The European Framework for Key Competences (2006) promotes a shared European identity as a priority for assuring a cohesive future for the European Union (EU), yet the development of a discrete European identity remains acutely contentious, with critics claiming it is too shallow to support the bonds of solidarity needed to engender and support a…

This study shows the transformative potential of action research and information and communications technology (ICT) in the second language (L2) classroom. Two enquiries from teacher-researchers are detailed in the article. Their engagement in a collaborative professional development Masters programme was pivotal in designing and implementing ICT…

Between 2001 and 2007 I conducted a self-study action research enquiry into my practice as a primary school teacher. The research had a collaborative aspect to it, in so far as my pupils and colleagues were invited to participate in the research, although I was the focus of the enquiry. I was unhappy about my teaching: I felt I dominated the…

Although we were required to lecture to large groups of over 170 students, the traditional lecture clashed with our commitment to teach in a way that was student-centred, relational and socially and politically transformative. In this context, and using an action research approach, we sought to turn our large-group lectures into a space that both…

This paper provides insights into teaching and learning based on the analysis of an accredited professional development program, entitled the Postgraduate Certificate in Third Level Learning and Teaching, aimed at lecturing staff/faculty in Irish higher education. The program has its theoretical basis in the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle (Kolb,…

This book contains 12 papers exploring the problem of strengthening the notion of the United Kingdom as a learning society by making the country's higher education system more responsive to the various social groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in all areas of the nation's formal, postcompulsory education system. The following…