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Thirty-one participants engaged in this oral history research study aimed at exploring the lived experience of intellectual disability nurses and healthcare assistants' knowledge of the trajectory of intellectual disability nursing over the last 30 years in the Republic of Ireland and England. This paper documents some of these experiences offering perspectives on intellectual disability nursing and what is important for the future. Findings from Ireland consider the nature of intellectual disability services and the registered nurse in intellectual disability. Findings from England focus on opportunities and restrictions in intellectual disability nursing, shared visions, the changing context within which work took place and also the internal and external supports that impacted their roles. It is evident that intellectual disability nurses must be responsive to the changing landscape of service provision and also the requirements for contemporary new roles to meet the changing needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

In many contexts, there has been a rapid increase in the visibility of trans* lives in the public sphere. Much educational research has focused on how to make life better for trans* children and young people in schools. This paper moves sideways from this concern to explore how public discourses around trans* lives and the individual labour of bodies are changing the shape of gender in schools and society. Ireland offers an insightful site for this inquiry because, following the Gender Recognition Act (2015) and the Marriage Equality Act (2015), trans* lives have become more visible in the public sphere and there has been a heightened concern for trans* children and young people in schools. This paper draws on an analysis of how trans* people are represented in the media as well as in a selection of accounts from the primary school community of a trans* child. Framed by debates about gender intelligibility, normativity and transgression, the paper elucidates how, as trans* visibility increases, the disciplinary terms of gender are reproduced with ambivalent effects. It argues against individualised and simplistic approaches to trans* identities in schools and raises questions about new gender possibilities in schooling contexts.

Northern Ireland endured a quarter century of political violence from 1969 until the declaration of ceasefires in 1994. Although a political settlement was signed in 1998, the actual implementation of agreed institutions has proved to be very difficult and the actual institutions have been fragile (and are currently under suspension). The purpose of this paper is to examine aspects of the role of education through the years of violence and in the post-conflict situation. The education system in Northern is divided on the basis of religion, with less than 10% of pupils attending mixed religion schools. There have been a variety of curricular and other initiatives over the years, but their success to date has been limited. The paper will argue that the contribution of education to more positive community relations has been limited because of a tendency to over-privilege difference. More particularly, the paper will argue that education has failed to grapple with the main consequence of separate schools which is that they perpetuate divisions in the wider society. The paper will suggest that if education is to serve as a vehicle for promoting a discourse of a common good and contribute to the construction of the architecture of a shared society then a more proactive approach will be needed in future. The two main initiatives that provide the possibility for such a contribution are the development of a programme for local and global citizenship and support for partnership activities between schools.

This paper focuses on a generational change taking place in the Polish academic profession: a change in behaviors and attitudes between two groups of academics. One was socialized to academia under the communist regime (1945-1989) and the other entered the profession in the post-1989 transition period. Academics of all age groups are beginning to learn how tough the competition for research funding is, but young academics ("academics under 40"), being the target of recent policy initiatives, need to learn faster. Current reforms present a clear preferred image for a new generation of Polish academics: highly motivated, embedded in international research networks, publishing mostly internationally, and heavily involved in the competition for academic recognition and research funding. In the long run, without such a radical approach, any international competition between young Polish academics (with a low research orientation and high teaching hours) and their young Western European colleagues (with a high research orientation and low teaching hours) seems inconceivable, as our data on the average academic productivity clearly demonstrate. The quantitative background of this paper comes from 3704 returned questionnaires and the qualitative background from 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews. The paper takes a European comparative approach and contrasts Poland with 10 Western European countries (using 17,211 returned questionnaires).

This paper examines the role of William Graham Brooke as advocate of women's higher education and access to university. His work as advocate is considered against the religious, political, social and economic backdrop of late nineteenth century Ireland. A barrister, as Clerk in the Lord Chancellor's office, he was centrally involved in the organisation of Anglican schooling as part of a broader Irish-Church re-structuring in the wake of its Disestablishment (1869). For Brooke, education, including the education of women, constituted a single project; it was also a public project. He was ideally positioned to execute his role as advocate: descending from a family with a long tradition of involvement in Church education, Brooke had a thorough knowledge of the problems confronting women in education and in the workplace. The paper traces how Brooke, in a largely male-dominated society, exploited the relationships between the various bodies with which he had close connections to enable women to fruitfully engage with these same bodies in order to facilitate their access to university.

Since the Dakar Framework for Action, governments around the world, especially in Western societies, have reaffirmed their commitment to a quality education for all in an inclusive environment. The purpose of this paper is to understand the barriers that prevent an education system from guaranteeing an inclusive education for all and for children with learning difficulties and disabilities, in particular. It is based upon the assumption that bringing about the shift envisioned within the UN CRPD requires societal changes in attitudes, beliefs and assumptions about disability, diversity and difference. It is suggested that societal values form the bedrock of an education system. In order to bring about the changes envisioned by the UN CRPD, it is necessary to reflect upon these values and their impact on educational discourse, policy and practice. This paper examines whether a correlation exists between the values underlying a society and its approach to inclusive education for children with learning difficulties and disabilities. Put another way, assessing the influence of societal values on the design of an education system, and on its approach to special education, may clarify the barriers to, and changes required for, the implementation of an inclusive education system.

This paper is a historical review, documenting the evolution of Home Economics as a subject in Irish primary and post-primary education from the 1800s to the twenty-first century. In the 1800s and early twentieth-century domestic subjects, including cookery, was widely taught to females in both primary and post-primary schools. The philosophical underpinning of the subject was to enhance the quality of life for families. The subject remained a popular choice for young women up until the establishment of the Irish Free State which, thereafter, witnessed many changes in the teaching of cookery and domestic science in primary and post-primary schools. The core ideology of the subject has remained relevant and it aims to provide students with knowledge, practical skills, understanding and attitudes for everyday life as individuals and as family members. This reflects the richness of the subject from the past and the relevance of the subject in addressing issues of a twenty-first century society.

A strong current in contemporary Catholic thought -- the theology of interreligious or interfaith dialogue -- stresses the importance of dialogue and collaboration with followers of other world faiths. This article proposes that religious education in Catholic schools, particularly at post-primary level, needs to engage more with this theological resource in order to promote mutual understanding and collaboration in today's climate of growing cultural and religious pluralism in Western Europe. Such work, it is also argued, is particularly challenging and urgent given the reality of the limited and limiting approaches to religious education, especially in regards to Islam, currently found in state schools in England and France. The paper proposes the development of models of religious education predicated on valuable theological insights inherent in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and subsequent post-conciliar and theological reflection. It begins with some comments on Western Europe's changing social, cultural and religious circumstances.

The focus of Thematic Working Group 1 at EDUsummIT 2017 centred on the need for alignment in education systems and was driven by two key questions relating to (a) if and how all the parts of an education system work together to support the type of learning envisioned in the twenty-first century, and (b) if there is alignment, what is the purpose/vision of that education system and does it meet the needs of its learners. Arising from the discussions held, the group advocated the use of a tool such as the UNESCO framework (ICT competency standards for teachers: competency standards modules, UNESCO, Paris, 2008a; ICT competency standards for teachers: policy framework, UNESCO, Paris, 2011) as a way to conceptualize a systemic approach to reform and to enable policy makers and stakeholders in a system to think about ways in which they can align changes with the goals of any proposed reform. Taking the Irish Education system as an example, this paper illustrates how the UNESCO framework has enabled policy makers in Ireland to adopt a systemic approach to policy formulation which aligns educational strategies across a range of elements "to leverage strengths, coordinate investments, consolidate gains, and advance national development goals and visions" ("Kozma in Hum Technol Interdiscip J Hum ICT Environ" 1(2):117-156, 2005). To counter the potential danger of a top-down imposition of the UNESCO framework, the group also proposed the Educational Vision and Mission Framework (EVMF) as a tool to support system wide (both top-down and bottom-up) reflection on the purposes of schooling in a rapidly changing world. The group concluded that what is defined as the purpose of education should inform alignment and suggest that application of the UNESCO framework and EVMF could enable the necessary alignment to support the educational, social, and economic transformation necessary for the complex connected global world of today and tomorrow.

Irish society has experienced unprecedented demographic change since the turn of the twenty-first century, and increasingly, educators are facing the prospect of having to respond to the changing nature of cultural diversity in their classrooms. Traditionally characterised as"Catholic, white and Gaelic", Irish schools are said to be finding it difficult to recognise and acknowledge new expressions of race, culture and religion. This paper focuses on the challenges facing educationalists in responding to cultural diversity within the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on empirical research conducted in Irish schools, we frame the discussion around a number of practical issues, namely, school dress, curriculum content and academic attainment, and explore the findings using liberal and critical multicultural theories. Finally, the paper contains philosophical discussion of the challenge of responding to cultural diversity and the implications this raises for policy and practice in Ireland.

The spectacular growth and equally spectacular decline of the eighteenth-century charity school movement prompts this examination of the contribution made by the movement to nineteenth-century schooling--particularly superior or secondary schooling. Educational historians have argued that the movement was a failure. This paper argues that only in the case of one charity school-type--the charity day school--may failure be safely attributed to the charity school movement. The charity boarding schools, hospitals and asylums were far from being a failure. Indeed, in nineteenth-century Ireland, these schools, in response to social change, advanced from "straw bonnets" to superior schooling. Historians have also noted that the real difficulty surrounding the charity school is that of defining it. For Jones, it was an omnibus term that embraced all schools of a like nature. And indeed charity schools constitute a broad genre of schooling. In order to qualify the received assessment of the charity school movement in terms of "failure", it has been found necessary to classify the charity school types within the broad genre they constitute. The paper assembles a number of charity school types and identifies the charity boarding school as that institution that successfully made the transition to superior status. The characteristics of the superiorisation process are outlined, as are the unique circumstances of nineteenth-century Ireland that facilitated, indeed required, it. (Contains 95 footnotes.)

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the four education projects that demonstrate how Irish education provision is adapting to meet social and economic changes: Ubuntu Network working to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into teacher education; Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) facilitating service learning modules at higher education; Young Social Innovators (YSI), a social justice education programme for 15-18 year olds; and a study of Irish students' levels of moral reasoning. Four commonalities are identified between the projects: critical thinking, active and participatory learning, knowledge skills and social justice. Discussion highlights features of the Irish education system that contrast with these commonalities and impact on their long-term objectives, which may in fact hinder the development of engaged learners. Design/methodology/approach: Four commonalities were identified at the roundtable discussions at the Irish Aid Sustainable Global Development Conference. Each commonality is discussed from the perspective of the projects described and contrasted against core features of Irish education. Findings: All four education projects make positive contributions to civic engagement in Irish education, acknowledging education as central to active citizenship, social awareness, and empowerment of learners. Originality/value: Discussion centres on how Irish education provision is adapting to meet social and economic changes. The paper argues that distinctive features of the Irish education system and the prevailing culture of Irish education do not lend themselves to social justice concerns such as education for sustainable development, moral reasoning or civic engagement. (Contains 3 notes.)

Drawing from extensive experience as community educators, this paper discusses accreditation and its relationship to community development as informed by a cooperative inquiry conducted by tutors. Beginning with our rationale for undertaking the inquiry, it details our approach to community development and the centrality of education within this. It offers a review of some literature pertinent to both concepts before presenting findings from the inquiry itself. It concludes by emphasising the positive features of the awarding of credits for set-learning periods but expresses concern about difficulties with contemporary models of practice including a degree of discordance between accreditation and education for social change.

The relationship between a parent and their child who has SEN is one that, by necessity, is shared with a larger than usual group of professionals. It is perhaps inevitable, then, that this relationship has been an occasionally precarious one, with a potential for conflict due to differing perspectives and priorities. Although the ideal of partnership between parent and professional was originally defined in the Warnock Report in 1978 as a preference for equality, the constitution of partnership has continued to be viewed with a degree of caution. The contribution of parents in the education of their child has been a long-standing yet somewhat relegated feature of policy reform, where limited investigation of parents' views has perpetuated the consensus that multiple perspectives are rarely obtained. This paper explores the premise of partnership in Northern Ireland, with reference to parents' relationships with the cross-section of professionals who constitute an inevitable by-product of having a child with SEN. Specifically, it will refer to their perceived status as partners within procedural infrastructures, and identification of those factors that have challenged the premise of partnership. The paper will present some findings from a phenomenological study involving 20 parents. This represented the third and final stage of a large scale research study involving quantitative and qualitative data collection. In Northern Ireland, the dual prerogatives of special education and inclusion have acquired commensurate currency as part of an ongoing process of social reform and education rationalisation. This meant that much of the research was undertaken against a backdrop of emerging educational policy and legislation for SEN, disability and inclusion. It is a timely opportunity, then, to review existing challenges and to consider possible alternatives for future partnerships.

This paper explores exclusion and equality through critical theory, in the context of adult literacy provision in Ireland, by investigating the sites of exclusion that exist for a group of five male adult literacy learners. A summary review of literacy theories, exclusion and equality is provided framing the reporting of data from this collaborative action research study. Focus groups and visual methods were used to gather qualitative data relating to incidents, attitudes and experiences of exclusion. Findings relate to two main sites of exclusion namely workplace literacy and work-related training and form-filling and correspondence. Giving voice to participants and enabling them to record photographically and critique their individual experiences of exclusion bridges critical literacy theory and practice. It is argued that participative practice in research can empower learners to make links between personal literacy difficulties and the systems that permeate wider society, and to act for social change.

This paper presents a summary and analysis of historiography on social change and education in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with particular reference to nineteenth-century schooling. The nineteenth century is identified as the period during which Ireland, Scotland and Wales developed distinctive systems of schooling that reflected not only their relationship to Westminster but also significant contemporaneous economic and social change. This paper identifies research which has treated this period, offering brief analytical commentaries on some key works. Thereafter, the paper provides a discussion of developments in educational historiography in Ireland, Scotland and Wales and points to lacunae in research. The aim of the paper is to create the basis for comparative work, and to identify areas that demand attention. The comprehensive set of references is therefore a product of this paper, and not a by-product as is often the case with endnotes to academic papers. (Contains 58 footnotes.)

In this paper I would like to outline some of the work I do around the world, developing and contributing to professional education programmes for practitioners across a range of professions, using an action research methodology. Here I especially focus on my work with teachers; and I highlight the point that some of the most problematic yet rewarding work is conducted within contexts of economic, historical and social change and challenge. I also explain how I conduct my own action research, which is about finding ways to encourage teachers to think critically and reflectively about what they are doing, and specifically to engage with questions of the kind, "How do I improve my practice?" (Whitehead, 1989). Through engaging with these kinds of questions, teachers can position themselves as having the authority to take control of and make discerning judgements about their practices, as they seek to exercise educational influence in their own learning and in the learning of others. (Contains 5 figures.)

Among the responsibilities of international educators is to help students begin the process of identifying the foreign in their new environments in order to learn from it. The major obstacle for Americans studying abroad in developed economies, especially in English-speaking countries, is to become sensitive to the subtleties of foreignness. The purpose of this essay is to highlight how an English-speaking country with a developed, open, globalized economy in Western Europe--in this case, Ireland--can be used to teach American undergraduates how to identify, appreciate, and learn from the foreignness they inevitably encounter when they travel beyond the boundaries of the United States. American students must leave behind the mindset of a superpower and become sensitive to the strategies that a small, relatively powerless nation must adapt in order to survive and thrive economically, politically, and militarily in the community of nations. They can participate in a society and culture where both the spoken and written word wields real power and where storytellers, writers and poets are venerated. They enter an ancient culture that has maintained a remarkable continuity for millennia despite significant linguistic, political and social disruptions; that has suffered the loss of a language and its literature; that has been subjugated by a powerful neighbor and recovered its independence; that for centuries has had its population dispersed worldwide and yet retained a sense of identity. (Contains 7 endnotes.)

In this article, the author talks about power, pleasure and community in a learning society. He argues that the resistance against the grand narratives or universal truths of this age is best achieved through the cultivation and development of local narratives and truths which are subject to continuous debate and critical reflection within a democratic learning environment. The author believes that the opportunity to create a learning society is particularly strong within communities that have been brought to the brink of destruction through high unemployment, poor housing, discrimination, crime and drugs. It is through resisting power at the local level that a new lasting theory and understanding of power can be developed. It may well be that in a time of economic recession, there is an opportunity for those involved in adult and community education to generate a new debate about power, to develop new ways of learning, to create new truths. There is a need for a new agenda for adult learning. Here, the author aims to tease out some of the issues involved in fulfilling this agenda. (Contains 3 footnotes.)

Research in Canada on the learning needs of older people looked at such issues as how to cope with changes in society, the need to make a contribution and the need to be influential. The White Paper on Adult Education "Learning for Life" notes that strategies for active ageing stress the critical importance of access to learning as a key tool in coping with change. Adult education can play an important role in contributing to active ageing by promoting social integration and enhancing the quality of life. By reason of the profound changes in Irish society in recent years, older people increasingly find themselves socially excluded from leading full lives as citizens of their country. In an article entitled "Learning for Citizenship in Ireland: The Role of Adult Education," Helen Keogh, (2002) notes that, "A key question for adult educators is: Within the range of adult models and locations, which adult education methodologies and topic/subject areas contribute to the development of citizenship?" Various opinions exist in regard to this question. Some contend that anything taught to adults can be seen as a form of citizenship education while others maintain that a liberal education approach which includes literature, history, geography and/or the social sciences is critical to the development of citizenship knowledge, skills and dispositions. However, many claim that the most beneficial learning will take place not through the formal curriculum, but through positive experiences of participation and, therefore, the adult education experience should itself be "an experience of participation, with a view towards enabling learners to develop the skills, insights and confidence to make their own voice heard and take a full and active role as citizens in society." A practical example of a project which helps to address some of these issues is a Local History Group of Adult Active Retired Learners. Initially, the group's plan was to study the local history of their own area, in this case Drumcondra, Dublin 9 and its environs. The group has been funded under the Community Education section of the City of Dublin VEC with two teaching hours a week. However, the group's love of learning has embraced far more than the study of local history. It has also included all the social interaction, fun and enjoyment which has taken place since this group of fifteen people started meeting regularly on Wednesday mornings in a room in the local parish centre.

The Irish Economy is at an interesting and dynamic phase of its development and people are faced with major decisions that will impact on the Irish society for many years to come. These decisions are and must be made by all who are in a position to influence. Economic evolution or revolution is not new and is most certainly not new to these shores. The Irish Economy has undergone a number of significant evolutions and revolutions since the 1950s. In the 1990s people started to see the emergence of the "knowledge economy" and the "Dot Com" companies. The Iona Technology Organisation comes to mind, along with the Intels of this world. In the first decade of this millennium people have been introduced to a new phenomenon--the Service Economy. While people can debate the time of the various evolutions and the impact of each, they need to accept that this evolution is part of the changing Irish Economy. In this article, the author discusses the debate about the impact of the changing Irish Economy and what can be done to influence the impact of the changes that are thrust upon by the evolution. The author offers some suggestions to open the debate.

This paper sets out a framing analysis for a public policy debate on the future of schools that resonates with practitioners in teaching and teacher education on the island of Ireland, north and south, but also in other countries. This is informed by a democratic impulse to facilitate public policy debates, particularly on the ways schools and higher education institutions are directed and constrained by budget cuts and the shrinking of public funding in this age of austerity and gross inequalities. This is also informed by a need for policy learning about global neoliberal agendas, free-market capitalism and its push towards profit-making schools in systems that are deregulated but experience tighter centralized control, which can result in the domination and control of teachers' work by politicians, corporate-funded think-tanks, entrepreneurs and business managers. Even though Ireland boasts checks and balances in the form of current structures and education legislation in both jurisdictions, the global financial crisis and the collapse of the "Celtic Tiger" together with the "troika" bail-out and Ireland's exit from the troika in tandem with the unravelling of the common economic model built up over the last three decades have troubled the constituent social and political settlements with regard to teaching and teacher education. The authors also take inspiration from Vere Foster (1819-1900), an Anglo-Irish gentleman, philanthropist and "social worker" with the poor in post-famine Ireland, as well as a significant social campaigner renowned for his contribution to emigration and education. His ideas, generated at a time of great social upheaval, can be reworked to be appropriate in the Ireland of today to address the neoliberal agenda that has brought the Republic of Ireland economy to the brink of disaster. It is argued that imaginative responses about future possibilities for teaching and teacher education, their form, regulation and accountability are but a few of the terms needed for public policy debate that engages the profession on the type of schooling that would best meet the needs of Irish society now and into the future.

Drawing on teaching manuals, government reports and school inspectors' reports from the 1830s up to the early twentieth century, this paper traces the changing conceptual and social distance between childhood and adulthood in Ireland. Using Norbert Elias's figurational approach, it is argued that children became increasingly involved in both unplanned civilising processes and deliberate civilising missions framed by state functionaries, religious elites and pedagogic experts. Young children were civilised in the broader context of unintentional, but ordered social processes developing over the course of the nineteenth century. While both pupils and teachers were at first addressed and depicted in similar ways, a growing social and cultural differentiation between adult and child gradually developed. This is related to the increasing status of teachers, their position as civilising agents of the state, and the gradual acceptance by elites that Irish teachers of humble social origins had become more emotionally self-controlled.

Background: While inclusive research has become an important stream in research with people with intellectual disabilities, there is a tension between the possibly empowering research process and the strength of the research itself to make social change happen. In this paper, we explore the contribution of two inclusive qualitative research studies in Australia and the Republic of Ireland to change in policy and legislation. Materials and Methods: Both studies used qualitative methods including life stories and focus groups to explore the issue of sexuality and relationships. In both studies, people with intellectual disabilities were actively involved in undertaking the research. Results: Both studies revealed that it was difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to express their sexuality openly or to form adult relationships. Conclusions: Both studies were used by people with intellectual disabilities and their supporters to promote change in which they had a heard voice.

This paper is about: developing critical understandings about the nature and origins of one's personal and professional identity; learning how to transform uncritically internalised and potentially damaging conceptualisations of identity and identity formation; saying why it is important to do so; and considering what kinds of texts can show the processes involved. Becoming critical means not simply accepting that "I" am the person I see in the mirror or the "me" my mother/partner/boss wishes me to be, but actively engaging with the experience of my own living "I". This is especially important for action researchers involved in processes of social transformation, and trying to find ways of living their understandings in practice, which begins with developing capacity in critical self-reflection. Here I tell a story of how this capacity might be achieved, and some of the problematics involved. The story is about how two groups of teachers--one in Ireland and one in South Africa, studying for their higher degrees--and I as their supervisor, managed to find ways of reconceptualising what we thought were our stable identities, how we came to appreciate that those identities were culturally and historically constituted, and how we made our collaborative enquiries public. Thus we found ways of writing new stories about identity and identity formation, which, we hope, will influence new thinking about critical self-reflection in educational practices and research. (Contains 7 notes and 1 figure.)

This paper focuses on the history of relations between colonialism, schooling and social change in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Ireland, countries that were once part of the British Empire. It indicates that responses to schooling ranged from acceptance and tolerance, to modification and rejection, depending on the country, the issue, and the historical period. There were also differences in the historical connections in schooling between Britain itself and each country: regarding Australia, the relationship was predominantly unidirectional, from the centre to the Antipodes; in PNG British educational ideas which arrived were filtered through the Australian administration; while in Ireland, British initiatives in schooling contributed not only to social change there, but also helped produce loyal personnel to work in Britain and the colonies. Attention is also given to areas of interdependence and interconnectedness, and to illustrating how conducting such case studies is important in order to help counter alternative interpretations promoted by powerful sectors in society in the interest of reproducing their social privilege. (Contains 63 footnotes.)

At the turn of the twentieth century, middle-class educated gentlewomen in Ireland had established positions of authority and leadership in the relatively new professions of education and nursing. Acting in the roles of lady principals and lady superintendents, respectively, in education and nursing, many of these women had themselves participated in the social reform movements that led to the establishment of their new professions in the late nineteenth century. This paper critically analyses the roles played by these two distinct but socially related groups of Irish women, who were prominent in the early development of the social practices of education and nursing. The lady principals and lady superintendents entered the public domain as women with supervisory managerial roles, a fact that was in and of itself significant in late Victorian and early Edwardian society. In these roles, they expanded the boundaries of woman's role, provided role models for other women to follow, and forged networks of support for women. While the performance of their respective roles was mediated by public expectations and by extant gender relationships, they negotiated their way through the constraints of their new public space to achieve their aims of advancing their respective professions. (Contains 60 notes.)

Increasingly, researchers, practitioners and policymakers in the fields of criminal justice, criminology and associated professional practices are realising their responsibility to consider their roles in reinforcing, mediating or dismantling the persisting power differentials that remain between those 'delivering' criminal justice interventions and those receiving them. What might appear as a 'lofty' and abstract ideal is, however, neither novel nor unique. Research and practice traditions which draw on 'lived experiences' of criminal justice in the co-production of knowledge, including Convict Criminology, are increasingly finding their way into mainstream policy, practice and academic research. This paper draws from the North-South TOGETHER collaboration, which seeks to research and share with others on the island of Ireland transformative teaching and research practices in university-prison classrooms. Co-produced learning can dismantle the barriers between those affected by the criminal justice system and those who are not. We invite readers to consider how the methodological approach of participatory action research (PAR) can produce 'symmetrical reciprocity' in the relational field of research, while concurrently feeding into professional praxis, in our case as educators, but equally imaginable for those practising criminal justice in different capacities. We suggest that pedagogy emphasising relationship building, mutuality and conviviality, foundational elements of PAR, can produce more meaningful types of knowledge or 'evidence', transforming our individual praxis and reimagining design of the delivery of justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social visibility of children from Gaelic Irish and settler families during the 17th and 18th centuries given the very significant economic and cultural changes which followed the Plantation of Ulster. Predominantly Protestant settlers from Britain ousted native Catholic congregations from traditional places of worship, which became Protestant churches, and graveyards were now shared with Planter families. Using information from the south and west of the province of Ulster, it examines how children's memorials may signify the religious, social and/or ethnic identity their families wished to express. It explores how distinctive familial plots were perhaps one means of maintaining complex Gaelic Irish kin relationships in danger of erosion and may have helped settlers replace or strengthen social networks from their original homes. High status interments which included children in prestigious native burial grounds may also have been a means of control and a powerful symbol of subjugation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The globalizing connections that defined the European Bronze Age in the second millennium BC either ended or abruptly changed in the decades around 1200 BC. The impact of climate change at 3.2 ka on such social changes has been debated for the eastern Mediterranean. This paper extends this enquiry of shifting human–climate relationships during the later Bronze Age into Europe for the first time. There, climate data indicate that significant shifts occurred in hydroclimate and temperatures in various parts of Europe ca. 3.2 ka. To test potential societal impacts, I review and evaluate archaeological data from Ireland and Britain, the Nordic area, the Carpathian Basin, the Po Valley, and the Aegean region in parallel with paleoclimate data. I argue that 1200 BC was a turning point for many societies in Europe and that climate played an important role in shaping this. Although long-term trajectories of sociopolitical systems were paramount in defining how and when specific societies changed, climate change acted as a force multiplier that undermined societal resilience in the wake of initial social disjunctures. In this way, it shaped, often detrimentally, the reconfiguration of societies. By impacting more directly on social venues of political recovery, realignment, and reorganization, climate forces accentuate societal crises and, in some areas, sustained them to the point of sociopolitical collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considers whether two rural traditions of Irish community development--community councils and community cooperatives--conform to models of radical and pragmatic collective action. Shows that both have features of both models but gravitate more toward pragmatic, populist action rather than radical transformative change. (Contains 24 references.) (SK)

In the first phase of nation-state development, adult education serves in the creation of nationalism and consensus. As the nation enters the world stage, adult education enforces national and cultural identity and meets professionalizing needs. As consensus loosens and pluralism emerges, adult education may become a symbol of conflict between competing needs and interests of special groups. (SK)

Background While inclusive research has become an important stream in research with people with intellectual disabilities, there is a tension between the possibly empowering research process and the strength of the research itself to make social change happen. In this paper, we explore the contribution of two inclusive qualitative research studies in Australia and the Republic of Ireland to change in policy and legislation. Materials and methods Both studies used qualitative methods including life stories and focus groups to explore the issue of sexuality and relationships. In both studies, people with intellectual disabilities were actively involved in undertaking the research. Results Both studies revealed that it was difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to express their sexuality openly or to form adult relationships. Conclusions Both studies were used by people with intellectual disabilities and their supporters to promote change in which they had a heard voice. Accessible Abstract This paper is about how people with intellectual disabilities and their supporters can use research which they have done to change policies and laws that affect them. When people with intellectual disabilities are doing research it is called inclusive research.We write about two research studies which were about the sexual lives and relationships of people with intellectual disabilities. One research study was in Australia and one was in the Republic of Ireland.In the Australian study, Living Safer Sexual Lives, 25 people with intellectual disabilities told their life stories and talked about sexuality and relationships.In the Irish study people with intellectual disabilities told life stories and talked with other people with intellectual disabilities about their sexuality and relationships in groups. These are called focus groups.In this paper we explore 4 questions that arose from these studies. Question 1. What impact does doing research have on the people who are involved in it? People with intellectual disabilities in Australia were members of the group that guided the research. They were partners in its design, in deciding what questions should be asked about sexuality and relationships., and thinking about what was found out. They became involved in making films about the study. They learned a lot about research, sexuality and relationships and became members of a government committee to change policy about sexuality and people with disabilities. In Ireland people with intellectual disabilities involved in doing the research talked together about their lives. They then talked with 16 groups of people with intellectual disabilities about their relationships and sexuality. They learned about research and about sexuality and developed plays about their experiences., Question 2. To what extent can inclusive research change policy and practice? In Australia the research led to a change in government policy about sexuality and people with disabilities. The new policy clearly stated people with disabilities had rights to relationships and to a sexual life. It set out rights and responsibilities for people with intellectual disabilities and service providers about relationships and sexuality. It took a long time to get a change in policy and people with intellectual disabilities were part of the getting the change to happen. In Ireland there is a law which says that it is illegal to have some forms of sex with people with intellectual disabilities. From the research people with intellectual disabilities became involved in talking with government about changing this law so that it gives them more rights to a sexual life. The law has not changed yet but the voices of people with intellectual disabilities are now being heard., Question 3 When does research shift into being advocacy? How does this happen? People with intellectual disabilities in both studies became advocates to get change to happen. Partly this was because they had become more 'expert' about sexuality and relationships and the policy and law. They were angry at what they had found out in the research and wanted to get change to happen., Question 4 What added value does including people with intellectual disabilities as researchers give to the research? People with intellectual disabilities had knowledge and experience that made it possible for the research in both Australia and Ireland to happen. They were important in how the research was done and what was done with it after it was finished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to describe the four education projects that demonstrate how Irish education provision is adapting to meet social and economic changes: Ubuntu Network working to integrate education for sustainable development (ESD) into teacher education; Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) facilitating service learning modules at higher education; Young Social Innovators (YSI), a social justice education programme for 15-18 year olds; and a study of Irish students' levels of moral reasoning. Four commonalities are identified between the projects: critical thinking, active and participatory learning, knowledge skills and social justice. Discussion highlights features of the Irish education system that contrast with these commonalities and impact on their long-term objectives, which may in fact hinder the development of engaged learners. Design/methodology/approach - Four commonalities were identified at the roundtable discussions at the Irish Aid Sustainable Global Development Conference. Each commonality is discussed from the perspective of the projects described and contrasted against core features of Irish education. Findings - All four education projects make positive contributions to civic engagement in Irish education, acknowledging education as central to active citizenship, social awareness, and empowerment of learners. Originality/value - Discussion centres on how Irish education provision is adapting to meet social and economic changes. The paper argues that distinctive features of the Irish education system and the prevailing culture of Irish education do not lend themselves to social justice concerns such as education for sustainable development, moral reasoning or civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that education has a significant role to play in any society transitioning from conflict to a more peaceful dispensation. Indeed, some have argued that the education system potentially represents the single most effective agent of social change with the capacity to bridge ethnic division in conflict affected countries. Despite the potential, educational policy-makers grapple with the dilemma as to precisely how school systems can best facilitate this agenda. This paper thus attempts to shed light upon the dilemma by exploring pupil identity and associated intergroup attitudes across various school types in Northern Ireland. Five schools were selected for the study with each one representing a particular sector within the Northern Irish education system (maintained grammar, maintained secondary, controlled grammar, controlled secondary, integrated). This led to a total sample size of 265 pupils. The main findings show that children across separate Catholic, separate Protestant and mixed Catholic and Protestant educational contexts construct and interpret identity differently. At the same time, our data suggest that no one school setting has supremacy in promoting social cohesion. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reported on in this paper is set in the context of a national programme of professional development for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland which has been in operation since 1999 and finished in 2008. The paper explores the acquisition and interpretation by teachers of the elements of the reform. The authors consider the extent to which the professional development experiences facilitated change in teachers' knowledge and if the teachers interpreted this in the way expected by policy-makers. The theoretical basis to the study draws on previous research that conceptualises teacher learning/knowledge acquisition and the change process as being dependant on an interwoven mix of factors, including teacher, school and policy-level contexts and characteristics. To a large degree the findings of this study do not deviate wildly from this prior work, which suggests that policy-makers and planners of CPD programmes, despite their best intentions, still need to be cognisant of such factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asylum seekers are often considered by researchers to be 'hidden' or 'hard to reach' . Yet, issues that impact on them are relevant to social work and its social justice remit. This paper presents research conducted with former asylum seekers to explore their experience of transitioning from 'Direct Provision' accommodation into the wider community following the granting of international protection. Ireland's strategy for integration effectively excludes asylum seekers. They have limited access to work or education and are deprived of supports provided to programme refugees. Using a community-based participatory research methodology, the study illuminates challenges encountered transitioning out of the asylum system and charts the benefits of utilising a collaborative approach to access participants, to facilitate their engagement and to ensure that the research had an impact. It suggests that a partnership approach to research with hidden populations can raise awareness and influence positive social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic research can be criticised for its lack of social impact in the 'real world'. Study findings are often not well understood nor used effectively to shape policy making and practice. These issues are pertinent for practising social workers who often find it difficult to utilise research knowledge to influence the public realm and engage service users in social change. This paper presents two community based participatory research (CBPR) case studies reflecting on learning achieved from carrying out the research: Study 1 relates to refugees and Study 2 relates to older people. It reflects on how CBPR partnership approaches were used to influence social policy and affect social change in organisational and practice environments in the Irish context and also reflects on the challenges and benefits of working with peer researchers and civil society organisations. The case studies suggest there are considerable advantages to adopting a collective advocacy approach using CBPR, including: creating meaningful impact that has relevance for policy and practice; facilitating the engagement of universities with civic society; and providing a mechanism whereby social workers can engage in the pursuit of social justice for vulnerable communities with whom they work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]