Resumen de The Intermediate Education (Ireland) Bill 1878: “a very imperfect attempt to aid Irish intermediate education”?
Discussions bearing upon the provision of intermediate (post-primary) schooling in Ireland in the nineteenth century were inextricably interwoven with debates regarding Catholic autonomy there. The establishment, in 1878, of the intermediate system, cannot be understood outside the context of Irish Catholic grievances, imagined or otherwise. This article excavates that theme within the context of the parliamentary debate that resulted in the passing of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Bill 1878. The study does not range beyond this remit, rather, it seeks to demonstrates how hostility to the Bill, as a form of discreet funding of denominationally owned schools in Ireland, was implicit within objections to the absence of inspection, the form that payment for results might take and, on occasion, explicit in terms of antagonism to state funded Catholic intermediate-type schooling there. Intermediate schools were similar to present-day secondary schools in that they were intended for pupils who had completed primary school and entered pupils for terminal examinations. However, even in the period we are dealing with, definitions were vague. However, for the purposes of convenience, “intermediate”, rather than “secondary” is employed throughout. Intermediate education should not, however, be understood in the contemporary sense of a system underpinned by public money, designed, with a compulsory attendance element, to cater for all and staffed by trained graduates. We are not concerned with individual schools, their daily operation or the development of schools by denominational communities; rather, the article excavates the parliamentary discussion with a view to better understanding the denominational and practical challenges the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act faced before becoming legislation.
