Articulating Minority Language Value in Diverse Communities: The Case of Compulsory Irish Language Education

ABSTRACT

In newly multilingual communities, where the language of education can no longer be assumed to be the home language of students, debates around language education policy can reflect broader sociocultural and political assumptions. As Ireland has become increasingly diverse in recent decades, the core compulsory status of the Irish language has emerged as one of the most contested aspects of the national curriculum. Informed by the field of language ideology, this paper draws on the responses to a public consultation on exemptions from the study of Irish. The findings point to a deeply entrenched polarisation of opinion regarding the relationship between identity and language, with some evidence of ethnocentric beliefs. However, the analysis also offered a number of nuanced and counterintuitive perspectives as to how minority languages might be positioned to contribute to a more open and inclusive educational environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum
• diversity
• Irish
• language value
• minority language

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The total here is more than 100% because respondents could choose more than one category to define themselves (e.g., a respondent could be both parent and teacher).

2. The report is available open access on the DES website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/e18caa-report-of-public-consultation-on-exemptions-from-the-study-of-irish/.

3. It is outside the scope of this paper to provide a full discussion of the quantitative data, however this can be accessed in the consultation report at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/e18caa-report-of-public-consultation-on-exemptions-from-the-study-of-irish/.

4. “Individual” indicates an individual’s submission to the invitation for written submissions.

5. “Respondent” indicates an anonymous respondent to the online survey.

6. “Organisation” indicates an organisation’s submission to the invitation for written submissions. These submissions are publicly available at https://www.education.ie/en/Parents/Information/Irish-Exemption/submissions-to-public-consultation-irish-exemptions/?pageNumber=1.

7. When quoting from a response or submission made in Irish, the original text is provided for transparency. The English translation is the authors’ own.

8. The punt was the unit of currency in Ireland before it adopted the euro.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Clíona Murray

Clíona Murray is a lecturer in education at NUI Galway, where she teaches sociology of education, sociolinguistics, and research methods. Her research interests include policy studies, inclusion and diversity in education, alternative education provision, and teacher education.

Andrea Lynch

Andrea Lynch is a lecturer at Marino Institute of Education in Dublin, teaching in the areas of special education, adolescent development & learning, and research methods. Her research interests include diversity in initial teacher education, social disadvantage in education, and gender in the context of students with special educational needs.

Niamh Flynn

Niamh Flynn is an Educational Psychologist and lecturer in Educational Psychology at the School of Education in NUI Galway. Her research and practitioner interests centre on inclusive education, socio-emotional learning and well-being. She is Director of the M.Ed. (Special and Inclusive Education) Programme.

Emer Davitt

Emer Davitt is a lecturer in teacher education at NUI Galway, where she specialises in Irish immersion education. She lectures in the areas of curriculum, assessment, Irish language methodology, and teacher professional development. Her research interests include teacher agency, curriculum policy, pedagogy, and CLIL.