Every part of learning was a battle for Catriona Fahey. She was the last person to complete her homework and struggled with English.
“Primary school had always been a problem, and I was 14 when I was diagnosed with dyslexia,” she says. “When I got into college, I struggled in first year and didn’t disclose my dyslexia until the second semester. But then I had to prove myself – doing assessment after assessment – again and again.”
Fahey qualified as a nurse and now works as an occupational therapist. She has a master’s in specific learning disability and works with dyslexic students.
She’s also mother to Maeve, a 10-year-old girl with dyslexia, who is exempt from studying Irish.
The subject is compulsory at primary and second level, but exemptions are granted on the grounds of learning differences, disability or having been educated abroad. In 2000, 3 per cent of students were granted an exemption; last year, the figure had climbed to 13 per cent, or more than 55,000 students.
Meanwhile, recent figures released to The Irish Times show that more than 20,000 students who had exemptions from studying Irish at second level were studying other languages such as French, German and Spanish last year.
Much of the discussion around this, intentionally or otherwise, effectively pits one minority community (Irish-language speakers) against another (people with dyslexia). But many Irish speakers are dyslexic, and many dyslexic people want to learn Irish.
Despite decades of discussion about Irish-language teaching, only a minority have anything approaching fluency
At Leaving Cert level, Irish consistently has the highest number of top grades outside minority languages and music – subjects that tend to attract students who are already reasonably skilled. But despite decades of discussion about Irish language teaching, only a minority have anything approaching fluency.
While the focus on oral skills has increased (to 40 per cent at Leaving Cert), teaching of Irish remains dominated by the written word – in contravention of everything we know about language acquisition. So why does our education system continue to teach it in a way that is inaccessible to many?
“I want my daughter to study Irish,” says Fahey. “I want her to experience Irish culture and the language, but without expectation.
“She was struggling to learn English and the extra pressure of an additional language was damaging her confidence. I availed of the exemption for her, but asked her school – who have been great – if she could still take part in Irish class, just not be tested or have to read it. I have seen a huge change in her confidence and self-esteem.”
Rosie Bissett, chief executive of Dyslexia Ireland, says growing awareness and diagnosis of learning differences and neurodiversity (a broad term that includes dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism, ADHD and more), as well as increased numbers entering the Irish school from abroad after the age of 12, have led to growing exemptions.
“There’s also a Covid effect, with many children getting a delayed diagnosis because their challenges were put down to the pandemic and school closures,” says Bissett.
“Children with dyslexia don’t have a specific difficulty with Irish, but with learning all languages and developing fluency and accuracy, especially with the written format.
“Dyslexia is about challenges with the code of language, and children struggling with acquiring a code, there is more confusion when they have to learn multiple languages. Irish and English have more ‘orthographic depth’, where there is a divergence between how the spoken word corresponds to the written form.
[ More than 20,000 pupils with Irish exemptions studied European languagesOpens in new window ]
“The rationale for an exemption is that it gives children an opportunity to develop competency in a first language, and then, at a later date, they can take on an additional language. And, while they can indeed take up a foreign language at the start of second level, the Irish education system doesn’t allow an opportunity to take up Irish at the same stage.”
Bissett says English is taught to children through phonics, but that a whole-word approach is taken to Irish teaching, which makes it more challenging for all learners.
Julian de Spáinn, ard-runaí of Conradh na Gaeilge, a forum for the Irish-speaking community at home and abroad, says the growing number of exemptions presents a crisis for the language. There is a pressing need for change in how we teach the language, he says, and present more flexible options to learners instead of the one-size-fits-all approach that has marked the State’s century of failure to revive the language.
“There’s no plan to address it,” he says. “We need to overhaul the system from start to finish, from preschool to third level and beyond. Irish is not taught through the Common European Framework for Languages (CFR), which is a skills-based system used across Europe.”
De Spáinn points to Wales, where the national assembly is aiming towards all children achieving at least a B2 in the system.
“This would make them an independent user of the language. That is ambition. But we have an inflexible system where, if someone is not able for Irish as taught, their only option is an exemption. But students with difficulty in writing the language should have the option of oral Irish only.
“There isn’t an exemption system internationally – everyone learns together, but they may not have to do an exam. The benefit of the CFR system is that you address student learning needs. We don’t necessarily get rid of the exemption system altogether, but we could reduce the numbers who need to avail of it.
The key, he says, is a flexible system that also provides options for children who arrive in Ireland from abroad and want to learn the language. The current system, de Spáinn maintains, excludes people who want to learn Irish and puts pressure on those who may struggle.
Parents and advocates also point out that learning support classes are very often scheduled during Irish class, meaning that many children have no choice but to get an exemption. And, while learning support is standard for English and maths, there is no equivalent support system for Irish.
“I know of one parent whose son came from a Gaelscoil and is being pushed for an exemption because learning support is at the same time as Irish,” says de Spáinn. “This child is good at languages, and it is devastating for him.”
“It’s all firefighting and band-aids with Irish, instead of a sensible approach that supports the benefits of bilingualism and Irish speakers,” says de Spáinn. “We need reform that ensures inclusion.”
For support and advice, see dyslexia.ie; the parent-led Facebook page Dyslexia Support Ireland and Conradh na Gaeilge
Irish exemptions: is there any evidence the system is being abused?
Stories abound of students evading Irish by wrongly securing an exemption.
The reality is very different for students with learning differences. A student needs clear evidence of literacy over a long period, and the school needs to demonstrate that interventions have failed to raise a child’s standard.
Beyond anecdotes, there isn’t evidence of the system being abused.
Rebecca (not her real name) is a mother of two dyslexic children. Her son got an exemption; her daughter did not.
“His literacy is below the 10th percentile; hers was just above,” she says. “He was coming home in primary school, struggling to memorise Irish poems that he could not read. He likes Irish, sees its value and wants to converse in it. The exemption helped him so much.
“But my daughter can’t get this support because of the arbitrary cut-off, and it has led to anxiety and school refusal. I continue to battle for her on the grounds of ‘multiple and persistent needs’. Nobody is trying to ‘game’ the system; parents of neurodiverse children have enough challenges and many of us are broke with the cost of all the reports we have to get, not to mention, sometimes, feeling so broken.”
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