Precipitated by a recent policy focus on diversifying Ireland's homogeneous teaching profession, there is an emerging research base focused on the experiences of teachers from under-represented groups. However, the life stories of teachers from lower socio-economic groups remain underexplored. Responsive to the mostly atheoretical nature of…

This study focuses on the problem solving skills in technology-rich environments of teachers. PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) data on adults' (n = 11,294) competencies, is used to investigate how problem solving skills of teachers are associated with sociodemographic, work-related, and everyday-life related…

The specific role of language in the teaching and learning of mathematics in bilingual contexts has been well documented. Previous research has tended to focus on the negative impact of language on learning, but there is a move towards a non-deficit view of bilingualism and utilising language-as-resource in the mathematics classroom. This paper…

Using Ireland as an example, this paper explores the rationale behind various selection criteria currently used to select suitable candidates for initial teacher education courses. It investigates and discusses patterns of association between second-level student teachers' background characteristics on entry to their teacher education programme…

In many public primary schools across different countries, generalist primary teachers are required to teach all subjects, including music, dance, drama and visual arts. This study investigates the background and confidence of preservice primary teachers from five countries in relation to drama and drama education. It also examines if there is a…

This paper reports the findings of a study on pre-service teachers' background and confidence in music and visual arts education. The study involved 939 non-specialist pre-service primary teachers from five countries. Initially the paper identifies the students' perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to music and visual arts…

This article presents and discusses some results obtained from the analysis of data collected by the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (NUI) Applications Centre (PDEAC), which was established in 1999 to administer the selection of student teachers for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) at the education departments of the four NUI…

Research into student teachers' perceptions, attitudes and prior experiences of learning suggests that these experiences can exert an influence on practice which can be relatively undisturbed by their initial teacher education. This article is based on the initial findings of an all-Ireland survey of all first-year students on B.Ed. courses in…

Notes that these four British women all know that the school is no longer just an institution where children are taught simple literacy and the ability to add and subtract. They believe that social conditions of our times demand that the schoolhouse be an integral part of life. (Author/AM)

Ninety percent of the 1977 entrants to general Teacher Education courses in Ireland (north and south) responded to a demographic questionnaire. Results are detailed and the two regions contrasted with respect to respondents' age, sex, entry qualifications, religion, social class, family background, school experience, and rural/urban origin.…

A study of the training of the in-company trainer of young people in Ireland was conducted from January through March 1988. Directors of training and the trainers themselves were interviewed in 15 companies. An additional 50 trainers responded to a mailed questionnaire. Trainers were primarily men in their thirties with a background in teaching,…