Professor Daniel Faas

Summary

This innovative project explores how cultural identity and institutional practices shape refugee children"s educational experiences and resilience-building capacity in Irish schools. While Ireland has one of the highest school enrolment rates for Ukrainian refugee children in the EU, preliminary evidence suggests varying support experiences among refugee children based on their cultural background and migration status. Through an interdisciplinary lens combining education, sociology and psychology, this project examines how cultural recognition and inclusive practices manifest in two primary and two post-primary schools in high-refugee concentration urban areas. The methodology includes focus groups with European (Ukrainian) and non-European refugee children to explore how different cultural groups navigate identity formation, resilience and intercultural friendships within the Irish education system. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and parents will analyse how school communities can foster inclusive environments that celebrate cultural diversity. Through this comprehensive approach, the project aims to understand how educational institutions can become models of inclusive societies where cultural diversity and refugee resilience mutually strengthen communities. This project leverages Prof Daniel Faas"s expertise in migration-education intersectionality and cultural integration, alongside Prof Rachel Hoare"s extensive clinical experience with child and adolescent refugees and research on their friendships, cultural adaptation and resilience.

Funding Agency

Trinity College Dublin

Programme

Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund

Summary

Ireland has seen rapid social change in recent years. There is currently a mismatch between a largely denominational (Catholic) primary education system and increasing ethno-cultural and religious diversity among students and the wider population. Considering these changes, there is now a variety of beliefs among children in schools, yet over 90 per cent of Irish primary schools are denominational. Schools have a crucial role to play in terms of social integration and inclusion. This is the first empirical study exploring school sector variation of the role of religion, inter-faith communication and religious education in Ireland. It asks the following questions: What do children know about other cultures and religions as a result of their primary schooling? To what extent does the stated school ethos correspond to classroom practice? How do primary schools encourage intercultural and inter-faith dialogue among their diverse student intake? What is the role of teachers and principals in exercising culturally responsive leadership and fostering inter-faith and intercultural dialogue? Quantitative and qualitative data will be gathered from principals, teachers, parents and pupils in eight case-study schools to obtain insights into the perspectives of key actors in schools. Schools in a rural and urban setting will be chosen to analyse the impact of geographical location and levels of diversity. Moreover different types of schools - ranging from denominational to multidenominational - will be chosen to analyse the differences across the primary school types in Ireland. The study's mixed-methods cross-sectoral design is novel and will shed new light on the role and place of religion in Irish schools and society.

Funding Agency

Provost's Project Awards

Programme

Trinity College Dublin

Summary

Higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide strive to provide the best possible training for postgraduate research students (PGRs), the next generation of researchers. Furthermore, trends in higher education indicate that the number of international PGRs in Ireland and other countries has consistently increased over the past decade, which has led to observable differences between international and local students and the way these engage within their HEI. These trends hold opportunities, benefits, and challenges for PGRs and HEIs alike. However, a paucity of research on PGRs' experiences and engagement within their HEIs exists. Therefore, the research question, what are factors predicting the engagement of PGRs within their Irish HEI, was articulated to investigate what factors influence a PGR's engagement. A mixed-method approach was used to explore PGRs' perceptions of factors influencing their engagement. Here, engagement is defined as a PGR's (1) participation in academic activities, (2) engagement with the supervisor, (3) engagement within the department, and (4) cognitive engagement. The research is based on the Irish PGR StudentSurvey.ie 2019 data and semi-structured interviews conducted with PGRs at Trinity College Dublin in 2021. The findings indicate that differences in engagement between Irish and internationally domiciled PGRs are influenced by perceived financial security and English language proficiency, which influence time available for engagement. Therefore, this project is of potential interest to policy-makers and HEIs, offering insights into how financial and language-related challenges for PGR students influence their engagement.

Funding Agency

Trinity College Dublin

Programme

Arts and Social Sciences Benefactions Fund

Summary

In both the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the government has placed considerable importance on processes of internationalisation within the higher education sector and, in particular, on further enhancing international student mobility (ISM). Attracting inward mobility (through both 'whole degree' as well as short-term or 'credit' mobility) is seen as an effective means of: developing more diverse campuses, to further the inter-cultural experiences and skills of 'home' students; bolstering the financial position of higher education institutions (HEIs) through the fees paid by incoming students; and exerting 'soft power' when graduates return home. Indeed, challenging targets have been set to increase the number of incoming students. Outward mobility has also increasingly come to be prioritised (primarily through credit mobility) as a means of enhancing the inter-cultural skills of students (and thus, it is assumed, their employability). These governmental objectives have tended to be taken up enthusiastically by individual HEIs within both countries, many of which have developed their own mobility schemes in addition to making use of established schemes such as Erasmus. Nevertheless, at the present moment, ISM in both the UK and Ireland faces a number of important challenges associated with: (i) the changing political context - related to, for example: Brexit (and the future of the Erasmus+ scheme); the growing dominance of China on the world stage and as an increasingly popular destination for mobile students; and the emergence of various 'regional hubs' (e.g. in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia) which offer a cheaper international alternative than Europe to prospective students; (ii) increasing awareness of the environmental costs of physical mobility and the responsibility of HEIs with respect to climate change, alongside the impact of global health concerns, brought into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic; and (iii) the socio-economic characteristics of mobile students - those who move remain more likely to be from socially privileged families and, where opportunities have been opened up more broadly, they have tended to become stratified, with those from lower income families clustered in lower quality schemes.

Funding Agency

University of Surrey/Irish Research Council

Programme

ESRC-IRC UK/Ireland Networking Grants

Summary

Can culture, and Europe's shared cultural heritage, provide a means of addressing the crisis of European identity? The current European crisis has often been framed in media commentary in economic terms or with regard to the challenges migration presents. However, the growing popularity of political groups across Europe that are critical of the European Union(and the current Brexit process) reflects a crisis in European identity. Many Europeans are unable to identify with European institutions and indeed with what it means to be European today. Examine Europe engages directly with this issue. Such major societal challenges cannot be addressed through one disciplinary approach; therefore this project draws on a range of disciplines in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences (AHSS) and STEM areas. Three workshops will consider the strands of land/townscapes, sport and the media, schooling and curriculum design, as key components of Europe's shared cultural heritage and identity.

Funding Agency

Irish Research Council

Programme

Creative Connections