Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Discursive Construction Of ‘Children’ And ‘Rights’ In Irish Early Childhood Policy, Rachel Kiersey, Nóirín Hayes

Conference Papers

This paper explores the construction of knowledge about ‗children‘, ‗rights‘ and ‗ECEC‘ in Irish early childhood policy discourses. This research forms part of a wider thematic research project exploring Irish early childhood policy design from a number of angles; this strand of the research is concerned with ―revealing meaning‖ from Irish ECEC policy texts through a critical discourse analysis study. The theoretical goal of a critical discourse analysis study aims to understand how specific realities have come into being in the policy area; how they are reproduced through policy literature, how language use is an integral facet of social processes, …

Higher Education At A Time Of Economic Crisis: Is It Good-Bye To The Celtic Tiger?, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

This presentation provides an overview of the effect of the global economic crisis on Irish higher education.

Trends In Higher Education: What’S Happening In Ireland, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

This presentation provides an overview of trends in higher education policy worldwide, and their implications for Ireland.

A Strategy For Small Nations In A Time Of Economic Crisis, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

This presentation presents a higher education strategy for small nations.

The Impact Of Policy Tool Selection On Early Childhood Education And Care (Ecec) In Ireland, Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes, Noirin Hayes

Conference Papers

This paper looks at the range of policy tools selected by the Irish State to fund and develop Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The choice is influenced by cultural norms and ideological predisposition with Ireland demonstrating a pro-market bias and relying on a range of interdependencies and third parties for delivery of services. The tools selected by the Irish State are typically those associated with States that promote a liberal agenda, sometimes referred to as the Anglo/American model (Salamon 2002). However, a closer review of the tools characteristics in Ireland reveal a tendency to adopt a conservative corporatist (Dean …

Global Positioning Of Irish Higher Education: The Way Forward, Ellen Hazelkorn

Other resources

This presentation addresses the question as to how Ireland should globally position itself, and what are the appropriate policies and processes that should be adopted to best enable Ireland to respond.

Do University Rankings Measure What Counts, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The article discusses the impact of rankings on higher education.

The Impact Of Global Rankings On Higher Education Research And The Production Of Knowledge, Ellen Hazelkorn

Reports

This paper examines the extent to which rankings shape our understanding of what constitutes research and the contribution that individual higher education institutions (HEIs) can and should make.

Rankings And The Battle For World-Class Excellence: Institutional Strategies And Policy Choices, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

Global rankings are creating a furore wherever or whenever they are published or mentioned. They have become a barometer of global competition measuring the knowledge-producing and talent-catching capacity of higher education institutions. These developments are injecting a new competitive dynamic into higher education, nationally and globally, and encouraging a debate about its role and purpose. As such, politicians regularly refer to them as a measure of their nation’s economic strength and aspirations, universities use them to help set or define targets mapping their performance against the various metrics, while academics use rankings to bolster their own professional reputation and status. …

Attitudes To Rankings: Comparing German, Australian And Japanese Experiences, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

Drawing on an international survey of HE leaders during 2006, and interviews with HE leaders and stakeholders in Germany, Australia and Japan during 2008, it describes and compares the reaction and response to rankings by HEIs in Germany, Australia and Japan, with particular attention to institutional strategy and planning, benchmarking and quality assurance, student admissions and faculty recruitment and morale. The chapter argues cross-national comparisons/global rankings are an inevitable feature of globalisation, the international battle for talent, and strategies for national competitiveness.

Exploring Early Childhood Education And Care Policy In Ireland: Critical Discourse Analysis As A Methodological Tool, Rachel Kiersey

Conference Papers

The Irish government have invested considerably in the broad early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector over the last decade. However, a distinction persists within Irish policy between childcare and early education, both structurally and conceptually. Early education frequently refers to intervention based pre-school services; conversely childcare frequently refers to the broad spectrum of care services for 0-12 year olds, from family based child care through to centre-based provision (Hayes & Bradley, 2006; NESF, 2005; OECD, 2004). As a result of this, ‘early childhood services in Ireland are fractured across the welfare (childcare) and educational (early education) domains and … …

Early Childhood Education And Care In Ireland: Getting It Right For Children, Noirin Hayes, Siobhan Bradley

Conference Papers

Seminar proceedings edited by Noirin Hayes and Siobhan Bradley. Contains two presentations: Beyond Childcare, Markets and Technical Practice – or Repoliticising Early Childhood by Peter Moss; Irish Approaches to ECCE – Keeping Politics Out of the Nursery by Maura Adshead & Gerardine Neylon.

Smart Growth: A Buffer Zone Between Decentrist And Centrist Theory?, Dorothy Stewart, Lorcan Sirr, Ruth Kelly

Articles

The context for planning at the turn of the 19th century, in a newly industrialized world, was based on the need to find solutions to overcrowding and dire urban conditions. Planning decisions made in the post-World War II period were primarily motivated by the desire to reconstruct war torn cities. The forces of influence for planning and development in modern advanced capitalist societies are arguably set within the context of sustainable development. Many developed countries have witnessed a dramatic change in their territorial structures. Urban centres are extending into rural areas and surrounding hinterland, where large tracts of land are …

Land Value Taxation: Persuasive Theory But Practically Difficult, Tom Dunne

Articles

While the theoretical case for Land Value Taxation is regarded as being very persuasive, most people looking closely at the idea form the view that the practical difficulties of introducing it into an established modern economy are compelling. Nevertheless, in Europe and America the ideas put forward by George continue to influence many people discussing issues around land use planning, urban development and methods of funding infrastructure and local government.

Institutional Mission Vs. Policy Constraint?: Unlocking Potential, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The research-intensive and competitive knowledge society is putting HEIs (higher education institutions) under the spotlight. While many HEIs around the world do not proclaim or wish to be research-intensive institutions the majority desire to intensify their research activity because it is seen as a sine qua non of higher education. Accordingly, HEIs are busy making critical strategic choices concerning human resources, the research environment, the teaching-research nexus, organisational and management structure, and funding. Governments are also making choices, using policies and financial instruments to help shape institutional mission, priorities and HE systems. But if governments genuinely desire to widen access …

Land Values As A Source Of Local Government Finance, Tom Dunne

Books/Book Chapters

Funding local government has been a permanent feature of debates about public policy in Ireland and Many feel that the balance of power between local and central government is weighted too much in

This paper suggests that the concept of economic rent, on which the justification for property taxes rests and its relevance to the property market in a modern, economically successful and urbanised Ireland, needs to be vented, discussed and debated.

The proposition is that if a greater understanding was created about the economic characteristics of landed property both value capture and local property taxes would achieve greater public …

All Party Oireachtas Committee On The Constitution Ninth Progress Report, Tom Dunne

Reports

Ireland, like many other countries with high rates of economic growth, is urbanising rapidly. There has been considerable emphasis on planning for this through the National Development Plan, the National Spatial Strategy, development guidelines and other measures. Through these the state intends that a proper planning process will lead growth rather than leaving it to market forces to drive development in what are regarded as undesirable directions. The latter it is feared will lead to unsuitable social, economic or physical outcomes. Unintended results have flowed from the implementation, or flawed implementation of many of these policies and have given rise …

Policy And Programme Responses To Urban Social Exclusion 1990-2000 : A Selective European Cross Country Comparative Study, Caren Gallagher

Masters

Historically, poverty has been a deeply embedded reality within society, its nature and extent altering, over time, in response to shifts in socio-economic conditions, political ideology and value system. Poverty, as part of the human conditions, still remains intractable problem in both developed and developing nations and regions. This study is concerned, in particular, with urban poverty in an E.U. context. The overall aim of the research is to consider whether urban social exclusion is amenable to public policy intervention. A comparative study approach is used to explore the various approaches to partnership and anti-poverty policy in the selected countries …

Growth Strategies And Intellectual Capital Formation In New And Emerging Heis, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

Higher educational institutions are being asked to contribute more effectively and efficiently to economic growth, innovation and intellectual capital. As they do so, the academy has also come under pressure. The content of academic work, the role of faculty, and the balance between teaching, research and service, have, arguably, been restructured, reconfigured and redefined. For academics within traditional universities, pressures for accountability and social relevance have challenged what many valued as ‘their autonomy’. But, for staff within new and emerging HEIs, those formed or reconstituted circa. 1970, there have been different pressures. Many were hired originally as teachers and now …

Challenges Of Growing Research At New And Emerging Heis, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

Newer institutions are accused of adopting the accoutrements of traditional universities, actively copying their research profile and teaching programmes, and engaging in ‘academic’ or ‘mission’ drift. For others, however, these changes are part of the natural or inevitable process of institutional development and historical change, or a further step in the democratisation of the ‘Humboltian ethic’ (Neave, 2000, p265). If massification and expansion in 1960s differentiated the second stage in higher educational development from its elite origins, then the late 1990s marked the beginning of the third stage. By then, it was clear that a broadly educated population could no …

Facing Challenges: Irish Public Television In The Digital Age, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

This paper traces some of the main challenges facing public television in Ireland.