There is a shift towards increased accountability and assessment in schools and this is echoed in an Irish context, with assessment a neglected area of study in teacher education programmes. The aim of this study is to explore teacher educators understanding of school-based assessment practices and how they prepare pre-service teachers to assess…

The key problem under interrogation in this case study is how to conduct decolonizing research in education policy in a fast-globalising world where inequalities and injustices are experiencing rapid and exponential growth. I will argue that for research to be decolonizing it needs to be in the direction of emancipation and human freedom and not…

As part of an international collaborative design-based research initiative, this study examines the applications and perceptions of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) among pre-service primary teachers within an Irish educational program. It focuses on how personal and academic uses of Gen AI influence their perceptions of using Gen AI…

The power and value of mathematics cannot be underestimated. Mathematics is essential in the workplace, for economic growth, for technological advancements and as part of our cultural heritage. Despite this, research reports that second-level students do not appreciate the value of mathematics and fail to see its relevance. One potential reason…

Perceptions of quality physical education (QPE) can vary among teachers, due to the many discourses influencing physical education (PE) provision. There are concerns that the educative purposes of PE are not being fulfilled in its current state. This study aims to investigate PE specialism graduates' (PESGs') understanding of QPE, and how these…

The language teaching landscape in Ireland has changed considerably over the last 30 years as a result of substantial and sustained inward migration into the country during this period. These social and demographic developments have added to the country's already bilingual context and created a much more varied multilingual landscape than had…

This research critically examines the efforts of the British State and the various churches to re-vision the character and status of elementary school teachers in Ireland between the 1830s and the 1920s. In a climate of regular political revolution and denominational hostility, the Westminster government and all churches were anxious to promote…

This paper reports on the first phase of a longitudinal project investigating the perceived purposes that different stakeholders have for primary physical education (PE). In the study, the views of 19 teacher educators from seven countries across Europe were sought. While teacher educators may have some influence across the layers of an education…

In the two decades preceding Irish independence the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge, founded 1893), an organisation dedicated to the revival of the Irish language, campaigned to persuade both national and intermediate commissioners of education to reposition the language within the curriculum to reflect what the League believed was both its…

Global competence is an increasingly important disposition for today's society. Prospective teachers will have to be able to teach effectively in multicultural classrooms as well as develop dispositions of global competence in their future students. This pilot study was aimed at investigating what aspects of global competence should be integrated…

It is timely to pause as we reach the centenary of the creation of the contested border which divides Ireland and the advent of Brexit to examine teacher education across the island, revealing intersecting contrasts and similarities which reflect both common origins and increasing divergences. The relatively high esteem of both scholarship and of…

Delivering physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes through online platforms has been proposed as an alternative (or complementary) to traditional in-person modes of learning. Focusing on empirical studies, this mixed studies review explores the use of online teaching and learning in PETE and synthesises literature published between…

This paper reports on an investigation examining provision of physical education continuing professional development (CPD) in European countries undertaken to identify the types of practices being employed. We begin by providing a brief overview of what we currently know about CPD internationally in general education and physical education. Data…

In this research, we investigate the concerns regarding a national mathematics curricular reform of a cohort of student teachers over the course of their 2-year postgraduate initial teacher education (ITE) programme. The concerns of 41 student teachers from four third-level institutions in Ireland were initially recorded at the commencement of…

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…