Ireland

This report will focuses on the current innovations and the future development of the practices and approaches to the assessment of learning in the area of work-based Vocational Education & Training in Ireland. The report is written from the perspective of the Irish Partner (Dublin City University) of the Leonardo da Vinci QualPraxis Research Project. In Ireland Vocational Education and Training (VET) exists mainly in the further education sector and this report will focus on this area

From Looking at Our Schools (LAOS) to Whole School Evaluation -Management, Leadership and Learning (WSE-MLL): the evolution of inspection in Irish schools over the past decade.

This paper attempts to provide an overview of the key assumptions underpinning the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) inspection policy developed in Ireland since 2003. Beginning with a documentary analysis the paper argues that the capacity to generate useful self evaluative data in schools was seen as being at the heart of the model of school evaluation proposed by the Department of Education and Science. It further suggests that while the rhetoric of self evaluative capacity building has been key to the emerging system the lack of a meaningful structural response within schools means that this has remained aspirational. The latter part of the paper seeks to test this contention, examining the research base in the area of school evaluation and inspection in Ireland and conducting a number of targeted focus groups with school leaders. For the most part the initial contention is confirmed although there is a sense that there may be significant new pressures emerging in the near future that could cause the whole system to be revisited and perhaps be radically overhauled. An initial indicator of these potential changes can be seen in the emergence of a refined WSE Management, Leadership and Learning inspection policy which has yet to be widely implemented

Multiple approaches to reflection as a key component of assessment

This case study focuses on the learning outcomes of two separate modules within the programme: Supervised Work-Based Practice (SWBP) and Microteaching. Using ‘constructive alignment’ (Biggs, 1996), the assessors are interested in the students not only having an understanding of the skills and knowledge required as a teacher/trainer but also the ‘higher order elements’ leading to a deep understanding of themselves and the environment they are working in. The emphasis on ‘reflection’ is crucial to the assessment as the School aims to produce students who are not only knowledgeable but competent

A Meta-Analytic Review of Competitive Aggressiveness Research

Competitive aggressiveness has been at the center of competitive dynamics literature for decades, however there is no consensus as to its primary drivers and performance consequences. Thus, we present the results of a meta-analysis of the antecedents to and consequences of competitive aggressiveness using three aggressiveness components—competitive volume, complexity, and heterogeneity. Leveraging the awareness, motivation, capability framework as a guide of the drivers of competitive aggressiveness, we find that greater organizational size and age, lower slack resources and prior performance, greater market growth, lower market concentration, and more heterogeneous top management teams lead to more aggressive actions. In addition, we found that among the different components of aggressiveness competitive volume improved operating performance

Reflection-on-action in qualitative research processes: deconstructing research and developing an honest critical self-appraisal rubric.

In this paper, four critical friends meet to discuss qualitative research practices. Together they put one of their own case studies under the knife and deconstruct it to investigate the possibilities that knowledge work is complicated not only by the dynamics of socially constructed enterprises and the actors involved therein, but by the positioning of the researcher. The case describes an evaluative study of a university programme where students engaged in directed experiential learning in group integrated learning settings. The researcher was also the course lead-tutor and this gave rise to some concern, on later reflection and in discussions among critical friends, when issues of researcher positioning were considered. Together, through questioning the topic, the literature, the research experience and the role of the researcher, we developed a reflection-on-action rubric. In a research arena where subjective, interpretative and messy examples abound, as they should, this paper offers an example of our own work, an honest self-appraisal, a rubric for readers’ consideration and a discussion that adds to the perpetual flux of knowledge work

The potential, limitations and evaluation of education networks in a monocentric system

In almost all education systems, there has been an increasingly incentivised drive to establish and promote local education networks. In the case of Ireland, funded education networks referred to as ‘education clusters’ have been set up to allow schools to collaborate to increase innovation capacity as well as enhance the return on educational investment through economies of scale. While commendable in theory, there is nevertheless, limited evidence relating to the priorities of these networks as perceived by those who are at the core of them, namely teachers. There is also limited research relating to who should be involved in setting evaluation methodologies and standards for the network. As such, using Ireland as a case example, our study was guided by three interconnected questions; what should the priorities of education networks be, what are the benefits and challenges for such priorities and who should be involved in the development of evaluation methodologies and standards?      Findings, many of which we suggest have considerable relevance to most education systems, reveal that, while in theory, although the appeal of education networks in the form of enhanced professional capital is evident, there are still many issues that need to be resolved to enable such networks to deliver on their theoretical possibilities. These include the limitations of reciprocity among network members and the need for facilitated supports to moderate the competitive nature of schools in a network, allowing for competitive collaboration to occur. Importantly, in this research a significant majority of school principals did not see or were not favourable to the idea of education networks being used for cost reductions through economies of scale.En casi todos los sistemas educativos cada vez se incentiva más el interés por establecer y promover redes educativas locales. En el caso de Irlanda, se han establecido redes educati-vas financiadas conocidas como ‘education clusters’ fomentar la colaboración entre centros educativos con el objetivo de mejorar su capacidad innovadora, así como la rentabilidad de la inversión educativa a través de economías de escala. Aunque este enfoque es meritorio en teoría, existen limitadas evidencias acerca de cómo los integrantes de estas redes perciben sus priori-dades. También existen pocas investigaciones sobre quién debería delimitar las metodologías y estándares de evaluación para las redes. Así, nuestro estudio está guiado por tres cuestiones interconectadas, respondidas utilizando el caso irlandés como ejemplo: cuáles deberían ser las prioridades de la red, cuáles son los beneficios y retos de dichas prioridades, y quién debería implicarse en el desarrollo de su evaluación.Los hallazgos revelan que, aunque en teoría los beneficios de las redes educativas relacio-nados con la mejora del capital profesional son evidentes, todavía hay muchas cuestiones que resolver para conseguir que las redes sean capaces de generar dichos beneficios. Estas incluyen las limitaciones de la reciprocidad entre los miembros de las redes y la necesidad de apoyos para moderar la naturaleza competitiva de los centros educativos dentro de una red, permitiendo de esta manera la existencia de una colaboración competitiva. En esta investigación, una mayoría significativa de directores de centro no estaban de acuerdo con la idea de utilizar las redes educativas como un mecanismo de reducción de costes a través de las economías de escala

An analysis of the training needs of staff in the further education sector in the Republic of Ireland.

This article examines the training needs of educators working in the further education (FE), adult education, and Second Chance sectors in the Republic of Ireland. The research on which it is based was funded jointly by the European Union Leonardo da Vinci Programme and the Department of Education and Science of Ireland and took place from 1998 to 2002. It consisted of a survey of the coordinators of 162 further education (FE) centres and follow up interviews with 13 of these coordinators. The paper concentrates largely on the skills and competencies identified as the key to providing a quality service for the clientele of FE in Ireland. It begins by describing the different types of provision which the FE label refers to in Ireland and then presents some quantitative data which establishes the training deficit suffered by staff in the system. The main part of the paper is based on the interview data obtained, which offers a very complex picture of the skills and competencies perceived as vital in delivering a service which meets the needs of the clientele. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the extent to which further and adult educators perceive personal development and interpersonal communications skills to be the most vital tools in their work. In consequence, it is argued, programmes of professional development for staff in this field must find ways to enhance these skills