Introducing Dublin City University DCU – A partner in the SCIREARLY consortium
Dublin City University DCU is one of the world’s leading Young Universities, with a mission to transform lives and societies. Through education, research, and innovation, the university is focused on delivering real impact and addressing global challenges in collaboration with our partners and stakeholders. DCU has six main faculties, and the Institute of Education is one of them. As a centre of expertise and excellence in teacher education and education more generally, the Institute hosts a range of research centres in key priority areas and has an ambitious and growing research program. With internationally recognized experts in education policy, inclusive and special education, curriculum and pedagogy, assessment, literacy, evaluation, and teacher education, the Institute provides a dynamic learning and working environment. The Centre of Evaluation Quality and Inspection is one of these research centres, situated within the Institute of Education at DCU.
The extensive experience and long-term commitment to addressing educational disparities are a strong motivation for the DCU team to be part of the SCIREARLY project. Dating back to the 1990s, the team has been actively involved in developing alternative education programs tailored for students less inclined towards traditional academic pathways, such as the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), Leaving Certificate Vocational (LCVP), and Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP). Moreover, they have provided ongoing staff education and support for individuals engaged in various alternative education initiatives, including those in Youthreach, Traveller Education, and Adult Education settings.
The team’s pioneering efforts have also forged crucial links between higher and further education, facilitating entry routes to higher education for students completing diverse courses beyond the Leaving Certificate curriculum. With a rich history of research projects focused on educational disadvantage, early school leaving interventions, and culturally responsive education, the DCU team brings a wealth of expertise and dedication to the Scirearly project, driven by their unwavering commitment to fostering inclusive and equitable educational opportunities for all students.
Specialising in educational policies, EQI – a research centre specialising in the evaluation of educational policies, programmes and personnel within DCU – delves into the intertwined dynamics of evaluation and quality assurance within educational systems. Its focal point lies in assessing their repercussions on traditionally marginalised cohorts, including students from migrant and minority cultural backgrounds, individuals from disadvantaged socio-economic circumstances, and other underrepresented groups. The research initiatives undertaken by EQI encompass a broad spectrum, ranging from scrutinising the policy implementation cycle at large to examining the intricacies of evaluation and quality assurance mechanisms within schools.
These endeavours aim to elucidate how both national and transnational policy imperatives shape the evaluation process across various educational domains. The skill set that DCU partners bring to the SCIREARLY consortium contributed to the successful accomplishment of mapping successful and less successful policies addressing underachievement and early school leaving, which is an essential step in the project’s mission.