In Ireland, hospital schools comprise a very small component of the overall primary and post-primary education system. Indeed, there are only seven hospital schools employing a total of 21 teachers nationally. Given the size and uniqueness of this education setting, opportunities for teacher continuous professional development are limited. This…

In social work with children and families, the use of the articles of the UNCRC to inform our understanding of parents and parenting is often overshadowed by the necessary focus on the UNCRC articles as they pertain to the rights of children. Yet, the UNCRC is crucial to our understanding of parenthood because it both defines the role and…

An effective system of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) requires assessment processes that are appropriate for the nature of the experiential learning being assessed. Otherwise, potential candidates may be discouraged from engaging in RPL applications and therefore not benefit from the lifelong learning opportunities available. It has been…

Qualifications frameworks are tools for describing qualifications of an education or training system by classifying them into levels. Each level provides a clear description of what the holder of a qualification knows, understands and is able to do. They are important tools for making qualifications transparent and comprehensible, within and…

In this paper, we explore second-level students' understanding of the concept of creativity and the implications for their engagement in class-based assessments. We propose that creativity represents an important outcome of education, particularly at second level. We use a single case study, with data presented from a series of semi-structured…

This paper explores the use and impact of experiential learning initiatives in an entrepreneurial university. Data are taken from two sources: interviews with eight academic managers and six focus groups with learners. A mix of narrative structuring and thematic analysis is used to explore the design, delivery and assessment of experiential…

Qualifications frameworks are tools for describing qualifications of an education or training system by classifying them into levels. Each level provides a clear description of what the holder of a qualification knows, understands and is able to do. They are important tools for making qualifications transparent and comprehensible, within and…

As higher education quality assurance in many countries in Europe has become a mature activity, some agencies carrying out external quality assurance are developing beyond their core tasks and missions. The current study identifies new tasks taken up within quality assurance agencies and analyses the drivers behind such development. Based on an…

In March 2020 the See Her Elected (SHE) programme moved its political education platform online in an initiative named SHESchool. The purpose of this case study is two-fold. Firstly, it provides an account of how an ability to adapt swiftly to the COVID-19 crisis created a successful online element to a project with a strong community education…

This practice-based case study explores how digital education practices within an inclusive, supportive environment can help to transform the practice and meet the specific needs of adult literacy education practitioners in their specific contexts. In an effort to contribute to discourse in relation to what works in various programmes and…

This study contributes a perspective on work-integrated learning (WIL) through the lens of South-North collaboration. The research question was: How might sharing experiences of WIL in different contexts enhance WIL practice in a local context? The purposive sample of twelve case studies; South Africa (n=6) and Ireland (n=6), represented business,…

Stress is an inevitable part of school leadership. However, little is known about the main causes of school leaders' stress in Ireland, and their association with workplace wellbeing and leaders' daily responsibilities. The current paper aimed to address this gap. A cross-sectional, mixed-methods design survey was conducted with 267 school leaders…

Digital education is intertwined with matters of global economics, geopolitics, as well as ongoing changes in what counts as knowledge, skills and learning. We have witnessed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic how technology has been embraced within education from online classes to innovative mobile learning approaches and evaluating humanoid robots…

Understanding Nature of Science (NOS) is a requisite for improving scientific literacy, and as such, it is increasingly being included in science curricula worldwide. It is now therefore important that teachers understand NOS so that intended learning outcomes become visible in the classroom. Pre-service teachers also need an opportunity to…

Creative problem-solving has been identified as one of the most critical future-proof skillsets we can develop in our society. When educating future designers, entrepreneurship skills are now considered essential; however, designers find it difficult to establish themselves as entrepreneurs. Therefore, graduate designers are increasingly in need…