‘[An] historic culture … rapidly, universally, and thoroughly restored’? British influence on Irish education since 1922

Abstract

This piece concerns the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom over the course of some 170–180 years from the early/mid‐1800s to the present. It is argued that, despite the expectations of nationalists such as Timothy Corcoran, writing in the immediate aftermath of independence, to whom it seemed both desirable and inevitable that Ireland ‘historic [educational] culture’ would be ‘rapidly, universally, and thoroughly restored’, the tendency for educational homogenisation present prior to independence has been continued, and even exacerbated, since. It is suggested that a ‘post‐colonial overhang’ affects Irish policy‐makers and bureaucrats in their educational policies and practices.