I move:—
Go ndeonfar suim nach mó ná £182,540 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfas chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31ú lá de Mhárta, 1950, chun Tuarastal agus Costas Oifig an Aire Oideachais.
That a sum not exceeding £182,540 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1950, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Education.
The total net amount required for the group of eight Votes for which I account is £7,508,380. This is an increase of £176,790, or about 2.4 per cent., on the amount voted last year, which was £7,331,590. The chief differences between this year and last are as follows: Vote 45—Office of the Minister for Education—the net Estimate is £276,540, a decrease of £140 on the amount provided last year. Full provision is made for salaries on the basis of the increase recently granted to the Civil Service generally.
In Vote 46—Primary Education—the net Estimate is £5,330,140, an increase of £117,020 on last year's Vote.
In the main sub-head—sub-head C (1)—the amount provided for teachers' salaries, allowances, fees, etc., and for capitation grants to convent and monastery schools is £4,730,760, an increase of £117,020 on last year's Vote.
Lay teachers' salaries are estimated to cost £3,500,000. The abolition of the "highly efficient" rating, provision for the appointment of additional teachers in large schools, the substitution of average enrolment for average attendance for staffing purposes and other changes favourable to the teachers have added nearly £80,000 to our commitments here.
Teachers' allowances and fees are estimated to cost £250,100 as against £228,100 last year. Allowances to principal and vice-principal teachers will cost £178,000, an increase of £13,000. Rent allowances at £35,000 show an increase of £2,000. The fee for instruction in cookery and laundry has been raised from 8/11 to 12/- per pupil and an extra £2,000 has been provided in consequence. A sum of £17,000 is provided for the cost of recouping to teachers two-thirds of the salaries of substitutes employed by them during illness. This figure shows an increase of £3,000 on last year's provision and is based on the actual expenditure last year.
Capitation grants to convent and monastery schools are estimated to cost £980,000 as compared with £920,000 last year, an increase of £60,000. Of this, about £13,000 is a consequence of the abolition of the "highly efficient" rating. The balance is attributable to the continued increase in the numbers attending these schools.
Provision is again made for the training of the maximum number of teachers. The numbers in the preparatory and training colleges will be 517 and 707 respectively as compared with 514 and 706 last year. There is an increase of £1,700 in the provision for preparatory colleges and of £3,612 in that for training colleges. This latter increase is mainly due to the inclusion of provision to meet losses which may be incurred in the working of the training colleges.
Grants towards the cost of heating, etc., of schools and the cleansing of out-offices are continued on the existing basis.
The provision of £55,000 made last year for the "£5 grant" to Gaeltacht children proved a little too large, and £52,500 is provided this year.
An increase in the number of van and boat services and in the cost of existing services has sent the provision under this head up from £7,000 to £9,250.
The amount provided for superannuation, etc., of teachers—£444,000— shows an increase of £17,000, due mainly to the pension and gratuity increases granted by the National Teachers' Superannuation (Amendment) Scheme which was recently approved by the Dáil.
In Vote 47—Secondary Education— the net Estimate is £896,300, an increase of £24,650 on last year's Vote.
Capitation grant at £316,950 is up by £13,900. The number of pupils in respect of whom this grant is payable continues to increase steadily. This year it is 45,412 as compared with 43,710 last year and 42,730 the year before.
Incremental salary grant at £503,600 shows an increase of £6,100 due to the accretion of annual increments on the increased salary scales granted to secondary teachers in 1946.
The provision of £24,260 for examinations shows an increase of £2,900 due chiefly to an increase in the remuneration of superintendents and in the rates of subsistence allowance for both superintendents and examiners.
Laboratory grants at £36,700 are up by £1,700 due to an increase of about 70 as compared with last year in the number of science and domestic science classes.
The provision for rent allowances has been increased by £1,600 to £9,200 in view of actual expenditure.
In Vote 48—Technical Instruction— the net Estimate is £660,380, an increase of £55,610 on the amount provided last year in the original Vote and a Supplementary Vote.
Annual grants to vocational education committees at £620,000 show an increase of £53,363 on the amount provided last year.
The major portion of this increase (£45,000) arises partly from development of existing vocational education services and partly from the increase in the cost of maintaining the existing services. The balance of the total increase (£8,500) is due to recent increases in the remuneration of officers and employees of vocational education committees.
There is an increase of £2,157 in grants to miscellaneous schools not under the management of the committees. There is an increase in the number of students, and religious instruction is recognised as a grant-earning subject for the first time.
A sum of £16,000 is provided in sub-head A as a contribution towards the loan charges of rating authorities in respect of school buildings. This is an increase of £1,785 on last year's provision.
In Vote 49—Science and Art—the net Estimate is £106,800, a decrease of £1,500 on the amount voted last year.
There is an increase of £5,750 in the grant to the Irish Folklore Commission. Salaries, wages and allowances are up by £3,364, due mainly to the recent increase in Civil Service remuneration. Last year £4,000 was provided for grants to colleges providing courses in Irish for persons other than teachers. The actual expenditure was nearly £6,000, and that amount has been provided for this year.
Reductions totalling £15,734 have been made on other sub-heads. The grant to Comdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge has been reduced from £10,000 to £6,000. The provision for publications in Irish has been reduced by £3,550. A nominal sum of £5 has been provided for the production of films on behalf of Government Departments as against £2,500 last year, and the grant to the National Film Institute has been cut from £2,000 to £1,000. The grant to the Irish Committee of Historical Sciences has been restored to the normal figure of £100, and the provision of £1,000 towards the cost of a history of the famine has not been repeated. The grant for the purchase of specimens for the National Museum has been reduced by £1,000.
In Vote 50—Reformatory and Industrial Schools—the net Estimate is £174,850, a decrease of £12,790 on last year's Vote.
The provision for industrial schools —£156,100—is down by £4,200. It is estimated that there will be a reduction of 150 in the number of children under detention as compared with last year.
Grants for building and equipment at £18,550 show a reduction of £6,450. The amount now provided is the balance of the grant of £40,000 towards the cost of building a new industrial school for senior boys.
It is expected that the receipts from the parents of committed children, etc., will exceed £12,000, an increase of about £2,800 on last year.
In Vote 51—National Gallery—the net Estimate is £8,500, an increase of £290 on last year's Vote.
In Vote 28—Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies—the net Estimate is £54,870, an increase of £2,120 on last year's Vote.
The grants for the administration of the Institute and for the three constituent schools (sub-head A) and for buildings, etc. (sub-head B) are substantially the same as were voted originally last year. Owing mainly to the fact that certain senior posts were not filled, credit was taken last year in a Supplementary Vote for a saving of £10,000 on sub-head A, and this sum was diverted to sub-head B to meet the increased cost of certain building and reconstruction.
In the realm of primary education, the number of pupils on the roll on 30th June, 1948, was approximately 458,000, or about 5,000 more than the number on the rolls on 30th June, 1947. In 1928 the figure was 516,660 and, with the exception of a few years, the numbers fell constantly and consistently to 453,428 in the year 1947, representing a decline of some 63,000 over the whole period.
This fall in the school-going population brought with it inevitably a decline in the number of teachers required, even though in the earlier years of the period the effect of the fall on the numbers on rolls was offset or arrested by other factors such as the operation of the School Attendance Act, 1926, etc. In due course, the various measures adopted succeeded in reducing the number of unemployed and the recruitment of teachers was again resumed. It also became possible to restore the position that women teachers could be continued to the age of 65, subject to satisfactory service, and, in point of fact, except for odd cases, there have been no normal retirements of women teachers before the age of 65 for some years past. The retirement of women teachers will again resume its normal course on the 31st March, 1950, when the first group of those affected by the extension from 60 to 65 reach the latter age.
The increase in 1947-48 in the school going population, even though of modest proportions, is a very welcome occurrence from the national point of view. Since 1940 there has annually been an increase in the number of births registered within the jurisdiction; the figure for 1939 was 56,070 and for 1947, 68,602, the highest for 30 years. Unfortunately, however, the provisional figure for 1948 shows a reduction to 65,584. There is necessarily a time lag between any movement in the birth rate and an increase or decrease in the school-going population so that the upward trend from 1940 to 1947 in the birth rate, which has apparently shown itself in the pupil rate in 1947-48, should continue for some further years. In view of the decline in births in 1948, however, it is yet too early to assure ourselves that we can rely on any steady increase in the school-going population from year to year.
We have, for the last year or so been observing signs that our existing supply of teachers is failing, to an extent at any rate, to meet adequately the number of positions falling to be filled. Should the present trend in this respect continue, and should we fail to increase our output of teachers, we would obviously have exchanged our problem of unemployment of some years ago for a problem of shortage of teachers. This would be equally serious in its own way since it would be a case of pupils looking for teachers instead of teachers looking for pupils. The whole situation is, however, so uncertain at the moment that I cannot do more than say that we are keeping it under the closest review. Before one could embark on a permanent extension of training facilities there would need to be reasonable assurance that the extra trainees would continue to be required. The cost of such extension, the cost of the training of the extra numbers and the danger that posts might not be there for them when trained, are all factors requiring that a decision of the kind should not be taken without the fullest consideration.
There are also other aspects entering into the picture. The question of the school-leaving age must, even apart from the matter of finance, remain in abeyance until we have the view of the Commission on Youth Employment. It is admitted on all sides that the position regarding the size of classes could be improved but, in existing, circumstances, any movement in this direction would have the serious result of depriving the more out-of-the-way and less attractively-situated schools of even their present quotas of staff. There would be, of course, the possibility of temporarily extending the facilities for the training of teachers.
Such an extension was actually commenced in 1947 through the kindness and the most gracious co-operation of the manager, His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, and the authorities of Our Lady of Mercy Training College, who placed at the disposal of the Department on most reasonable terms, a building adjacent to the college which they had been using as a school for junior pupils. No further expansion in the number of women trainees is possible without recourse to a new centre or centres and such a step would have considerable financial implications.
I can only sum up the position at the moment therefore by saying that we have reached a point at which our supply of teachers seems to be running short as against probable future requirements but that there are so many factors to be taken into account that we must await some further development of events before proceeding to decide to augment the supply of either men or women teachers. This suspension of judgment brings with it necessarily, much though I regret it, a similar suspension of the examination of any steps towards increasing the ratio between the numbers of teachers and the numbers of pupils, a problem which has also very decided financial concomitants in the matter of the provision of the extra teachers and of additional accommodation.
There is also an improvement to report as between 1946-47 and 1947-48 in the average number of pupils on rolls and in the percentage of average daily attendance to the average number on rolls. For 1946-47 the average enrolment was approximately 444,000 and the percentage attendance 79.9; in 1947-48 the corresponding figures were 446,500 and 83.9. Attendance in 1946-47 was of course, particularly affected by the events of the year in the Dublin area.
The past year may fairly be described as one of considerable activity, in the field of primary education. The outstanding event of the year was, without doubt, the change in what is known as the system of "rating" national teachers. From the inception of the national educational system, it had been the practice in one form or another to divide teachers into a number of categories based primarily on the degree of efficiency which they had attained. From 1920 onwards the system took the form of three ratings —highly efficient, efficient and non-efficient. Those who were rated highly efficient proceeded to a higher maximum salary than those not so rated. To a growing extent, however, down the years this division of those whose work was generally satisfactory has been a source of irritation to, and a sense of grievance amongst, the teachers who professed to see in it, to a large extent, a device for saving money. I do not think in all fairness that was the intention—though we can hardly blame the custodians of the nation's purse for seeing considerable virtue in its actual operation—and it is my opinion that the real aim of the arrangement was to spur teachers on to the greatest effort of which they were capable. Be that as it may, there is no gainsaying the fact that the position had been reached at which the maintenance of the system was a major cause of controversy as between the teaching profession and the State. With a view to having the matter fully threshed out, my predecessor had invited the representatives of the different Managers' Associations and of the Teachers' Organisation to a conference with the Department's officers but it was actually my privilege to welcome the representatives when the conference did meet.
A very full and frank discussion took place between the three parties present. I had the opportunity of reading the detailed account of the discussions and I would wish at this stage to pay tribute to the various parties for the harmonious and co-operative manner in which they approached the problem. It was clear from the tone of the proceedings that we had definitely reached the stage at which, no matter what the good intentions of the "rating" system were, the defects of continuing it would outweigh the advantages. That being so, I came to the conclusion that, in the interests of the managers, the teachers and the pupils, the time had arrived at which we should endeavour to operate a new arrangement. I made my proposals accordingly formally to the various interests affected and secured their approval, but I had to explain that, owing to the financial situation, the alteration of the system would have to wait until the 1st April, 1949. From now on, we shall recognise only two classes of teachers, those who are doing their work satisfactorily and those who have to be regarded as not satisfactory. It is my earnest hope that the results of this elimination of the practice of sub-dividing efficient teachers into two groups will redound to the general advantage of the schools.
I am confident that the teachers will respond whole-heartedly to this great change and that by the removal of the irritant we shall be able to command an even more satisfactory standard of work than was being before achieved. Managers will still receive the detailed statement regarding the work in each individual subject which is at present issued to them and it was the feeling of their representatives at the conference that with this data before them they would be in a position to glean all the information they required as to the progress being made in the schools under their care. The results of the abolition of the highly efficient rating on the financial side are also very important. Although there was no restriction on the number of awards, it was a fact that from year to year the percentage of those obtaining the highly efficient mark was around 30 per cent. Now that the highly efficient rating has been removed, the other 70 per cent. of the teachers are in the position that they can proceed to the maximum salaries hitherto reserved for the 30 per cent. This means for both principals and assistants a potential maximum increase of from £36 to £40 in scale salary with some increases also in the amount of the allowance payable to principal teachers. Teachers who are at least one year on the former efficient maximum are receiving an immediate increment on the former highly efficient scale from the 1st April this year. The cost of the removal of the highly efficient rating is estimated at £80,000 for the first year of operation rising, according as the teachers proceed from the former maximum efficient figure to the now common maximum figure which was hitherto the highly efficient maximum, to about £200,000 per annum. It can be seen, therefore, that the step is of great importance from both the educational and the financial point of view.
Although the need for economy in national expenditure has been and is very pressing existing services in the primary school field have not alone been maintained in full but a number of important developments have been introduced in the past year. These have had the aim of improving the conditions of service of national teachers and, within restricted limits, providing better staffing for the larger schools.
Additional security of tenure for serving teachers has been provided by the regulations adopted from the 1st July, 1948, which based the appointment and retention of teachers on the average number of pupils on rolls rather than on the average number of pupils in attendance. The incidence of variable and unforeseen factors, such as weather conditions and illness of pupils, which up to now tended to make the teachers' position insecure, will thus be removed or considerably reduced. When this matter was touched on in the debate on last year's Estimates the fear was expressed that the new conditions would prejudice the staffing position in certain types of schools. It is of course usual to find that a new measure whilst benefiting the great majority of those affected by its provisions will, in a limited number of cases, have the opposite effect. It will appear that very few schools will be adversely affected by the changeover, but following on representations subsequently made by the Teachers' Organisation and in order that the transition from one system to the other should work smoothly, it has been decided that for the two years up to the 30th June, 1950, the appointment and retention of teachers may be based either on the average attendance figures or the enrolment figures, whichever are the more favourable to the particular school.
As a result of the operation of the new regulations regarding enrolment as a basis, and of the concessionary alternative, and further of the upward trend in the total numbers on rolls and in average attendance, it is interesting to find a very considerable decrease in the number of teachers on the panel, namely, those whose services are no longer required in their schools and are being continued pending the occurrence of a vacancy in the diocese. On the 1st January, 1948, there were in all 92 teachers on the panel proper, viz. 12 men, 72 women and eight junior assistant mistresses. The number on the 1st January, 1949, on the panel proper had fallen by almost half to 54, viz. seven men, 40 women and seven junior assistant mistresses. Indeed, if two areas in which there has been serious depopulation are excluded the number on the panel on the 1st January would have been only 12 assistants and three junior assistant mistresses. The number of teachers on what is known as the addendum to the panel has also fallen from 77 to 53; these are teachers who, as a result of the amalgamation of schools and other causes are being continued in their existing schools until a vacancy in the near neighbourhood arises. It is important to remember that the change to enrolment was not made with the formal purpose of increasing the existing staffs of national schools but it will be seen that it is having a very valuable effect in not reducing existing staffs and in enabling schools to continue to receive the benefit of their present teaching power. It would be unreasonable to expect that teachers should remain in schools irrespective of the number of pupils but any improvement in the conditions permitting teachers to continue in schools must generally be welcomed.
Subject to certain conditions additional staff may from July 1st, 1948, be appointed to the larger monastery and convent capitation schools. The number of appointments so made to date is not large, due, to an extent, to difficulties in finding accommodation. The increased staff now allowed in these capitation schools brings the staffing conditions into line with those allowed in the case of the larger ordinary national schools since 1938.
Men teachers in the smaller mixed schools which were in a higher category on their appointment and men teachers in small schools for boys only, who were subject to certain limitation of salary because of the size of the school, now receive the full-scale men's salary. Teachers in schools with less than ten pupils, who were not eligible under the 1946 salary scheme for a principal's allowance, have been granted a small allowance. The ban on the promotion to untrained assistant teacher of junior assistant mistresses who are over the age of 45 has been withdrawn since January 1st, 1948.
The regulations for the appointment of vice-principal teachers have been altered so as to allow of the appointment of a third and fourth vice-principal if the number of pupils permits; not more than two vice-principals could formerly be appointed.
Young persons on appointment to ordinary posts for which they receive salary direct from the Department are given incremental credit for service as supernumerary or substitute teacher, which has been included in their period of two years' probation.
The Oireachtas has very recently passed an amendment of the National Teachers' Superannuation Scheme which gives three important concessions. With a view to lessening the after effects of the strike in the Dublin schools in 1946 about 1,000 teachers, who have already been granted since my assumption of office incremental credit for the period during which their services were withdrawn, will now receive pensionable credit for this period. All teachers throughout the country who have retired since the 30th October, 1946, when the present scales were introduced will have their pension based on these new scales; under the existing scheme pensions could be calculated only on the average actual salary for the three years preceding retirement, which involved taking into account the former lower scales for the appropriate period of the three years in question. This particular amendment ensures that all those retiring on pension under the new scales will receive the full benefit in pension of the higher salaries just as if they had actually received these higher salaries for the full three years before retirement. Lastly, lay assistant teachers in schools conducted by the Irish Christian Brothers will receive two-thirds pensionable credit for their service in these schools prior to 1926 when the schools came under the Department for the first time.
The committee which I set up some time ago to deal with the question of the salaries of teachers of national schools is still in session. I would, however, wish to call attention to the fact that the 1946 scheme for salaries, etc., with the improvements which have been since effected both before and after my taking up office, made considerable strides in improving the general conditions.
A woman principal or assistant teacher now receives the full salary scale no matter how small the size of her school; a principal teacher, once appointed to a school, will continue to receive the salary scale and allowances proper to the school at the date of appointment, even though the number of pupils subsequently declines. This applies to both men and women teachers. A trained teacher serving as junior assistant mistress receives the trained teacher's scale up to the sixth increment. In fact the broad position has now been reached that the size of the school does not affect the amount of the teacher's basic salary and that a fall in attendance does not worsen the financial position of a principal teacher.
It still holds that we will not pay the man's salary scale to a man principal appointed to a mixed school with less than 30 pupils but that is because it is considered that the post is one proper to a woman teacher, rather than from any intention to save money as such. There is also the restriction that in schools where the number of pupils is too large for one teacher but not big enough to warrant the appointment of a full assistant teacher, we recognise the class of junior assistant mistress, mostly in present circumstances untrained teachers on a lower scale of salary. The principle has already been accepted, however, in this latter regard that as and when the supply of teachers permits only trained teachers will be appointed to this particular class.
It would appear at first sight from the Estimates that the provision for the heating and cleaning of national schools is being reduced by £30,000. I have to make it clear that there is no actual reduction and that the services provided in former years are being maintained in full. What has happened was that it had been proposed, though never published, in 1948-49 to alter the conditions attaching to payment so as to provide for larger grants, but it was decided after the issue of the Estimates Volume that in all the circumstances of the case the continuance of the existing basis of grants would be adequate until such time as there was an improvement in financial conditions.
It is satisfactory to note that the number of scholarships to secondary and vocational schools provided by county councils for pupils whose parents are unable to pay for their further education continue to increase, even if only slightly. Four hundred and fifty-four new scholarships were awarded in 1948 as compared with 443, in 1947. The growing sense of the need for these scholarships is, however, apparent when we see that 20 years ago the number of awards was only 209. I would like to mention in a very general manner that I would be glad to see, in the case of some authorities, a softening of their means' conditions. I would also like to see a further increase in the number of scholarships awarded so that good boys and girls should have the opportunity of improving their education but not necessarily for the purpose of turning them away from their land or from other reproductive occupations.
The cost of the building and improvement of national schools is not borne by the Votes for the Department of Education but by Vote 10—Public Works and Buildings. The Department of Education is, however, so closely concerned with the whole question that I feel it necessary to refer to the subject. It is easy to become impatient at what appears to be the slow progress of the school building campaign but when we consider the number of stages that have to be gone through, administrative, legal and constructional, the fact that work actually authorised by the Department during the year ended 31st March last is estimated to cost in all just £574,000 must be regarded as a steady advance. This work includes extension and improvement schemes, major and minor, as well as new buildings and of the total cost 86.6 per cent. or about £497,000 will be provided by the State, the remaining 13.4 per cent. or £77,000 being provided locally. The target of actual new buildings and of major enlargement schemes is 50-55 per annum which is, in spite of the many difficulties and delays, being achieved. I cannot say, however, that I view the present distribution of cost as satisfactory.
The basis of the arrangement, as enshrined in the Department's rules for many years, is that the State contributes two-thirds of the cost of building or improvement—the remaining third of the cost and the full cost of ordinary year-to-year maintenance falling on the locality. There is provision that in necessitous areas the State grant may be increased beyond two-thirds. The figures I have given, showing for the last year a local contribution of 13.4 per cent., as against the former conception of 33? per cent. will indicate the extent to which we are failing to implement the idea of the system. Admittedly, building costs have soared but we believe that they have now reached their peak, and that some improvement by way of reduction may be expected. These schools—new and old —are legally the property of the parish and it should be a source of pride and a discharge of a duty for the people to provide the wherewithal for the necessary contribution to their erection and subsequent maintenance. To reach a position where the local contribution to erection would become as a matter of course only a nominal insignificant sum would not I feel be in the public interest. For many years and particularly before home Government commenced it was the practice, except in areas which would be regarded as necessitous, to provide a one-third quota and I feel that if our people come to realise the full possibilities and implications of the position they would be no less willing to do their part under their own administration. I think, too, that those members of the public who have not children actually attending school should appreciate that that should not relieve them of their responsibility for making their financial contribution to what is a most necessary portion of the parochial structure. In 1935-36, £87,000 was provided locally towards a total cost of £309,000, i.e., 28.2 per cent. and taking the pre-war decade generally the proportion ranged from about 24 per cent. to 28 per cent.
I have indicated that it is my intention to set up a council of education. I have indicated the reasons why there has been delay in approaching that question. I feel that when I come to speak on the matter, when my plans for that have been fully formulated, the House will understand why there has been a delay in the matter and how necessary that delay has been. But while waiting for the council of education to take over the, shall I say, creation of the climate in which the work of education will be done in the country, I have looked at certain aspects of the work in the schools that might be regarded as relating to the curriculum of the schools so that a certain stream-lining may be done where it is obvious that that is required for the schools and so that the quality of the work done in the schools may be fully and frankly understood and evaluated by the people generally. There is a certain type of surface criticism at the moment with regard to certain aspects of the work in the schools and with regard to the quality of the work in the schools. A number of people are writing letters to the papers and making statements with regard to it. A very considerable amount of that criticism is superficial. I should like to make it clear to any individual person or to any classes of people in the country that are seriously concerned about any type of defect in the school that if, while we are waiting for a council of education to restore a certain amount of confidence in the approach to educational problems in the country, they will put their facts and their complaints definitely before me, saying where these defects are and the nature of these defects, they will be speedily and fully examined.
It is in that particular spirit that I have approached a certain number of problems related to the curriculum at the present time. In connection with that there are one or two things I should like to say. The opinion has been widely expressed, both in public and in private, that the regulation by virtue of which Irish was to be the sole language used in infants classes was not working out satisfactorily in practice.
Accordingly, as I indicated last year, I selected a delegation of inspectors including inspectors of all three branches, that is, primary, secondary and vocational branches, and sent them to visit schools in various parts of the country with a view to conducting an investigation into this matter and submitting a report as a result of their investigations. They, visited 29 schools in 13 counties. They had the advice and assistance of the Head Organiser of Kindergarten and they had full and frank discussions with the teachers as to their difficulties and the causes of the comparative success or failure of their efforts. Arising out of the reports submitted by the inspectors I made certain changes in the regulations governing the medium to be used in infant classes. First of all, I made a verbal change, the effect of which would be to modify the injunction that Irish should be used exclusively from the very first day of the infants' attendance. I substituted a recommendation that the aim should be to reach as soon as possible a stage at which Irish can be exclusively used as the language of instruction and communication in those infant classes. It will be understood that the work which is done in the infants classes is of a kindergarten nature and that the use of the Irish language in those classes is for the purpose of giving the children at the earliest possible age the opportunity of hearing the Irish language used simply and naturally, as it were, in ordinary day to day use. In addition, English, may now, at the discretion of the Manager, be taught in infants classes in all primary schools for half an hour a day. I gave the most careful consideration to the inspectors' reports and I came to the conclusion that no further changes were either desirable or necessary.
The importance of the Gaeltacht in the revival of the language is so self-evident that no elaboration is necessary. I have long been of the opinion and I have expressed it frequently in the House that, in addition to discharging fully the obligations to secure the best possible educational facilities for the Gaeltacht, the Department of Education should provide for itself facilities for acquiring knowledge and information as to the state of the language in the Irish-speaking districts and on the extent to which the schools are assisting in the preservation of Irish as the spoken language of these areas. I have accordingly set up a special inspectorate for the Gaeltacht areas and have assigned to one of the selected inspectors the Tír Chonaill Fíor-Ghaeltacht, to another the Fíor-Ghaeltacht areas of Mayo and Galway and to a third the Fíor-Ghaeltacht and Gaeltacht areas of Kerry, Cork and Waterford. The duties assigned to these inspectors go much farther than the mere inspection of the schools. They are expected to regard the maintenance of Irish not as a school matter alone but as a problem of regional and national significance. They will be expected to keep the Department informed as to the condition of the language in the areas assigned to them and as to the forces in those areas which foster or militate against the language. In general it will be their duty to act as liaison officers between the Gaeltacht and the Department so that the Department may at all times have reliable firsthand information as to how the language is faring in these supremely important areas, both in the schools and in the life of the people outside.
Other aspects of the school work to which I have had special attention directed have been, first, the general question of the articulation of the children. Their general manner of speaking and of holding themselves has a number of important bearings both on the development of their character, on their manliness and on the way in which they hold themselves in address-speakin ing others. It has an effect on their grip both of their native language, whether it is Irish or English, and of the second language which they are expected to acquire, whether that is English or Irish. I also feel that the observation of the manner in which children speak and hold themselves generally will make a considerable contribution to improving the physical condition of the children. There was a time, when the primary school programme was being reviewed in 1925, when I thought that physical education should be made a compulsory subject in the primary school. It was not possible at that particular time to get a decision in that way. I feel that by paying systematic attention to the manner in which children now hold themselves and speak, it will be making a certain small contribution to improving the physical development of the children and may lead us on to days when, in a more systematic way, physical instruction will possibly be given.
I have also asked for a special report on the school position for the year 1947-48 in respect of two matters. The first is the teaching of Irish in the primary schools and the second is the teaching of arithmetic. That report was called for, no doubt, after or towards the end of the school year, but I feel that it is rather important and will be of general public use and information to get that report from the inspectors while they are still fresh after their year's work. However, at the beginning of the present year, 1948-49, I asked them to report specially on two other subjects: first, the teaching of history and, secondly, the teaching of geography. I had two objects in that. I wanted a rather concentrated report on how some particular subjects were being taught in the schools and I selected for the current year history and geography. As well as getting a report on these subjects by asking for it, it will be understood that the report was asked for in such a way as to be practical and directed to the teaching work in the schools with regard to these two subjects. That report will not be available until after the current school year, but we will have the advantage when the reports for last year and this year have been received that four subjects will have been reported on with a considerable amount of care and a very considerable amount of observation.
It is no doubt disappointing to the members of the Oireachtas who are interested in the work of the Department of Education that the last annual report has been the report for the year 1944-45. That report was published two and a half years after the end of the school year to which it refers. No report has been published since. There are two reports due. One is the report of the year 1945-46 and another for the year 1946-47. It is a commentary on the printing difficulties that obtain at the present moment but I expect to have the report for the year 1946-47 in about two months' time. I shall not have the report for the year 1945-46 perhaps for some considerable time after that. Everything that I can possibly do to speed up the printing of these reports is being done. I move to report progress.