Why can’t we speak our native language?

Part of the reason for that is the way in which the NCCA is structured. Course syllabi are set by subject committees. These are composed of representatives of the teacher unions, school managerial bodies, the subject association, the Department of Education and Science, and the State Examinations Commission. A subject committee is highly unlikely to rule that it's subject should, for example, be scrapped or rolled into another subject. Members of a subject association, along with teachers and those subject experts who are consulted by the subject committee also have a tendency to add content, rather than take it away. They also have a tendency to add the sort of content that they consider to be important. One can see how passionate subject teachers (who tend to be the kind who sit on such committees) and subject experts would favour the kind of in depth literature study that characterises the study of the language in Ireland. That's the stuff that they find important, but unfortunately it's not always what normal students see as relevant to them.

There are other venues of course for curricular development in Ireland, and some of these have been innovative (notably the CDU during its heyday and the development of the LCA which took place outside of the subject committee structures). However they tend to run into normalising forces either at the point when it is time to go through the DES, or during implementation when innovations get slotted into the daily life of schools and suffer the washback effect of our terminal exam system.

However I don't believe that the solution in the case of Irish lies in a more innovative curriculum. I think it lies in a refocusing of our resources and efforts at students (and non students) who are interested, rather than trying to force it on all students as that simply hasn't been effective and is unlikely ever to work.

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