Anglo-Irish relations in the framework of the EEC and Northern Ireland, 1969-1975

This thesis will analyse Anglo-Irish relations between 1969 and 1975, when two topics dominated the relationship: Northern Ireland and the entry of Britain and Ireland into the European Economic Community (hereafter EEC). In 1969 entry to the EEC was still only a possibility and awaited political developments, while the Northern Ireland problem had yet to escalate. 1975 on the other hand confirmed that Ireland would remain in the EEC even if Britain left while Direct Rule for Northern Ireland was confirmed as the British policy for the foreseeable future. These dates are significant because they encompass firstly pre and post entry to the EEC and how this transformed Anglo-Irish relations. Secondly they contain the commencement and then deterioration of the Northern Ireland problem and the attempts to resolve it that finally led to direct rule by Westminster. The study will examine the fluctuating nature of the relationship between Britain and Ireland. Special regard will be devoted to the demands of internal British politics and how such demands affected the relationship. Overall, the study will demonstrate how the bilateral relationship evolved under the pressure of events in Northern Ireland and adapted to the multilateral context of the EEC. It will compare the dynamics of the states’ interactions in two extremely different areas. The thesis will demonstrate how entry to the EEC transformed the unequal Anglo-Irish economic relationship and created one of partners within the EEC. It will also analyse how the developing Northern Ireland problem caused changes to British policy. In particular, it will examine how the British Government came to recognise the beneficial role that the Republic of Ireland might play in resolving the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The double bind for non-traditional families in post-primary settings; to tell or not to tell their family identity

This thesis involved researching normative family discourses which are mediated through educational settings. The traditional family, consisting of father, mother and children all living together in one house is no longer reflective of the home situation of many Irish students (Lunn and Fahey, 2011). My study problematizes the dominant discourses which reflect how family differences are managed and recognised in schools. A framework using Foucauldian post structural critical analysis traces family stratification through the organisation of institutional and interpersonal relations at micro level in four post-primary schools. Standardising procedures such as the suppression of intimate relations between and among teacher and student, as well as the linear ordering of intergenerational relations, such as teacher/student and adult/child are critiqued. Normalising discourses operate in practices such as notes home which presume two parents together. Teacher assumptions about heterosexual two-parent families make it difficult for students to be open about a family setup that is constructed as different to the rest of the schools'. The management of family difference and deficit through pastoral care structures suggests a school-based politics of family adjustment. These practices beg the question whether families are better off not telling the school about their family identity. My thesis will be of interest to educational research and educational policy because it highlights how changing demographics such as family compositions are mis-conceptualised in schools, as well as revealing the changing forms of family governance through regimes such as pastoral care. This analysis allows for the existence of, and a valuing for, alternative modes of family existence, so that future curricular and legal discourses can be challenged in the interest of equity and social justice.

Parents' experiences of child growth and development concerns: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background: Assessing child growth and development is complex. Delayed identification of growth or developmental problems until school entry has health, educational and social consequences for children and families. Health care professionals (HCPs), including Public Health Nurses work with parents to elicit and attend to their growth and development concerns. It is known that parents have concerns about their children’s growth and development which are not expressed in a timely manner. Measuring parental concern has not been fully effective to date and little is known about parents’ experiences of expressing concerns. Aim: To understand how parents make sense of child growth or development concerns. Method: The study was qualitative using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A purposeful sample of 15 parents of pre-school children referred by their PHN to second tier services was used. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews. NVivo version 10 was used for data management purposes and IPA for analysis. Findings: Findings yielded two contextual themes which captured how parents described The Concern – ‘telling it as it is’ and their experiences of being Referred on. Four superordinate themes were found which encapsulated the Uncertainty – ‘a little bit not sure’ of parents as they made sense of the child’s growth and development problems. They were influenced by Parental Knowledge – ‘being and getting in the know’ which aided their sense-making before being prompted by Triggers to action. Parents then described Getting the child’s problem checked out as they went to express their concerns to HCPs. Conclusion and Implications: Parental expression of concerns about their child is a complex process that may not be readily understood by HCPs. A key implication of findings is to reappraise how parental concern is elicited and attended to in order to promote early referral and intervention of children who may have growth and development problems.

Towards enhanced divine-human-earth relations: a Christian-Buddhist contribution

The central claim of the dissertation is that lesser known and somewhat neglected, yet influential thinkers, within classical religious traditions have something worthwhile to contribute to the kind of ethos we should adopt in the face of the world’s various environmental crises. Moreover an exploration of such perspectives is best done in dialogue, particularly between Eastern and Western thought. I examine this claim primarily through a dialogue between the Christian philosopher John Scottus Eriugena and the Japanese Buddhist philosopher Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi). This dialogue, framed by the triad of divine-human-earth relations, primarily emphasises the oneness of all reality, and it finds expression in Eriugena’s concept of natura or phusis and Kūkai’s central teaching that the phenomenal world is the cosmic Buddha Dainichi. By highlighting this focus, I contribute to the existing academic field of ecology and religion on the subject of holism. However, I go beyond the materialist focus that generally marks such ecological holism within that field, offering instead a more metaphysical approach. This is indicated through my use of the concept of ‘immanental transcendence’ to describe Eriugena’s and Kūkai’s dynamic, numinous and mysterious notion of reality, as well as my exploration of Eriugena’s concept of theophany and Kūkai’s notion of kaji. I further explore how both philosophers highlight the human role in the process of reaching enlightenment—understood as attaining union with the whole. In that regard, I note significant differences in their positions: in particular, I note that Kūkai’s emphasis on bodily practices contrasts with Eriugena’s more conceptual approach. Finally to bolster my claim, I examine some ecologically oriented understandings of contemporary phenomenological approaches found particularly in the work of Jean-Luc Marion and to a lesser extent Merleau-Ponty, arguing that these reflect notions of reality and of the human role similar to those of the medieval philosophers.

The early years in Irish multigrade classes: trajectories of practice and identity

This study investigates how the experiences of Junior Infants are shaped in multigrade classes. Multigrade classes are composed of two or more grades within the same classroom with one teacher having responsibility for the instruction of all grades in this classroom within a time-tabled period (Little, 2001, Mason and Doepner, 1998). The overall aim of the research is to problematize the issues of early childhood pedagogy in multigrade classes in the context of children negotiating identities, positioning and power relations. A Case Study approach was employed to explore the perspectives of the teachers, children and their parents in eight multigrade schools. Concurrent with this, a nation-wide Questionnaire Survey was also conducted which gave a broader context to the case study findings. Findings from the research study suggest that institutional context is vitally important and finding the space to implement pedagogic practices is a highly complex matter for teachers. While a majority of teachers reported the benefits for younger children being in mixed-age settings alongside older children, only a minority of case study school teachers demonstrated how it is possible to promote classroom climates which were provided multiple opportunities for younger children to engage fully in classrooms. The findings reveal constraints on pedagogical practice which included: time pressures within the job, an increase in diversity in pupil population, meeting special needs, large class sizes, high pupil/teacher ratios, and planning/organisation of tasks which intensified the complexities of addressing the needs of children who differ significantly in age, cognitive, social and emotional levels. An emergent and recurrent theme of this study is the representation of Junior Infants as apprentices in their ‘communities of practice’ who contributed in peripheral ways to the practices of their groups (Lave and Wenger, 1991, Wenger, 1998). Through a continuous process of negotiation of meaning, these pupils learned the knowledge and skills within their communities of practice that empowered some to participate more fully than others. The children in their ‘figured worlds’ (Holland, Lachiotte, Skinner and Caine 1998) occupy identities which are influenced by established arrangements of resources and practices within that community as well as by their own agentive actions. Finally, the findings of the study also demonstrate how the dimension of power is central to the exercise of social relations and pedagogical practices in multigrade classes.