This article provides an overview of the second-level education sector in Ireland as the Covid-19 pandemic hampers progress towards important reforms. Touching on major themes that feature in the chapter as a whole, it shows how ongoing inequality and underinvestment in education are intrinsically connected, and it argues that, instead of returning to ‘business as usual’, we now need to make the investment necessary to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all.

This article traces the curriculum conversations of the last three decades and the development of subject specifications in Ireland. It shows how policy in the form of written curriculum is responding to the need for more learner-centred teaching, and giving teachers the space to be professionals in curriculum-making.

This article discusses the nature of partnership in the formulation of national curriculum policy. The question of student voice shows the limitations of a purely representative interpretation of democracy. Curriculum policy formulation should strive for participatory democracy to allow the authentic voice of students to be heard in every classroom. The recent experience of the NCCA Development Group for Leaving Certificate Art provides an empirical source of reference for consideration.

Covid-19 has significantly disrupted education and training worldwide and in the European Union. This article presents the process of policy reflection and formation at the European Commission in the field of education, looking at the challenges, objectives, and framework for cooperation at EU level. The key instruments include the European Semester, European Education Area, and the Recovery and Resilience Facility as the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.

This introduction to universal design for learning (UDL) talks about variability, a key concept underpinning UDL, then describes the concept of UDL and its three principles of enactment, representation, and action and expression.

This article sets out some key issues in education and the teaching profession in Ireland that have been prominent during the pandemic. It argues that significant investment is required if we are to make worthwhile progress on what we have learned from Covid-19 across the second-level school system.

The Bridging Worlds project, funded by Reinvent Ireland, is an exploratory programme with the ambitious aim of creating a wraparound model linking the formal and non-formal education sectors. It provides a comprehensive educational ecosystem to support young people, teachers, and youth workers and in particular provides proactive provision to support marginalised groups. In the context of Covid-19’s impact on young people’s educational experiences, the project aims to bring together the formal and non-formal education sectors in a shared learning initiative.

Cornelia Connolly
School of Education, National University of Ireland Galway

Sarah Haslam
Foróige

Sean Campbell
Foróige

Bernadine Brady
UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway

Connie O’Regan
UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway

Pat Dolan
UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway

Gerry MacRuairc
School of Education, National University of Ireland Galway

Social inequality in education is an enduring feature of the Irish landscape, but the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted like never before the complex interplay between educational institutions and wider social structures which shapes unequal educational experiences and outcomes for Irish children and young people. This article explores educational inequality through this lens, and considers what can be done to build a better system as we return to normality.

Anticipating, monitoring, and adapting quickly to change, enjoying the change, and looking forward to more change in the future are all things that Post-Primary Languages Ireland has become familiar with in the pandemic. Many of the changes have been positive and have accelerated progress towards realising the implementation of Languages Connect: Ireland’s Strategy for Foreign Languages in Education. Challenges have led to exciting new opportunities and projects, a few of which are outlined in this article.

With contributions from four members of staff, this article looks at the development of distributed leadership in John the Baptist Community School in Hospital, County Limerick, and how that culture served the school positively during the pandemic.