Exploring Teacher Confidence in the Teaching of Poetry at Leaving Certificate and A level

Employing a two-phased mixed methods approach, this project aimed to explore teacher confidence in the teaching of post-16 poetry across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with a view to informing teachers’ professional development needs in this field. In so doing, it seeks to establish: How confident do English teachers assert themselves to be …
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Teacher assistant partnerships in special schools

The number of assistants in schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland has increased significantly over the years in response to changes in educational policy and although the role of the assistant has been the focus of many research studies, ambiguity still surrounds the role.  There is also a notable gap in the research on the …
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Minority language pupils and the curriculum – closing the achievement gap

The aim of this project was to hold two seminars on teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL), one at Ulster University in Coleraine and the other at Marino Institute of Education in Dublin, and to produce a digital resource based on these events. The seminars were entitled Minority language pupils and the curriculum – …
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Bereavement, Seperation, and Divorce: The response of pre-service teachers to pupil wellbeing.

This research will documented the approach and response of pre-service teachers regarding their training, and confidence and competence in supporting pupils who have experienced loss. In particular the study seeked to answer the following research questions: Is loss an issue that effects the academic attainment and/or physical and psychological well-being of their students? How confident …
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Managing early years inclusive transition practices

To compare the transition policies and practices employed by mainstream schools for young children with special needs in the North and South of Ireland. Specifically, he project aims to document the policies (at government, local authority and school level)  that direct and influence the transition process; to explore the differing practices and strategies employed by …
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Addressing fundamental movement skill training: Learning to move, moving to learn

The aim of this research project is to: to prepare a summary of existing research on best practice in effective fundamental movement skill development in the work place (within and beyond education) (b) to analyse different models of fundamental movement skill training in physical education teacher education in two research sites, and to compare them …
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EDLAW Conference: Contemporary Legal Issues for Management and Staff in Educational Settings: Exploring Legislation, Litigation, Approaches and Strategies and Implications for Teacher Education.

The central questions to be explored are: How can educational management and staff prepare for, deal with, and respond to a range of legal issues which challenge educational settings today? What implications does this have for teacher education EDLaw Final Report   


Makaton: an introduction

Makaton is a language programme which involves speech and gesture, eye contact, body language and facial expression.  It is based on a series of basic everyday words and uses speech as well as gesture and/or signs.  Children who may be experiencing difficulty with their speech often find it much easier to understand and communicate using …
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Global Developmental Delay: what is it?

Global Developmental Delay (GDD) is a subset of developmental disabilities with early onset and relates to children who experience significant delay in two or more developmental domains (e.g. gross/fine motor, speech/language, cognition, social/emotional) compared to their chronological peers. The term GDD is often reserved for younger children (under 5 years of age).  The prevalence of …
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Moderate Learning Difficulties: unravelling the confusion

Origins In 1978 the Warnock Report introduced the term ‘moderate learning difficulties’ (MLD) to replace the formal term ‘educationally sub-normal to a moderate degree’ or ESN (M) introduced in 1945.  Ironically, although one of the main aims of the Warnock Report was to move away from a medical model in which children were labelled according …
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