"Free Education" 50 Years On: Reflections on the Irish Educational Experience

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Comparative Education Through Historical Analysis

Abstract

2017 represents a significant year in the history of education in Ireland, marking the fiftieth anniversary since the introduction of ‘the free education scheme’, or free post-primary education. Up until this point, only a minority of pupils in a financial position to do so attended post-primary schools. The decade of the 1960s was one of the most progressive in Irish educational history, ushering in a more ambitious and strategic policy approach. Many associate Donagh O’Malley, Minister for Education, as the architect and mastermind of ‘free education.’ The reality was infinitely more complex. Based on an analysis of primary sources, many of which are interrogated here for the first time, this paper examines the key actors behind the ‘free education’ scheme.

Author

• Judith Harford, University College Dublin