ABSTRACT In Ireland, as around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) adopt innovative approaches to ensure the continuity of placement-related components of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. One post-primary concurrent ITE programme conceptualised and developed the Teaching Online Programme (TOP), a multifaceted initiative to introduce student-teachers to the theory and practice of synchronous and asynchronous online teaching via a structured and tutor-supported online peer-teaching experience. Drawing upon the Community of Inquiry framework as a lens, this paper considers how pre-service student-teachers facilitated and experienced ‘teaching presence’ while peer-teaching in a synchronous online environment as part of their TOP. The paper finds that design and organisation, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction, were viewed as relevant and helpful for teaching in online settings, and that overall there was agreement about the importance of establishing a strong sense of teacher presence when teaching in synchronous videoconferencing environments such as Zoom. It concludes by considering how these findings may be of relevance for future development of ITE programmes.

ABSTRACT This paper explores future digital technology policy for education with reference to the Irish context. Framed within the global context of commercial influence on education and related discourses, it addresses the Irish context with particular reference to identifiable ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors seen as influencing policy provision in any next phase. The paper then proceeds to outline a number of intersecting factors or issues that will likely influence digital technology policy and practice in Irish schools in the future, taking into consideration the political, corporate, social, economic and educational backdrop. Likely ethical, environmental and educational factors are proposed and discussed. Looking across these factors, the paper concludes that establishing a clear vision of the role and purpose of technology in education, coupled with a more complex understanding and appreciation of the interaction between technology and education (which is contextually bound and relational, and reflects greater teacher rather than corporate agency) are significant prerequisites to any consideration of the future of digital education in the Irish educational policy context.

ABSTRACT This paper explores possible affordances of technology and online professional learning to develop and support communities of practice in which educational practitioners develop, share and build on one another’s reflections and learning. Evidence is presented from a design-based research study that iteratively designed and developed a mechanical MOOC on educational dialogue for local facilitators. Local facilitators are practitioners who take on a leadership role whereby they coordinate and support peers in their setting in developing their dialogic practices. The research employs mixed methods for collection and analysis of data from course participants, exploring the successes and challenges of online professional development courses within 10 thematic areas. Design principles are offered for each of these 10 themes for scalable and sustainable online professional learning programmes that promote practitioner reflection, agency and empowerment, and view educators as valuable creators and contributors to professional learning resources and environments.

Teachers today must not only be prepared to use technology but must also know how to use it (Butler, D., K. Marshall, and M. Leahy. 2015. Shaping the Future: How Technology Can Lead to Educational Transformation, 1st ed. Dublin: Liffey Press). The purpose of this study was to explore two primary physical education initial teacher educator’s (PEITE’s) professional learning experiences while introducing iPads into a physical education module. The module’s focus was to promote quality teaching, learning and assessment of fundamental movement skills in physical education with pre-service generalist primary teachers. It was a qualitative study utilising lesson study methodology. Data included audio files, video recordings and field notes. Following analysis, three themes were developed: learning the technology, managing the technology and integrating the technology. The findings showed that for the PEITEs, time was a valuable commodity while grappling with technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge and pre-service teachers’ physical education knowledge. Self-directed learning was an enabler to facilitate technological and pedagogical competence for the PEITEs. Although managing aspects of the technology, such as limited Wi-Fi access and technical support, was a challenge, the PEITEs continued to integrate iPads into their teaching.

Teacher-Artist Partnership (TAP) programmes in Ireland have, historically, tended to be ad-hoc, short-term, and underfunded. They have, moreover, lacked an explicit focus on teacher CPD. In 2014, a Government of Ireland funded initiative was set up to address these shortcomings and to explore how TAP, as a model of CPD, could support arts education in Ireland’s primary schools. The initiative involved six teachers and six artists collaborating on arts projects in six schools across the country. In this article, the authors examine three of these partnerships, focusing, specifically. on the professional development enabled by TAP for the three teachers involved. In their analysis, the authors draw on data from an initial week-long residential summer course and the ensuing in-school partnerships. Data sources include teachers’ and artists’ diaries, classroom observations and focus group interviews. The authors found that TAP enabled considerable professional development for the three participating teachers, all of whom were highly motivated and had significant expertise in the arts/arts education. In this article, they consider the implications of their findings for the role of TAP in developing a sustainable approach to arts education in Ireland’s primary schools.

It is a privilege to present this review of Blended and Online Learning for Global Citizenship: New Technologies and Opportunities for Intercultural Education by William J. Hunter and Roger Austin ...

While challenges faced by school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic have been extensively discussed, this article explores ways in which student teachers have demonstrated ‘adaptive expertise’ in response to a changing educational landscape that have enabled them to support schools during this public health emergency. Discerning school leaders have over the past twelve months looked to student teachers on school placement to demonstrate teacher leadership in supporting schools during the COVID-19 education crisis. This qualitative research draws on in-depth interviews with school leaders [10], co-operating teachers [10] and student teachers [10] across ten case study schools on a teacher education programme in Ireland. It highlights the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an impetus for the development of democratic pedagogical partnerships in ITE triggered by a need for collaborative engagement underpinned by responsive pedagogy and digital enhanced learning. The data also supports the view that the expertise that student teachers can offer schools in relation to their digital competence can significantly assist in fostering collaborative and reflective practice and bridge the perennial theory/practice divide.

Conferences are widely recognised as a central component of academic life, providing important opportunities for dissemination of research, professional networking, and extending scholarship. Notwithstanding this, concerns are increasingly voiced around such factors as the environmental and sustainability aspects of conference travel and hosting, and issues of equity and access. The imposition of travel and congregation restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the suspension of in-person academic conferences throughout the world. This desk-based research study provides a timely opportunity to consider the challenges that this has precipitated, and the ensuing changes to the long-established and relatively consistent format that is employed for academic conferences. In doing so, it reflects upon what has been lost through the unavoidable abandonment of the traditional face-to-face conference during these unique times, but also what may have been found in terms of creative solutions, reimagined formats, and unexpected benefits that have arisen through the reconceptualisation of such events, and which may have wider implications for the academic conference in the post-pandemic world that awaits us.

Teachers can play a crucial role in identifying and responding to children’s mental health difficulties. This study explored teachers’ mental health literacy (MHL) and their help-giving responses, a topic which is relatively unexplored, particularly at primary school level. Primary teachers (N = 356) responded to a questionnaire that followed the presentation of each of three vignettes: a non-clinical, control, vignette and two clinical vignettes. One of the clinical vignettes described a child with generalised anxiety disorder and another described a child with depression. Mixed-methods questioning was used to assess teachers’ ability to recognise internalising disorders and their help-giving responses. Most participants were able to recognise a child experiencing an internalising disorder, with 84% accurately identifying anxiety and 71% accurately identifying depression. Multiple regression analyses showed that being female and having more exposure to mental illness were significantly associated with greater concern for affected children. Greater concern and confidence in one’s ability to help students in need were significantly associated with teachers’ intention to offer support. More years of teaching experience was associated with less help-giving intentions. MHL training for teachers is recommended so as to improve their ability to identify and respond to children’s mental health difficulties in a timely manner.

Policy-makers in Ireland advocate teacher collaboration as being a vital component of educational reform and school improvement in inclusive and participatory communities of practice. The objective of this research study was to attempt to achieve a depth of understanding of the role played by principals in the reification of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) policy around collaborative practice in their schools. This paper attempts to capture a snapshot of the current culture around teacher collaborative practice and the extent to which such practice is enabled and/or encouraged by senior management. A qualitative approach was used to gather the necessary data which were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Some key findings include: principals have an astute awareness of how collaborative practice is conceptualised and contextualised within the Irish education system; there exists a broad range of formal and informal practices already at play; principals believe that clear structures and strategies will herald the creation of a new pedagogical landscape propagated by meaningful and highly effective collaborative practice; school leaders actively encourage and endorse collaborative practice; principals are positively seeking to re-culture schools and mediate the traditional norms that many teachers are essentially fearful to forsake.