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Secondary schools (leading to our current intermediate/junior certificate and leaving certificate exams) were for 12-18 year olds. School was compulsory for childremn 4-14 years and up to 1966. In later years that was increased to 16 years old. In 1967 free secondary schooling was funded by the state. Before that schooling in secondary for teenagers required that parents paid a fee to cover all costs. Parents did not have the money, and if the child was at school they were not earning money at work - a double hit financially. Thus only the rich and comfortable middle class children received secondary educations. We are not sure at this time about what was worn at secondary schools. Until after World War II, Ireland did not have a well developed secondary system. A Irish HBC reader, G. Jones, reports that in the late-1950s and early 60s Ireland had two types of secondary schools for further education, after primary level (age 11/12). Secondary school was for academic education leading to the Intermediate Certificate (15/16) and ultimately to the Leaving Certifuicate. (17/18) and Vocational (Technical) School for training for a trade. Whilst there is still a distinction Vocational (Technical) Schools do have a curriculum for Intermediate and Leaving Certificate. How does this impact what is worn to school. As so few went to secondary school, there was not really any sense of 'uniform' in those schools before 1967. Teenagers simply wore the normal clothing of the era for teenagers (and men) namely suit or jacket and trousers with a shirt and even a tie as normal day to day dress. We think that it was only with the advent of free secondary education that with everybody heading to such schools there might have been a need to set some 'standard' of dress or dress code.
Secondary schools (leading to our current intermediate/junior certificate and leaving certificate exams) were for 12-18 year olds.
School was compulsory for childremn 4-14 years and up to 1966. In later years that was increased to 16 years old.
In 1967 free secondary schooling was funded by the state. Before that schooling in secondary for teenagers required that parents paid a fee to cover all costs. Parents did not have the money, and if the child was at school they were not earning money at work - a double hit financially. Thus only the rich and comfortable middle class children received secondary educations.
Until after World War II, Ireland did not have a well developed secondary system. A Irish HBC reader, G. Jones, reports that in the late-1950s and early 60s Ireland had two types of secondary schools for further education, after primary level (age 11/12). Secondary school was for academic education leading to the Intermediate Certificate (15/16) and ultimately to the Leaving Certifuicate. (17/18) and Vocational (Technical) School for training for a trade. Whilst there is still a distinction Vocational (Technical) Schools do have a curriculum for Intermediate and Leaving Certificate.
We are not sure at this time about what was worn at secondary schools. As young people went to secondary school, there was not really any sense of 'uniform' in those schools before 1967. Teenagers simply wore the normal clothing of the era for teenagers (and men) namely suit or jacket and trousers with a shirt and even a tie as normal day to day dress. We think that it was only with the advent of free secondary education that with everybody heading to such schools there might have been a need to set some 'standard' of dress or dress code. The 1960s saw the growth of TV and cinema in colour. External fashion trends could influence teenage dress. Young children would not have been so prone to such influence then. Thus school uniforms were not common/normal in national (prinary) schools until the late 1980s.
School photographes were generally black and white. School photos remained black sand white until the 2000s. This may have been for print cost reasons in respect of the school yearbooks.
HHowever if we look at the "new" widely attended secondary schools for the post 1967 era, some of these free schools required a uniform (more for girls than boys). The reasons was to overcome the increase in fashion trends and the need to get all students, both the working class and middle class, to dress the same way in order to avoid fashion displays of the better off children and to establish a normal decent clothing standard for the poorer children (since the tuition was free). This was very much the case in the city areas (Dublin) where TV /cinema and shops were more readily accessed to influence teenage dress. These uniforms might be very prescriptive. School ties and pullovers and defined colour shirts and trousers (though socks were not defined).
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