This paper charts the development of one of Ireland's first comprehensive schools located in Carraroe in County Galway. Through a systematic, historical analysis of Department of Education and diocesan correspondence, this article provides a unique insight into how official policy was reconciled at ground level. The analysis exposes the ambiguity…

A long tradition of both State and religious interest and support characterised provision for education on the island of Ireland from the 1700s. Following the partition of Ireland in the 1920s, the newly created political entities of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland forged separate and distinct education policy trajectories that largely…

Futures research is gaining increased prominence in educational research and development (Tesar, 2021), and particularly now as we emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has provided a lever for change and an opportunity for innovation in learning, teaching and assessment (Hall et al., 2020; Jandric et al., 2022; Tesar, 2020). Designing…

Recent decades have witnessed a change in European governments' policies from benign neglect to active management of religious diversity, where Islam is often seen as the most challenging religion for the European social order. However, the ways in which this 'management' is justified and undertaken varies from country to country and depends on…

This paper provides a comparative analysis of policies, strategies and programmes for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration in primary and post-primary education, that were active in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and in the Republic of Ireland in 2016. The analysis showed that while KSA was a relative newcomer to the…

The rapidity of change in Irish early childhood policy over the last 20 years is clear to observers (OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Ireland. "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development," Paris, 2004). What may be debated is how significant the changes are. In this paper, we analyse…

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…

The article looks at two important documents in the context of education policy in Ireland: the Higher Education Authority's "Strategic Plan 2008-2010" and the Government's report, "Building Ireland's Smart Economy." It demonstrates how the entrepreneurial student is fabricated out of particular truths told about the present…

This essay argues for the development of a research agenda on the comparative history of Catholic education internationally from the nineteenth century to the present. This requires, in the first instance, the production of a series of individual-country case studies, concentrating on relations between the Catholic Church and the particular state…

Due to the historical arrangement between Church and State, the Irish State has always discharged its duty to provide for free primary education exclusively through the provision of funding to privately owned and managed schools. Consequently, in "O'Keeffe" v. "Hickey," where a woman sued the State in respect of sex abuse she…

Health care systems worldwide are experiencing similar pressures such as rising cost, aging populations, and increased burden of disease. While policy makers in all countries face these challenges, their responses must consider local pressures, particularly the implicit social contract between the state, medicine, and insurers. We argue that…

This article presents a review of seven national governments' online collections of adult literacy-related research. This study explored the type of learning associated with official web spaces by asking the following research questions: (1) What kind of research do these governments present on their websites? (2) How is the presentation…

Claims that global trends toward deregulation in the telecommunication and media field are affecting national domestic communication policies of individual European states. Explains how the case of Ireland illustrates that public service media systems of Western Europe are being integrated into an international marketplace dominated by U.S.…

The pros and cons of government intervention in technical education, especially that of engineers, are discussed in the context of Ireland's efforts to support technological manpower development by predicting manpower needs, setting up institutions, and giving financial support. (MSE)

In this paper, the author looks at the state of adult education in Ireland. He is suggesting that the state here means both the condition in which one now finds adult education and the role of the Irish State in adult education. He briefly outlines some recent developments in adult education, makes some critical comments on the state of adult…