More sinn’d against than sinning? The intermediate system of schooling in Ireland 1878–1922

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Intermediate System of schooling, which operated in Ireland between 1878 and 1922, has, generally, been considered limited in ambition and as having generated a culture of high-stake terminal examinations. This article seeks a more nuanced understanding of the system and proposes that, despite an evolving system of secondary provision in Ireland prior to 1878, the Intermediate System provided an armature for a national system, prompted the awakening identity of the secondary teaching profession, stimulated the evolution of the teaching body in terms of trades union activity and initial teacher education; and, despite its many defects, provided increasing numbers of pupils with access to post-primary schooling in Ireland in the early decades of the twentieth century.