The report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Government of Ireland, 2009)--the Ryan Report--shocked Ireland and the wider world with its chilling descriptions of abuse that was systemic, pervasive, chronic, excessive, arbitrary and endemic. Subsequent debate has, rightly, centred on the "religious" arena, highlighting the…

This paper considers dilemmas around "value" and the "valuing" of children and childhood(s) in schools. I argue that in neo-liberal contexts, processes of children's identity making become aligned with the idea of the corporate citizen--value and worth derived from the capacity to produce, excel, self-regulate as well as…

This paper outlines research that was conducted among students, parents, teachers and senior management teams in six secondary schools in the Greater Dublin area of Ireland. The research involved semi-structured interviews and observations. The findings of this research are significant in that it was the first time any data had been gathered on…

While developments have been made concerning the understanding of general bullying behaviour in Irish schools, considerably less is known about homophobic bullying. Presented here are the findings of a study into the views and perspectives of a self-selected sample of 123 lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) secondary school-aged young…

Given the changing patterns of immigration in the Republic of Ireland in the past 10 years, this article considers how factors related to ethnic and gender identity mediate children's interaction with one another in a newly multi-ethnic Irish primary school. Central to the analysis is the exercise of power between children and how the experience…

Background: The provision of professional development (PD) for teachers in schools is now a major concern of most national government and teaching organisations. To provide quality PD for teachers, we must understand the aspirations, needs and interests of teachers, as they are key factors in the complex world of teaching and learning. Therefore…