Irish in secondary education in the north
&
languages as core GCSE subjects
The issue of Irish in secondary schools in the north has become a pressing and urgent matter. In 2007 languages were removed as core (or compulsary) subjects at GCSE level and since then the number of students chosing a language, in addition to English, for GCSE (GCSE Irish) has steadily declined. At the same time, due to the continuous increase of Irish Medium Education, the numbers of those taking GCSE Irish in Meánscoileanna Gaeilge are increasing with enrolment figures increasing, with many Gaelscoil students taking Irish in Year 8 or 9, then taking GCSE Gaeilge during Year 12.
An Gréasán has come together to tackle this problem, and as a network of teachers, experts and activists, An Gréasán is carrying out research and discussions to plan for the coming years and top hopefully address this decline.
In 2022 Conradh na Gaeilge asked a question on GCSE languages and the results can be seen below. The survey was carried out by KANTAR.
Further Information:
In 2020 the British Council published the following report regarding Language Trends Northern Ireland in 2021. That report can be accessed here.
In 2018 Gael Linn published a report into Irish in the education system in the north, from primary, secondary to thrid level. Is féidir an taighde sin a léamh anseo.
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