Many resources exist to support the teaching and learning of history at Leaving Certificate level. Many others will become available in the years ahead. This section considers how resources can be identified and located and their usefulness evaluated. The use of information and communications technology in the teaching of history is briefly considered. The section concludes with two exemplars of support material for the teaching of the topics. It is intended that similar material will be made available online for all of the syllabus topics.
IDENTIFYING AND LOCATING RESOURCES
The term `resource' is used here to describe anything (or anybody) that assists in the attainment of the syllabus objectives. This includes reference books, specialist secondary works, document packs, on-line archives, libraries, videotapes, CD ROMs, DVDs and many more, from older people to new technologies. Many schools will have existing resources that are of relevance to the revised syllabus. However, the new emphasis on the use of primary sources and the extension of the research study to all students has resource implications for schools. Students and teachers need access to a good range of historical sources suitable for classroom use and improved facilities for carrying out research.
A number of journals can be useful in the identification of relevant and appropriate resources. Stair (published annually) is the journal of the History Teachers' Association of Ireland and publishes articles on syllabus content and classroom practice as well as reviews of books and other resources. History Ireland (published quarterly) carries a wide range of articles on different aspects of Irish history and its book reviews and advertisements are a good way of keeping abreast of current publications. It is currently (from summer 2004) publishing one article per issue specifically written on a topic, element or case study of the revised history syllabus.
A number of national institutions such as the National Archives, the National Library and the National Museum have produced useful resources and their websites have details of current publications. RTÉ has produced television and radio programmes that are of relevance to many of the syllabus topics. Heritage centres are another resource that can be linked in to many of the topics. For all history teachers, one of the most useful providers of resources is the public library service. As well as their own stocks of books and other resources, the inter-library loan service, local history collections and internet facilities are other services that libraries can provide to assist the teaching and learning of history.
Any resource - whatever its nature, and however attractively or unattractively packaged - needs to be evaluated by the teacher to determine its likely usefulness. Such an evaluation might consider aspects such as the following:
- what learning outcome(s) will this help me achieve?
- to what topic(s) and to what elements of the topic(s) is this relevant?
- how would I use this in the classroom? How would I expect students to use or interact with this resource?
- will the use of this resource contribute to a more positive or beneficial learning environment?
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The use of information and communications technology in the teaching of history is assuming increasing significance. Currently, a significant number of Leaving Certificate history higher-level students use the internet as a resource in preparing a research topic. Many use word processing packages in presenting their research essay to teachers. The world wide web has become a repository for a rapidly expanding store of primary source materials. The use of PowerPoint and other multimedia presentations is increasingly popular in the history classroom. The availability of interactive CDs and DVDs is set to mushroom in the years ahead and offers history teachers with access to the appropriate technology further opportunities for enlivening and reinforcing their classroom teaching. (It should never be forgotten that the most important resource in any history classroom is the history teacher herself/himself.)
A set of useful questions for evaluating new technologies can be found in Robert Stradling (2001) Teaching 20th-century European history, Council of Europe Publishing.
HISTORICAL FICTION
For some students, historical fiction can be a gateway to a more dynamic and personal engagement with history. It can be a useful step in helping to give students a `feel' for a particular period. It can help them understand that historical figures were as real as they themselves are and that history is not just a series of significant tableaux but a constantly changing and dynamic process. Even where the quality of the historical detail is questionable, it can provide the basis for the development of critical skills through the identification of ahistorical or culturally improbable details. Irish writers of historical novels include Eilís Dillon whose work has been widely acclaimed. Her historical novels include: Across the Bitter Sea (1974), WildGeese (1981) and Children of Bach (1993). Other exponents of the genre include Michael Mullen [e.g. TheFlight of the Earls (1991), The Last Days of the Romanovs] and Brendan Graham [The Whitest Flower (1998), TheElement of Fire. (2001)].
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
1. Some useful publications
Andreetti, Keith (1993) Teaching history through primaryevidence. David Fulton
Arthur, James and Phillips, Robert (ed.) (2001) Issues inhistory teaching. Routledge Farmer
Boylan, Henry (1998) A Dictionary of Irish Biography (thirdedition). Gill and McMillan, Dublin .
Bourdillon, H. (ed.) (1994) Teaching history Open University Press
Connolly, S.J. (ed.) (1998) The Oxford companion to Irishhistory Oxford University Press
Fines, John (ed.) (1983) Teaching history Holmes McDougall
Gallagher, Carmel (1996) History teaching and thepromotion of democratic values and tolerance: a handbookfor teachers Council of Europe
Hayes, Alan & Urquhart, Dianne (ed.) (2001) The Irishwomen's history reader Routledge
Helferty, Seamus & Refaussé, Raymond (ed.) (1999) Directory of Irish Archives, Third Edition. Four Courts Press
McCoole, Sinéad (2000) Researcher's handbook: sources fortwentieth century Irish history Limerick Corporation
Ó Ceirín, Kit and Cyril (1996) Women of Ireland, ABiographical Dictionary. Tír Eolas, Galway.
McRedmond, Louis (1996) General Editor Modern IrishLives: A Dictionary of 20th Century Biography. Gill and McMillan, Dublin.
Stradling, Robert (2001) Teaching 20th-century Europeanhistory Council of Europe Publishing
2. Some useful addresses
National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Ph. 01 4072300 Website: www.nationalarchives.ie
National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6615133 Education section Ph. 01 6633504 Website: www.nationalgallery.ie
National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6030200
National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 - 6030200 Website: www.nli.ie
National Museum of Ireland: Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7. Ph. 01 6777444
Archaeology & History, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6777444 Irish Folklife, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Ph. 094 - 9031628 Education & Outreach Dept. Ph. 01 - 6486453 Website: www.museum.ie
Dúchas, the Heritage Service, Education and Visitor Service, Department of the Environment and Local Government, 6 Ely Place Upper, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6472453 Website: www.heritageireland.ie
Federation of Local History Societies, Rothe House, Kilkenny.
History Teachers' Association of Ireland, Blackrock Education Centre, Kill Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Ph. 01 - 2300977 Website: www.htai.ie
History Ireland, P.O. Box 69, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Ph. 01 2765207 Website: www.historyireland.com
Irish Architectural Archive, 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 - 6763430 Website: www.iarc.ie
Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 - 6795744 Website: www.irishfilm.ie
Irish Georgian Society, 74 Merrion Square, Dublin 2 Ph. 01 - 6767053 Website: www.archeire.com/igs
Irish Labour History Society Museum, Beggars Bush Barracks, Haddington Road, Dublin 4. Ph. 01 - 6681071 Website: www.ilhsonline.org
Library Association of Ireland, 53 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6761167 Website: www.libraryassociation.ie
Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin 6 Ph. 01 - 4975499 National Committee for History Website: www.historians.ie
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 66 Balmoral Avenue, Belfast, BT9 6NY, Northern Ireland Ph. 0232 - 661621 Website: www.proni.nics.gov.uk
Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Ph. 01 6762570 Website: www.ria.ie
The Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH, United Kingdom. Ph. 020 7735 3901 Website: www.history.org.uk
Women's History Association of Ireland Website: www.womenshistoryireland.com
SUPPORT MATERIAL FOR THE TEACHING OF THE TOPICS
Some material has been prepared that will be of use to teachers in their teaching of the topics.
The format involves provision of the following for each of the syllabus topics:
- Identification of the major theme(s) of the topic.
- A brief explanation of the significance of each of the three case studies.
- Brief notes on key personalities.
- A short bibliography
- A list of enquiry questions for use in the teaching of the topic.
Two exemplars are included here. The topics chosen are the two to be nominated initially for documents-based study i.e.
Early Modern Ireland, Topic 2, Rebellion and conquest inElizabethan Ireland, 1558-1603
and
Later Modern Ireland, Topic 2, Movements for politicaland social reform, 1870-1914.
It is intended that this material along with similar material covering the remainder of the syllabus topics will be available online and that the bibliographies and, where appropriate, other data, will be updated periodically.
EARL MODERN IRELAND
TOPIC 2: REBELLION AND CONQUEST IN ELIZABETHAN IRELAND, 1558-1603
THEME:
The title refers to the conflicts engendered by the extension of Tudor sovereignty from the accession of Elizabeth I to her death in 1603.
CASE STUDIES:
The Lordship of Tír Eoghain provides a valuable microcosm of the main themes of the topic as it looks at tensions within the lordship and changing attitudes to the exercise of the queen's sovereignty.
The growth of Elizabethan Dublin illustrates many significant feature of social and economic change.
The manner in which one notable prelate attempted to reconcile conflicting loyalties to church and monarch is examined in Meiler Magrath's clerical career.
KE PERSONALITIES:
Shane O'Neill (c.1530-1567): chief of the O'Neills from 1559
Hugh O'Neill (c.1550-1616): 2nd Earl of Tyrone and last inaugurated O'Neill
Sir Henry Sidney (1529-1586): Lord Deputy, 1565-1567, 1568-1571, 1575-1578
Sir John Perrot (c.1527-1592): provincial president of Munster 1571-1573, Lord Deputy, 1584-1588
Archbishop Adam Loftus (c.1533-1606): Archbishop of Armagh 1563, Archbishop of Dublin 1567, Lord Chancellor 1581
Richard Creagh (c.1525-1585): Catholic CounterReformation priest
Agnes Campbell: Scottish noblewoman, married Turlough Luineach O'Neill 1569
Grace O'Malley (c.1530-c.1603): alias `Granuaile'; legendary pirate-queen of Connacht
James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald (d.1579), cousin of the Earl of Desmond, instigator of rebellion
Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn (1550-1591): poet, member of wellknown bardic family
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brady, Ciaran (ed.) (2002) A Viceroy's Vindication? SirHenry Sidney's Memoir of Service in Ireland, 1556-1578 Cork
Brady, Ciaran (1996) Shane O'Neill Dublin
Brady, Ciaran and Gillespie, Raymond (eds.) (1986) Natives and Newcomers: the making of Irish colonialsociety, 1534-1641 Dublin
Canny, Nicholas (2001) Making Ireland British, 1580-1650 Oxford.
Canny, Nicholas (1976) The Elizabethan Conquest ofIreland: a pattern established 1565-1576 Hassocks
Chambers, Anne (1998) Granuaile, The Life and Times ofGrace O'Malley c1530-1603 Dublin
Ellis, Stevan G. (1998) Ireland in the Age of the Tudors,1447-1603: English expansion and the end of Gaelic Rule. London
Falls, Cyril (1997) Elizabeth' s Irish Wars London
Ford, Alan (1997) The Protestant Reformation in Ireland1590-1641 Dublin
Knott, Eleanor (ed. and trans.) (2 vols. 1922, 1926) TheBardic poems of Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn
Lennon, Colm (1994) Sixteenth Century Ireland, theincomplete conquest Dublin
MacCarthy Morrogh, Michael (1985) The MunsterPlantation 1580-1641 Oxford
Meigs, Samantha A. (1997) The Reformations in Ireland,Tradition and Confessionalism, 1400-1690 Dublin
Morgan, Hiram (2004). The Battle of Kinsale Bray
Morgan, Hiram (1993) Tyrone's rebellion: the outbreak ofthe nine years war in Tudor Ireland Dublin
O'Faolain, Seán (1997) The Great O'Neill, A Biography ofHugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1550-1616 Cork
KEY QUESTIONS
Politics and administration
- To what extent was Ireland at peace on Elizabeth's accession to the throne in 1558?
- What techniques of control were used in Elizabethan Ireland and to what purpose?
- Was Sir Henry Sidney as effective an administrator as his propaganda suggested?
- Why did the lordship of Tír Eoghain present particular difficulties for Elizabeth's administrators?
- What was Shane O'Neill's legacy?
- Was the Desmond rebellion a `holy war' or a reaction against Elizabethan centralisation?
- What were Hugh O'Neill's motives for rebellion?
- What were the implications for Ireland and England of O'Neill's submission?
Society and economy
- What internal changes occurred in the society and economy of Gaelic lordships during this period?
- In social and economic terms, how did the Pale differ from the rest of the island?
- Did the burden of successive military campaigns make a policy of plantation inevitable?
- In what ways did the many wars of the Elizabethan period disrupt society and economy in Ireland?
Culture and religion
- What was the impact on Ireland of the Elizabethan religious settlement of 1560?
- Was Trinity College established simply as an instrument of Elizabethan religious policy?
- Why did the militant approach to Counter-Reformation in Ireland fail?
- What institutional developments contributed to the persistence of recusancy and growth of nonconformity?
- To what extent does the poetry of Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn and his contemporaries reflect an awareness of a changing political and cultural order?
LATER MODERN IRELAND
TOPIC 2: MOVEMENTS FOR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORM, 1870-1914
THEME
The title refers to a range of influential movements that created a new dynamic for political and social change during the period. The topic also examines some of the tensions underlying this renewed pressure for change.
CASE STUDIES
The contrasting perceptions of Unionists and Nationalists on the Home Rule issue and the wider political implications are examined in The elections of 1885 and 1886: issues andoutcomes.
The conflicting priorities of capital and labour and the explosive social tensions they engendered are examined in Dublin 1913 strike and lockout.
The early fortunes of a movement for cultural regeneration and the conflicts that hampered its early development are examined in The GAA to 1891.
KEY PERSONALITIES
Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891): M.P. 1875-1891; President of Land League, 1879-1882; Irish Parliamentary Party leader, 1880-1890; leader of `Parnellite' faction, 1890-1891.
John Redmond (1856-1918): M.P. 1881-1918; leader of `Parnellite' faction of Irish Parliamentary, 1891-1900; Irish Parliamentary Party leader, 1900-1918.
Edward Carson (1854-1935): Irish Solicitor-General, 1892; M.P. for DublinUniversity, 1892-1918; English SolicitorGeneral, 1900-1906; Unionist Party leader, 1910-1921.
Isabella Tod (1836-1896): Suffragist and campaigner for women's education, whose work influenced the decision to include girls in the Intermediate Education Act, 1878.
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington (1877-1946): Founder of Women's Graduate Association, 1901; co-founder of the Irish Women's Franchise League in 1908.
Michael Davitt (1846-1905): Founder of Land League, 1879; M.P. 1882, 1892, 1895-1899; editor, Labour World, 1890-1891; published The Fall of Feudalism in Ireland, 1904.
James Connolly (1868-1916): Founder Irish Socialist Republican Party, 1896, and the Worker's Republic, 1898; in America (1903-1910), founder of Irish Socialist Federation; Belfast organiser of ITGWU, 1911; originator of Irish Labour party, 1912; played major role in leading strikers and founding Irish Citizen Army, 1913; led labour movement in opposition to war, 1914.
James Larkin (1876-1947): Founder, Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, 1908; President of Irish Trades Union Congress, 1911; workers' leader during 1913 lockout.
Douglas Hyde (1862-1947): Co-founder of Irish Literary Society in London, 1891; President of National Literary Society, Dublin, 1892; co-founder of Gaelic League, 1893, and its first President, 1893-1915; writer of first modern play in Irish language,Casadh an tSúgáin, 1901; Professor of Modern Irish in UCD, 1909-1932.
W.B. Yeats (1865-1939): Co-founder of Irish Literary Society in London, 1891; Co-founder of National Literary Society, Dublin, 1892; co-founder of Irish Literary Theatre, 1899, which performed his plays, The Countess Cathleen (1899) and Cathleen Ní Houlihan (1902); president of Irish National Theatre Society, 1902, and co-founder of Abbey Theatre, 1904.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bew, P. (1996) John Redmond Dundalk
Boyce, D.G. (ed.) (1988) The Revolution in Ireland, 1879-1923 Dublin
Foster, R.F. (1988) Modern Ireland, 1600-1972 London
Hyland, J.L. (1997) James Connolly Dundalk
Lyons, F.S.L. (1973) Ireland since the Famine London
Lyons, F.S.L. (1977) Charles Stewart Parnell London
Lee, J. (1973) The Modernisation of Irish Society, 1848-1918 Dublin
Mitchell, A. (1974) Labour in Irish Politics, 1890-1930 Shannon
Moody, T.W. (1981) Davitt and the Irish Revolution Oxford
O'Brien, C.C. (1944) Parnell and his Party Oxford
O'Connor, E. (1992) A Labour History of Ireland, 1824-1960 Dublin
Ó Tuama, S. (ed.) (1972) The Gaelic League Idea Cork
Thornley, D. (1964) Isaac Butt and Home Rule London
Travers, P. (1988) Settlements and Divisions: Ireland 1870-1922 Dublin
Vaughan, W.E. (1984) Landlord and Tenants in Ireland1848-1904 Dundalk
Ward, Margaret (1997) Hanna Sheehy Skeffington: a life Cork
KEY QUESTIONS
Politics and administration
- Why did a movement for Home Rule develop at this time?
- How effective a leader of the Home Rule movement was Butt?
- How effective a leader of the Home Rule movement was Parnell?
- How effective a leader of the Home Rule movement was Redmond?
- How effective a leader of the Unionist opposition to Home Rule was Carson?
- Why did the Ulster Question emerge as a significant issue?
- What was the impact of the Suffrage movement on the political landscape?
- What significance did the first Sinn Féin party have for the politics of the day?
- Why were the Irish Volunteers established?
Society and economy
- Why did land agitation become prevalent in the late 1870s and on a number of other occasions thereafter?
- How satisfactorily did land reforms of the period satisfy the demands of (a) the agitators and (b) the farmers?
- How significant was Jim Larkin's role in the unionisation of the working classes?
- What was the significance for rural Ireland of the work of the Co-operative movement?
- How significant were the shipyards in the on-going industrial development of Belfast?
- What are the pros and cons of the system introduced by the 1878 Intermediate Education Act?
- Did the university reforms of 1879 and 1908 have any significant impact on the society of the time?
Culture and religion
- What was the significance for Irish cultural identity of the establishment of (a) the G.A.A. and (b) the Gaelic League?
- What did the Anglo-Irish Literary Revival seek to revive?
- What forces fortified a sense of Catholic identity during this period?