Sir, - I found the recent letters from Sarah Burns, Padraig Harvey and Prof John Armstrong on the subject of Holocaust education very interesting. The issue of history being mandatory at junior cycle was also raised.
Fortunately, the teaching of history in schools remains strong, despite attempts to remove it as a core subject. In 1996, then-minister for education Niamh Bhreathnach published a white paper on the future of education in Ireland. Its proposals would have resulted in history being removed as a discrete subject in the Junior Cert.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) and the History Teachers’ Association of Ireland, along with others, launched a campaign to alert the public to the implications of these proposals. A vigorous national discourse ensued, which involved letters and articles in The Irish Times and other publications, TV and radio debates, as well a Dáil debate. It resulted in history retaining its status.
The matter was revisited in 2013, when a framework document on the reform of the junior cycle was published by minister for education Ruairi Quinn. It recommended that history would not form part of the core subjects.
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This was implemented in 2018 but was reviewed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in 2019. The recommendation was that it remain outside the core.
Joe McHugh, who was minister for education from 2018 to 2020, decided that history be a special core subject, thus restoring its mandatory status. - Yours, etc,
BERNADINE O’SULLIVAN
Terenure,
Dublin.
