New Educational Horizons in Contemporary Ireland

Thomas G. Grenham is a lecturer in Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. He was formerly Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Head of the Department of Pastoral Theology at the Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Dublin. He is the author of The Unknown God: Religious and Theological Interculturation (2005) and the editor of Pastoral Ministry for Today: ‘Who Do You Say That I Am?’ Conference Papers 2008 (2009).Patricia Kieran is a British Foreign and Commonwealth Chevening Scholar. She currently teaches Religious Education at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, and formerly lectured in Theology at Newman College, University of Birmingham. She is co-author of Children, Catholicism and Religious Education (2005) and co-editor of Exploring Theology: Making Sense of the Catholic Tradition (2007) and Exploring Religious Education: Catholic Religious Education in an Intercultural Europe (2008).

• Contents: Anne Looney: Foreword – Thomas G. Grenham: Introduction: The Changing Face of Ireland and New Educational Horizons – Tony Bonfield: Exploring the Nature of Irishness within the 1999 Primary Curriculum – Maurice Harmon/Elaine Mahon: The Identity and Nature of Catholic Schools in the Irish Context – Anne M. Dolan: Lifelong Learning: A New Paradigm for Teacher Education – Sandra Ryan/John Galvin: Classroom Teaching and Formation: Developing Educational Partnership – Claire W. Lyons: Teaching the Self: Personal Formation, Emotions and Behaviour in the Classroom – Anne O’Byrne: Teacher Formation: Preparing Pre-service Student Teachers to Meet the Needs of Pupils with Autism in Mainstream Primary Schools – Cóilín Ó Braonáin: A Case for the Inclusion of Therapeutic Play in Pre-service Teacher Formation – Tony Lyons: Compulsory School Attendance Legislation in Ireland 1892-2000 – Carol O’Sullivan: The Guidelines for Intercultural Education in the Primary School: Evidence of ‘Deep Change’ in Irish Primary Education? – Daniel O’Connell and Amalee Meehan: Exploring the Spiritual Dimension of the School Curriculum – Anne O’Byrne/Miriam Twomey: Perceptions of Inclusion: Students with Special Educational Needs – Patricia Kieran: Religious Inclusion and Exclusion in Contemporary Primary Schools – Thomas G. Grenham: Pluralism in the Primary School: Engaging with and Learning about Cultures and Religions – Aislinn O’Donnell: Transformative Education – Ann Higgins/James G. Deegan: Raising Hope in Stories of Community Consciousness – Patricia Kieran: Conclusion: Igniting the Fires of Creativity and Imagination.