ETBI Journal of Education - Vol 2:2 November 2020 (Irish-medium Education)

ETBI Journal of Education November 2020
Language Planning and Irish Acquisition in
the Education System
Dr. Victor Bayda South Kerry, Joint Gaeltacht Committee
OUTLINE
The acquisition of Irish in the context of the
education system is of great importance to
Category C Gaeltacht regions and to non-Gaeltacht
regions. For the achievement of this aim, a
complete change in approach is needed in terms
of supports, in order to enable people to use Irish
outside of the school setting. The main outcome
of the teaching method currently employed for
Irish is the reinforcement of the idea that the
language is simply a school subject, which creates
huge obstacles for progress and normalisation of
the language. Sentiment must be created amongst
students that their Irish language sessions are
enjoyable activity breaks, as opposed to simply
classes, and to create an experience of language
companionship/fellowship, realistic language
environment and language parents.
DR VICTOR BAYDA
I graduated from the School of Philology at
Moscow State University in 2014. I defended
my PhD dissertation in 2009 and worked as a
lecturer in Irish in the same university until 2019,
when I was appointed Language Planning Officer
for South Kerry.
The language planning process began with the
Gaeltacht Act 2012, which placed Ireland at the
forefront of the novel field of language planning.
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT A
LANGUAGE BE CLOSE TO ONE’S
HEART FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE
IF WE WANT THAT LANGUAGE TO
HOLD VALUE FOR THAT PERSON.
Under the Act, the Gaeltacht was divided into
26 language planning areas and for each LPA a
language plan was to be devised and a language
planning officer appointed.
I was appointed as language planning officer in
Uíbh Ráthach in 2019 and I have been working
on the implementation of the South Kerry
Language Plan ever since. South Kerry is a
“Category C Gaeltacht Area” (Ó Giollagáin and
Mac Donnacha et al. 2007), which means that less
than 44% of the population are daily speakers.
Indeed, according to the 2016 Census, only 121
people, that is 7% of the population of the Uíbh
Ráthach Gaeltacht, claim to be daily speakers, and
although more than half of the local population
claimed that they can speak Irish, it is clear that
the language has receded in the area and is no
longer the community language.
As a result, the South Kerry Language Plan
emphasizes language revitalisation, and without
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