A policy analysis of key employability interventions for the educationally disadvantaged in further education: Comparative insights for Irish education

The aim of this study is to garner comparative insights so as to aid the development of the discourse on further education (FE) conceptualisation and the relationship of FE with educational disadvantage and employability. This aim is particularly relevant in Irish education parlance amidst the historical ambiguity surrounding the functioning of FE. The study sets out to critically engage with the education/employability/economy link (eee link). This involves a critique of issues relevant to participation (which extends beyond student activity alone to social relations generally and the dialogic participation of the disadvantaged), accountability (which extends beyond performance measures alone to encompass equality of condition towards a socially just end) and human capital (which extends to both collective and individual aspects within an educational culture). As a comparative study, there is a strong focus on providing a way of conceptualising and comparatively analysing FE policy internationally. The study strikes a balance between conceptual and practical concerns. A critical comparative policy analysis is the methodology that structures the study which is informed and progressed by a genealogical method to establish the context of each of the jurisdictions of England, the United States and the European Union. Genealogy allows the use of history to diagnose the present rather than explaining how the past has caused the present. The discussion accentuates the power struggles within education policy practice using what Fairclough calls a strategic critique as well as an ideological critique. The comparative nature of the study means that there is a need to be cognizant of the diverse cultural influences on policy deliberation. The study uses the theoretical concept of paradigmatic change to critically analyse the jurisdictions. To aid with the critical analysis, a conceptual framework for legislative functions is developed so as to provide a metalanguage for educational legislation. The specific contribution of the study, while providing a manner for understanding and progressing FE policy development in a globalized Ireland, is to clear the ground for a more well-defined and critically reflexive FE sector to operate and suggests a number of issues for further deliberation.

The evolution of the medical professions in eighteenth-century Ireland: An institutional perspective

Ireland, in the eighteenth century, followed the classic tripartite division of regular medical practitioners into physicians, surgeons and apothecaries. At the beginning of the century surgeons and apothecaries were regarded as mere tradesmen, but by the end of the century both were regarded as professionals and had the right to regulate their respective professions. Practitioners in different regions of Europe developed in a different manner, and eighteenth-century practitioners in Ireland developed independently from their English counterparts. In common with Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century, the total number of practitioners increased in Ireland, and by the end of the century, apothecaries were the largest group in Dublin, closely followed by the surgeons. Surgeons and apothecaries at the start of the eighteenth century belonged to the same guild. However in mid-century, St Luke's guild of apothecaries was established and this provided the apothecaries with a new identity that allowed them to pursue auto regulation, rather than hitherto, when they had been regulated by the physicians. This was vital to the apothecaries as they were in direct commercial competition with both the physicians and the surgeons and faced increasing pressure from both druggists and the disparate group of practitioners known as the irregulars. The 1765 County Infirmaries Act established a hospital in virtually every county in Ireland, and cast the surgeon as the primary medical officer in the countrywide network of hospitals. This legislation, which was unique in Europe, had the unintended consequence of elevating the status of the surgeons, as prior to this physicians were always in the ascendancy in the voluntary hospitals in Ireland and Britain, in contrast to France. The status of the surgeons was further enhanced by the establishment of the College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1784, which provided them with a new corporate identity, the authority to regulate the profession countrywide, and, also, the ability to educate surgeons in Ireland. The establishment of the College of Surgeons placed further pressure on the apothecaries to demonstrate that they also had a recognisable identity, and the authority to regulate their own profession. This was achieved with the 1791 Apothecaries Act which established the Apothecaries Hall and give the apothecaries the right to regulate themselves. This innovative legislation deemed the apothecaries a profession, and was enacted twenty-four years prior to similar legislation in Britain. Commercial pressure from druggists and, probably, irregulars expedited the requirement of the apothecaries to establish a new corporate identity, in order to distance themselves from these groups. The changing status of both apothecaries and surgeons had little effect on the physicians as a group, and, despite being the beneficiaries of a generous bequest from Sir Patrick Dun in 1711 to provide medical chairs in Dublin, the physicians displayed an inertia during the eighteenth century that was not in keeping with the developments that occurred in the contemporary Dublin medical world. The fact that it took ninety-five years, and that five acts of parliament, two House of Commons enquiries and a House of Lords enquiry were required to ensure that Dun's wishes were brought to fruition demonstrates that the physicians did not develop at the same pace as the other medical groups in the city. Had Dun’s bequest been implemented as he desired, Dublin, with a number of voluntary hospitals, would have been well placed to provide comprehensive tuition for medical students in the eighteenth century. It was not until the nineteenth century that the city, and the populace, benefited from this legacy. This thesis will trace these developments in the context of changes that occurred in contemporary medical education and diagnosis in Ireland, Britain and France. It will demonstrate that Irish practitioners developed independently, influenced mainly by local issues, but also by those who had travelled abroad and returned to Ireland with new concepts and ideas, ensuring that Irish medical practitioners had the institutional structure that could encompass the diagnostic and regulatory changes that would become accepted in the nineteenth century.

Self-management education for cystic fibrosis

Background: Self-management education may help patients with cystic fibrosis and their families to choose, monitor and adjust treatment requirements for their illness, and also to manage the effects of illness on their lives. Although self-management education interventions have been developed for cystic fibrosis, no previous systematic review of the evidence of effectiveness of these interventions has been conducted. Objectives: To assess the effects of self-management education interventions on improving health outcomes for patients with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers. Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register (date of the last search: 22 August 2013). We also searched databases through EBSCO (CINAHL; Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Collection; PsychInfo; SocINDEX) and Elsevier (Embase) and handsearched relevant journals and conference proceedings (date of the last searches: 01 February 2014 ). Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised controlled trials or controlled clinical trials comparing different types of self-management education for cystic fibrosis or comparing self-management education with standard care or no intervention. Data collection and analysis: Two authors assessed trial eligibility and risk of bias. Three authors extracted data. Main results: Four trials (involving a total of 269 participants) were included. The participants were children with cystic fibrosis and their parents or caregivers in three trials and adults with cystic fibrosis in one trial. The trials compared four different self-management education interventions versus standard treatment: (1) a training programme for managing cystic fibrosis in general; (2) education specific to aerosol and airway clearance treatments; (3) disease-specific nutrition education; and (4) general and disease-specific nutrition education. Training children to manage cystic fibrosis in general had no statistically significant effects on weight after six to eight weeks, mean difference -7.74 lb (i.e. 3.51 kg) (95% confidence interval -35.18 to 19.70). General and disease-specific nutrition education for adults had no statistically significant effects on: pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume at one second), mean difference -5.00 % (95% confidence interval -18.10 to 8.10) at six months and mean difference -5.50 % (95% confidence interval -18.46 to 7.46) at 12 months; or weight, mean difference - 0.70 kg (95% confidence interval -6.58 to 5.18) at six months and mean difference -0.70 kg (95% confidence interval -6.62 to 5.22) at 12 months; or dietary fat intake scores, mean difference 1.60 (85% confidence interval -2.90 to 6.10) at six months and mean difference 0.20 (95% confidence interval -4.08 to 4.48) at 12 months. There is some limited evidence to suggest that self-management education may improve knowledge in patients with cystic fibrosis but not in parents or caregivers. There is also some limited evidence to suggest that self-management education may result in positively changing a small number of behaviours in both patients and caregivers. Authors' conclusions: The available evidence from this review is of insufficient quantity and quality to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of self-management education for cystic fibrosis. Further trials are needed to investigate the effects of self-management education on a range of clinical and behavioural outcomes in children, adolescents and adults with cystic fibrosis and their caregivers.

Politics, Power, PISA: a genealogy of mathematics education policy at second level in Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century

This thesis traces a genealogy of the discourse of mathematics education reform in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty first century at a time when the hegemonic political discourse is that of neoliberalism. It draws on the work of Michel Foucault to identify the network of power relations involved in the development of a single case of curriculum reform – in this case Project Maths. It identifies the construction of an apparatus within the fields of politics, economics and education, the elements of which include institutions like the OECD and the Government, the bureaucracy, expert groups and special interest groups, the media, the school, the State, state assessment and international assessment. Five major themes in educational reform emerge from the analysis: the arrival of neoliberal governance in Ireland; the triumph of human capital theory as the hegemonic educational philosophy here; the dominant role of OECD/PISA and its values in the mathematics education discourse in Ireland; the fetishisation of western scientific knowledge and knowledge as commodity; and the formation of a new kind of subjectivity, namely the subjectivity of the young person as a form of human-capital-to-be. In particular, it provides a critical analysis of the influence of OECD/PISA on the development of mathematics education policy here – especially on Project Maths curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. It unpacks the arguments in favour of curriculum change and lays bare their ideological foundations. This discourse contextualises educational change as occurring within a rapidly changing economic environment where the concept of the State’s economic aspirations and developments in science, technology and communications are reshaping both the focus of business and the demands being put on education. Within this discourse, education is to be repurposed and its consequences measured against the paradigm of the Knowledge Economy – usually characterised as the inevitable or necessary future of a carefully defined present.