Analysis of Educational Reforms in Ireland: Policies and Practices

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the education reforms implemented in Ireland, examining both national and international trends. It begins by highlighting key reforms, such as decentralization of schools, incorporation of foreign languages, and the introduction of exchange programs ...Read More

Running head: REFORMATION OF EDUCATION
REFORMATION OF EDUCATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1REFORMATION OF EDUCATION
Overview:
The educational system is observed with remarkable changes after war times. There are
certain attributes and practices in the education system of modern age, which is included in the
contemporary educational practices also.
In the modern times, the psychological wellbeing and the physical wellbeing of the
children have gained certain specific and important approaches, and the educational analyst have
found the attributes of mental and physical wellbeing of the children to be extremely important.
Therefore, in the following assignment, the changes and the reforms that have taken place
in Ireland have been given special focus.
Key Reforms in Education:
The primary reformation that have been included in the educational system of Ireland is
that the country is aiming towards developing or establishing a relationship with the other
educational trends of the continent. The schools have been made decentralized. Incorporation of
foreign languages, especially English and the inclusion of cultural studies and the inclusion of
the perspective of cultural diversity have also been included in the educational system of the
country. In the higher studies and at the university level the practice of exchange programs have
also been included. The ERASMUS and the SOCRATES programs are also been aiming to have
included into the educational system of the country (Moran 2014). Along with this, certain
training programs for teachers have also been included to ensure the physical and the mental
wellbeing of the children of the country (Holmes 2015). The practice of counselling at the
schools have been made essential at the schools.

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Irish Context:
The educational organizations have established a Career Guidance commission at every
educational institutions. The objective of the career guidance is to make the students aware of the
situations and to understand about the career opportunities that they can have in the future. The
program also aimed to enhance the governmental structures
The next strategy that the country has included is the Teacher Sharing Initiative, where
the teachers are asked to come and involve together in order to develop an action plan for the
children. The country has also included a Language Strategy (Dedeluk et al. 2015).
The country has set up a Foreign Language Advisory Group (FLAG), with a five year
educational plan 2017- 2022. According to the educational planners, considering the current
scenario, an inclusion of the foreign language is necessary. The aim of the language strategy is
developing the speaking ability and the fluency of the children (Börsch-Supan, Härtl and Ludwig
2014).
Macro Level:
At the macro level the country has aimed towards devising certain effective plans and
policies in order to substantiate the needs of the children. First of them is the National Strategy to
Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People which was launched in
2011 with a ten year plan, and it is still in practice, and the officials are planning to modify the
plan with associating certain other attributes into it (Gillborn 2014).
The Minister for Education and Skills of the country, in 2018 has also announced
development of two new Irish-medium teacher education programs to provide education at new

3REFORMATION OF EDUCATION
places, and this program will include 60 teachers to roam around the country, and provide free
education to the children being at a disadvantageous position (Salonen 2019).
In 2017 the country has also announced 2400 extra teaching posts to address the
demographic needs. The aim of this program is also to provide guidance and to address the
challenges made by the recession and to support the school leadership at different educational
institutions posited at inclusive areas (Salonen 2019).
Micro Level:
The country has issued the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, the Action
Plan for Educational Inclusion, of the students who are at a disadvantageous position. Also it
addresses the disadvantageous position of the educational programs, and aims at prioritizing the
educational needs of the children. The commission has further sestablished two funds, first, the
School Excellence Fund-DEIS 2018, to implement certain innovative programs at the
educational institution. Second, the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools - DEIS Plan
2017, targeting at the literacy and numeracy in the educational institutions, to progress the
learning skills and abilities (Skerritt and Salokangas 2020).
Along with the development of the educational action plan for the children, the educational
commissions of the country is also aiming at,
 Enabling and developing the parents to fulfil the educational needs of the children.
 Building leadership capabilities at the educational levels.
 Improving the curriculum and including more and newer physical activities within the
curriculum.

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 Helping the students with additional needs, and hence the counselling practice have been
given special focus and all the educational institutions of the country (Skerritt and
Salokangas 2020).
International Policies on International Context:
UK:
Micro Level-
 Wider gap has been made between the primary and secondary schools since 1944.
 The school leaving age was changed to 15.
 The country made the basic education free following the Elementary Education Act 1870.
Macro Level:
 The Education Act of 2011 is included, and the funding has been increased to the
Universities as well as for the primary and the secondary schools.
 Vocational trainings and apprenticeship into the educational structure of the country.
Austria:
Micro Level:
 Improving the quality of education
 Increasing the number of students at school.
 Increased remuneration of the teachers.
 Developed the infrastructures of the universities and colleges and schools.
Macro Level:

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 In 2010 the Amendment of the University Act 2002 is included, to guide the performance
of the schools and the teachers.
 In 2018, a Basic Legislation was developed and the funding includes 11 billion EUR for
the performance agreement period 2019 – 2021.
Netherlands:
Micro Level:
 Workshops have been planned and developed for the primary schools.
 The government is aiming to raise fund to reduce work pressure.
 Proper funding system has been developed.
 The number of students at the school level is trying to get increased.
Macro Level:
 €237 million has already been made available by the government, and this likely to
increase to €333 million in the 2019-2020 school year.
 The country has planned pre- vocational trainings at the secondary schools.
International Approaches and the Irish Strategies:
Now, considering the international measures and the strategies included by the Irish
government it can be stated that the country has effectively certain strategies which will help the
country and the students of the same to acknowledge the educational practices at the
international level. It has included international programs like the ERASMUS, and has

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developed a certain strategies which has helped the country to include a holistic attitude towards
the educational programs (Prendergast and Meara 2017).

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References
Börsch-Supan, A., Härtl, K. and Ludwig, A., 2014. Aging in Europe: Reforms, international
diversification, and behavioral reactions. American Economic Review, 104(5), pp.224-29.
Dedeluk, N., Kovalchuk, N., Tomashchuk, O. and Ivanova, A., 2015. Reformation the
Organization of Educational Process on Physical Education of University Students. Physical
education, sport and health culture in modern society, (4 (32)), pp.15-19.
Gillborn, D., 2014, January. Racism as policy: A critical race analysis of education reforms in
the United States and England. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 78, No. 1, pp. 26-41). Taylor &
Francis Group.
Holmes, S.M., 2015. Education in the Century of Reformation. The Edinburgh History of
Education in Scotland, ed. Robert Anderson, Mark Freeman, and Lindsay Paterson. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming.
Moran, J.A.H., 2014. The Growth of English Schooling, 1340-1548: Learning, Literacy, and
Laicization in Pre-Reformation York Diocese. Princeton University Press.
Prendergast, M. and O’Meara, N., 2017. A profile of mathematics instruction time in Irish
second level schools. Irish Educational Studies, 36(2), pp.133-150.
Salonen, K., 2019. Reformation and the Medieval Roots of the Finnish Education. On the
Legacy of Lutheranism in Finland, p.101.
Skerritt, C. and Salokangas, M., 2020. Patterns and paths towards privatisation in
Ireland. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 52(1), pp.84-99.