The theme for the 2026 SCoTENS conference, Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education, invites educators, researchers, and policymakers to engage with how diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives shape teaching and learning. The conference will explore diversity across the profession, including recruitment, retention, and representation, as well as how teachers are prepared for increasingly diverse and complex classrooms. It will …
Read More SCoTENS Conference 2026 – Poster Presentations

  The Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS) invites proposals for participation and working papers at the 8th SCoTENS Doctoral Studies Roundtable.  The Roundtable will provide a mix of short presentations by participants on their work in progress and will also feature participation by SCoTENS colleagues who are leaders in the field …
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Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education  Thursday 15 – Friday 16 October 2026  Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan CALL FOR PAPERS The theme for the 2026 SCoTENS conference, Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education, invites educators, researchers, and policymakers to engage with how diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives shape teaching and learning. The conference will explore diversity …
Read More SCoTENS Conference 2026 – Expressions of Interest/Presentations

  This year’s SCoTENS Conference is taking place in the beautiful Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan on 15 and 16 October 2026. The theme for the 2026 SCoTENS conference, Exploring Diversity in Teacher Education, invites educators, researchers, and policymakers to engage with how diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives shape teaching and learning. The conference will …
Read More SCoTENS Conference 2026

Members of SCoTENS recently came together for an engaging event highlighting several successful projects funded through recent SCoTENS calls. The session offered valuable insights into innovative cross-border research and collaboration in education across the island of Ireland. Featured Project Presentations Dr Camelia Nadia Bran (University College Cork) and Dr Donna Hazzard (St Mary’s University College …
Read More SCoTENS Event Showcases Recent Funded Research Projects

We are delighted to invite you to this year’s SCoTENS Research Webinar — an inspiring evening where we shine a spotlight on collaborative research, innovative ideas, and the impact of new seed‑funded projects across the island of Ireland. This year’s programme will also feature the announcement of the 2026 John Coolahan Award winner, celebrating outstanding …
Read More The 2026 SCoTENS Research Webinar

    Each year, SCoTENS provides Seed Funding to support collaborative research projects and professional activities in teacher education across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To date, 159 research, conference, and exchange projects have benefited from this scheme.  As last year, SCoTENS is delighted that DE (NI) is committing funding for a small number of additional seed-funding …
Read More Seed Funding Scheme 2026

The 2025 SCoTENS Annual Conference took place in the stunning surroundings of the Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen, on 16 & 17 October 2025. This year’s theme, “A New Era for Professionalism: Teacher Identity, Authenticity, and Agency,” brought together educators, researchers, and policymakers to reflect on the evolving nature of teacher professionalism in a rapidly changing …
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The aim of this project is to promote and develop strong home school links towards the speaking of Irish and in turn foster positive dispositions towards the language. An exploration and appreciation of our culture and our language through positive engagement, online forums and support .

Register HERE Title: A New Era for Professionalism: Teacher Identity, Authenticity and Agency Date  Thursday 16 – Friday 17 October 2025 Venue: Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh This year’s SCoTENS annual conference will take place in the beautiful Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen on 16 and 17 October 2025.  The theme for this year is …
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TWEET The use of educational technology as society emerges from COVID-19 continues to pose a challenge for educators. There is a lack of evidence on how digital technology can positively impact teacher wellbeing when effectively managed by school leaders and teachers. This research sought to explore and develop the connection between educational technology and teacher …
Read More |Teacher_Wellbeing from Engaging_with_Educational Technologies – TWEET

Kindred Spirit Kindness in teacher education This project was undertaken to explore and honour the role of kindness in teacher education under the auspices of the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENs) as a collaboration between researchers in Dublin City University (DCU) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). It originally aimed to do …
Read More Kindred Spirit: A SCoTENS Research Project Report on Kindness in Teacher Education

ASSESS The focus of teaching is helping people to learn. For this reason, theories of learning and assessment are core components of initial and continuing teacher education. It is possible to categorise three main theories of learning as follows: 1. Behaviourist theory – rote learning and memorisation of facts and information are the central tools …
Read More ASSESS (Active Seminar Series for Early-Career, Student and inService Teachers): Introducing a Shared Programme of Support for ‘Assessment as Learning’ Post-Pandemic for Post-Primary Student and In-Career Teachers: From Case Study to Praxis

PIE The aim of this research project was to develop a survey to gather the attitudes of primary school teachers across the island of Ireland towards play, including a special focus on attitudes towards play for the inclusion of autistic learners within primary school classrooms. Given the significant lack of research in this area, the …
Read More Play for Inclusive Education on the Island of Ireland – PIE

SRASI Report The Shared Responsibility Across a Shared Island (SRASI) project aimed to (i) develop and share a teaching approach to social justice across two Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programmes from North and South, and (ii) encourage teacher educators and preservice teachers (PSTs) to learn with and from each other, within and across their …
Read More SRASI – Shared Responsibility Across a Shared Island: Teaching social justice in initial teacher education

Interactive Apps and Narrative Writing – 2023 In a recent Briefing Paper entitled ‘Education across the island of Ireland: comparing systems and outcomes’, Roulston (2021) argues that the curriculum, pedagogic approaches and assessment in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are markedly different and he asserts that there is a need for both jurisdictions …
Read More Interactive Apps and Narrative Writing

The Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS) invites proposals for participation and working papers at the 5th SCoTENS Doctoral Studies Roundtable.  The Roundtable will provide a mix of short presentations by participants on their work in progress and will also feature participation by SCoTENS colleagues who are leaders in the field of …
Read More SCoTENS Doctoral Workshop 2023

The committee is delighted to host this conference to mark twenty years since SCoTENS was established. In this special year, our conference will be a celebratory one, and inputs will follow a slightly different format than those at previous conferences. The new round table format has been designed to facilitate speakers and delegates in reflecting …
Read More Invitation to Submit Proposal to present at the SCoTENS Conference 19 and 20 October 2023, Lough Erne Resort, Co Fermanagh

As part of our ongoing series of online events SCoTENS hosted a very successful research focused webinar on 14 March 2023.     This event was aimed at members of SCoTENS and comprised of the following: short presentations by a small group of team members who have been successful in recent SCoTENS funded projects; the launch of our …
Read More SCoTENS Research Webinar 2023

As part of our ongoing series of online events SCoTENS are delighted to announce that they are running a short research-focused webinar on 14 March 2023 from 2.00-3.00 pm with a follow-on session for 30 minutes for anyone considering applying for seed funding this year (3.00-3.30pm).   This event is aimed at members of SCoTENS and will comprise the …
Read More SCoTENS Research Webinar