Aldo goes to Primary School: Experiencing school through the lens of the autistic spectrum.

The document draws largely on the results of research carried out by Hugh McNally and Dominic Morris of McNally Morris Architects and Keith McAllister of Queen’s University Belfast between 2012 and 2013. The objective of the study was to obtain a greater understanding of the impact that architecture and the built environment can have on people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The investigation into the subject centred on parents of young children with ASD in the belief that they are most likely to have an intimate knowledge of the issues that affect their children and are relatively well positioned to communicate those issues.

The study comprised a number of components.

- Focus Group Discussions with parents of children with ASD
- A Postal Questionnaire completed by parents of children with ASD
- A Comprehensive Desktop study of contemporary research into the relationship between ASD and aspects of the built environment.

Social stories are then used to help illustrate the world of a child with ASD to the reader and identify a series of potential difficulties for the pupil with ASD in a primary school setting. Design considerations and mitigating measures are then proposed for each difficulty.

The intention is that the document will raise awareness of some of the issues affecting primary school children with ASD and generate discourse among those whose task it is to provide an appropriate learning environment for all children. This includes teachers, health professionals, architects, parents, carers, school boards, government bodies and those with ASD themselves.

While this document uses the primary school as a lens through which to view some of the issues associated with ASD, it is the authors’ contention that the school can be seen as a “microcosm” for the wider world and that lessons taken from the learning environment can be applied elsewhere. The authors therefore hope that the document will help raise awareness of the myriad of issues for those with ASD that are embedded in the vast landscape of urban configurations and building types making up the spatial framework of our society.

Developing Frameworks for School Self-Evaluation to Improve School Effectiveness for Peace in Northern Ireland

This article contributes towards redefining school improvement more broadly than conventional outcomes sometimes imply, and describes original and practical applications of school self-evaluation models. The significance of the work has been acknowledged by reviewers in the school improvement and peacebuilding and development fields. As a result of the research reported here, Smith was invited to support the work of the Department for Education Northern Ireland Schools Community Relations Panel and the Community Relations officers representing the five Education and Library Boards. The latter used the self-evaluation framework as a model for developing a regional whole-school self-evaluation document. Smith was the lead author of the paper.

Review of the Viability Audit process: analysis of post-primary school data

This paper provides an analysis of the post-primary school data provided in the viability audit report published in February 2012 and complements a paper already prepared with an analysis of primary school data. The Viability Audit has been led by the Education and Library Boards, working in close conjunction with CCMS. The Area Planning process was led by the Department of Education, working with the Education and Library Boards and CCMS.

Review of the Viability Audit process: analysis of primary school data

This paper provides an analysis of the primary school data provided in the viability audit report published in February 2012. The Viability Audit has been led by the Education and Library Boards, working in close conjunction with CCMS. The Area Planning process was led by the Department of Education, working with the Education and Library Boards and CCMS. Draft area planning reports, and revised reports following consultation, have been published for post primary schools; draft area planning reports for primary schools have been published and are not out for consultation. It should be noted that the draft area plan reports for primary schools used updated data available to the ELBs so some of the patterns will differ slightly from those reported in the analysis below.

The Masculine Habitus as 'Distributed Cognition': A Case Study of 5- to 6-Year-Old Boys in an English Inner-City, Multi-Ethnic Primary School

This article provides a case study demonstrating the active role that 5- to 6-year-old boys in an English inner-city, multi-ethnic primary school play in the appropriation and reproduction of their masculine identities. It is argued that the emphasis on physicality, violence and racism found among the boys cannot be understood without reference to the immediate contexts of the local community and the school within which they are located. In making this argument the article draws upon and applies the concept of the habitus and develops this with the notion of 'distributed cognition' as proposed in sociocultural theory. Some of the implications of this analysis for working with boys in early years settings are discussed in the conclusion.

The contested notion of a pluralist School Ethos

Debates around the importance of school ethos have gathered pace in recent years. Whilst it is not clear why this concept has become increasingly important in the educational vernacular the marketisation of education seems to have had some effect. As schools are forced to compete they have become concerned to identify and promote their 'Unique Selling Points' as a means of attracting and maintaining a long term 'customer' base. Defining a school in terms of its particular 'ethos' therefore offers a useful means of identifying and encapsulating the particular strengths of the school. It is thus not uncommon for heads to market their schools on the basis of their endorsing a 'liberal ethos' a 'caring ethos' or a 'sporting ethos' (Gardner, 2003).

The purpose of this chapter is to use empirical evidence to explore the meaning of a 'pluralist ethos' or 'integrated ethos', within the integrated school context in Northern Ireland.

Constructing The Ethos of Tolerance and Respect in an Integrated School: The role of Teachers

This article seeks to explore how teachers develop tolerance and respect within an inclusive school
in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews and observation of 18 teachers, it will be shown that
teachers’ own personal values and assumptions exert a defining influence on the school ethos. It will
be argued that if teachers are not accorded the time and space to develop an understanding
of their own values and beliefs then there is the potential for schools to simply reinforce the psychological
barriers which sustain division.

What price harmony? Teachers' methods of delivering an ethos of tolerance and respect for diversity in an integrated school in Northern Ireland

The aim of the paper is to explore teachers’ methods of delivering an ethos of tolerance, respect
and mutual understanding in one integrated secondary school in Northern Ireland. Drawing on
interviews with teachers in the school, it is argued that most teachers make ‘critical choices’
which both reflect and reinforce a ‘culture of avoidance’, whereby politically or religiously contentious
issues are avoided rather than explored. Although teachers are well-intentioned in making
these choices, it is shown that they have the potential to create the conditions that maintain or even
harden psychological boundaries between Catholics and Protestants rather than dilute them.