Investment in edification: reflections on Irish education policy since independence

Abstract

Beginning with a historical review of Irish education policy since the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, this paper focuses on the issue of investment in education through the lens of the Investment in Education report. Following this historical review, the author explores how the legacy of the past continues to define the ways in which education is structured and delivered in Irish schools. The key achievement of the 1965 report was its success in altering the Irish state's perception of expenditure on education. While this was previously viewed as an expense and an obligation, the report highlighted its longer-term economic value as an investment in the future. While acknowledging the transformative impact of the 1965 report in terms of subsequent trends in the scale of public investment in education, this paper argues that the report's advice in relation to the nature of investment and to the optimal configuration of resources has been largely ignored and neglected in the intervening years. This paper revisits what the Investment in Education authors describe as ‘the question of the existing organisation of facilities’ in an attempt to understand contemporary challenges in Irish education.

Keywords:

• investment in education
• history of education in Ireland
• public−private balance
• marketization of education
• financial sustainability

Acknowledgement

This paper is written in an entirely personal capacity and is dedicated to Áine Hyland.

Notes on contributor

Muiris O'Connor is Head of Policy and Planning with the Higher Education Authority of Ireland. His work over recent years has focused on the design and implementation of the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030. In this regard, he is leading the development of a performance evaluation framework for Irish higher education and has contributed to the creation of a National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning and the implementation of an Irish Survey of Student Engagement. Before joining the HEA in 2006, Muiris spent five years as Statistician in the Department of Education and Science, prior to which he worked with the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI), the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and with the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). Over the years, Muiris has written reports across a wide range of areas including social entrepreneurship, homelessness, lifelong learning, national strategy for equality in higher education, gender, flexible learning, student progression and performance evaluation in higher education.

Notes

1. In Ireland, the Leaving Certificate Examination is taken at the end of upper secondary education, ISCED level 3.

2. Highlights of the Annexes and Appendices to the Investment in Education published separately in 1966 include a foldout organisational chart on the ‘Elements of Educational Planning’, numerous foldout tables, international educational attainment data, a thorough analysis of school costs, meticulously hand-drawn charts and a very forward thinking ‘Note on Strategy Evaluation Using a Computer’ (Appendix XII.C). The volume of annexes and appendices nonchalantly finishes with 44 ‘General Statistical Tables’ many of which contain information on key educational statistics for each year between 1926 and 1963.

3. The following selection of statistics from various Tuarascáil are offered to substantiate the summary of trends summarised in the text. In 1929, there were 6601 children in industrial schools and 128 children in reformatory schools. The figures in 1938 were 6131 children in industrial schools and 150 children in reformatory schools. In 1948, there were 6367 children in industrial schools and 248 children in reformatory schools. In 1953, there were 5448 in industrial schools and 175 in reformatory schools. As mentioned above, the numbers of children in industrial schools dropped below 4000 for the first time since the foundation of the Irish state in 1960. This downward trend continued through the 1960s. The figure in 1970 was 1271 children in industrial schools and 100 children in reformatory schools.

4. This table [Government of Ireland (1966). Investment in Education – Annexes and Appendices. Table B.16, p. 285] contains one typo in the grand total at the end of column 6 – The figure should be 363,513 (rather than 393,513).

5. This estimate is extrapolated on the basis of the breakdown of Irish investment in second-level education by resource category published in OECD. 2010. Education at a Glance 2010, Table B6.2a.

6. The phrase ‘production possibility frontier’ is borrowed from St. Aubyn et al. (2009).