trust required the school to comply with the Rules for National Schools published by the Commissioners. A local contribution towards the cost of the school and building was also required.

Disagreements emerged from the early days of the national school system between the Catholic Church and state authority. The Catholic Church’s wish was that its ethos should be reflected throughout the whole of education. The state’s authorities wanted religious instruction to be treated in the same way as any other subject.

National Board

Such legislation was enacted in the 19^th century related to school leases, loans, and teachers’ residences. The non-statutory rules of National Schools provided for the basic operational rules.

The National Board of Education established under the 1831 system consisted of clerical and lay representatives of different denominations. It was obliged to

• allocate funds for the erection of schools,
• inspections,
• provision of school texts,
• pay teacher’s salaries,
• teacher training.

Denominal Patronage

The original system prioritized funding for applications by joint Protestant and Catholic clergy or equivalent representatives. By 1850 the system had largely become denominational despite its original intentions and objectives.

By the mid to late 19^th century, the systems had become distinctly denominational. In practice, national schools were established under the patronage of one of the churches, and the majority of their pupils were members of that church. The ownership of the schools’ buildings was more commonly and predominantly vested in the church authorities.

The schools were and remain technically non-denominational but achieved an effective denominational identity in almost all cases. The Commissioners s upheld the principle of mixed education and allowed for consent by a parent to a child receiving religious instructions from a teacher of a different denomination.

Teacher Training

The State established training colleges and a number of model schools. Catholic Schools Bishops forbade their teachers to attend it. Ultimately, the system of training of national school teachers came under the control of the churches.

Under the National School System,  the local patron took the initiative in establishing the school and seeking recognition. The patron was almost invariably a bishop of one of the Christian Churches. State aid was sought and granted under the system. The patron usually appointed a local clergyman as manager. Generally, the state-funded most of the building costs and teachers’ salaries.

The original Stanley plan provided for a central training or model school in Dublin. This was opened in 1834 and operated until 1920. The model schools were opposed by the Roman Catholic bishops on the grounds that they provided interdenominational education.

The Commissioners proposed that each of 32 school districts have a model school providing initial training and two years of apprentice education, they were financed and managed by the  Commissioners. Some of the model schools still exist as national schools with management shared between the churches and departments.

Powis Commission

The Powis Commission 1870 recommended educational concepts and practices equivalent to those emerging in Britain at that time. The Report recommended:

• payments by results
• compulsory school attendance for children not at work,
• abolition of district model schools
• where there were two existing schools of mixed enrollment that were recognized as two schools catering for a single denomination

Ultimately, the above proposals were implemented directly and indirectly over a number of years. This effectively abandoned the original intentions of the 1831 legislation. The percentage of religious homogeneous denominational schools rose to 70% in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Free and Compulsory

In England or Wales, primary education was formalized under a public system by the Elementary Education Acts at the end of the 19^th century. Many schools came under local authority control. No equivalent system was introduced in Ireland, principally by reason of the opposition of Catholic bishops.

The central UK treasury provided the bulk of finance. The National School Teachers Act 1875 placed part of the cost on the poor law guardians, later the local authority. Local contributions were abolished in 1892.

The Irish Education Act 1892 introduced a number of measures that sought to make education free and compulsory. Under the Act, fees were abolished in schools where they applied.

In other schools, only the fees in excess of a certain amount were chargeable. Teachers were compensated by increased salaries or capitation grants. The Act introduced compulsory attendance between the age of 4 and 14 for at least 75 days a year for children in cities and urban areas.

The Local Government Act 1898 conferred school attendance responsibilities on the local authority.