by Annie McAleer
Dorothy was born in 1959, in Ballina Co. Mayo. She left Ireland in 1977, moving to London to train and work as a nurse. Her interview details her experience of the Irish education system during the 1970s, and how she fought back against the social inequalities she witnessed in school.
Throughout the 1960s, Ireland’s economic policy had changed dramatically. While it once favoured protectionist policies and economic nationalism, the 1960s saw the state focus their efforts on securing foreign investment and encouraging industrial growth. Educational reforms were introduced in a bid to not only supply the new workforce, but to also reduce class inequalities in educational attainment[1]. Before 1967, primary school leavers in Ireland could enrol in secondary school providing they passed an entrance exam and could pay tuition fees. Educational reforms saw tuition fees abolished for most schools, and in 1968 the state introduced a means tested grant for university education[2].
These reforms promised a more egalitarian education system, in which a student’s merit, and not their economic background dictated their journey through and beyond school. However, throughout Irelands period of educational expansion, class inequalities continued to shape young students’ school experiences.
In her interview, Dorothy discusses the streaming model which was used in her school to organise students into groups;
‘So we were divided in the secondary school into the A class, the B class and the C class. The A class girls got to do Science and Latin, the Bs everything but— no Science or Latin, and the Cs, God love them, you know, you just knew that the overall opinion of them was that they wouldn't do anything’.
Dorothy was streamed into the B class and explains in her interview that she enjoyed the company of bright classmates and good teachers. However, she also explains how the streaming model restricted opportunities for many students.
‘Well no, what grated against me was the fact that there was an awful lot of very, very able young women in the B class who should have been learning Latin and biology who could have gone onto university to do medicine, pharmacy whatever and without a biology degree— a biology A-level equivalent, they couldn't go.’
The streaming of students during this time, especially into Higher Level Maths, has been linked to socio-economic factors such as parental occupation and family income. Irish students from professional homes were more likely to study maths at higher level in secondary school, in turn affording them greater opportunity to attend university[3].
Dorothy discusses the correlation between family status and school streaming in her interview, explaining;
‘But I do remember there was a kind of discrimination because certainly in the A class as well, you had the girls who were from the nicer type of families, the more professional families, the teachers, the doctors, whatever. So there was a huge ingrained snobbishness about it as well’.
But rather than remain a witness to such injustices, Dorothy openly criticised her school’s discriminatory practices. She notes that participation in inter-school debating was only open to girls from A class and discusses how she organised a petition to challenge this. She then had to write an essay explaining to her teachers why debating should be open to students from the B and C class, and as a result, was put on the team.
‘But it was I suppose my first real taste of injustice and I was damned if I was going to let it happen. So that was quite ballsy of me really’.
Although Dorothy is modest in discussing her success on the debating team, her achievements cannot be understated. She fought for, and represented the ‘bright, able, articulate’ girls from B and C class, in an elitist space which was traditionally inhospitable to many students.
Although Ireland’s education system enjoyed expansion and reform throughout the 1970s, Dorothy’s interview highlights how deeply engrained class inequalities persisted in the school system. However, her interview also shows how through determination and a personal awareness of injustice, Dorothy was able to successfully trouble the established class boundaries of 1970s Ireland.
[1] For detailed discussion on Ireland’s modernisation, see Mary E. Daly’s Sixties Ireland, (Cambridge University Press 2016)
[2] The means tested grant was based on family income. It also required that students obtain 60% or above in four honours level subjects to qualify for financial support. Issues of equal access were raised in the second Seanad Éireann debate on the bill, with Professor Patrick Quinlan noting that students who were at an economic disadvantage had less access to extra tuition, which unfairly affected their ability to meet the grant criteria. https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/1968-06-19/6/.
[3] Byrne, D., & McCoy, S. (2017). Effectively Maintained Inequality in Educational Transitions in the Republic of Ireland. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(1), 49–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216682991
