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Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Equality Education & Poverty
Module Code PR104 (ITS) / EDU1173 (Banner)
Faculty DCU Institute of Education School Policy & Professional Practice
Module Co-ordinatorAnne Lodge
Module Teachers-
NFQ level 6 Credit Rating 10
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
Coursework Only
Submission of a 5000 word essay on an agreed option from set titles.
Description

This module engages students in an exploration of the ways in which poverty impacts on individuals’, families’ and communities’ experiences of, and engagement with education. It enables students to explore the structures and cultures of the education system and of individual schools and classrooms in order to understand the interface between schooling and those living in poverty. The module introduces students to a number of important theorists including Bourdieu, Bernstein, Lynch, Reay, Ball, Blandford, O’Brien, Willis, Sharpe & Green, Todd and Young who explore various aspects of social class, poverty, justice, equality and the interface of each with education. The module affords students the opportunity to apply the theoretical lenses provided to enable them to reflect critically on the Irish education system, the culture of their own schools as well as on their own professional practice. The module also engages students in critical analysis of a number of education interventions aimed at addressing socio-economic exclusion including DEIS, the Home-School-Community-Liaison programme and the Incredible Years programme.

Learning Outcomes

1. Critically evaluate and apply the ideas of key authors in the fields of social class, educational exclusion, equality and justice.
2. Describe and analyse the cultures of participants' own schools and classrooms, as well as their own professional practice, using the theoretical lenses provided by key authors.
3. Utilise a range of theoretical perspectives to explore the life stories and experiences of children, their families and communities attending, or linked to schools with DEIS status
4. Critically analyse the impact of programmes aimed at tackling educational disadvantage on all members of the school community.



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture14Attendance at 7 x 2 hour online lectures
Class Presentation26Preparation of school profile, reading, preparation of presentation, delivery of presentation, engagement with discussion, reflection on presentation and writing up of reflection
Seminars20Attendance at seminar with panel of policy and research experts and practitioners, engagement in discussion, writing up of reflection
Independent Study65Reading in preparation for, and following lectures. Reading for and writing of essay
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
Poster presentation Presentation to class cohort plus reflection on learning from own presentation and those of peers (worth 1,250 words)25%n/a
Reflective journalReflective journal on the expert guest panelists' presentations and discussions25%n/a
EssayEssay on one of four set topics50%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Stephen Ball: 2006, Education Policy and Social Class, 16, Routledge, London,
  • Sonia Blandford: 2017, Born to Fail? Social Mobility: A Working Class View, John Catt Educational Ltd, Melton,
  • P Bourdieu and J.C. Passeron: 1990, Reproduction, Education, Society and Culture, 2nd, Sage, London,
  • S. Drudy & K. Lynch: 1993, Schools and Society in Ireland, 7, Gill and Macmillan, Dublin,
  • P.C. Gorski: 2018, Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty, Teachers' College Press, Columbia University,
  • E. Jensen: 2013, Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind, ASCD, Virginia,
  • K. Lynch & A. Lodge: 2002, Equality and Power in Schools, 3, Routledge Falmer, London,
  • C. O'Neill: 1992, Telling it like it is, Combat Poverty Agency, Dublin,
  • D. Reay: 2017, Miseducation. Inequality, education and the working classes., Policy Press, Bristol,
  • R. Thompson: 2019, Education, Inequality and Social Class, Routledge, London,
  • S. Todd: 2021, Snakes & Ladders: the great British social mobility myth, Chatto & Windus, London,
  • I.M. Young: 1990, Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton University Press, New Jersey,
  • P. Downes and A.L. Gilliagan: 2007, Beyond Educational Disadvantage, 10, IPA, Dublin,
  • R. Arshad, T. Wrigley and L. Pratt: 2012, Social Justice Re-examined: dilemmas and solutions for the classroom teacher, 2nd, 5, 10, UCL Press, London,
  • J. Harford: 2018, Education for All? The legacy of free post-primary education in Ireland, 7, Peter Lang, London,
  • F. Sowa, R. Staples, S. Zapfel: 2018, The Transformation of Work in Welfare State Organisations: new public management and the institutional diffusion of ideas, 11, Routledge, London,
  • M. Lyons, K. Lynch, S. Close, E. Sheerin & P. Boland: 2003, Inside Classrooms: the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics in Social Context, 1, 8, 12, IPA, Dublin,
Other Resources

43821, published report, B. Fleming, 2020, The Lived Reality of Educational Disadvantage, Dublin, Author, 43822, published report, Houses of the Oireachtas, 2019, Joint Committee on Education and Skills Report on Educational Inequality and Disadvantage and Barriers to Education, Dublin, Author, 43823, conference paper, A. Lodge & A. Cregan, 2000, 'An analysis of policies and strategies aimed at tackling educational disadvantage in the primary and pre-primary sectors', Paper presented to the annual conference of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, Maynooth, N/A,

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