Inside Education 434, History of Model Schools with Joe Doyle (24-12-24)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's episode, we delve into the history of Irish education in the 1800s to learn about an ambitious attempt to educate teachers by co-locating theory and practice. We look at the rise and fall of model schools as a means of teacher training. My guest is retired primary school teacher and principal, Dr. Joe Doyle who recently published Model Schools - Model Teachers? A nineteenth-century Irish teacher-training initiative.

Among the topics we cover are:

• Being prompted to study the topic by William Murphy, a fellow member of Dúchas – the Tullaherin Heritage Society that produces a journal titled In the Shadow of the Steeple.
• Being bowled over by the amount of information that was available to access in the National Archives of Ireland.
• He chose history as his academic subject when he studied for the Bachelor of Education degree in the early 1990s (a truncated course awarded to those who had the National Teacher (NT) qualification before the B.Ed. degree was introduced).
• His first scholarly foray into history and education was an account of education in the Thomastown area in the nineteenth century.
• Having expressed interest in pursuing his studies in the history of education, he was invited to meet with the late Professor John Coolahan, previously a guest on episode 10 and episode 253 to discuss the matter.
• His initial interest was in Kilkenny schools which had landlord patronage in the 1800s. However, Professor Coolahan persuaded him to pursue what he saw as a more fruitful topic, about cooperation in Kilkenny school management between 1831 and 1870.
• Winning a millennium scholarship in St. Patrick’s College where he was advised by Professor James Kelly on the topic of model schools.
• What model schools in Ireland were (built in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s). They consisted of 19 District Model Schools, 7 Minor Model Schools and 3 others: the central model school, West Dublin, and Inchicore. The central model school was a fully fledged institution for preparing teachers but a wider network was needed to achieve the aim of preparing sufficient teachers for the entire national school system. They combined teacher education with education of young schoolchildren.
• The Kildare Place Society received Government grant aid from 1811 on the basis that one of their principles was that they were there for people of all religions. They provided short courses for practising teachers, who would previously had had minimal preparation for their roles.
• The Kildare Place Society was promoting the (quite rigid) Monitorial system developed by Joseph Lancaster. Training took place for implementing that system and for organisation and keeping school records.
• This was a system whereby one teacher, assisted by capable pupils, could supervise up to 500 children.
• Hedge schools mostly taught the three Rs and did not have Irish although some variations may have been present.
• He refers to Brennan’s Schools of Kildare and Leighlin.
• Here is a link to a talk by Dr. Antonia McManus on hedge schools in Ireland and here is a link to a book she wrote on the topic.
• The difference between district model schools and minor model schools (the latter did not have student teachers in residence there).
• The retention rate of teachers who were prepared in model schools was around 30%. The pay was poor and many of the students used it as a way of getting a good intermediate education and went on to work in the civil service or in a bank.
• More presybyterians and Anglican teachers than Roman Catholic teachers were prepared.
• He acknowledges the work of Emmet Larkin in understanding the Catholic Church in the nineteenth century.
• Archbishop Paul Cullen initially focused on sorting out problems among Roman Catholic clergy in the Dublin Diocese before becoming interested in the model schools. He was opposed to the model schools because they were non-denominational.
• From 1863, any Catholic trained in a model school would not be employed in a national school under Catholic management.
• Some information about the Powis commission is available on pages 22-23 of this doctoral thesis.
• How preparation of Catholic and Protestant teachers became segregated in Ireland.
• A description of a typical day for student teachers in a model school.
• Sources of information for the history of Irish education: Annual Reports (include a section on model schools), Government inquiries late 1830s on the practical working of the National System), 1854 (substantial report), 1870 (Powis Commission – 10 volumes; report and minutes of evidence and statistical part). ED1 reports – initial applications for setting up national schools). ED2 reports (registers – dealings of Board of Education with individual schools – a lot of detail when things go wrong); ED9 reports (specific reports that arose between the school and the Board of Education); ED3 files used to report on model schools. All in the National Archives. Minutes of commissioners’ of national education and kept in the manuscript room of the National library. The minutes generally are a bit formulaic. Some national schools still have their own records.
• The experience of working as a research student supervised by Professor John Coolahan.
• Irish Education: Its history and structure by John Coolahan.
• The Irish Education Experiment by Donald Akenson.
• Joe’s book is titled Model schools – model teachers? A nineteenth-century Irish teacher-training initiative.
• The dust jacket of the book was designed by Terry Bannon and it was printed by Naas Printing.