Analysis: significant numbers of Irish children were entering the labour market at a very young age in the 1920s and 1930s
High rates of non-school attendance and early school leaving from national school were a feature of Irish life during the 1920s and 1930s. The annual reports from the Department of Education show average attendance rates below 80% for the years 1922 to 1927, meaning that at least 100,000 children were missing from national schools every day in those years. The average attendance rate slowly increased in the following years to reach 85% by 1940.
These attendance figures refer to national school enrolments only and the 1927 annual report noted that nearly 200 private primary schools were known to the Department of Education. As private fee-paying schools have always been excluded from state inspection, there is very little publicly available information on the numbers of children enrolled in private primary schools or their attendance rates, though children attending private primary schools were likely to continue into secondary education. Given that secondary schooling required the payment of fees, the state-funded national schools provided the sole source of education for most Irish children in this era.
In addition to non-attendance, the annual reports provide evidence of early school leaving from all levels of the national school. The reports for the years 1926 to 1941 give the numbers of children enrolled at each successive class in the national school system. This shows a pattern of reducing numbers in each class from first class to sixth class. For example, 76,830 children enrolled in first class in 1927. Smaller numbers enrolled in each subsequent class until 36,939 entered sixth class in 1932, a figure equivalent to 48% of the first class enrolment six years earlier.
The prevalence of early school leaving from all levels was remarked upon in other official documents such as the Commission on Technical Education Report 1927. This recognised the existence of "irregular school attendance" and stated that the average school leaving age was 10½ years. An addendum to the report corroborated this by describing the education status of 213 boys and girls who registered with the Dublin Labour Exchange between June and September 1927. 60% of the 119 boys had left from fifth class and 9% left from third class. 47% of the 94 girls had left from fifth class and 9% from third class.
Child labour was recognised within the School Attendance Act 1926. Children already in "lawful employment" at the commencement of the Act were not obliged to attend school, while children over 12 years were allowed short absences to engage in "light agricultural work" on the family farm. The Act also permitted "manual labour" for children residing in industrial and reformatory schools. These references to "agricultural work", "employment" and "manual labour" in the legislation show that child labour was an already existing feature of Irish life.
The School Attendance Act 1926 set 14 years as the official school leaving age. Penalties for non-compliance included committal to industrial school and up to 150 children were sent to industrial schools for non-school attendance each year. The Department of Education had overall responsibility for the Industrial and Reformatory Schools and provided updates in each Annual Report.
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From RTÉ One's One News in June 2014, Dáil records from 1920s and 30s show concern about high death rate of children at maternity homes
Around 1,000 children were admitted to these institutions every year and reports from the 1920s and 1930s noted that most residents were placed there for reasons of poverty. Although they were designated "schools", the highest level of education provided was generally fourth class, often delivered by unqualified teachers. Education was not usually provided after the age of 10 years, when "industrial training" replaced schooling. Children under 10 years old admitted with a poor level of education could be diverted immediately to manual labour.
The child residents supplied the range of domestic labour, physical labour and farm labour required to run these large residential institutions. Some institutions undertook commercial activities such as making rosary beads and furniture, using the free labour of child residents. Hiring out children to work in local convents, presbyteries, domestic households, and farms provided another source of income for the institutions. Private boarding schools are included among the places where girls were sent to work in kitchens and laundries.
Up to 6,000 children resided in these state-funded institutions in the 1920s and 1930s. The limited schooling these children received was with the full knowledge of the Department of Education, while the unpaid labour they provided was facilitated by the School Attendance Act.
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From RTÉ One's Six One News in 2017, newly discovered documents give a rare insight into life at the notorious Glin industrial school
Most of the children attending national schools were unlikely to progress into secondary education during the 1920s and 1930s, so leaving school early to seek employment was an attractive option. A range of paid employment opportunities were available for poorly educated children. Industrial employers could employ children straight from primary school as factory workers and pay them lower rates than adults. Prosperous households employed girls as maids, cooks and other domestic work. Boys could gain employment as farm labourers, general labourers, gardeners, messengers, house boys, and shop assistants.
These were low-paying jobs with little chance of progression, but they often included room and board which benefited both employers and employees. The widespread poverty and economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s meant that children provided a cheap and plentiful source of labour.
The Department of Education’s Annual Statistical Reports provide details of the continuum of childhood in the new Irish state, containing unpaid child labour at one end and private fee-paying schools at the other. Pupil absences from national schools in 1922 and 1923 probably reflect the upheaval of the Civil War years. However, high rates of non-school attendance and early leaving continued into later years. While these figures undoubtedly include child mortality and emigration, they also indicate that significant numbers of Irish children were entering the labour market at a young age.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
