This article reports on the recent introduction of school development planning and whole-school evaluation in the Republic of Ireland. Although relatively common in other education systems, their introduction marked a significant shift in the culture of Irish education. The article seeks to provide an insight into the structures of both processes and into the context which shaped their development. The article concludes that the approach taken to the introduction of both processes has been surprisingly successful given the lack of a tradition of collaborative planning and evaluation that characterizes the Irish education system. Nonetheless significant problems, particularly concerning the credibility of the type of evaluation introduced, remain unresolved.
Directly attributable to national policy directives in initial teacher education in the Republic of Ireland over the past two decades, there has been significant research in the area of schooluniversity partnerships. This chapter explores the partnership between two university lecturers and seven early career teachers engaged in a participatory action learning action research study. As a community of practice, the focus was on the domain of leadership for inclusion. The partnership evolved from a need to bridge the theory-practice gap and to prevent a washout of learning from initial teacher education at the university to subsequent professional practice at the school level. It was partially funded by the Teaching Council of Ireland. Project outcomes point to a very effective partnership, whereby teachers were empowered at the individual, community, organisation, and wider professional levels, whilst also empowering others at each of those levels throughout the wider professional learning and development partnership.
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