Teacher educators act as a conduit to student teachers of policy and this has an impact on practice. Changes in policy affect how subjects are viewed in terms of their importance. This research seeks to explore the apparent increase in emphasis on wellbeing development in policy which influences the work of arts teacher educators, alongside a…

This article is a reflective, research-informed, commentary on educational disadvantage from two lecturers in Education who have spent large proportions of their professional lives working in 'DEIS' school settings before transitioning into teacher education. This reflection intends to problematise the concept of educational disadvantage and will…

Micro-credentials (MCs) are gaining traction in higher education, aligning with Open, Flexible, and Distance Learning (OFDL) ideals. Despite the growing interest, their full impact on academia is still being debated. This highlights the need for research into the institutional factors essential for integrating MCs successfully, particularly as…

There is considerable rhetoric internationally around the need for national curricula to reflect the changes that are taking place in the world outside school. This raises questions about what a quality curriculum in a technological era should look like, and equally challenging issues about how to achieve the necessary changes in schooling in…

The process of curriculum making and educational policy development is contentious, and, as such, is emblematic of societal values as a whole, and, more significantly, the power relations and economic trends within that. Recent education developments in the Republic of Ireland pertaining to primary level have seen a marked shift away from a broad…

The four perspectives in this paper were first presented as an interactive research/workshop symposium at RIME 9. The purpose of the symposium was to connect new media scholar Henry Jenkins's theory of 'participatory culture' (1992, 2006, 2009) to possible practices of 'participatory culture' in diverse music teaching and learning contexts. We…

This study examines the experiences of teachers in the Republic of Ireland, as agents of the pedagogic device, in enacting curriculum policy at the micro level of the classroom. It explores their enactment of policy at a time of significant curriculum reform of junior secondary school education. Drawing upon the findings of in-depth interviews…

The more recent discussion in Ireland around post-primary teachers being responsible for assessing their own students' work continues. The new junior cycle reform (covering the first three years of post-primary education) is concerned with making fundamental changes in approaches to learning, teaching, curriculum and assessment, with school-based…

The prominence afforded to literacy in the Irish Primary School Curriculum has received considerable attention in recent years, spurred by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings, governmental priorities, public commentary and academic debate. At times, this discourse has presented literacy as a separate and distinct entity…

This paper is a response to David Limond's exposition, "[An] historical culture ... rapidly, universally, and thoroughly restored"? British influence on Irish education since 1922, which appeared in "Comparative Education", Vol. 46, No. 4, November 2010, pp. 449-462. Limond's overall thesis is that "a post-colonial…

Civic engagement in higher education encompasses a diversity of goals, strategies and activities. These include particular approaches to teaching and learning--community-based or service learning--which share an explicit civic focus and combine the features of experiential learning with opportunities for engagement. A range of…

Innovation is essential for the education sector. The ways in which curriculum decision making is organised reflects different implicit approaches on how educational systems pertain to promote innovation in education. Curriculum holds an outstanding place when seeking to promote innovation in education, as it reflects the vision for education by…

Curriculum revision is an important part of academic work. Despite theoretical literature on curriculum development and design, there is a scarcity of literature available for either academic staff or novice educational developers on the initiation of this curriculum revision process. This study, therefore, set out to explore the practices of…

Consistent with the impact of globalisation and international social movements in general, the rather conservative and stable educational system in Ireland has been buffeted severely over the past two decades by a major acceleration in the pace of change and the extent of policy churn. Now that the Celtic Tiger has died, it is a time for…

Within a theoretical framework drawn from Bourdieu, this article explores the relationship between undergraduate students' experiences of music in higher education and their musical backgrounds and prior music education experiences. More critically, this study aims to discover whether ideologies surrounding musical value impact on the student…