European Schools (ES) are educational institutions set up in the 27 Member States of the European Union. They follow a specific curriculum and offer the European Baccalaureate Diploma at the end of the upper secondary cycle.
Decisions in the European Schools’ System are made by its Board of Governors. Ireland is represented by my Department at senior official level on the Board of Governors, along with the European Commission and other stakeholders.
The European Schools provide children with a multilingual and multicultural education at nursery, primary and secondary cycles. Irish, as one of the Other National Languages (ONL), is available to students in Anglophone (English-speaking) sections as an additional elective, and is taught from Nursery to Secondary 7 as a protected language in European Schools. There are clearly specified rules for access to Irish for the allocation of officially timetabled teaching time.
Previous to the Board of Governors decision in 2013, different practices applied in different European Schools with regard to the teaching of Irish. While there was flexibility in terms of providing Irish to any pupils who wished to study Irish, irrespective of the language section in which they were enrolled, there was variation in the quantity of time available.
Since 2013,, Irish classes are provided, even where there is only one pupil/student wishing to take Irish in a particular year group. The regulations also allow for the combination of consecutive class groups where there are fewer than 7 in a group. From Secondary 4, Irish as an ONL is offered as an option. These arrangements give clear recognition to the special status of Irish as an Other National Language (ONL) within the European Schools’ System.
Pupils and students in language sections other than the English Section do not have an automatic facility to avail of classes in Irish. Notwithstanding these Board of Governors’ regulations, local arrangements have been made at nursery and primary levels where Irish students, not enrolled in the English Sections, have been facilitated to join lessons provided for Irish pupils enrolled in the Anglophone Sections.
There are particular challenges in continuing this local arrangement into the secondary cycle due to the complexities of timetabling in the secondary cycle of the ES system, the permutations relating to school size, the range of language sections and cross-section groupings for certain subjects in European Schools, and second, third and fourth mother tongue languages. These arrangements will be kept under review.
During Ireland’s Presidency of the ES system in 2022/23, the work already underway on the language policy for the European Schools’ system, including provision for Irish as an Other National Language (ONL) across all sectors, will be progressed as part of the ES multi-annual plan.
