Conference proceedings

Children And E-Society: Identifying Barriers To Participation

Brian O'Neill — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:43:18 PDT

Children are widely seen as direct beneficiaries and indeed often as the primary targets of information society policies, particularly those geared towards enhancing learning opportunities, access to information and building inclusiveness and participation in society. The European Union’s Digital Agenda places a safer and better internet for children at the heart of its policy platform. And yet, more often than not, children’s e-society participation has been a cause of concern and anxiety for policy makers, particularly with ever-increasing early adoption of new internet technologies and services by children and young people. Such concerns have been motivated by the responsibilities held by public agencies to ensure adequate protection for young people whilst seeking to encourage and foster children’s online opportunities. Thus, e-society may be said to constitute a set of tricky policy dilemmas and challenges with regard to children’s participation. To date, the balancing of risks and opportunities has been informed more by assumptions of the benefits and the dangers that e-society might pose for children and young people. EU Kids Online, a pan-European survey of children’s use of the internet, has attempted to fill this research gap by providing the first fully comparable data on issues of risk and safety gathered directly from children themselves in 25 European countries. Drawing on its research findings, this paper will focus on the extent of children’s embeddedness within e-society, examining dimensions of e-literacy, the availability of appropriate e-content and resilience in relation to risks encountered online. The paper argues for greater policy and research attention to children’s perspectives on e-society, as a means of fostering greater trust and participation for society as a whole.

An Investigation of the Perception of Gains from Undergraduate International Exchange Programs: The Tale of Atlantis

Donal McHale et al. — Fri, 04 May 2012 01:21:39 PDT

In this paper, we provide the quantitative results collected through a two-column survey instrument with which students recorded their perceptions of their educational experiences, and then summarize the qualitative study findings to outline the benefits of being immersed in different educational settings through study abroad experiences. Given the current resource constraint environment in higher education settings, we hope to help our community in making better decisions relevant to developing and sustaining study abroad programs

Everyone Wants To Be Like Harvard- Or Do They: Cherishing All Missions Equally

Ellen Hazelkorn — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:58:15 PST

This paper aims to review the drivers of institutional diversity, and traditional higher education system frameworks which mirrored a simplistic understanding of knowledge creation and skill/labour market requirements. It then proposes a more differentiated approach of diversity appropriate for the 21st century and reflecting the complexity of knowledge production and concepts of research and scholarship, and the trend for universal higher education. On this basis, one may observe new models of higher education institutions emerging. The paper asks how these developments might help expand our understanding of diversity, and propose policy and institutional responses, looking at various examples internationally.

A Review of Irish Projects on the Sustainability of Recognition of Prior Learning Initiatives

Katherine Collins — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:20:04 PDT

One increasingly popular area of research in the workplace is the concept of the recognition of prior learning (RPL). RPL can be defined as the recognition of learning that has taken place, but has not necessarily been assessed or measured and which may have been acquired through formal, non-formal and informal routes. In this paper I will attempt to use the European concept of Valorisation as a means to examine four RPL projects that were undertaken in Ireland in recent years between higher education institutes and workforce sectors. This analysis was done by way of desk research and interviews with key stakeholders within each project. It was discovered that despite primarily positive participant reviews of the RPL process, the aspects of value, sustainability, visibility and policy are still lacking. The most promising added value of RPL was in the potential of its impact and transferability, which are areas that should be researched further when focusing on education and training between the workplace and higher education institutes.

The Impact of Policy Tool Selection on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Ireland

Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes et al. — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:26:13 PDT

This paper looks at the range of policy tools selected by the Irish State to fund and develop Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The choice is influenced by cultural norms and ideological predisposition with Ireland demonstrating a pro-market bias and relying on a range of interdependencies and third parties for delivery of services. The tools selected by the Irish State are typically those associated with States that promote a liberal agenda, sometimes referred to as the Anglo/American model (Salamon 2002). However, a closer review of the tools characteristics in Ireland reveal a tendency to adopt a conservative corporatist (Dean 2001) stance that can discourage women’s participation in the workforce.

Final Report UNESCO-UNEVOC International Experts Seminar, Dublin

Aidan Kenny — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:08:24 PDT

UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre and the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) UNEVOC National Centre Ireland jointly organised an International Expert’s Consultation seminar from 18 to 20 August, 2008 at DIT Aungier Street Campus, in Dublin, Ireland. Since DIT joined the UNEVOC Network in early 2007, Mr. Aidan Kenny, co-ordinator of the National UNEVOC Centre Ireland and Dr. L. Efison Munjanganja, Head, UNEVOC Networks had in conversations and in correspondence been keen about the idea of a consultative seminar on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and capacity building in the UNEVOC Network. Central to the idea was the stimulation of capacity building, networking and enabling collaborative and scholarship activities focused on international TVET issues. The emerging idea of an expert’s consultation began to focus on a design to stimulate networking and capacity building within the UNEVOC Network by raising the awareness of the needs, interests and strengths of various UNEVOC Centres in developed countries the North and in developing countries the South. Developing relationships between the North and South were identified by the partners as an area for strategic action. There was a perceived gap between the expert knowledge and resources in some UNEVOC Centres and the needs of other UNEVOC Centres. The partners wanted to explore the magnitude of this perceived gap and identify opportunities and possible solutions to reduce this gap. A crucial focus was the disparity in expertise and resources between the North and South. The partners want to bridge this gap by facilitating an network event that could create relationships between UNEVOC Centres in the North and South In tandem to this the partners also wanted to germinate a Capacity Building process, offering space and providing opportunities to share information on innovations in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and on possible contributions of UNEVOC Centres to knowledge building and knowledge sharing. It was felt at the time that by developing a structured event we could make a positive contribution to the stimulating of networking relationships, the sharing of experience and the deepening of understanding between UNEVOC Centres in both the North and South. From the on-set the partners operated from the principles of respect for diversity, inclusiveness, transparency and ethical governance. As the project had limited resources available to fulfil its goals, it was decided to strategically list UNEVOC Centres from both the North and South who would be invited to the seminar. Our priority was to identify UNEVOC Centres that could contribute to the process and gain positive outcomes from participating in the event. Over twenty UNEVOC Centres participated in the seminar form various countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States of America. The list of the participants can be found in the appendix 1. From the feedback received before, during and after the seminar it would seem that collectively the process of strengthening the Network, stimulating capacity building activities and developing North-South relationships is moving in the right direction. The partners are committed to continuing this process and look forward to working with new colleagues in the future. The purpose of this report is to share the learning and outcomes that arose during the planning and implementation phases of this project and to begin to chart the strategic direction of where this project can move towards. The report is divided into three interconnected sections. Section 1 provides some background information on the emergence of the idea from concept to practice. Section two details the presentations that were made by speakers at the seminar. Section three details the findings and actions that come out of the workshshops and plenary sessions, it also summarised some of the key recommendations. The appendices contain all of the relevant seminar material and correspondence that was circulated before the seminar; it also contains the findings from the participants post seminar evaluation.

The UNEVOC National Centre Ireland (UNCI) a Case Study: Description, Reflections and Opportunities

Aidan Kenny — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:08:22 PDT

In this paper I adopt and merge elements from both Yin (2005) ‘Case Study Method’, and Guba and Lincoln (1989) ‘Fourth Generation Evaluation’ to provide the reader with some background information, insights and future directions of the recently established UNEVOC National Centre Ireland. This is presented in three separate sections; Section 1, Descriptions, provides details on the background of the Dublin Institute of Technology, locates the emergence of the UNESCO-UNEVOC agenda in DIT, and DIT’s appointment as the UNEVOC National Centre Ireland. Section 2, Reflections, details the work of the National UNEVOC Centre Ireland during the period 2006-2008. I note some of the milestones and strategic directions taken during this development period. Section 3, Opportunities, sets out future possibilities that would enable the UNEVOC National Centre Ireland to move to a new level of operation and expand the range of work it can undertake and the contribution it can make towards UNESCO-UNEVOC goals. This paper will not detail in any great length or depth with descriptions relating to technical vocational education and training (TVET) in Ireland. The rational for this position is quite simple, Guest Speakers from the main Irish national organisations (The Institutes of Technology Ireland, FAS, The National Qualifications Authority of Ireland, the Teachers Union of Ireland, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs) will make presentations to this seminar portraying the rich depth of education and training policy and practice currently in operation Ireland. Rather I want to use this opportunity to share with participants the emerging story of the UNEVOC National Centre Ireland, this information maybe of interests to other established and newly forming UNEVOC Centres in both the North and South. In essence I am endeavouring to provide the reader with a contextual framework to support future dialogue on possible collaborations and capacity building initiatives.

The Enhancement of Student Learning Through Engagement and Feedback in the Assessment Process

Niall Delaney et al. — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:52:24 PDT

The Dublin Institute of Technology is one of the largest multi-level higher education providers in Ireland, catering for over 22000 students annually. Under the 1999 Qualifications (Education and Training) Act, DIT became an awarding body in its own right. Programme provision covers apprenticeships, short continuous professional development courses, taught undergraduate and postgraduate, research MPhil and PhDs. The Institute’s traditional mission has always been focused on learning and teaching in the field of advanced technical vocational education and training (TVET), and one of its current agendas is to foster and encourage changes in teaching practice and methodology in order to enhance a student centred learning approach. This paper reviews a pilot project undertaken regarding this agenda by lecturers of Carpentry and Joinery apprentices. Over the past few years, it appeared that the students were showing less of an interest in their practical jobs in class, as they did not relate the learning to actual work in industry. When it came to exam time their lack of interest in class throughout the term meant they quite often rushed through their exams, mistakes were made and students engaged in unsafe practices. As such the students’ final exam mark wasn’t necessarily a fair reflection of their ability. Against this background it was decided that something should be done to revitalise student interest in the work they were doing and also to try and assess a student’s real capability or standard level. The method that was decided upon to achieve this was a form of continuous assessment whereby students were encouraged to correct their own work. By doing this it gave them a chance to reflect on the jobs they had just completed and also allowed them to focus in on areas in which they felt they needed to improve. It also gave the lecturers the opportunity to give formative feedback to the students by checking their work and the marks that they awarded themselves to see that they were a fair reflection of each other. The research demonstrates that this form of proactive teaching can help foster a learning environment whereby the student feels they have some form of direct control and as such take on a more active role in their education.

Vocational Education and Universities: Building Collaboration and Pathways for Local/Regional Development

Ellen Hazelkorn — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:20:36 PST

This presentation discusses the characteristics of a world class higher education/post-secondary system based upon encouraging greater collaboration between vocational/further education and universities.

Exploring Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Ireland: Critical Discourse Analysis as a Methodological Tool

Rachel Kiersey — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:20:35 PST

The Irish government have invested considerably in the broad early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector over the last decade. However, a distinction persists within Irish policy between childcare and early education, both structurally and conceptually. Early education frequently refers to intervention based pre-school services; conversely childcare frequently refers to the broad spectrum of care services for 0-12 year olds, from family based child care through to centre-based provision (Hayes & Bradley, 2006; NESF, 2005; OECD, 2004). As a result of this, ‘early childhood services in Ireland are fractured across the welfare (childcare) and educational (early education) domains and … targeted in nature’(Hayes, 2008, p. 33). The National Children’s Strategy marked ‘the beginning of a shift towards using rights-based language in policy development … by strongly reflecting the UNCRC’ (Hayes, 2002, p. 49). The ambitious language of Irish ECEC policy documents is not always realised in policy implementation, which leads to a tendency toward rhetoric. Using a children’s rights lens this paper reports on the preliminary findings of a research study which has sampled these policy documents to analyse the extent to which they consider children and are rights-based from a linguistic perspective. A critical discourse analysis (CDA), which involves thorough analysis of the linguistic structure of documents alongside wider consideration of the socio-political culture in which they were created, allows us to find ‘ways into texts’ (Pennycook, 2008). Consequently, this paper aims to use CDA to locate Irish ECEC policy, particularly it’s approach to ‘children’s rights’, in terms of language and ideology.

The Discursive Construction of ‘Children’ and ‘Rights’ in Irish Early Childhood Policy

Rachel Kiersey et al. — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:20:34 PST

This paper explores the construction of knowledge about ‗children‘, ‗rights‘ and ‗ECEC‘ in Irish early childhood policy discourses. This research forms part of a wider thematic research project exploring Irish early childhood policy design from a number of angles; this strand of the research is concerned with ―revealing meaning‖ from Irish ECEC policy texts through a critical discourse analysis study. The theoretical goal of a critical discourse analysis study aims to understand how specific realities have come into being in the policy area; how they are reproduced through policy literature, how language use is an integral facet of social processes, and how this shapes meaning about ECEC in wider society. The methodology used in this study follows the general rules proposed in the CDA framework devised by Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999); alongside Foucault‘s notion that language, power and knowledge are fundamentally interconnected at the level of discourses (1977). The CDA framework was applied to policy texts using a thorough linguistic textual analysis, while also considering the wider dominant political and social context at the time of publication and dissemination. Discourses of knowledge about Irish ECEC policy have been constructed twofold; as policy responding to a ‗childcare crisis‘, and, as policy targeting educational disadvantage; both of which fall short of conceptualising services and supports as rights-based. This paper aims to show how knowledge about each concept is constructed and represented through the language used in the policy document and explore the significance of these constructs for future policy.

A Tale of Two Strategies for Higher Education and Economic Recovery: Ireland and Australia

Ellen Hazelkorn et al. — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:12:13 PST

As Dirk van Damme suggested (van Damme, 2009), the effects of the global financial crisis (GFC) have been manifold and complex and affected countries differently. Australia and Ireland have fared very differently in the GFC so choices will inevitably have been influenced by their relative capacity to spend on higher education. Since 1988 Australia has had a unitary, government-regulated but independent higher education system with block funding from a combination of government allocations and student contributions. In contrast, Ireland retains a government-regulated binary system dependent upon public investment and direct government control of staffing budgets. In recent years, both countries have reviewed their higher education system (Australia 2008, Ireland 2009-2010). The Australian review forms the basis of the government’s intention to further deregulate the system by removing enrolment caps, while Ireland’s higher education is caught up in a drive for efficiency and rationalisation. While the GFC increased awareness of the need to invest in the knowledge economy, governments are adopting different approaches in line with their different fundamentals. It can be argued that Ireland was left with little leeway whereas Australia’s far better economic position might have provided an opportunity to invest in higher education through its stimulus packages. This paper examines the policy choices that Australian and Irish governments made both before and in response to the GFC to assess how these decisions have prepared higher education for the future. We examine the situation in three main sections: section 1) sets out some of the main issues and a basis for comparison; section 2) describes the higher education and policy environment in each country; and section 3) compares and contrasts the policy choices, implications and possible impacts.

Right by Children?:Considering ECEC Policy in Ireland Designing Policy Tools to Give Voice

Bernie O'Donoghue Hynes et al. — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:04:43 PST

This presentation considers the design of early childhood education and care subsidies using policy design theory.

The Current Global Financial Crisis: do Asian Stock Markets show Contagious or Interdependency Effects?

Lucia Morales et al. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:25:19 PDT

In the framework of the current global economic crisis, a pertinent question is whether the world economies are suffering from contagion or interdependency effects. With its origins in the US sub-prime mortgage market crisis starting at the end of 2007, when a loss of confidence by investors in the value of securitized mortgages resulted in a liquidity crisis, hard-hitting the banking system and rapidly spreading into the financial markets, the effects of the crisis were automatically reflected in the rest of the world economies. These effects that become severe as the rest of the world has been facing its economic and financial system instability. Therefore, the American shock can be seen as the trigger that revealed the other economies’ own financial problems. This paper’s main finding shows that the US stock markets are not generating contagious effects into the Asian stock markets. However, strong evidence suggesting volatility transmissions derived from these economies interlinkages has been detected.

Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland: Getting it Right for Children

Noirin Hayes et al. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:50:48 PDT

Seminar proceedings edited by Noirin Hayes and Siobhan Bradley. Contains two presentations: Beyond Childcare, Markets and Technical Practice – or Repoliticising Early Childhood by Peter Moss; Irish Approaches to ECCE – Keeping Politics Out of the Nursery by Maura Adshead & Gerardine Neylon.

In a Changing Ireland has Social Care Practice left Religious and Spiritual Values behind

Judy Doyle et al. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:32:26 PST

Proceedings of a DIT social sciences seminar 2006.

Young People and Crime: Research, Policy and Practice

Kevin Lalor et al. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:53:15 PST

These are the full proceedings of a two day National conference on Young people and Crime, hosted by the Centre for Social and Educational Research.

A Decade of Reflection: Early Childhood Care and Education in Ireland 1996-2006

Noirin Hayes et al. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:53:14 PST

You are welcome to the first seminar in a CSER series intended to consider aspects of early childhood education and care1 [ECEC] from a policy, research and practice perspective and promote discussion and debate. In this introduction to the seminar I want to outline some of the thinking behind the topic for today and present - with limited elaboration - a personal reflection to add to the discussion and debate. In choosing to reflect on the development and impact of early childhood education and care policy in Ireland it is no surprise that the decade 1996 - 2006 should act as the framework. Taking any decade as a period of review has a certain danger to it, providing a definition to it which may give a false sense of the reality of policy development and practice. Nonetheless, it could be argued that ECEC became a serious policy issue in Ireland in 1996 following the signing of the final sections of the Child Care Act in December and the implementation of the Preschool Regulations in January 1997.