- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2020
Support to improve local community engagement in Ireland’s education policy development
The European Union via its Technical Support Instrument (TSI) and the OECD Implementing Education Policies Team have supported the Teaching Council, the Department of Education, and a range of stakeholder bodies in Ireland with the development of a model and considerations for an implementation roadmap to scale up school community engagement processes in Ireland.
Context
During the last decades, citizen engagement in policymaking has taken on greater importance across EU member states and is embodied by the EU’s priority to renew democracy. While Ireland has a strong tradition of partnership models and stakeholder engagement in policymaking, it set out to explore new opportunities for school community engagement. A 2019 pilot by the Teaching Council “Bringing Education Alive for our Communities on a National Scale (BEACONS)” suggested there is scope for enhancing the dialogue between local and national stakeholders to support more inclusive and innovative policy and has prompted the request for assistance from DG REFORM.
Support delivered
In coordination with the OECD project team, the TSI project collected and analysed evidence on stakeholder engagement practices in Ireland and internationally. The project facilitated an international peer learning dialogue, as well as interviews and consultation meetings with a wide range of education stakeholders in Ireland. With the support of local consultants, the project piloted seven school community engagement events across Ireland to test the variables and parameters of a school community engagement model. This has led to the development of an implementation roadmap and advice for Ireland to consider when planning the model’s future scale up and implementation.
Results achieved
The project brought together a range of stakeholders in Ireland, with around 20 national bodies, as well as student, parent, teacher and principal representatives serving as a consultative platform throughout. In addition, the seven school community engagement events held across Ireland engaged more than 350 participants in total, including students, parents, teachers, school leaders and representatives from local, regional and national education departments and agencies. The project activities have informed the publication Roadmap for scaling up school community engagement to inform education policymaking in Ireland, which offers considerations for a model and actionable recommendations for Ireland to take forward.
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: