Created by The Trailblazery in collaboration with Manchán Magan and supported by Foras na Gaeilge, Scoil Scairte is the Irish School you always dreamed of guided by a host of inspiring bilingual multidisciplinary artists, activists, creatives, educators, culture makers and indigenous language keepers.

Previous Guides include Kathy Scott (Host, Creative Director The Trailblazery), Manchán Magan (Writer, Presenter, Bee Keeper), Professor Kevin Whelan {Scholar, Author}, Ciara Ní É {Bilingual Irish Writer, Performer, Podcaster, Presenter}, Ella Noah Bancroft {Bundjalung woman, Writer, Educator and CEO/Founder of The Returning}, Hala Alyan (Palestinian-American, Professor, Author, Poet & Clinical Psychologist), Moya Brennan (“The First Lady of Irish Music” and voice of Clannad, Harpist), Colm Mac Con Iomaire (Composer, Musician, Turner of Tunes), Colm Bairéad (Film Director of OSCAR & BAFTA-nominated An Cailín Ciúin, Screenwriter), Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Member of the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation of South Dakota, Speaker, Founder First Voices Radio), Mary Kennedy (Irish TV Presenter, Writer, Former Eurovision Host), James Riordan (Writer, Theater-Maker), Eithne Verling (Director of Galway City Museum), Liam Ó Maonlaí (Musician, Singer), Máire Ní Chonláin (TG4 Editor, Exec Producer An Cailín Ciúin), Kneecap (Hip Hop trio), Dr. Louis de Paor (Poet and Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at NUI Galway), Rising Appalachia (Musicians, Songwriters), Bob Quinn (Filmmaker, writer, photographer), Diarmuid Lyng (Hurler, Wild Irish Retreats), Bayo Akomolafe (Poet, Philosopher, Activist), Annemarie Ní Churreáin (Poet), Fearghus Ó Conchúir (Choreographer, Dance Artist and Artistic Director), Delta Kay (Arakwal Bumberbin Bundjalung woman, Advocate), Iarla Ó Lionáird (Singer, Producer), Emma Dabiri (Author, Broadcaster, Advisor), Úna-Minh Kavanagh (Journalist, Multimedia content creator), Ola Majekodunmi (Journalist, Creator, Presenter), Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin (Rapper, Poet, Musician), Colm Ó Snodaigh (Singer, Musician, Writer), Darach Ó Tuairisg (Fíbín, resident at An Taibhdhearc - the national Irish language theatre), and Dr. Margaret A. Noodin (American poet, Anishinaabemowin language teacher).

an Irish drumbeat with a global resonance

Scoil Scairte is a dynamic cultural learning experience that weaves heritage, creativity, language, folklore and indigenous wisdom with individual, social and ecological wellbeing. This 9-week voyage of discovery invites people to gather together online to explore and experience Irish culture and learn the Irish language in a global learning community. 

Is modh cumhachtach é Scoil Scairte chun Gaeilge a fhoghlaim. Mar chuid den chúrsa seo, pléitear gnéithe den chultúr, cruthaitheacht, dúchas, seanchas, agus críonnacht dhúchais i dteannta le sláinte an duine aonair, an pobal agus an timpeallacht. Thar tréimhse 9 seachtainí tugann muid cuireadh do dhaoine chun teacht le chéile agus dul i mbun iniúchadh, foghlaim agus cleachtadh ar an nGaeilge mar chuid de phobal foghlama domhanda.

More than an Irish class, Scoil Scairte is an immersion in the psyche and soul of a powerful people and place. It provides a supportive environment to inspire people to connect with themselves, each other and the living world through the potency of this living language. The purpose of Scoil Scairte is to provide a modern, multi-faceted platform to engage in a soulful and structured way with ancient and emerging Irish cultural heritage. It taps into a growing cultural desire for new ways of learning and unlearning, connecting and sharing at this extraordinary time on our planet. Join Scoil Scairte and explore how language can shape how we see the world and our place in it.

Why Scoil Scairte?

Back in the 1700s Irish education was outlawed and the process of learning took to the land. Hedge Schools or Scoil Scairte gathered wherever people could find shelter, in hedgerows, in fields, by rivers and under the stars. In this time of global uncertainty, there is a call to reconnect with some of the traditions and practices that supported and nourished our ancestors. 

Irish is one of the oldest living vernacular languages in Europe. It has shaped the cultural identity of the people on the island of Ireland for thousands of years. If a language dies we lose access to meaning, memory and our ways of being human. Despite a turbulent history the Irish language has survived and is encoded with a wisdom that can help us today. Rooted in Ireland, this online learning programme is designed for people living on the island of Ireland and for the millions of people all around the world who feel a call to engage with indigenous ways of seeing, sensing and knowing.