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Munster Technological University

2022

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Mainstream Or Margins? The Changing Role Of Environmental Education In Irish Primary School Curricula, 1872 To 2021, Sarah O'Malley, John Pierce Dec 2022

Mainstream Or Margins? The Changing Role Of Environmental Education In Irish Primary School Curricula, 1872 To 2021, Sarah O'Malley, John Pierce

Publications

This article investigates the position of environmental education in the primary school curriculum over the past 150 years in the Republic of Ireland. The extent of how wider social, political, and cultural developments influence the way in which teachers and learners experience environmental education can be seen through the curricular changes. To achieve this, the five primary school curricula from 1872 to the present day were reviewed with respect to the amount of environmental education included in them. This review demonstrates a dramatic change in socio-environmental relations in contemporary Irish society during the 19th and 20th centuries, as reflected through …


Why Post- Leaving Certificate Students In Ireland From Disadvantaged Backgrounds Are Less Likely To Proceed To Third-Level Education, Edward Hayes Nov 2022

Why Post- Leaving Certificate Students In Ireland From Disadvantaged Backgrounds Are Less Likely To Proceed To Third-Level Education, Edward Hayes

Theses

Educational disadvantage continues to be a cause for concern, and addressing it remains at the forefront of education policy in Ireland (Houses of Oireachtas, 2019; Weir et al., 2017). This research extended across the academic years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 and during the period of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which imposed public health measures, and enforced an emergency online digital learning environment. A socio-economic profile of Ireland’s student body registered an attainment gap between rich and poor, finding that young people from backgrounds of disadvantage continue to be underrepresented at third-level when compared to their middle-class counterparts (HEA, 2020). The primary …


The Irish Early Childhood Care And Education (Ecce) Scheme Is Free And Universal, But At Whose Expense?, Johanna Forde Nov 2022

The Irish Early Childhood Care And Education (Ecce) Scheme Is Free And Universal, But At Whose Expense?, Johanna Forde

Theses

This research addresses the historical and current influences on quality practice and provision by reviewing national and international literature debating quality in the Irish Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme (DCEDIY, 2021a). To understand quality components the regulations and policy frameworks that inform and guide the ECCE scheme (DCEDIY, 2021a), including ECCE practice and the implications for provision standards, are explored. Four research questions ask: (1) What constitutes quality provision for children attending the ECCE scheme (DCEDIY, 2021a)? (2) What has informed ECCE regulation and policy in Ireland? (3) What are the identified challenges associated with the ECCE scheme …


From Mcdonaldization To Place-Based Experience: Revitalizing Outdoor Education In Ireland, John Pierce, John Telford Oct 2022

From Mcdonaldization To Place-Based Experience: Revitalizing Outdoor Education In Ireland, John Pierce, John Telford

Publications

Outdoor education in Ireland, as in many countries, takes place in a variety of physical locations ranging from urban to wilder, minimally human influenced environments. Irish public outdoor education providers have traditionally placed little emphasis on cultural understandings of the places where learning occurs. Moreover, outdoor education commonly demonstrates characteristics of a McDonaldized experience as opposed to a place-based experience. This paper explores two topics that may help to explain why place is not to the fore in teaching and learning in Irish outdoor education practice: historico-cultural relationships with the land, and the impact of the rationalisation of place on …


Where’S The E In Oe? The Mcdonaldization Of Irish Outdoor Education, John Pierce, Simon Beames Sep 2022

Where’S The E In Oe? The Mcdonaldization Of Irish Outdoor Education, John Pierce, Simon Beames

Publications

This paper presents key findings from a study that aimed to critically examine the practice of outdoor education in the Republic of Ireland. It consisted of 10 months of fieldwork across four public Outdoor Education and Training Centres (OETCs). Data were generated through participant observation, informal conversation, as well as centre websites. Findings from the thematic analysis are presented in the form of a creative non-fiction story—principally to protect the identities and centres involved. The findings were then interpreted through the theoretical lens of McDonaldization. Considering the dearth of outdoor education research in Ireland, McDonaldization provided a lens through which …


Student Understanding Of Kinematics: A Qualitative Assessment, Andrew Cashman, Tom O'Mahony May 2022

Student Understanding Of Kinematics: A Qualitative Assessment, Andrew Cashman, Tom O'Mahony

Publications

In engineering, kinematics is widely regarded as a fundamental topic with the literature agreeing that students possess a wide range in understanding of the topic. This study aims to take a second-order approach by understanding and exploring the qualitatively different ways in which students approach solving kinematics problems. Phenomenography was used to collect data through ten semi-structured interviews with early-stage mechanical engineering students. Following data analysis, four distinct categories of students’ approaches were identified; unstructured, framing the problem, strategic, and conceptual. It was found that these categories could be arranged in a hierarchy and were also supported by secondary epistemic …


Special Needs Assistants In Primary Schools: An Investigation Of The Role, Function, And Expectations Of This Post In Ireland, Imaobong Maria Essien Jan 2022

Special Needs Assistants In Primary Schools: An Investigation Of The Role, Function, And Expectations Of This Post In Ireland, Imaobong Maria Essien

Theses

This study aims to examine the role and function of the Special Needs Assistant (SNA) in Irish Primary Schools. The minimum requirement for a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) is three grade Ds in the Junior Certificate or an equivalent qualification. Existing research suggests that the role lacks clarity and has evolved to include taking on administrative, pedagogical, behavioral management, and therapeutic roles (INTO, 2017; Butler and Quinn, 2014; NCSE, 2011). This study explores the disparity between the SNA job descriptor to recognise the impact and importance of the SNA’s role in the education system. This study is underpinned by the …


“Mind The S-Step” – A Self-Study Of Higher Education, Tomás Aylward Jan 2022

“Mind The S-Step” – A Self-Study Of Higher Education, Tomás Aylward

Masters

Lecturing can be very much a solo pursuit. While we work as lecturers in a higher education ecology, we generally teach our students alone and there isn’t always systematic feedback on our teaching practice. This study is borne out of a desire to better know and improve my practice as a lecturer in a technological university. I wish to be era-responsive for my students, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene and our global climate crisis. Specifically, I wished to see if a place-based education (PBE) approach was perceptible in the programme I teach. This research is centred on outdoor …


Student Perspectives Of Eportfolio Implementation Within An Irish Hei Context, Fiona Walsh Jan 2022

Student Perspectives Of Eportfolio Implementation Within An Irish Hei Context, Fiona Walsh

Masters

This research study considers third-level student experiences of ePortfolio use during their education. Digital pedagogical tools provide educators with an authentic mode of assessment that presents a holistic view of student learning both inside and outside the classroom. ePortfolios are a digital pedagogical tool associated with the enhancement of the student learning experience and have received increased attention within the higher education sector; particularly during the Covid 19 restrictions where they offered educators an alternative mode of assessment to the traditional paper-based assessment. The purpose of this study was to identify the main challenges undergraduate students face when engaging with …


Enhancing Work-Integrated Learning Through South-North Collaboration: A Comparative Contextual Analysis, Christine Winberg, Frances Finn, Irene Sheridan, Penelope Engles-Hills, Henri Jacobs, Eleanor Kent Jan 2022

Enhancing Work-Integrated Learning Through South-North Collaboration: A Comparative Contextual Analysis, Christine Winberg, Frances Finn, Irene Sheridan, Penelope Engles-Hills, Henri Jacobs, Eleanor Kent

Articles

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, engineering, biopharma and health sciences disciplines. Activity theory was drawn on to analyze data on program content, mechanisms and processes, and outcomes and challenges across the case studies. Key findings include: student support requirements, curricular modalities and assessment practices, levels at which WIL is offered, resourcing for WIL and understandings …