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.