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National Schools
In 1831 the National School System was established. The schools
were run by a Board of Commissioners who had complete control over
the schools, setting out rules, hiring and firing teachers, deciding
on the curriculum and distributing the all-important funds.
Inspectors worked for the commissioners and visited the schools
two or three times a year to inspect activities and to ensure the
teachers adhered to the approved curriculum.
School attendance was voluntary until the passing of the 1892 Irish
Education Act, after which children aged six to fourteen years of
age had to attend for at least 150 days a year. Each rural and urban
district had a School Attendance Committee, which administered compulsory
school attendance.
Corporal punishment was an accepted part of National School life
and was not formally abolished until 1982.
TIMELINE:
| 1831 |
Establishment of National Schools |
| 1845-1848 |
Irish Famine |
| 1892 |
School Attendance becomes compulsory |
| 1982 |
Corporal Punishment Abolished |
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Instructions in regard to the Infliction of
Corporal Punishment in National Schools 1913
| (1) |
Corporal Punishment should be administered only
for grave transgression - never for failure in lessons. |
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| (2) |
The Principal Teacher only should inflict the
corporal punishment. An interval of at least ten minutes should
elapse between the offence and the punishment. |
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| (3) |
Only a light cane or rod may be used for the purpose
of inflicting the corporal punishment. The boxing of children's
ears, the pulling of their hair, and similar ill-treatment are
absolutely forbidden, and will be visited with severe penalties. |
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| (4) |
No Teacher should carry about a cane or other
instrument of punishment. |
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| (5) |
Frequent recourse to corporal punishment will
be considered by the Commissioners as indicating bad tone and
ineffective discipline. |
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| (6) |
The Particulars required by the headings should
be entered in the Book before the infliction of the punishment. |
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| (7) |
The Principal Teacher must submit the Book to
the Manager on the occasion of his first visit to the school
after every case of punishment. |
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PE LEMASS
W.J. DILWORTH
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Secretaries
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Office of National Education
Marlboro Street,
Dublin.
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