Irish National System Research Articles

‘After the manner of the Irish schools’: the influence of Irish national education in the British Empire

The establishment of the Commissioners of National Education in 1831 provided Ireland with a non-denominational education system that was aimed at uniting the population. The development and implementation of a state-controlled system of education represents a shift in policy away from a disciplinary mechanism used to proselytise Irish children to that of a governmental technology directed at influencing the conduct of the population. This paper looks at the ideology that influenced Irish national education, how that was representative of a wider imperial ideology, and how the Irish system itself influenced the spread of that ideology. It briefly examines the rationale, structure and operation of the national system, showing the attempt to refocus social relations through encouraging cooperation in the establishment and management of schools. In this way the influence of national education went beyond the classroom to wider society. The influence of Irish education reforms are then examined in respect to those in England and in the Anglophone colonies, notably in Canada and Australia. The direct influence of the Irish system across the British Empire, including the textbooks published in Ireland, represents the development of a wider rationale aimed at changing the conduct of colonists and creating imperial citizens. The Irish national system therefore went far beyond a model for the structure of an educational system, but also encouraged the spread of an imperial ideology that legitimised and secured the governance of colonial authorities across the British Empire.

Evaluation of science and technology policy in Ireland

The concept of a national system of innovation has been wholeheartedly embraced in a recently published official report on science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The mechanisms for science and technology policy evaluation, particularly at programme level, contribute to, as well as fall under the scrutiny of, this broad review. This intimate association between different levels of evaluation and the development of the national system of innovation is evidence of co-evolution of the two systems. Following discussion of salient events in the development of the Irish national system of innovation, this paper examines recent and current actors, structures and activities in publicly funded evaluation of science and technology policy and programmes in Ireland. It aims to bring into sharp focus the most important and unique features of Irish evaluation activities and to ascertain the extent to which a national system of evaluation can be seen to be developing. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

The Management of Schools in New South Wales (1848–66) Local Initiative Suppressed

In New South Wales the bitter religious differences of the early nineteenth century combined with the Influence of Liberalism willed for the establishment of a national educational system which provided a compromise between the interests of warring pressure groups. The adoption of the Irish National System and its administration by the authoritarian William Wilkins ensured that the local management of schools should not develop. In contrast to England, New South Wales developed a highly centralized school system in which local initiative was severely discouraged.