EDC News 2011 - 2012

 

 

Reports on Multidisplinary Teams and Community Lifelong Learning Centres

Dr Paul Downes, Director of St Patrick's College Educational Disadvantage Centre, has completed two reports for the European Commission Network of Experts on the Social Aspects of Education and Training (NESET). NESET's mission is to advise and support the European Commission's Directorate General for Education and Culture in the analysis of educational policies and reforms, and to consider their implications at national, regional and European level.

The first report is entitled, Multi/Interdisciplinary teams for early school leaving prevention: Developing a European Strategy informed by international evidence and research. The second report is Community based lifelong learning centres: Developing a European strategy informed by international evidence and research.

 

What Underpins Educational Achievement?

Dr Ruby Payne gave a presentation  in St Patrick’s College Drumcondra for the Ireland United States Alumni Association Education Committee event on Wednesday 18th April, entitled What Underpins Educational Achievement ? She is visiting Ireland from the United States and her speaking engagements include addressing 400 DEIS school principals at the National Educational Welfare Board Conference in Croke Park. Dr Pauric Travers, President of St Patrick’s College was the master of ceremonies for the event which was hosted by the College.  Her presentation included many examples from her experiences of directly engaging with learners and teachers in the United States and around the world. She spoke about the importance of the size of the student’s vocabulary and the use of different registers, formal and informal on learning styles and the successful engagement with school and college. In 2011, two of her publications were honoured: Removing the Mask: Identifying Giftedness in Poverty received a Gold Medal from Independent Publishers for Education, and Boys in Poverty: Understanding Dropout received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for Professional Development.

Dr Paul Downes was the respondent to Dr Payne’s presentation. He outlined some of the evidence base and research theory which informs the evolving understanding of the issue, including a critique of cognitive information-processing models. He also spoke about the other factors underpinning educational achievement, such as the effect of hunger on pupil concentration, exacerbated by the current economic crisis, and the opportunity that exists to link the commitment of the State to the development of young people’s mental health services in an integrated strategic fashion with schools.

Ballymun School Attendance Initiative

On Monday March 26th, the Ballymun Whitehall Area Partnership held a seminar, 'Miss School, Miss Out 2012' in the Axis Theatre, Ballymun, to announce the results of the evaluation of its Ballymun School Attendance Initiative. Dr. Paul Downes, Director of the College's Educational Disadvantage Centre, gave a presentation entitled, 'Connecting strengths of school, family and community and implementation of recommendations of the evaluation report of the Initiative'.

Minister Frances Fitzgerald T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs spoke, at the seminar, of the potential of this initiative to be developed in other areas. Other presentations were from Clare Ryan, CEO, National Education Welfare Board, Susan Bookle, Evaluator of the initiative, Kate Hogan, Chairperson, Ballymun Principals Network, Colma Nic Lughadha, Education Programme Manager Ballymun Whitehall Area Partnership and Declan Dunne, CEO, Ballymun Whitehall Area Partnership.

The seminar presentations are available here.

RISE- Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning

Dr. Catherine Maunsell (Education Department,) and Ms. Valerie McLoughlin (Educational Disadvantage Centre), St. Patrick's College recently attended a study visit of the RISE project in Ghent, Belgium. The research focus of the Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning – RISE Grundtvig Learning Partnership (2011-2013) is on educational approaches which enhance the transition from prison back to society. Different models of educational networking between the “inside” and the “outside” are being examined. The partnership comprises of prison education personnel and academic researchers with overall co-ordination by FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB). The study visit incorporated a full day in the Ghent Correctional Facility, liaising with prison educators and other prison personnel. Focus in the research workshops was on development of individual education plans (IEPs) and exploring models of good practice regarding IEPs in prison education within the partner countries which include Germany, Belgium, Finland, Luxembourg, Austria and Ireland

 

Outreach, Empowerment, Diversity

Dr Catherine Maunsell, Acting Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre (EDC), St. Patrick's College and Valerie McLoughlin, Administrator, participated in the initial meeting of the Outreach, Empowerment, Diversity (OED) Research Network. The European Adult Education Association (EAEA),  as coordinators of the network, hosted the initial meeting in Brussels on the 23rd and 24th January. The meeting, chaired by Gina Ebner, Director of the EAEA, was attended by representatives of the 16 partner organisations.

 

Launch of a new access to education initiative at the University of Malta

On 9 November, Dr. Paul Downes was the keynote speaker at a public seminar entitled 'Promoting Resilience in Education: Increasing access to post-secondary and tertiary education in Malta' organized by Dr. Carmel Cefai, Director of the European Centre for Educational Resilience and Socio-Emotional Health at the University of Malta. The aim of the seminar was to launch the University-led project which deals with increasing access to tertiary education from particular regions in Malta.

Professor Juanito Camilleri, University Rector, launched the access initiative at the seminar. Dr Downes’ presentation, ‘European perspectives on systems change to promote access to education’ was based on his research report on behalf of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, St Patrick’s College presented this year to the EU Commission, ‘A Systems Level Focus on Access to Education for Traditionally Marginalised Groups: Comparing Policy and Practice in Twelve European Countries’. Key themes highlighted in the presentation included: the need for a community outreach strategy for the university to engage traditionally marginalized communities, for structural reform at university level to give voice and representation to these communities, to offer university campus facilities for free to community groups, for an access strategy commencing at primary level, for diverse entry routes into university and adequate academic and emotional supports for students.  Dr. Downes is external advisor to the longitudinal study taking place as part of this University of Malta access initiative.

• '12 students to shine light on early school leaving'. (Thursday November 10th 2011. Times of Malta.com)
• 'Local university studies reasons for early school drop-outs'. (Wednesday November 10th 2011 Times of Malta.com)

   

RISE - Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning

Dr. Catherine Maunsell and Dr. Liz McLoughlin, Research Associate of the EDC gave a presentation on ‘Prison Education in an Irish Context’ at  the first meeting of the RISE Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning – Grundtvig Learning Partnership (2011-2013)  hosted by FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB), Berlin from 16th-19th November 2011.

 

PhD awarded to EDC researcher

On November 5th, Dr. Sylwia Kazmierczak-Murray (pictured), a research associate with the EDC, graduated and was awarded her PhD in Education. Her inter-disciplinary doctorate thesis entitled A systems level focus on the efficacy of classroom sound field amplification on the language development of children in seven DEIS urban schools in Ireland (abstract here) is the first-large scale study on the classroom sound field amplification systems in mainstream schools in Ireland. Sylwia hopes this study will draw attention to the importance of good classroom acoustics for the language learning of young children. Sylwia currently works in the School Completion Programme as the coordinator in the Cabra area. Dr. Paul Downes was Sylwia's supervisor with Dr. Gerry Shiel, Research Fellow with the Education Research Centre, her second supervisor.

 

Prison Education Network Meeting. Bergen, Norway

Dr. Catherine Maunsell of the Educational Disadvantage Centre (EDC), and Jane Carrigan, Research Fellow with the Centre, were invited speakers at the inaugural meeting of the Prison Education Network (PEN) hosted by the University of Bergen and the Office of the County Governor of Hordaland which has designated responsibility for prison education in Norway.

The objectives of the meeting were to establish an international network for further development of research on prison education. The meeting explored opportunities for research collaboration within the network, discussed the development of an open access journal on prison education, research and practice and examined the need for fourth level education in the field.

Other presenters at the event included Dr. Anita Wilson (President of the European Prison Education Association, EPEA), Dr. Anne Costello (Irish Prison Educator and former EPEA president), Dr. Thom Gehring and Dr. Carolyn Eggleston (Directors of California State University's Center for the Study of Correctional Education at San Bernardino)

Jane Carrigan presented her doctoral research on educational life histories of prisoner learners in Ireland, and Catherine outlined the range of research relating to prison education that the EDC is engaged in, including the recent LLL2010 report by Dr. Paul Downes, Director of the EDC, entitled ‘A systems level focus on access to education for traditionally marginalised groups’.

TALES-A Community Storytelling Project in Ballymun

As part of community outreach St. Patrick’s College was commissioned to evaluate TALES, a community storytelling project in Ballymun, Dublin 11. TALES focuses on 10 year-olds and is an initiative of  axis: Ballymun. All seven National schools in Ballymun are involved.   Professional tellers develop storytelling skills with pupils over six weeks. The purpose is to develop oracy, democratic decision making and lifelong learning of the pupils. The result is a group of children who are actively developing their own stories and telling them in their own communities. After four years of successful working, there was need to determine the value and future direction of TALES. An issue that emerged was that, as there was no model of arts evaluation available, one needed to be developed using hybrid methods. The process was evaluated for axis by Colm Hefferon, (Lecturer in Drama, St. Patrick's College), using a variety of approaches, to explore the impact of the project on pupils learning.  Learning improved significantly on a range of curricular, personal, social, artistic, cultural, lifelong learning and decision-making domains. The results were evaluated using the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model which is neither an arts model nor terminal evaluation model, rather it is a community involvement approach that is dialogic and developmental, providing evaluation that is accessible  to key stakeholders. The Evaluation was nominated for the President’s award of DCU.

The evaluation report is published by axis: Ballymun and the Educational Disadvantage Centre, St. Patrick's College.

 

Educational Disadvantage Centre's two new research projects

The Educational Disadvantage Centre is a partner in two upcoming EU funded research projects: Outreach, Empowerment, Diversity – OED and Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning – RISE.

Outreach, Empowerment, Diversity – OED has a broad research focus on social inclusion and active citizenship, and more particularly on increasing the active participation of marginalised groups in lifelong learning, promotion of diversity in education and empowerment of the learner’s voice. With the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) to act as overall research co-ordinators; significantly the EDC are to be lead partners in evaluating project outcomes. The research has a three year timeframe 2011- 2014 and is funded through the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.

The research focus of the Reintegration into Society through Education and Learning – RISE Grundtvig Learning Partnership (2011-2013) is on educational approaches which enhance the transition from prison back to society. Different models of educational networking between the “inside” and the “outside” will be examined. The partnership comprises of prison education personnel and academic researchers with overall co-ordination by FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V. (FCZB). The EDC will host a meeting of the Partnership scheduled for spring 2013.

On both of these projects, Dr. Catherine Maunsell is the Irish research co-ordinator, with Dr. Paul Downes as research associate and Valerie McLoughlin as research administrator.

 

Educational Disadvantage Centre and European Policy on Social Inclusion in Education

The College’s Educational Disadvantage Centre continues to strengthen its links with the European Commission Directorate-General on Education and Culture (DG-EAC), regarding proposals for European policy on social inclusion in education and dissemination of the Centre’s research findings. On May 17 2011, the Centre Director, Dr. Paul Downes conducted a seminar in the Commission, Place Madou, Brussels, on structural and process indicators for assessing national and regional authorities’ contribution to access to education for traditionally marginalised groups. The seminar was attended by DG-EAC Commission policy officers in a range of areas including lifelong learning, school education and Comenius, higher education, social inequalities, vocational education and training, and statistics.

Paul Downes was also an invited speaker at the workshop, Inclusive, supportive and motivating learning environments for all and how to prevent Early School Leaving, as part of the Commission’s Comenius Regio Conference – Creating European Networks of Regions, in Bordeaux on May 11-12. Dr. Downes’ presentation was entitled, Beyond the OECD 10 Steps to Equity in Education: A Systems Focus on Emotions and Community to Prevent Early School Leaving. The other invited experts across the four conference workshops were Ursula Uzerli, German representative on the European Commission’s peer-learning working group on Teachers, nominated by the German Bundesrat, Dr. Anne Looney, CEO of the Irish National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), and Kevin Smith, Chief Executive of Young Chamber UK.

ARCHWAYS

Positive Classrooms, Positive Children

The launch of the research report on the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Programme took place in the Clock Tower, Department of Education and Skills on Tuesday March 1st 2011. The report was formally launched by Professor Tom Collins, President of NUI Maynooth and he was joined by a range of speakers, including Dr. Sinéad McGilloway, principal investigator of the Incredible Years Ireland Study, conducted in NUIM. Dr. Paul Downes was part of the Expert Advisory Committee advising the national evaluation of this programme.

The Teacher Classroom Management programme consists of two vital components; firstly the importance of teacher attention, encouragement, praise, motivating children through incentives and second, building positive relationships with students.  There are clear indications that the use of the TCM programme has very positive effects on the behaviour of not only disruptive children but also impacts positively on the child that does not challenge the teachers, the ‘invisible’ child.

Walshe, J. (Wednesday, March 2nd 2011) Troubled pupils are kicking and punching teachers. Irish Independent

 

Access to Education for Traditionally Marginalised Groups

Catherine Maunsell gave a presentation at the final conference on the Adult Learning Action Plan, Workshop 5 : Opening Higher Education for Adults Theme 2: ‘One Step Up’: Enhancing Adult Competences It’s Always a Good Time to Learn in Budapest on the 8th March,  2011. Her presentation was entitled Access to Higher Education for Traditionally Marginalised Groups in Europe

The Educational Disadvantage Centre in St Patrick's College has participated in a six year European Commission (FP6) funded project, Towards a Lifelong Learning Society: The Contribution of the Education System (2005-2011) culminating in an international conference, Do three sides always make a triangle ? Policy, institutions and learners in lifelong formal learning at the University of Leuven, Belgium from February 7-9.

Dr Paul Downes, the Centre Director, gave a presentation The role of educational institutions for promotion of access to adults to formal education based on international research across 12 European countries led by the Educational Disadvantage Centre. Sue Waddington, President of the European Association for the Education of Adults, and the European Parliament's former Rapporteur for Lifelong Learning, was the Respondent to this presentation.

Dr Catherine Maunsell (Education Department, St Patrick's College) gave a presentation entitled Lifelong Learning for All? Policies and practices towards underrepresented and socially excluded groups, with Regina Ebner, Secretary-General of the European Association for the Education of Adults, being the Respondent. Both sessions were chaired by Marc Goffart from the Directorate General for Research and Innovation, of the European Commission.

The Educational Disadvantage Centre is responsible for overall leadership of Subproject 5 of the six year project. Subproject 5 concerns access to education for traditionally marginalized groups across 12 countries – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Scotland, and Slovenia. A briefing paper, A Systems Level Focus on Access to Education for Traditionally Marginalised Groups,  was presented by Dr Downes to European Commission officials from Directorate General (DG) Education and Culture, as well as DG Research and Innovation. This paper outlines a range of key policy recommendations for the European Commission in relation to access to education for those traditionally excluded from the education system.

 

National Education Welfare Board / School Completion Programme

On January 13th 2011, Paul Downes gave a presentation to the National and Regional School Completion Officers on the limits of SMART outcomes and the application of the wider UN Framework of Structural, Process and Outcome Indicators when measuring outcomes in relation to the core elements of school completion. His presentation was entitled Measuring Outcomes in Relation to SCP Core Elements

 

 

Last Updated: Wednesday May 16 2012