This paper offers a comprehensive account of Irish teachers' perspectives on life inside schools in England, as reported in empirical studies. The research literature shows that Irish teachers report experiencing intense pressure from the inspectorate, but also internally as a consequence of the demands placed on English schools. Within these…

Ten years on from the formation of SOLAS (An tSeirbhís Oideachais Leanúnaig agus Scileanna) and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in Ireland, it is appropriate to reflect on where adult education lies in the new Further Education and Training (FET) sector. This paper uses Denis O'Sullivan's schematisation of policy paradigms (2005) as an…

Self-evaluation, a devolved, rigorous form of teacher inspection, has increasingly been promoted in educational circles as a way to balance both teacher autonomy and accountability. Such balancing acts help to alleviate anxiety around inspection, for the teacher who would otherwise face a visit from an inspector, and for the public who are…

In this piece the author provides a critical response to the new 'Looking at Our School' quality framework in Ireland and illustrates how policy overlooks critical scholarship. The author questions the claim that the updated policy reflects recent thinking and developments, and critiques the policy's stance on notions of both distributed…

Higher education (HE) is usually seen as serving the public good, especially when funded directly by the state, and because of potential social effects such as a reduction in inequality and an increase in social mobility. Public support for higher education is conditional; however, on its capacity, capability and willingness to educate citizens,…

This article presents critical commentary on the relationship between wider policy in Ireland for children, and the practice of social workers and social care workers who work with children on the ground level. An overview of the current policy context for children is achieved through a focused commentary on the literature. This operates around…

A major aim of this paper is to draw attention to the insidious manner in which the deficit discourse and practices associated with neoliberal reform are de- or re-professionalising educationists through an acculturation process. In the context of Ireland, as elsewhere, the author identifies how the three "technologies" of Market,…

The current recessionary economic climate in Ireland has (re-) awakened a neoliberal agenda that is changing the dynamic of what is being valued within research assessment exercises, specifically across Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) disciplines in higher education. Research assessment exercises in AHSS disciplines now place a greater…

The Skills for Jobs White Paper and funding and accountability consultation set out the Government's plans to introduce a greater focus on the outcomes of learning, including a new Skills Measure that looks at the employment and other outcomes that learners achieve. Will this give colleges and providers greater freedom to deliver for learners, or…

This paper analyses the role of rankings as an instrument of new managerialism. It shows how rankings are reconstituting the purpose of universities, the role of academics and the definition of what it is to be a student. The paper opens by examining the forces that have facilitated the emergence of the ranking industry and the ideologies…

Self-evaluation in inspection policy has become a global phenomenon. The idea is that it increases levels of teacher and school autonomy, wherein both schools and teachers have more ownership and responsibility over their work. In turn, such a process has allowed for greater accountability, which is then said to provide high quality education and,…

Further education typically represents the vocational, technical and practice-based forms of education, but this is now being repositioned in a neo-liberal era that is driving a performance-based and market-orientated vision of education in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere. The implacable drive of neo-liberal economics in everyday practice is…

In this paper, I argue for more and better learning metrics in higher education, eventually through an international, comparative assessment of students' learning outcomes. Better learning measures may help to improve transparency in the system by addressing the information asymmetry problem. If not addressed adequately, the lack of transparency…

This study considers the extensive critique of the impact of the "market" or "neoliberal" model on learning and its outcomes in the light of alternative models. The purpose is to consider the potential impacts of the market on learning and its outcomes and to contextualise critique by considering alternative coordination…

"An overview of contemporary curriculum discourse shows a worrying drift to the technical; in current curriculum debates, technique is winning out over substance, procedure over principles" (Looney 2001, p.149). As a project worker in the School Completion Programme in Ireland I ask what and who education is for and look at to whom and…