The present thesis sots itself the task of tracing the development of academic-type secondary education in Ireland from the passing of the Intermediate Education ( Ireland) Act of 1878 to the year 1966, confining its attention, however, for the period subsequent to 1922 to the twenty-six counties of southern Ireland. An outline will be given in chapter I of the various statutory enactments which had a bearing on this development. In subsequent chapters attention will be focused successively un the: administration and organisation of secondary education; on the size of schools and the question of their gc0graphical distribution; on the financing of secondary education; on the; development of the curriculum as it evolved in the course of the period under review and un the question of the degree of adequacy with which various subjects were entered for at different times; on the various examinations which in one way or another have been involved; and on the fortunes of the body of teachers who during the course of that period have worked in Irish secondary schools .