AS Belfast prepares to celebrate its teaching heroes at this year’s virtual Blackboard Awards, event sponsor Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta has paid tribute to the educators whose immense efforts have helped “redefine” Irish-medium education during the Covid-19 crisis.

Based on the Falls Road, Comhairle helps promote, facilitate and encourage Irish-medium education and provides vital support to Irish-medium schools. In recognising the “enormous contribution” of teachers and schools, CnaG has come on board to sponsor the ninth annual Blackboard Awards (Scoth na Scoile), which celebrate the teaching heroes of the pandemic.

Speaking to Belfastmedia.com, CnaG CEO, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, highlighted the “transformative” impact of teachers in the most difficult of circumstances. “We have an excellent education system here in many respects, and within the Irish-medium education sector we’re incredibly proud of the huge efforts that have been made,” he enthused. 

“50 years ago, the first Irish-medium school was established here, Bunscoil Phobail Feirste, and from then the sector has grown exponentially. We now have upwards of 7,000 kids being educated entirely through the medium of Irish and it’s the fastest growing within education.It’s really, really important for us to be able to recognise the huge effort made by teachers and schools every year to try to set our kids up in the best possible position for the rest of their lives.

“We want to do that every year, but this year even more so given the circumstances that we have found ourselves in, and given the circumstances that schools have found themselves in where they’re having to grapple with huge issues of trying to migrate their mode education onto online platforms,” he said.

“They’ve met the challenge head on, and they’ve always been to the fore in developing innovative practices, which are all very much child-centred and focused.” The success of Irish-medium schools means that children continue to be enrolled in record numbers. Projections suggest that enrolment will double in the next ten years alone. Though the Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption across the education sector, and with school open days cancelled, CnaG has worked alongside schools to facilitate online information sessions for parents hoping to educate their children through the medium of Irish. 

Due to the nature of the current health crisis and accompanying restrictions, Irish-medium schools face challenges that are arguably greater than those in other sectors, as English-speaking parents grapple with home schooling. But, as Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin explained, the “can-do attitude” of the Irish language community has seen its schools “redefine” themselves in the face of online learning. 

“The challenges that Irish-medium schools face are greater in my view, by virtue of the fact that they have an additional subject to teach at primary school level, which is Irish,” he explained.  “They also teach through the medium of a language which, more often than not, isn’t the language at home. 

“Irish medium schools practice the early immersion model, where those early years are incredibly important whereby they create an environment where the child is immersed in the language – you can’t do that remotely, you can’t do that when kids are stuck at home. They’ve had to redraw and redefine what immersion education looks like to meet the particular during this current pandemic, lockdowns, restrictions and everything else. It is an area of concern, but it is something that they’ll overcome given the old mantra of ‘ná habair é, déan é’ (don’t say it – do it), and the can-do attitude that exists within the Irish-speaking community here has come to the fore once again.”

Mr Mac Giolla Bhéin said Irish-medium schools “haven’t been found wanting” during the pandemic. “They’ve gone and done it themselves; they’ve developed the models themselves; they’ve developed a practice themselves which is now being felt across the board with the additional and amazing support that is being every provided,” he revealed.

“In the journey that we’ve been on from March of last year to where we are now, it’s becoming much more effective.  The communication with kids is much more effective, and the ability of kids to engage with the language on a daily basis is much more effective now than what it was at the start – that’s down to the huge efforts made by teachers.”

The 9th annual Blackboard Awards will take place virtually on Friday February 26, 7-9pm. You can buy your ticket for the virtual event online.