Projects

In the support of our staff at SETU Carlow, eduCORE enacts a truly inclusive ethos, welcoming lecturers, practitioners, technicians and teachers of all disciplines to reflect on their practice and to consider the dissemination of their best practice and research. To facilitate this, eduCORE hosts a number of ongoing events which work to foster a research culture and a mutually supportive environment for staff. eduCORE strives to promote inclusive teaching, learning and practice.

Decolonizing the Curriculum Seminar

In November 2020 eduCORE hosted the Decolonizing the Curriculum seminar, funded by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning as part of the National Seminar Series. This seminar was based on the worldwide Decolonize the Curriculum movement, which recognises educators’ duty to address how notions of race are formed and supported by education systems, institutions and materials. In bringing together academics, professionals and practitioners from across various institutions and organisations, this seminar was part of our ongoing commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion at all stages of the education journey. Keynote speakers included Dr. Ebun Joseph, Director of the Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies, and Ms. Teresa Buczkowska, Integration Manager at the Immigrant Council of Ireland.

Lightning Talks

eduCORE hosts regular ‘Lightning Talks’ facilitated by staff from across the Institute which take an informal approach to supporting dissemination. eduCORE Lightning Talks invite practitioners, researchers and lecturers to present their work, which may be recent publications, work-in-progress, best-practice, collaborations or any recent or current practice, in short informal sessions to the wide audience drawn from staff across the Institute.

Recent Lightning Talks have included:

Lynne Whelan, Design+ Technology Gateway, “Sparks! – A Design Researchers Experience with Industry in an Academic Institute“
Dr. Thomae Kakouli-Duarte, enviroCORE, “The mountainous start and the wormy path of my research career“
Dr. Diarmuid O’Briain, engCORE, “An Engineer’s reluctant journey through the realm of a qualitative study“
Dr. Fintan Bracken, Institute Library, SETU Carlow, “From birds to books: my research story“
Claire O’ Donoghue, Extended Campus, SETU Carlow, “Developing positive wellbeing practices as a mechanism for building and maintaining resilience”

Race and Ethnicity Reading Group

EduCORE hosts the Race and Ethnicity Reading Group which is dedicated to the study of racism, ethnicities, and inequality in education. We welcome scholars, activists and researchers from across all Institutions and organisations to contribute to ongoing discussion, debate, scholarship, and dissemination on all aspects of race and ethnicity in education. Our mission is to pursue race equality and social justice by working to improve the educational experiences and career outcomes of Black and minority ethnic people in Ireland.

We aim to foster ‘best practice’ in inclusivity and to encourage new and emergent scholarship in this area. We hope to reflect the broad spectrum of learner experiences in Ireland and beyond, and the variety of lived experiences which impact on our teaching and learning. In bringing together expertise from across the breadth of SETU Carlow and sectoral partner organisations, we hope to build innovative collaborations, address cross-cutting themes in education nationally and support new research.

Our objectives are to:

undertake critical research of the highest empirical and ethical standards.
encourage collaborations between researchers, policy-makers, activists, learners, educators and the wider community.
contribute to informed debate about race inequalities in education policy and practice.

Guest Speakers

28th April 2021 – Dr. Ebun Joseph, Institute of Antiracism and Black Studies
19th May 2021 – Dr. Boris Ružić, University of Rijeka, Croatia

Research

eduCORE works to facilitate and engage with research across the broad spectrum of education.

Through our work with SETU Carlow Teaching and Learning Centre, we continually assess our provision. Recent projects include a detailed study of the experiences of our staff during the Covid 19 emergency in 2020. This study comprised an Institute-wide survey and focus group. Results from this study formed the basis of an Institutional report as well as a research paper in the All Ireland Journal of Higher Education.

The eduCORE team is happy to discuss potential projects and research collaborations with partner organisations in the field of education, and to support organisations in acquiring research funding. Please contact the eduCORE director for more information at [email protected]