Recent migration patterns have had a profound impact on education systems becoming more diverse in their student body but also influencing school climate and resource provision. A multisite case study approach and semi-structured interviews with 13 principals and 17 teachers were used to identify the challenges and opportunities for culturally…

Policy-makers in Ireland advocate teacher collaboration as being a vital component of educational reform and school improvement in inclusive and participatory communities of practice. The objective of this research study was to attempt to achieve a depth of understanding of the role played by principals in the reification of the Department of…

While AIDS was neither the initial nor the sole factor, it had a profound impact on the development of school-based sex education policy and practice in 1980s Ireland. Attempts to introduce a national programme of sex education on foot of increasing rates of crisis pregnancy pre-date the AIDS era, but these efforts had been vociferously opposed by…

This paper considers the role of Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in mainstream post-primary schools (12-18 years) in Ireland. Little is known of the role in the Irish context and it is hoped that this research will inform policy. The Irish educational landscape has witnessed seismic change recently with further transformation…

Introducing an educational innovation into any school context involves some challenge to existing practices. Transition Year is an innovative, optional, one-year programme taken by approximately half the 15-16-year age cohort in schools in the Republic of Ireland. Based on data from an extensive study of TY operating in six different schools,…