Despite the growth and popularity of Irish-medium Education (IME) in Northern Ireland, the sector has not received the same levels of state support and funding as has heritage language education in the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Educating children in an immersive language setting, particularly in a minority or endangered language,…

This paper will set out the key planning considerations regarding the establishment of a dedicated online portal for Gaeltacht and Irish-medium schools at post-primary level as detailed in the Policy on Gaeltacht Education 2017-2022 (PGE). The research topic is intrinsically linked with action points highlighted within strategy and policy papers…

This article explores policy and practice in relation to support for speakers of community languages in Northern Ireland primary schools against the backdrop of the broader UK context, with reference also to the Republic of Ireland and wider European and international experiences. After an initial discussion of the educational, social and…

Hickey's (1991) article ["Leisure reading in a second language: An experiment with audio tapes." "Language, Culture and Curriculum," 4(2), 119-131. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908319109525098] reported the benefits of audio-support for L2 reading of real books, showing gains in fluency and motivation among…

This article presents findings from an exploratory research project entitled "Gaelscoileanna and Multicultural classrooms: the potential for transfer to enhance L2 learning experiences". The project focussed on two language immersion contexts in Ireland which, despite obvious differences, share a range of significant commonalities. One…

The curricular attainment of pupils in Gaelic-medium primary education in Scotland is investigated using surveys of Gaelic-medium and English-medium pupils in the fifth and seventh years of primary school (approximately 9 and 11 years of age) in 2007. The Gaelic-medium survey was essentially a census of pupils. The English-medium survey was a…

There is now consensus among researchers and educators that parental involvement in education is related to children's academic and social success at school. However, less is known about the reasons why some parents choose to become involved and others do not. In recent years, there has been a move towards developing theoretical models which can…

The importance of oral language development among elementary school students is widely acknowledged, both in the research and in policy documents worldwide. Facility with one particular style of language, decontextualized language, is critical for success in the school context. This style of language is not readily accessible to all students. This…

Although the vast majority of people in Ireland have at least some knowledge of Irish, only a small minority speak it as a community language (in Gaeltacht areas in the west) or in the more widely dispersed Irish-speaking households in the large English speaking area. Primary schools have had a central role in language revitalisation since the…

This paper examines the evidence on negative effects associated with Irish immersion programs and concludes that even in earlier immersion schools, which frequently lacked parental support, there is little evidence of detrimental academic effects. Many Irish immersion teachers emphasized the importance of parental commitment to immersion…

A study addressed educational and psychological issues raised by the phenomenal growth of Irish-medium pre-schools ("naionrai"). Data were gathered in surveys of almost 2,000 parents, over 170 teachers and advisors, and 225 children in 25 Irish-medium pre-schools in both "Gaeltacht" (Irish-speaking districts) and…