This study investigated the reasons Irish parents chose to send their children to Irish-medium preschools settings over other forms of early childhood education. The international literature on parental decision making regarding childcare and relevant studies on immersion education in Celtic countries were reviewed. A parental questionnaire,…

While the Irish language (Gaeilge) is the traditional language of Ireland, it is spoken on a daily basis by a decreasing minority of people. There is an increasing trend for parents to send children, whose first language is English, to Irish-medium schools, where the language of instruction is Irish. Little research has been undertaken regarding…

There have been many instances when parents have been advised by educational professionals against bilingualism or immersion education for their child with special educational needs (SEN). Some parents follow the advice given and decide to use only one language with their child, mainly the majority language of the community. This study…

This paper presents a research framework for investigating the role of language use in mathematics learning. The paper draws on the wider M[superscript 2]EID study, which explores whether differences in languages (English and Irish) and their use by bilingual mathematical students have a differential impact on their mathematics meta-level…

Over the last decades, migration across Europe has continued to increase. Consequently, offering educational support for migrant students in the schools of host countries has been an extensively debated issue across Europe and further afield, especially in countries with a history of immigration. However, less is known about how education systems…

The curricular attainment of pupils in Gaelic-medium primary education in Scotland is investigated using surveys of Gaelic-medium and English-medium pupils in the fifth and seventh years of primary school (approximately 9 and 11 years of age) in 2007. The Gaelic-medium survey was essentially a census of pupils. The English-medium survey was a…

This paper examines the evidence on negative effects associated with Irish immersion programs and concludes that even in earlier immersion schools, which frequently lacked parental support, there is little evidence of detrimental academic effects. Many Irish immersion teachers emphasized the importance of parental commitment to immersion…

This paper discusses the question of whether, in a multilingual society, the child's first or second language is best as a language of instruction in primary school. Reviewing eight case studies from seven countries in which initial primary schooling was given either in the second or first language, the discussion compares achievement in reading…

This paper considers the declining use of Irish (Gaelic) as a language of instruction in both Ulster and the Republic of Ireland in this century. Policy statements are analyzed. Tables list percentages of primary and secondary schools conducted in Irish, English, or bilingual modes over the decades. (SJL)

The present paper questions the validity of Macnamara's (1966) finding that teaching arithmetic through a bilingual's weaker language leads to retardation in problem arithmetic. By comparing the performance of immersion pupils on an Irish (as a second language) version of the problem arithmetic test with the performance of non-immersion pupils on…