Irish education

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Ireland is one of the countries within the EU, its capital is Dublin, and its largest county is Cork. Traditionaly, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, but in 1937, after the Great Famine and the civil war, Ireland created its first constitution.

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The island of Ireland is divided into 2 different countries, Northern Ireland which is part of Britain contains 6 counties, andthe Republic of Ireland which consists of 26 counties.

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In 2002, the population of the country was 3.917.336 inhabitants, their distribution is very irregular, big cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway contain half of the population of the whole country. Another characteristic of the populalation is that 11,5% of them are under 15 and 63,9% of them are under 64. This meansIreland has one of the youngest populations in the EU. Irish constitution states that Irish (Gaeilge) is the first language of the island, and English is the second, however most of the population speak English as their first language and Irish is just used in the west part of the country (the Gaeltacht).

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88,4% of the population define themselves as catholics, 3,86% protestants,0,5% musulman and 3,6% afirm to be agnostics. The relationship between the catholic church and the goverment is very strong, and that is why 95% of the schools are controlled by the church.

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The Republic of Ireland is a parlamentary democracy. Two of the main political groups, since the creation of the state in the twenties, are: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.The diference betweenthem is their attitude with regards to the partition treaty with the United Kingdom. Fianna Fail refused the accord, whereas Fine Gael acepted. That is why six of the northern counties are part of Britain.

 
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The Irish education system is centralised. The Departartment of Education and Science” (An Roinm Oideachais Agus Eolaniochta) is responsible for the elaboration and application ofthe education laws. They are responsible for opening new schools, elaborating the curriculum of primary and secondary schools, financing public schools, and preparing official exams.

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DURATION: optional, 1 or 2 years. COST: €120- €300 per month. GRANTS: avaliable depending on each students situation. FOOD: not provided. SCHEDULE: 9.00 -12.00 //13.00 -16.00 TRANSPORT: norprovided. SUBJECTS: art and crafts, make and do (dress up), speaking skills, manual skills(shoe lace). Subject options may change if playschool incorporates high scope system.*

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This is a new American system for educating children.
• The first thing that the children do in the morning is discuss

what they would like to do for the day. Each student may do whatever he/she chooses to dofor the day. playing with a red ball, the teacher will say “john ,i see you are playing with a red ball”). toy off them and make them discuss the problem up themselves…etc).

• The teachers will comment on almost everything, (if john is

• If two children are fighting over a toy, the teacher will take the • Children learn by themselves (they pour their own drink, dress

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Types ofschools in primary education Most of the primary schools are private and denominational (they only accept one religion). They are “state-aided”(concertados)/financed with public money. The Irish departament of education finances play schools located within primary schools, the rest of the play schools are private. More or less 94% of primary schools are the property of the Catholic Church.

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DURATION: 8 years in total. COST: just material, voluntary activities to help teachers. GRANTS: If a parent holds a medical card* , -They are entiled to a meeting with the principal of school, and it is at the principals descretion whether to offer them an allowance or not. - they are entiled to a clothing and footwear allowance.

* A Medical card is avaliable to people who fall...