| Abstract | Background & Aims
All societies will experience fluctuations in their fortunes. These can be affected by a myriad of factors including economic, political, social and military events, within and beyond their borders, as well as by the vagaries of nature. How a society responds to adversity will depend upon how resilient it is. This paper will argue that a developed, enshrined educational ethos is a vital contributory element to the resilience of a society. It will use the Irish educational system as a case study. It will compare the basis of educational provision in Ireland with that of other countries in considering how a strong educational foundation can contribute to the resilience of a state to face adversity or change.
Every society is the product of its history. It is rare that a state starts with a clean slate. Although some have aspired to do so through revolution or gaining independence from a colonial overlord, change is usually incremental. Modern Ireland has evolved through the three aforementioned factors of revolution, independence and incremental change. This paper will not concern itself with Irish political developments but rather educational developments. These have occurred in tandem with, and the paper will argue, have contributed to what is known as the Irish economic miracle whereby Ireland now has one of the most highly skilled workforces in the world and has evolved from an economic backwater in the 1960s to its position today as a leading country in pharma and technology housing the European headquarters of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, HP, Linkedin, Pfizer, GSK, etc. Design/methodology/approach
This paper will argue not only that Ireland has a resilient educational system that has significantly contributed to a resilient state but it will open up the discussion to show that there are many other types of educational bases upon which resilience can be fostered and it will do that by making a comparative analysis of educational provision in other states such as the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates in particular. Findings
The research will show that since Ireland introduced free second-level education in September 1967 the Irish economy has made huge strides and notwithstanding the political difficulties arising from the troubles in Northern Ireland, numerous world recessions not to mention the recent Covid pandemic, has powered forward to the degree that 2020, the first full year of the pandemic, saw the Irish government record its highest ever tax take. It will be argued that its educated workforce has been the key to this resilience. Contributions/Implications
This article has an unfortunate relevance as the issues it discusses could be applied to one of the greatest challenges to face the world in modern times – the Covid pandemic and its economic consequences. The negative effects of the pandemic will, like those of all natural disasters, be mitigated over time but it will be argued that states with a strong educational foundation will be far more resilient to the fallout from the pandemic and far quicker to rebound from its effects. The Irish model of a dramatic and sustained improvement in educational provision matched with a strong constitutional and legal foundation of education rights contributing to economic success merits examination as a model from which lessons can be learned. |
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