Child Protection Training for Teachers and Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities

It is widely recognised in child protection literature that teachers have a significant role to play in both detecting and reporting child abuse .This paper considers the role of teachers in child protection work and the challenges that exist in reporting abuse. The training needs of teachers in the area of child protection are also outlined. Recent changes in legislation, following the commencement of the remaining provisions of the Children First Act specify teachers registered with the Teaching Council as ‘Mandated Persons’. The requirements of mandated persons in the school environment are outlined. Given the responsibilities of this role, a renewed focus on training in child protection seems very timely. The paper draws on interviews completed with sixteen Designated Liaison Persons (DLPs) for child protection in Irish primary schools, illustrating the training requirements of both DLPs and teachers. The current training models that are available to schools are also outlined

The Evolution of wellbeing in educational policy in Ireland: Towards an interdisciplinary approach

This paper examines how wellbeing has evolved in educational policy over the last decade in Ireland. The influence of the developments in national policy on wellbeing are also considered. While the concept of wellbeing is progressing in educational policy documents and becoming embedded in the language of the school community, a review of literature in the area highlights that it is difficult to define and to understand. Although wellbeing is a central theme in Early Years education and an area of learning in post-primary education for Junior Cycle in the Irish context, presently it can be regarded as implicit in the primary school curriculum rather than a defined theme or area of learning. The Draft Curriculum Framework published by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in February 2020 includes wellbeing as one of five broad curriculum areas. This paper presents reflection on the inclusion of wellbeing as an area of learning in a redeveloped primary school curriculum

Well-Being: Bridging the Gap between the Language of Policy and the Culture of Schools

While there is an increasing interest in the notion of well-being—politically, societally and educationally—it remains an enigmatic, multifaceted concept that sometimes eludes definition in academic articles. This article takes account of policy developments in the area of well-being over the last decade in Ireland, particularly educational policy developments. It presents research findings from a study conducted with primary school teachers on the west coast of Ireland about what well-being means to them as teachers and their challenges in promoting it. The findings highlight that well-being is open to many interpretations, and there is a clear gap between the language of well-being policy documents and the practices taking place in schools

Sexuality in the context of Relationships and Sexuality Education

This paper outlines a review of the teaching of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in Irish primary schools since its inception in 1996 to the present day and provides some insight into current teaching in the area and potential challenges facing schools. It calls for the teaching of RSE as part of the wider context of Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE), to include teaching children from the earliest age possible that there are different types of sexual relationships, including homosexuality. Findings from a research study completed by Farrelly (2014) indicates that there is a reluctance amongst school leaders to allow for teaching children about sexual orientation and the reasons for this are explored

The experiences and perceptions o f the Designated Liaison Person for Child Protection in Irish Primary Schools

The aim o f this research was to explore the ‘lived experience’ o f Designated Liaison Person (DLP’s) for Child Protection in Primary Schools in Ireland, and the purpose of the research was to use the learning from the investigation to ensure that vulnerable children will be protected more adequately. Following a review of the literature on child protection and the role o f teachers and schools in the area, a survey questionnaire was distributed to thirty two DLP’s in primary schools. From the questionnaires returned, sixteen DLP’s were selected for interview; eight from schools designated as disadvantaged, and eight from non DEIS schools. The decision to choose eight DLP’s from DEIS schools was taken in order to embody the richness o f the lived experiences o f DLP’s. The other DLP’s were selected to represent a variety of size and type of school and overall the DLP’s had varying years of experience in the role. While several qualitative approaches were considered for this study, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was deemed the most appropriate for this investigation. The qualitative analysis produced a master list of themes, and superordinate and subordinate themes emerged, referring to major and minor themes. The superordinate themes were: ‘The DLP Role’, ‘Experience of Dealing with Outside Agencies in relation to Child Protection Issues’, ‘The School Story’, ‘Children Telling’ and ‘Guidelines and Training’. This study highlighted the role of the DLP as multifaceted and complex and open to interpretation in various circumstances. The greatest challenge faced by DLP’s in this research was knowing when they have enough evidence and information to report an incident to the HSE. The tension exists for schools between supporting parents and reporting parents. Many educational implication for child protection work have been highlighted through this study and ultimately this work has uncovered the role of schools in child protection work in Ireland, which has been relatively unexplored to date

Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Wellbeing during the Covid 19 Pandemic

The history of the Covid 19 pandemic and its impact across the world is currently in writing. This chapter focuses on the impact of primary school closures in the Irish context on Principal and Teacher wellbeing, and specifically on self-care practices that participants engaged in during the extended period of school closures. Findings of a small-scale study undertaken with 12 primary school teachers and 10 principals are reported upon. A mixed-methods study with a qualitative research focus was undertaken. There were 2 phases to the study: Phase 1 was undertaken in June 2020 and phase 2 was completed in December 2020 when participants had returned to school. At each phase the participants completed a semi-structured interview via the online platform Zoom and they also completed 2 questionnaires; the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory adapted for teachers (CBI). The research findings in particular highlight how the pandemic provided an opportunity to very busy principals and teachers to address their wellbeing. The article highlights in particular how self-care is so important for a profession that is demanding and the challenges in finding the balance between the demands of the profession and sustaining personal wellbeing through self-care practices

The experiences and perceptions o f the Designated Liaison Person for Child Protection in Irish Primary Schools

The aim o f this research was to explore the ‘lived experience’ o f Designated Liaison Person (DLP’s) for Child Protection in Primary Schools in Ireland, and the purpose of the research was to use the learning from the investigation to ensure that vulnerable children will be protected more adequately. Following a review of the literature on child protection and the role o f teachers and schools in the area, a survey questionnaire was distributed to thirty two DLP’s in primary schools. From the questionnaires returned, sixteen DLP’s were selected for interview; eight from schools designated as disadvantaged, and eight from non DEIS schools. The decision to choose eight DLP’s from DEIS schools was taken in order to embody the richness o f the lived experiences o f DLP’s. The other DLP’s were selected to represent a variety of size and type of school and overall the DLP’s had varying years of experience in the role. While several qualitative approaches were considered for this study, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was deemed the most appropriate for this investigation. The qualitative analysis produced a master list of themes, and superordinate and subordinate themes emerged, referring to major and minor themes. The superordinate themes were: ‘The DLP Role’, ‘Experience of Dealing with Outside Agencies in relation to Child Protection Issues’, ‘The School Story’, ‘Children Telling’ and ‘Guidelines and Training’. This study highlighted the role of the DLP as multifaceted and complex and open to interpretation in various circumstances. The greatest challenge faced by DLP’s in this research was knowing when they have enough evidence and information to report an incident to the HSE. The tension exists for schools between supporting parents and reporting parents. Many educational implication for child protection work have been highlighted through this study and ultimately this work has uncovered the role of schools in child protection work in Ireland, which has been relatively unexplored to date

Conservation of plant defense responses observed in microalgae-fungal pathogen interactions /

Outdoor ponds are the most practical means to cultivate algae for biofuel production. S dimorphus, a green microalga with potential use as a biofuel crop, grown in ponds is susceptible to infection and disease caused by primitive chytrid-like fungi. Infection can kill virtually all of the algal cells in a pond within days. As a first step toward the development of resistant strains, we advanced our molecular understanding of algae and chytrid- like fungi interactions by observing infection-induced changes in the levels of proteins of S. dimorphus. Peptide mass spectrometry revealed ̃2,500 proteins change in abundance in S. dimorphus after FD61 (chytrid-like fungi) infection. We observed several proteins to be homologous to proteins involved in plant defense including proteins known to be precursors of plant defense hormones Salicylic Acid (SA) and Jasmonic Acid (JA). SA mediates defense against biotrophic pathogens while JA mediates defense against necrotrophic pathogens. BTH (SA analog) treatment of S. dimorphus delays FD01 infection and meJA treatment of S. dimorphus accelerates FD61 infection. BTH and meJA treatment at high concentration suppresses S. dimorphus growth (non-infected). We hypothesize that if SA and JA pathways exist in algae, a mutant less sensitive to JA will be less susceptible to chytrid infection and a mutant less sensitive to SA will be more susceptible to chytrid infection. To further test this hypothesis we will perform a library screen to find such a mutant and test candidates for susceptibility to chytrid infectio

Primary School Closures during the Coronovirus pandemic: Impacts, Opportunities and Connections

Rationale for the Study › March 12th 2020- Government decision to shut all schools due to Coronavirus pandemic › Principals and teachers reimagined how education took place- transitioning from face to face classrooms to online learning › Insights into dealing with the sudden closure of school buildings, evolving emotions and the impact on teacher and principal wellbeing › The overall aim of the study was to provide an opportunity for both principals and teachers to reflect on how the pandemic impacted on their wellbeing and by inference, the impact of the increased emotional labour of teaching during COVID 19

The impact of job sharing strategies in regional Australia

Selected papers from the Fourth National Conference on Unemployment held in Adelaide in June 1997. Includes bibliographical references