Connecting Leaving Certificate and A-Level History: Exploring Education and Society Under the Union Through Primary Sources

Lesson Plan Week 1

When navigating the archives to implement into a lesson plan, teachers and student teachers need to understand the source’s relevancy and how it will help their students further understand their chosen topic. The Leaving Certificate History course is dense, and it can be difficult for students to engage themselves with text-heavy coursework fully. By continuously implementing sources, especially primary sources, into lesson plans, students can further contextualise and synthesise the information given to them. This also helps them in exam time when they can remember a physical object or a primary text that has been analysed in class to help recall information relating to their topic. When researching the crossovers between the British A-Level History and Leaving Certificate History syllabi, I had to ensure that the sources and lesson plans researched were relevant to both courses. This was to ensure that if used in either setting, it would encourage a student to achieve a H1 or an A*

The IAR and their contributing websites have a catalogue of resources that are carefully selected and put into categories, which make them convenient for teachers and students to use and research.

This post will be a semi-scheme of work for a particular topic within the sections of both the Leaving Cert and A Level history. Through comparing both courses, students have a grasp of the history of Ireland and the Union’s relationship from the 19^th century from both countries, that were so closely linked at the time. As Irish history teachers and students, we are aware of the cultural context in Ireland with the struggle for independence and the multiple attempts for freedom. Students will also be aware, at this point, that these events are happening concurrently, unlike the Junior Cycle or GSCE level. They will be able to synthesise information and create independent thoughts based on the sources provided.

It will be divided into three weeks, and week 3 will have two in-depth lessons that are an hour each. However, these can be lengthened or shortened depending on the teacher or school! The students from both courses will have the opportunity to interact with the material and create their own personal responses. I did not want to divide the two courses into two separate schemes of work as it would be more beneficial to bridge the two courses and create unity.

Studying History at Leaving Certificate level, takes a huge leap from Junior Cycle history, as is the leap from GCSE History to A Level. Teachers have the task of preparing students to be historians and in their first three years of secondary school, they are analysing sources at a superficial level. Then we move into letting students independently examine documents and use skills of comprehension to answer in-depth questions.Not only does the use of primary sources across all topics of the Leaving Cert curriculum help students when they answer the DBQ (Documents-based question), but it can also strengthen their comprehension and develop their range of research skills essential for studying history. By using sources provided by the IAR and through this particular topic, we adhere to the aims and skills of the leaving cert curriculum. In this section, we are looking at Later Modern Ireland and Topic 1: Ireland and the Union 1815-1870 and the A-Level topic of Ireland under the Union 1800-1900. Using the National Archives of Ireland, the IAR, DIPPAM, and the PRONI website to link the two courses, we have thousands of online resources. Through the IAR, we have access to several websites and archives that allow history teachers to include primary sources in our lessons and classrooms.  

Scheme of Work: Ireland and the Union, exploring the national school system in Ireland within the Union.

Week 1: Introduction to Ireland’s union with Britain

This week can be split into however many lessons you would like, and you can adjust this plan to suit your classroom and your students’ needs.

Key topics to focus on:

• The effects of the Act of Union (1801) being passed*
  • How did this impact Ireland’s education and schools?
  • How else did the Act of Union influence Irish society?
  • Political, social and economic climate in Ireland – post-Act of Union
• Link and introduction to the National School System 1831.

As we are centring on the national school system, this unit may need to be expanded to include the economic crisis, 1815-50, and the post-famine economy. This 3 week course will focus on the events after the Act of Union towards the passing of the National School System of 1831.

*The A Level Course’s timeline spans from 1800-1900, and the Leaving Cert course begins at 1815. You may need to adjust your lessons to include the passing of the Act of Union.

Learning Intentions	Success Criteria	Learning Outcomes
Students will learn the effects of the Act of Union on education before National Schools were introduced.   Students will analyse primary historical documents to develop their critical thinking skills.	Students can explain the key provisions and goals of the Act of Union   Students effectively analyse a primary source and identifying key pieces of information and what this tells historians.   Students can discuss the political and social impacts of the Act of Union on Ireland	Understand the political context and motivations behind the Act of Union. Analyse the key provisions of the Act and how it impacted Ireland politically, socially, and economically.   Evaluate the different reactions to the Act, particularly among Irish political figures.   Engage with a primary source related to the National School System

Our first source comes from Ballinvella National School and this is a school report spanning from 1882- 92.

Our second source is also from the same school but from 1786. This document is before National Schools were established, but we can understand the context of education at the time and the subjects offered to students in primary schools.

For secondary teachers, we can link it directly as a representation of the educational system within the Union and the National School system of Ireland. When we introduce sources to our class, we must follow an EED rule: Explain, Examine and Discuss.

As part of our lesson plans and incorporating sources into lessons, we can:

• Explain the establishment of national schools in 1831 with relevance to both Leaving Cert and A Level courses. In which the British Government introduced mandatory primary education within Ireland. Linking this with the broader policy of the Act of Union. Students can eventually assess whether the Act of Union was of possible benefit to the economy of Ireland. By using sources like these, we can contextualise what exactly teachers were being paid, and how they were being employed.
• Examine the source: Teachers can guide students in analysing the financial data, average attendance, and comments by school inspectors. These details reveal the challenges and successes of the national school system. For instance, students might discuss whether low attendance reflects broader societal issues, such as economic hardship or political resistance to British educational policies, and barriers to education by certain marginalised societies.
• Discuss Reactions to the National School System: Lead a discussion on how different political and religious factions in Ireland (e.g., the Catholic Church vs. Protestant Ascendancy) viewed the education system. This connects to broader issues in the Union, where the British government exerts control over Irish society. We can discuss how the education system furthers the divide between the Protestants and Catholics, this also coincides with the Penal Laws and comes just thirty-three years after the 1798 rebellion.
• Primary Source Activity: What is also important when implementing sources into a lesson plan is that we must get students to become historians. We can do this by providing an activity with the source. Students can compare this report with broader trends in British-Irish relations, analysing how the education system was part of a broader effort by the British to assimilate Ireland into the Union politically, socially, and culturally.

Assessment	Inclusion Considerations	Planned Progression of the lesson
Formative: Teachers can assess how student engage with the primary source through their answers for the guiding questions and their participation in the group discussion. Summative: A reflective paragraph for homework on how the National School system reflects the broader goals of British rule in Ireland under the Union.	For students with AEN we can provide an inclusive learning environment by: Pairing students with AEN with a partner or a small group for collaborative tasks. Allow for flexible assessments such as digital responses or visual responses like mind maps. Break down the information into shorter and focused tasks with start and end goals.	Introduce the National School system in the context of British rule.   Move the lesson to a detailed exploration of the Ballinvilly National School report.   Use guiding questions to analyse the source.
Linkages:	Resources Used:	Prior Knowledge:
Aligns with both A Level and Leaving Cert curricula’s focus on British-Irish relations and the role of government policy in shaping Irish society. Key skills: Critical thinking, analysis, comprehension and communication/collaboration.	Ballinvilly National School Report – on the class projector and provide students with a photocopy.   Questions to help scaffold students’ analysis of the source.	Students should understand the Act of Union and what that meant for Irish society.   Students should understand the role of the British Government in Ireland.

Lesson Plan:

Introduction:

• Begin by discussing the Act of Union of 1801. This links both A Level and Leaving Cert courses together as the LC focuses on the timeline of 1815, but it is important for students to understand the cultural context of the time and what society was like.

• Introduce the National School System and why it was introduced in Ireland. This was essential to further establish control over their closest colony and, in one sense, to ‘socialise’ and create a more respectable Irish population. It was also to get rid of the illegal Hedge Schools run by the Catholic and Presbyterian churches. Teachers may also discuss that to exert control over the Catholic Irish, they had to assimilate them into a Unionist society, and how this further established their colony within Europe. Key information is the Stanley Letter, what that was for, and how did it impact education.

• Class analysis of the source – the teacher can draw attention to key figures like the average attendance figures, and comments from the inspectors, and we can identify the years this report took place.

Primary Source Analysis

With this task, students get to work independently on the source and analyse figures pertaining to education in Ireland. We can print off the primary sources and distribute them to the students. Whilst the students are reading the source, we can put the following questions on the board

What might this source reveal about the lives of Irish students and teachers during this period, and how might the increased access to education serve under the Union with Britain?

• Did education help the establishment of the Young Irelanders after Daniel O’Connell?
• Was there a divide in Catholic and Protestant education under the Union?

Conclusion of the lesson:

We can summarise the key takeaways from the lesson, and we can emphasise education helping reform Ireland. Students’ homework could be to plan an answer to the highlighted question on what they know so far.

Author: Sarah O’Flathery, PME Student

See Lesson Plan Week 2

See Lesson Plan Week 3

This project was funded by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport