Work-based learning is the primary learning mode for this element of the programme, based in the individual’s site of professional practice. This module aims to promote students’ development of transferable skills (e.g. reflective practice, academic writing and referencing conventions, research skills (including library searching), and ICT) in the context of their developing professional practice. Students explore theoretical perspectives on their professional practice and/or organisational context. Students maintain a reflective journal throughout the programme. Assessment is conducted in an integrated fashion: students present a portfolio of work related to their own professional practice or organisational context, with particular reference to their subject specialism.. The module will consist of lectures and active tutorials/workshops.

Elective modules

2. Adult and Further Education

This course is designed to provide students with a theoretical underpinning for approaches to teaching and learning within the adult and further education (FE) sector. It provides a critical review of the emerging policy context for the development of the sector, including the provisions of the Qualifications Act and the implications of the National Framework of Qualifications. This module also explores models of educational provision in the sector and gives a historical overview of the provision of adult education, including current developments in provision, nationally and internationally. The module also deals with curriculum design as a response to the particular needs of adults as learners. Topics include motivation for learning, learning styles and study methods as well as the context in which these develop. Participants will have a greater appreciation of the responsibilities associated with teaching within the FE sector, including assessment and quality assurance. The module also caters for the needs of those involved in delivery of continuing professional development in any context.

3. Catering for Diversity

This module focuses on issues relating to pupils with special educational needs, including those with learning difficulties and those from minority ethnic and disadvantaged groups, within the mainstream school. The module aims to enable teacher educators to better understand the needs of those who experience learning difficulties in their mainstream classes and those from minority ethnic and disadvantaged groups, and to support student teachers to develop attitudes, skills and approaches that will make their teaching effective for such pupils in the future. The module will provide an opportunity for teacher educators to actively reflect upon their own positionality and provide a brief introduction to critical pedagogy. It will consider recent relevant legislative and policy developments. Participants will discuss causes and factors contributing to learning difficulties and special educational needs, how to recognise pupil difficulties and identify needs and the provision of additional support available for pupils. The nature of inclusive and intercultural teaching approaches and strategies will be explored as will strategies to support the development of literacy at second level and to assist student teachers in supporting such pupils at school and classroom levels.

4. Coordination of ICT in Educational Settings

This new course will develop the practical and technical skills required for successful ICT coordination, in schools and in educational settings outside of schools: e.g. museums, heritage sites, exploration and science centres. The course will also develop participants' understanding of innovative technology-enhanced pedagogies, including: constructionist approaches, mobile learning and ubiquitous computing in education. Participants will be able to use a range of innovative approaches to teach and implement ICT in and outside the classroom. There is a focus on how to undertake staff training in ICT successfully in an education setting. The module explores the latest developments and innovations in educational technology and the learning sciences. It is expected that participants would develop an understanding of conceptual and theoretical issues underpinning technology in education and be able to assume ICT co-ordination in an education setting.

5. Contemporary Issues in Mathematics Education

This module will focus on current developments and relevant issues in the field of mathematics education both internationally and within Ireland. This will include a particular focus on the content and pedagogy of Project Maths. Participants will consider the nature of proposed reforms in the context of their own classrooms and teaching experience. Lecturers will provide support for implementing recommended strategies and best practice, particularly with regard to designing resources, planning lessons and assessing pupils’ understanding of mathematical concepts.

6. Curriculum Studies

This module aims to empower reflective and effective professionals in the process of curriculum planning and implementation – at classroom, institution, community and national level. The aims of the module are to provide participants with the opportunity to gain a theoretical framework with which to explore and debate curricular issues and apply principles of curriculum and assessment to a critical evaluation of their own professional practice and approach to curriculum within their organization. The module will consider the context for the emerging curricular issues in Ireland. Participants will develop skills in curriculum development appropriate to their particular context and practical skills in assessment design and evaluation appropriate to their professional needs. The module will focus on future directions for curriculum in the 21 ^st century, in Ireland and internationally within the context of the learning society. Participants will have the opportunity to explore possibilities for educational research.

7. Education and the Law

The module provides participants with an overview of the impact of law on the provision of education in Ireland. It will review the constitutional right to education, exploring issues of equality and human rights with respect to education law and with reference to educational policy and practice. Education provision for children with special educational needs will be critically examined from the perspective of the law and with reference to its implementation in schools in Ireland. Recent legislative developments (e.g. in relation to educational welfare, expulsion, negligence, health and safety) which impacts on both schools and teachers will be examined. The aim of the module is to provide participants – practising professionals in education – with an understanding of the impact of the law with a specific emphasis on implication for professional practice as teachers or school principals and on schools as organisations. In pursuit of this the module will involve inputs from a legal perspective and from the perspective of education policy and practice.

8. Education Policy in Context

This module provides participants with the opportunity to explore and interrogate educational policy as it applies to their educational sector, organisational context and professional practice. Historical perspectives and contemporary drivers of education policy, at institutional, national, EU and international level will be explored. Policy themes, such as equality of participation and opportunity, life-long learning, and related initiatives within educational settings will be interrogated in term of their challenge for and impact on practice.

9. Educational Leadership and Management

This module promotes reflection on current issues in school leadership, management and administration. Through lectures, workshops, discussions and exercises, assumptions about the purpose of education and school are explored and the implications of these assumptions for the organisational structure of schools are clarified. Specifically, the module introduces various concepts related to the administration of schools (organisational culture, leadership, personal development, promotion of learning and partnership in governance). It will explore the implications of these concepts for ’quality schools’ and explore and demonstrate how these concepts are applied in Irish education at a system, school and personal level. The module aims to promote reflection and planning on the application of good management principles to the contribution individuals might make in their own school.

10. European Language Studies

This is a course that supports teachers/researchers in developing their knowledge and expertise in key areas of language education with a focus on European languages (including Irish/English as a second language (I/ESL). It aims to provide participants with an enhanced capacity to be innovative, to self-direct and to critically evaluate one’s teaching, with a focus on optimizing use of the target language in classroom teaching. It develops the knowledge and skills to design and develop, source and evaluate language materials. It explores a number of language teaching models and approaches e.g. whole-school approach to language education, autonomous language teaching and learning, bilingual education, immersion education,, content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and content based language teaching (CBLT). Links between language learning and interculturalism are explored. It deals with assessment tools in the context of different programmes and for learners with different abilities, ethnicities and life experiences. The module promotes capacity to engage in action research /research based practice.

11. Foundations of Education

This module provides participants with an overview of a number of theoretical perspectives in the sociology, psychology, history and philosophy of education. It also introduces participants to key concepts, principles and practice in curriculum and assessment with particular reference to the influence of the Foundations of Education. Participants explore the relevance and application of these theoretical perspectives in relation to key debates in contemporary education and in relation to their own professional practice. This module invites students to critically appraise the relationship between education and society and the contribution of contemporary learning theories to our understanding of the teaching learning process. The significance of the past and of philosophical perspectives and ideologies is explored throughout. The module is designed to provide experienced participants with an introduction to the foundation disciplines of education, through engagement with scholarship and through research and dialogue with fellow participants, as a means of making sense of policy and practice.

12. Gender and Education: theory and practice

Gender touches all of us; it does not stop at classroom doors. Despite the available research over the past fifty years, there is still a resistance to engaging with gender and theories about gender and education. As a result, there is widespread misunderstanding about gender and how it impacts on the social and educational spaces in schools. Ignoring gendered interactions may be a greater threat to students than critically engaging with gender and examining the everyday ways it shapes pedagogy, and the daily/nightly lives of students. This course will introduce students to a variety of readings that theorize and critically examine gender in the educational context. Topics covered will include gender differences, harassment, homophobia, masculinities and underachievement. Readings and assignments will not simply reformulate abstract and limiting concepts of gender roles, but will focus on an analysis of the complex relations that organize students’ and teachers’ lives, which in turn, help to shape the educational environment. Students will participate in (re)framing questions about gender in their in-class interactions with the instructor and other students.

13. ICT in Mathematics Education

This module will develop participants’ competences and skills in the design and appropriation of ICTs (information and communications technologies) to enhance mathematics teaching and learning. The core technology for the course will be GeoGebra (the principal technology used in the Project Maths Initiative). The module will develop students’ skills in a range of application programming interfaces and software, including creative and digital storytelling technologies; virtual reality and multi-user virtual environments; and constructionist toolkits and robotics. The course will also develop students’ understanding of how ICT in mathematics education has developed in recent years, including contemporary developments in intelligent tutoring systems; hands-on and collaborative technologies; and visualization and mathematical typesetting software.

14. Literacy and Language Across the Curriculum

This course will explore theoretical perspectives, definitions and current understandings of literacy, and the practicalities of teaching through a second language, especially regarding the CLIL methodology. The importance of developing literacy and language across the curriculum will be examined, together with developments in the UK and throughout Europe. There will be a particular emphasis on implications for practice in the classroom and for school policy. The CLIL methodology with be explored and its interface with literacy and language in specific subject areas with the opportunity to devise CLIL lessons and apply principles. Research on language acquisition, and on teaching through a second language will be explored. Participnts will have an enhanced awareness of their role in the effective delivery of education and subject matter through a second language. There will an opportunity to develop Irish language literacy skills. Participants will have the opportunity to identify possible areas for research in the area.

15. Mentoring in Practice

This module is designed to introduce participants to key theories, concepts and approaches to supervision, coaching and mentoring in an education context. The module combines theoretical foundations with the development of fundamental skills of mentoring; negotiation, feedback, questioning, active listening and building a professional learning relationship. Using RPL, it aims to cater for the accreditation and continuing processional development needs of experienced practitioners already providing supervision and mentoring to student teachers in post-primary schools.

16. Pedagogies for Citizenship Education

This module on Pedagogies for Citizenship Education focuses in the main on the pedagogy and methodology of the proposed ’Politics and Society’ senior cycle subject, but is also relevant for teachers of Civic, Social and Political Education. It aims to equip students (i.e. post-primary teachers) with the skills to teach Politics and Society in an active, engaging fashion, matched to pupils’ needs and approaches to learning and in a way which supports pupils’ development of the five key skills of senior cycle. The module aims to develop students’ knowledge of and expertise in implementing a wide range of active, participatory and enquiry-focused learning and teaching activities with specific reference to the Politics and Society syllabus, and embedded in the concepts therein. It also supports students in designing units of work, based on Politics and Society concepts, and appropriate assessment, both formative and summative, and including a focus on assessment for learning. Assessment is through the development and presentation of a 'Political and Society' unit of work, to include appropriate active and participatory learning methodologies.

17. Science Education

This module aims to provide an overview of recent innovations in Science Education, with the explicit goal of integrating theory with best practice. Areas of study include the recently revised curricula, science in society, safety issues in science instruction, innovative instruction and learning strategies, evaluation and assessment, the practical integration of technology, practitioner-based research, relevant government initiatives and professional development. The module offers an opportunity to participants to review recently revised Irish science syllabi and critically analyse relevant government initiatives and structures in science education. Participants will analyze and adapt various teaching and learning in order to create an active, engaging and safe learning environment for science, including integration of various innovative formative and summative assessment techniques in science. Integration of ICT skills will be included and evaluation of resources available for the teaching of their science subject. The module is underpinned by a focus on practitioner-based research as a key element of reflective practice in science education.

18. Sociology of Education

The overall aim of this module is to engage participants in a critical examination and discussion of theoretical perspectives and research findings in relation to key issues in the sociology of education. Participants will be afforded the opportunity to explore a number of theoretical perspectives and apply these to key issues and debates in education. The module also explores issues relating to educational disadvantage and increasing student diversity in the Irish and international contexts, relevant to first, second, further and, in particular, higher education levels. Theoretical approaches to, and models of, diversity are examined, drawing on critical perspectives and findings from recent research literature. Participants will be expected to be able to use the theoretical perspectives and research findings to examine and interrogate their own professional practice. Implications of, and barriers to, successful student diversity at both compulsory and post-compulsory education levels, will be identified and critically appraised, based research findings and their own professional experiences at individual, institutional and national levels

Note: Foundations of Education cannot be combined (for reasons of overlap) with any of the following modules: Sociology of Education, Psychology of Education or Curriculum Studies.

19. Special Educational Needs: diversity and inclusion

This module will address the nature and aetiology of special educational needs and learning difficulties and will include extensive critical analysis of theories and models of practice and discussion of legislation and policy in the Irish and International contexts. Issues of inclusive practices and school organisation will be key areas, including managing support, roles and responsiblities within schools, effective staff collaboration, whole-school approaches, specialist pedagogies and inclusive teaching methologies, and working with parents and professionals.The module explores causes and factors contributing to special educational needs and learning difficulties. It will critically evaluate concepts of and theoretical understandings of special educational needs and explore current debates and controversies in the area of learning difficulties and special educational needs. The module aims to facilitate effective and inclusive approaches to meeting diverse needs in their own contexts, with a strong focus on the ability to reflect on their own teaching and learning in a way that develops and enhances their future practice.

20. Teaching and Learning in Teacher Education

This module is designed to introduce participants to the fundamental theories, concepts and practices underpinning teaching and learning in teacher education. Theoretical foundations relating to curriculum planning and design, teaching methods, assessment and evaluation are combined with the related skills of professional practice. The module focuses on the responsibilities of teachers in higher education and in teacher education in particular. The module aims to develop and enhance participants’ current practice through critical reflection and collaborative engagement. The module aims to cater for the continuing professional development needs of practitioners contributing to teacher education (e.g. as methodologists or teaching practice supervisors) and those with a role in continuing professional development in education settings or support services.

21. Teaching for Active Learning

The growing emphasis on engagement and on active learning has prompted new opportunities for developing more engaging forms of teaching appropriate to the promotion of life-long learning. This module introduces participants to a range of active learning methodologies (e.g. enquiry, problem, project -based and service learning) with an emphasis on practical examples from practitioners and researchers in these areas. The role of ICT in facilitating active learning will feature throughout. The module will also focus on educational research, including practitioner research, in this field. It is expected that participants will be able to explore contemporary theories in relation to teaching and learning and develop active teaching and learning methodologies for use in their own practice. The use ICT to support active learning is explored and the roel of formative assessment. Participants are expected to critically examine relevant research in the field and may identify potential areas for research.

22. Psychology of Education

The general aims of the module are to critically review the current relationship between psychological research and education and the historical development of these links. Participants will critically examine psychological models and theories which have had particular impact on education – at the level of the individual, class, school and system and how psychology has influenced policies and practice in key areas of education. Participants will be introduced to recent developments in the study of psychology which have particular relevance for education. They will be encouraged to use their increased knowledge of psychology to critically evaluate and develop their own practice. In particular the module will focus on the contribution of educational psychology in the following four areas: models of teaching and learning, the characteristics of individual learners, effective learning environments and the professional development of teachers.

23. Understanding and Managing Challenging Behaviours

Challenging behaviours are an issue of major concern in all educational sectors – primary, second-level, tertiary and further education. In order for effective teaching and learning to occur in any setting, students and staff need to feel safe in the classroom, the school premises, the schoolyard and the wider community. In order for this to happen, teachers, school administrators and counselling staff need to understand the nature of challenging behaviours that arise and have the structures, processes, skills and confidence to deal with them when they occur. This module examines the following challenging behaviours: bullying, aggression and disruption, truancy, drug abuse, youth suicide, dysfunctional peer group relations, developmental crises and isolation. Other identified areas of concern may also be addressed. These issues are considered both from a psychological perspective and also in relation to the socio-cultural contexts within which they occur. The overall aim of the module is to determine how best to address challenging behaviours when they occur and how to do so in an efficient, constructive and fair-minded way so that the socio-ecological needs of the school are addressed and healthy classrooms and schools and the positive functionality of all students and staff is the result. The module will be inquiry and problem-based. Research and examples of effective practice will be used both for better understanding challenging behaviours and for developing practical approaches for problem-solving.

School of Education,
National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
Phone: +353 (0)91 492195 Fax: +353 (0)91 494538,
E-mail: education

nuigalway.ie
This page was last updated Tuesday, May 18, 2010