Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description This module aims to prepare students to engage with confidence in ethical, evidence-based inquiry; to cultivate the sophisticated research knowledge, skills, and critical attitudes essential for the modern educator. The module is informed by the Teaching Council’s Céim framework (2020), which mandates that professional practice be grounded in both “educational research” and a commitment to “creativity and innovation.” Accordingly, developing a "research perspective" is understood as the cultivation of a knowledgeable stance from which one can critically evaluate existing knowledge and creatively apply it to professional practice. The module is structured as a year-long journey that guides students from critical analysis to creative application, preparing them to engage with confidence in ethical research on topics of value to the educational community. Initially, students will develop the research knowledge, skills, and competencies required to deconstruct scholarly texts, critically appraise them for methodological rigour and potential bias, and interrogate the ethical dimensions of educational inquiry. This critical foundation is the necessary prerequisite for meaningful pedagogical innovation. Subsequently, these analytical skills are applied to the creative construction of a personal, research-informed model of practice, embodying the role of the 'teacher as researcher'. This process challenges students to bridge academic theory and professional application by designing tangible, evidence-based responses to pedagogical opportunities. Through a final reflective analysis of professional placement, students will evaluate their model in an authentic context, solidifying the link between evidence-based inquiry, reflective practice, and their commitment to ongoing professional development. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Identify, explain and critique some of the key principles and protocols that inform and guide the process of undertaking ethical research in education with specific reference to school-based research. 2. List and describe elements that are fundamental to planning viable, evidence-based, ethical research projects including the identification and articulation of a research problem and research questions, the selection of a feasible research approach, the employment of appropriate research strategies, methodologies and instruments, the processes for collection and analysis of data, the identification of the potential impact and limitations. 3. Identify, describe and review the key elements of a research cycle. 4. Identify potential school-based opportunities for research and how these might be exploited by a teacher working alone and/or in concert with other school staff to optimise teaching and learning. 5. To outline the parameters for an independent student-teacher led research in a priority learning area. 6. To facilitate the student-teacher to develop their practice in order to improve pupils’ learning experience and to initiate the development of transferable learning skills such as autonomous practice-based learning, evidence-gathering, reflection, critical engagement, self-evaluation and commitment to on-going professional development. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
The Teacher as Researcher The emerging role of teacher and school based research in the context of changing curricula, new approaches to inspection and teaching council requirements. • Reflection and reflective engagement in the lifecycle of a school year. Integrating research into the life of the Student Teacher • The integration of research into the role of the teacher Engaging with research – what others say, how to read it and how to place a value on it. Exploring research literature • Locating educational research • Working with online databases • Using libraries • Reading and critically analysing educational research • Providing a critical overview of research studies Preparing to carry out research –paradigms, methods and designs • Introduction to the research paradigm • Examining methodological issues in educational research. • Bringing the professional self to the design of research Doing research – ethics • What is ethical research in a school context? • Self study and ethics Developing a research question and research proposal Learn how to formulate research questions and develop the research proposal in a collaborative mode with peers and colleagues, and through consideration of experiences of school placement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
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Other Resources None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||