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Limited By:	Author = McNamara, Gerry;

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An analysis of the training needs of staff in the further education sector in the Republic of Ireland. (2005)

McNamara, Gerry; Mulcahy, Carmel; O'Hara, Joe

An analysis of the training needs of staff in the further education sector in the Republic of Ireland. (2005)

McNamara, Gerry; Mulcahy, Carmel; O'Hara, Joe

Abstract:

This article examines the training needs of educators working in the further education (FE), adult education, and Second Chance sectors in the Republic of Ireland. The research on which it is based was funded jointly by the European Union Leonardo da Vinci Programme and the Department of Education and Science of Ireland and took place from 1998 to 2002. It consisted of a survey of the coordinators of 162 further education (FE) centres and follow up interviews with 13 of these coordinators. The paper concentrates largely on the skills and competencies identified as the key to providing a quality service for the clientele of FE in Ireland. It begins by describing the different types of provision which the FE label refers to in Ireland and then presents some quantitative data which establishes the training deficit suffered by staff in the system. The main part of the paper is based on the interview data obtained, which offers a very complex picture of the skills and competencies percei...

http://doras.dcu.ie/21080/

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Ethical leadership in an age of evaluation: implications for whole—school well-being (2009)

McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Ethical leadership in an age of evaluation: implications for whole—school well-being (2009)

McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Abstract:

The evaluation and inspection of many public services, including education, has become increasingly common in most countries in the developed world (McNamara & O’Hara, 2004; MacBeath & McGlynn, 2002). There are various reasons why this may be the case. It can be argued that it is, on the one hand, part of the movement towards low trust policies derived from the ideology of neo-liberalism which seeks to apply the values of the market to the public sector. On the other hand, it can be argued that increased evaluation is a necessary and defensible component of democratic accountability, responsibility and transparency (O’Neill, 2002). The research reported here sets out to explore the idea of a personal vision or core of ethics as being central to educational leadership, through in-depth interviews with a number of school leaders. The chapter begins by briefly placing educational leadership in the modern context, characterised by the paradox of apparently greater decentralisati...

http://doras.dcu.ie/21081/

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From Looking at Our Schools (LAOS) to Whole School Evaluation -Management, Leadership and Learning (WSE-MLL): the evolution of inspection in Irish schools over the past decade. (2012)

McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

From Looking at Our Schools (LAOS) to Whole School Evaluation -Management, Leadership and Learning (WSE-MLL): the evolution of inspection in Irish schools over the past decade. (2012)

McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Abstract:

This paper attempts to provide an overview of the key assumptions underpinning the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) inspection policy developed in Ireland since 2003. Beginning with a documentary analysis the paper argues that the capacity to generate useful self evaluative data in schools was seen as being at the heart of the model of school evaluation proposed by the Department of Education and Science. It further suggests that while the rhetoric of self evaluative capacity building has been key to the emerging system the lack of a meaningful structural response within schools means that this has remained aspirational. The latter part of the paper seeks to test this contention, examining the research base in the area of school evaluation and inspection in Ireland and conducting a number of targeted focus groups with school leaders. For the most part the initial contention is confirmed although there is a sense that there may be significant new pressures emerging in the near future...

http://doras.dcu.ie/20267/

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Ireland (2004)

Rami, Justin; McNamara, Gerry; Lalor, John

Ireland (2004)

Rami, Justin; McNamara, Gerry; Lalor, John

Abstract:

This report will focuses on the current innovations and the future development of the practices and approaches to the assessment of learning in the area of work-based Vocational Education & Training in Ireland. The report is written from the perspective of the Irish Partner (Dublin City University) of the Leonardo da Vinci QualPraxis Research Project. In Ireland Vocational Education and Training (VET) exists mainly in the further education sector and this report will focus on this area.

http://doras.dcu.ie/3616/

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Multiple approaches to reflection as a key component of assessment (2007)

Rami, Justin; Lalor, John; McNamara, Gerry

Multiple approaches to reflection as a key component of assessment (2007)

Rami, Justin; Lalor, John; McNamara, Gerry

Abstract:

This case study focuses on the learning outcomes of two separate modules within the programme: Supervised Work-Based Practice (SWBP) and Microteaching. Using ‘constructive alignment’ (Biggs, 1996), the assessors are interested in the students not only having an understanding of the skills and knowledge required as a teacher/trainer but also the ‘higher order elements’ leading to a deep understanding of themselves and the environment they are working in. The emphasis on ‘reflection’ is crucial to the assessment as the School aims to produce students who are not only knowledgeable but competent.

http://doras.dcu.ie/4516/

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Re-thinking assessment: self- and peer-assessment as drivers of self-direction in learning (2015)

Harrison, Kathy; O'Hara, Joe; McNamara, Gerry

Re-thinking assessment: self- and peer-assessment as drivers of self-direction in learning (2015)

Harrison, Kathy; O'Hara, Joe; McNamara, Gerry

Abstract:

Problem Statement: This paper focuses on assessment in Irish education, which, despite best intentions, shepherds students through the process to an extent that the individual is prone to undervalue her/his ability to trust in the self as a rational, self-thinking individual. In Ireland’s assessment system lies the paradox whereby from childhood the learner develops the habit of depending on ‘authority’ (teacher/examiner) to assess their work, with the expectation that the learner will graduate a self-reliant, achieving person. Purpose: This paper shows how a step away from the traditional form of assessment, beginning at elementary school, can help redress this incongruity. Self- and peer-assessment, in a study with 523 students and their teachers, is shown to be more congruent with developing skills, attitudes and behaviour necessary to help students graduate as self-reliant and self-directed individuals. Methods: These were from the post positivist/phenomenological/interpre...

http://doras.dcu.ie/21060/

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Reflection-on-action in qualitative research processes: deconstructing research and developing an honest critical self-appraisal rubric. (2018)

Stynes, Martin; Murphy, Timothy; McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Reflection-on-action in qualitative research processes: deconstructing research and developing an honest critical self-appraisal rubric. (2018)

Stynes, Martin; Murphy, Timothy; McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Abstract:

In this paper, four critical friends meet to discuss qualitative research practices. Together they put one of their own case studies under the knife and deconstruct it to investigate the possibilities that knowledge work is complicated not only by the dynamics of socially constructed enterprises and the actors involved therein, but by the positioning of the researcher. The case describes an evaluative study of a university programme where students engaged in directed experiential learning in group integrated learning settings. The researcher was also the course lead-tutor and this gave rise to some concern, on later reflection and in discussions among critical friends, when issues of researcher positioning were considered. Together, through questioning the topic, the literature, the research experience and the role of the researcher, we developed a reflection-on-action rubric. In a research arena where subjective, interpretative and messy examples abound, as they should, this paper ...

http://doras.dcu.ie/23100/

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Reflection-on-action in qualitative research: a critical self-appraisal rubric for deconstructing research (2018)

Stynes, Martin; Murphy, Timothy; McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Reflection-on-action in qualitative research: a critical self-appraisal rubric for deconstructing research (2018)

Stynes, Martin; Murphy, Timothy; McNamara, Gerry; O'Hara, Joe

Abstract:

In this paper, four critical friends meet to discuss qualitative research practices. Together they put one of their own case studies under the knife and deconstruct it to investigate the possibilities that knowledge work is complicated not only by the dynamics of socially constructed enterprises and the actors involved therein, but by the positioning of the researcher. The case describes an evaluative study of a university program where students engaged in directed experiential learning in group-integrated learning settings. The researcher was also the course lead-tutor and this gave rise to some concern, on later reflection and in discussions among critical friends, when issues of researcher positioning were considered. Together, through questioning the topic, the literature, the research experience and the role of the researcher, we developed a reflection-on-action rubric. In a research arena where subjective, interpretative and messy examples abound, as they should, this paper of...

http://hdl.handle.net/10344/6731