The Life of a Rural Teacher, Co. Galway, Ireland 1974

How the work of the rural school teacher is changing.

‘Radharc’ looks at the changing role of the school teacher in rural Ireland in a documentary filmed on the Galway Mayo border. The programme compared the lives of father and son Liam and Morgan O’Connell, both teachers in the area.

This extract looks at Morgan’s experience and shows the school bus on its morning round, collecting children from outlying farms. The teacher is known locally as the master and the students as scholars. The essentials of a teacher’s life have remained the same, but like many, Morgan drives to work at Cloghans National School, whereas 50 years ago, he would have lived beside the school. Living in Tuam means that his ties with the local community are not as strong, so there are losses as well as gains.

‘Radharc: The Master’ was broadcast on 20 March 1974.