This article provides qualitative information chronicling the study-abroad experiences of eight Erasmus+ students. Data were obtained from the analysis of focus-group discussions, e-journal narratives, plus background and language contact questionnaires. Combined, such data illustrate the participants' discursive positions on their socialisation…

This paper draws on the qualitative findings of a Master's research study which focused on the unique voice of neurodiverse students' lived experiences in Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses in Ireland. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with neurodiverse learners in 2021 and these findings, with relevance to the Further Education and…

Field teaching is an essential component of botany and ecology; however, field classes were among the most likely to be cancelled during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual alternatives that could be used to meet learning outcomes for botany (e.g. plant identification, surveying skills development) were largely unavailable at this…

There has been much debate about the increasing use of technology in all learning, training and development contexts. In the case of higher education, although technology may not have fundamentally changed teaching practices, students report how several technologies and applications help with their learning, research and collaborative activities.…

COVID-19 had direct impact on education systems worldwide with school closures affecting learning for many students, including gifted adolescents. This study explored students' perceptions of emergency online learning at school and how these differed to in-person classes and online classes they attended in the Centre for Talented Youth, Ireland…

Background: The principal destinations for school leavers with intellectual disabilities from special schools in Ireland are further education (FE) through providers such as the National Learning Network or training and employment (TE) within adult day services and rehabilitation centres. In 2015, a number of inherent barriers to participation in…

In Ireland, the past ten years have seen the emergence of new policies and practices in initial teacher education (ITE) in response to national priorities and the professed aim of progressing standards. A key mechanism of this process was to universally extend the duration of postgraduate ITE programs from twelve to twenty-four months to broaden…

Care-experienced children and young people are likely to experience early adversities that place them at increased risk of developing physical and mental health difficulties. Physical activity can help address the varied needs and interests of care-experienced children and young people and become a tool to manage mental health and well-being…

Paraprofessional support to enable access to education has developed in differing directions in a range of countries. In Ireland, the role of the special needs assistant has focused on supporting the additional care needs of children with special educational needs to ensure their participation in lessons. The role of the special needs assistant…

This study examines gender differences in students' attitudes to mathematics in Irish post-primary schools. Large-scale international assessments have shown the achievement gap between boys and girls to be narrowing in recent years, particularly in lower post-primary education. However, women and girls remain significantly under-represented in…

This article reports on a teacher-researcher's efforts to understand tensions and dilemmas encountered during a doctoral narrative inquiry research project with eight children in an urban, multidenominational primary school in the east of Ireland. Using a narrative inquiry framework and focusing on the teacher-researcher's experiences, this…

In March 2020, Irish universities closed their doors and teaching, learning and assessment moved online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper arises from a Dublin City University (DCU) research study with a three-fold purpose: (1) Examine the sudden transition of large classes (100+ students) from face-to-face teaching and learning to remote…

Class swapping is the process whereby a generalist primary school teacher with a particular subject expertise and interest swaps classes with a teacher colleague and they teach each other's class a specific area of the curriculum. Instances of class swapping for physical education (PE) have been noted in many countries, but there is currently no…

There are a handful of programmes in higher education that offer students a "joint" international study programme and research shows that students have certain levels of anxiety when starting studying in such graduate programmes. This study aimed to explore levels of student anxiety and investigates the prerequisite skills in order to…

Guided by Dewey's [1966. "Democracy and education." New York: The Free Press] concept of 'education as growth', the purpose of this paper is to explore learners' enactments of student voice in Physical Education (PE) at a time of curricular reform. A qualitative comparative case study design gathered data from 18 students across 10…