Department of Arts Education and Physical Education
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/15
Roinn na nEalaíon agus an Chorpoideachais2024-03-29T02:13:32ZIgniting a spark?: an investigation into how an Irish arts partnership can support primary teachers in their teaching of arts education
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3153
Igniting a spark?: an investigation into how an Irish arts partnership can support primary teachers in their teaching of arts education
In recent years, arts partnerships have increased in popularity as a means of delivering arts
education in schools. Creating opportunities for both teachers and artists alike, arts partnerships
can enhance a shared sense of purpose and mutual respect, while also developing creative skills,
knowledge and expertise. Although many studies on both a national and international level have
identified the successes and challenges of arts partnerships in schools, a gap in how these
partnerships can support teachers’ professional development regarding arts education still exists.
Therefore, this study sought to investigate whether an Irish arts partnership - the Creative
Schools Initiative-Scoileanna Íldánacha (CS) - could potentially support primary teachers in
their teaching of arts education.
Presented in the form of an article-based thesis, three peer-reviewed journal articles
formed the core of this thesis. A mixed-methods, multi-site case study in design, this study
explored, analysed and documented the perspectives of teachers, principals, CS school coordinators
and Creative Associates (CA) in eight primary schools, regarding how an arts
partnership impacted on the teaching of arts education. Phase one of the study investigated the
role of the Creative Associate (CA) - an arts broker within the CS. Data was collected using
semi-structured interviews with Creative Associates, principals and school co-ordinators of the
CS. Using a framework put forward by Sinclair, Watkins and Jeanneret (2015), the support
provided by the CA was critically analysed. The establishment and development of stakeholder
relationships was explored while emerging challenges were debated and discussed. Key findings
indicated that the success of the CA was underpinned by their ability to build and nurture
relationships, potentially ensuring partnerships have a sustained, meaningful impact on the
teaching of arts education in schools. Phase two of the study explored primary teachers’
perspectives, regarding whether or not the CS impacted on their teaching of arts education. Using
online surveys which were both quantitative and qualitative in nature, this study targeted fifty
primary teachers in the same eight schools. Key findings revealed that teachers engaged
positively with the initiative. The benefits of a balanced approach between teachers and artists
delivering the arts education curriculum also emerged. However, findings indicated that the CS
had limited impact on teachers’ confidence regarding the teaching of arts education overall.
Consequently, strong reiterations for teacher professional development in arts education were
emphasised throughout.
A synthesis of the overall findings indicated that participation in an arts partnership such
as the CS, can provide rich opportunities for transformational learning to occur, through
engagement in collaborative practice, facilitating agency and empowering all stakeholders.
However, for a sustainable future in classroom-based arts education and to avoid partnerships
becoming a support measure, teacher professional development in arts education needs to
become an integral part of future arts partnerships. Results from this study will inform both
policy and creative practice approaches to arts partnerships in schools, enabling the CS to further
refine and develop its programme. This could have an impact on schools, principals, teachers and
children, highlighting the significance of pre-service teacher training, in-service and continual
professional development in arts education for Irish primary teachers.
2023-10-24T00:00:00ZThe best of both worlds: exploring the socialisation of physical education specialism graduates as generalist teachers with expertise in PE
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3147
The best of both worlds: exploring the socialisation of physical education specialism graduates as generalist teachers with expertise in PE
This research investigated the self-efficacy, beliefs, and practices of generalist primary school teachers who undertook the Bachelor of Education with a specialism in PE between 2016 and 2019. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey, and 80 valid responses were received. The findings suggest self-efficacy is high among these teachers, scoring 4.14 (±0.38 on a 5-point Likert scale). Results also indicated that the specialism positively developed content knowledge and teaching skills among this cohort. However, it was unclear if these teachers were being utilised effectively upon graduation to enhance the provision of PE in Irish primary schools.
2023-10-23T00:00:00ZBeing there- a qualitative arts-based narrative inquiry into the lived experiences of women in management and leadership in high education in Ireland
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3137
Being there- a qualitative arts-based narrative inquiry into the lived experiences of women in management and leadership in high education in Ireland
The story of a male dominated leadership environment in academia is one which has been well told both nationally and internationally, as has the description of the academy as one in which the devaluing of women has become socially normalised. There is also the underlying problem of the gendered organisation, whereby work practices and embedded attitudes to male and female stereotyped roles have evolved from the life experience of the traditional male wage earner such that the image of leadership is still “resolutely masculine” (Fitzgerald, 2016, p. 209). The under-representation and marginalisation of women has been further exacerbated by the rise in the culture of new managerialism in the HE sector. This study adds to the growing literature on the career experiences of women in academia internationally and looks beneath the surface of this grand narrative of underrepresentation of women in Higher Educational management and leadership, exploring the ‘understory’ of what is it is like for women simply ‘being there’.
The researcher has undertaken a literary arts-based narrative inquiry which set out to co-construct stories of lived experience with women who have held or continue to hold leadership positions in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Ireland. Their stories helped the researcher make sense of her own experiences as a Head of Department in HE, and as co-participants we have shared our stories as women simply ‘being there’ in the role. The research design of this narrative inquiry is underpinned by the adoption of a constructivist, interpretivist stance and the participant narratives are viewed through a post-structural critical feminist lens to examine the gendered experiences of women operating in a predominantly male environment. Poststructuralism seeks to unpack and break down accepted knowledges to shed new light and produce new insight, the kind of insight that
stories of personal and lived experience can bring to the wider discourse on gender inequality.
The story threads in the participant narratives have been unravelled and woven together again into a patchwork quilt of lived experience and ‘re’-told as poetic monologues, creative non-fiction stories, culminating in one coherent telling in the form of an ethnographic playscript or ethnodrama. Ethnodrama can be viewed as a means of giving the participant narratives an “aesthetic shape and magnitude” (Saldana, 2010, p. 68) which adds to their value and could lead to a more meaningful and wider engagement with the research material. Immersed in a research paradigm which eschews singularity, this literary arts-based narrative inquiry offers an interpretation of the stories of lived experiences that I have been privileged to hear, but it is only one interpretation and as Clandinin (2018) concludes, it could always have been otherwise.
As such, emerging out of ‘small stories’ of personal and lived experience, I offer a story of women who aspire(d) to achieve in roles that were not written for them; who resist where possible the demands of hegemonical male power structures that are endemic in management and leadership in HE in Ireland in an effort to retain their status as both women and managers and more often than not, carers; and who are expected to perform their gender and act as the ‘one caring’ to carry out the organisational ‘housework’ and interpersonal management tasks through the gendered expectation of an ethic of care and connectedness; and the achievement of all of the above at a sometimes heavy personal cost.
2023-10-02T00:00:00ZExploring a community of musical practice: a case study of music generation Limerick City
https://dspace.mic.ul.ie/handle/10395/3130
Exploring a community of musical practice: a case study of music generation Limerick City
This research provides a case study of Music Generation Limerick City. Music Generation
(MG), established in 2011, is a national music education programme in the Republic of Ireland.
As of September 2022, MG provides music education programmes in 25 areas of the country
with plans to expand nationwide. This study examines the work of one MG area – Music
Generation Limerick City (MGLC). The research investigates to what extent does the
performance music education (PME) approach of Music Generation Limerick City (MGLC)
create communities of musical practice and to what extent do these foster social action?
Research findings have been presented using Wenger’s domains of his social theory of learning
(1998) – these include community, identity, meaning and practice. Two phases of data
collection took place. Phase one, using focus group interviews and semi-structured interviews
explored the experience of MGLC musician educators, classroom teachers, school principals
and the MGLC development officer. Phase two of this study using semi-structured interviews
explored the experience of MGLC programmes from the viewpoint of past and current MGLC
participants.
The findings of this study showed that Music Generation Limerick City did indeed create
multiple CoMP. This study has demonstrated that the creation of CoMP has the potential to
provide the components needed for social action to flourish however, in the case of MGLC,
this social action was limited and secondary to the educational remit of MGLC. Furthermore,
it was evident in this research that CoMP also provide a structure to which PME programmes
can be implemented and delivered. This research provides important insights into the role of
partnership in the Irish music education system and demonstrates that while partnerships can
be effective in the provision of music education, certain conditions of collaboration and
communication are important factors in determining the success of such partnerships. The
findings of this research will inform the future development of policy, practice and research of
Music Generation Limerick City, Music Generation nationally and similar music programmes
nationally and internationally.
2023-09-27T00:00:00Z