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In Ireland, as with many international jurisdictions, digital technology is firmly positioned at the core of educational discourses. However, despite a rise in 'techno-positivity' among professionals in schools, these positive attitudes do not seem to permeate through to practice nor in effective learning outcomes. As a result, given the introduction of the Digital Learning Framework in the Irish schooling system, this study focuses on the initial experiences of those who lead the initiative within their respective schools and the contextual nuances they must navigate in the design of the enactment. This qualitative study comprised in-depth interviews with the Digital Learning Leaders of 10 different schools. Data evidenced the initial organisational considerations a leader must reckon with during the planning phase, and early indications of pedagogical impact, leading to a conclusion regarding contextual literacy. The research also highlights the subtle policy shift of embedding digital technologies within school evaluation mechanisms, heightening a sense of accountability associated with successful enactment.

School leadership and school self-evaluations (SSE) have emerged as central to school improvement and effectiveness. In Irish policy, SSE has had a challenging history as several attempts to embed SSEs have been met by poor clarity around roles of responsibility, a moratorium on middle leadership appointments and more laterally, a global pandemic. However, schools providing for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, known as DEIS schools, have proved quite successful in SSEs for over 15 years. This study aimed to explore the leadership and school self-evaluation experiences in DEIS schools. This small-scale qualitative study comprised in-depth interviews with school leaders in DEIS schools. The themes identified suggest how leaders negotiate a dichotomised societal perspective of DEIS schools, and how culture and structure facilitate an empowered collective. The research also highlights SSEs as a space for professionals to also consider their own professional learning in the form of job-crafting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the vision, strategy and leadership support structures for Irish primary schools where leadership is specifically referenced, with focus on links to transformational and distributed school leadership. Of particular interest is how transformational and distributed leadership models could aid effective and sustainable leadership enactment in times of exceptional change. This article offers new insights into primary school and system leaders' perceptions of transformational school leadership and the factors that facilitate and/or inhibit transformational school leadership for the whole school community with a qualitative study. The overarching research question comprised: what are the perceptions of primary school and system leaders relating to the facilitating and inhibiting factors affecting the implementation of transformational school leadership, and is this model perceived to build relations with parents and the wider school community? The data highlight several factors that transcend both transformational and distributed leadership and, with previous research by these authors, inform the construction of a synthesised model of transformational and distributed school leadership for the whole school community aligned with the most recent Irish primary school policy document—'Looking at Our School 2022: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools and Special Schools (LAOS)'. The authors also accompany this model with a roadmap that may support approaches to school leadership practice for the whole school community, at the primary and post-primary levels, in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts a phenomenological-oriented approach to explore the perceptions of a small cohort of teachers about teacher pedagogical well-being (TPWB), the experience of which is intimately connected with a teacher's sense of self-care. Existing Finnish research on this topic informed the design of semi-structured interviews across two schools. The findings were analysed initially with reference to the existing research. It identified management and collegial support, as well as student engagement as cornerstones for TPWB. In order to extend the analysis beyond the existing research, the Foucaudian optic of governmentality was introduced, in particular, Stephen Ball's application of it for education. This highlighted the extent to which the experience of TPWB, of teachers' sense of self-care, can be impacted by the culture of performativity. Significantly, it also emerged that a teacher's capacity for self-definition, for reflexivity, can offer a mantle of resistance for the being of a teacher, especially at a time when they are being subjected to governance by performativity.

This study explores the experiences of workplace ill-treatment of academic staff in the Irish Higher Education sector, with a focus on organizational response to experienced or witnessed workplace bullying and/or incivility. Workplace bullying is a significant problem, affecting approximately 15% of the workforce, with considerable variation by sector. Educational workplaces typically display prevalence rates that exceed average workplace bullying rates. The negative impacts on health and well-being are well documented and evidence is also emerging to show that organizational responses are less than optimal. The data collected comprise 11 qualitative in-depth interviews with academic staff in three of Ireland's seven Universities. Applying a phenomenological analysis approach, data revealed that participants' experiences were overwhelmingly negative in respect of organizational response, despite the fact that each University had an anti-bullying policy. This is explored and discussed in the context of failure to address the complex power relations, which are particularly relevant in professional organizations, intensified by current changes in the higher educational sector. Study limitations include the small number of Universities and small sample size, thus limiting generalizability.

Teachers of English experience significant pressure in attempting to meet the requirements of the national examination system, while also seeking to uphold their own ideological and philosophical perspectives on the value of poetry. Drawing on a mixed method study into the teaching of poetry at post-primary level in Ireland conducted between 2007 and 2010, this paper examines current methodological trends in poetry pedagogy. The research identifies a marked imbalance in the prioritisation of pupil development, with many teachers privileging the cognitive development of pupils' poetic understanding over the affective. The paper also suggests limited attention to the interwoven dimensions of the affective and cognitive domains in the teaching of poetry at senior cycle level in Irish schools. This paper advocates the need to support teachers to develop an integrated pedagogy for teaching poetry in second-level schools, which engages both the critical and the creative in a meaningful manner. (Contains 1 table.)

The United National Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) emphasises the need for those with disabilities to be guaranteed full access to participation in society (United Nations, 2006). This rights-based approach in higher education foregrounds the importance of removing practical and attitudinal barriers within how institutions, or staff, interact with students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) that facilitate their access. This chapter summarises the key findings of my PhD thesis where I use my unique positioning as a TBI survivor and status as a PhD student to gain deeper understanding of the experience of access for neurodiverse students in higher education. I contend that we can be marginalised in these settings. In this chapter, I argue for the importance of student voice in decision and policymaking processes in higher education, aligning with 'nothing about us, without us' (Charlton, 2000). A blended methodology of autoethnography and phenomenology was used in my scholarship, which meant listening to the perspectives of students with TBI who often navigate the educational environment differently. Loss, change of identity and care are significant factors in shaping experiences. This research has much to offer as it uses the researcher's and participant's voices to transform rather than maintain the status quo regarding access for students with TBI. Inclusive education must place flexibility and diversity at its core and consider the person when putting academic programmes and support in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout countries such as Ireland, the U.K., and Australia, graduate students who fulfill teaching roles in the undergraduate laboratory are often referred to as "laboratory demonstrators". The laboratory demonstrator (LD) model of graduate teaching is similar to the more commonly known graduate teaching assistant (GTA) model that is prevalent in the United States. While the responsibilities of LDs and GTAs in the undergraduate laboratory are similar, both cohorts experience different recruitment and training processes that can influence their teaching behaviors. With respect to enhancing the teaching capability of GTAs, considerable research has investigated the design, implementation, and evaluation of various GTA teacher development programs as well as identified various factors that influence their teaching behaviors. However, there has been relatively less research devoted to enhancing the teaching capability of LDs. This research study set out to inform the design of a teacher development program for graduate students who fulfill LD roles. This study involved the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data as a means of comparing LDs (N = 28) and undergraduate students' (N = 224) perceptions of LDs' responsibilities in addressing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning experiences in the noninquiry general chemistry laboratory. In catering to the misalignment of perceived LD responsibilities, this research offers faculty the evidence-align-develop framework that can inform the design of a teacher development program for LDs. Given the similarities between LDs and GTAs with respect to their status as graduate students, their relative experience in learning chemistry, as well as their role in the laboratory, this framework can also inform the design of GTA teacher development programs.