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Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

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Module Title
Module Code	(ITS: PR104)
Faculty		School
NFQ level		Credit Rating

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.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	14	Attendance at 7 x 2 hour online lectures
Class Presentation	26	Preparation of school profile, reading, preparation of presentation, delivery of presentation, engagement with discussion, reflection on presentation and writing up of reflection
Seminars	20	Attendance at seminar with panel of policy and research experts and practitioners, engagement in discussion, writing up of reflection
Independent Study	65	Reading in preparation for, and following lectures. Reading for and writing of essay
Total Workload: 125

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
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 journal	Reflective journal on the expert guest panelists' presentations and discussions	25%	n/a
Essay	Essay on one of four set topics	50%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

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

Indicative Reading List

Books:

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,

Articles:

E. Batty: 2013, 'Addressing Educational Disadvantage in Deprived Communities: evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England', Urban Studies, 50, 8, 1523, 41821
2007: 'Hard to reach parents or hard to reach schools? A discussion of home-school relations, with particular reference to Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents', British Educational Research Journal, 33, 3, 295, 41822, 1
'Peripheral Voices: parental involvement, social class and educational disadvantage': British Journal of Sociology of Education, 23, 1, 45, 41823, 2, N.R. King
Educational Theory: 27, 3, 245, 41824, 1, K. Lynch & M. Moran, 2006
27, 2: 221, 41825, 1, K. Lynch & C. O'Neill, 1994, 'The Colonisation of Social Class in Education'
307: 41826, 1, K. Lynch & C. O'Riordan, 1998, 'Inequality in Higher Education: a study of class barriers', British Journal of Sociology of Education
41827: 1, P. McInerney, 2007, 'The Ethics of Problem Representation in Public Education Policy: from educational disadvantage to individual deficit', Policy and Society, 26, 3, 85,
2: M. O'Brien, 2008, 'Gendered capital: emotional capital and mothers' care work in eduation', British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 2, 137,
C. Skerritt: 2017, 'The code for success? Using a Bernsteinian perspective on sociolinguistics to accentuate working-class students' achievement in the Republic of Ireland', Irish Journal of Sociology, 25, 3, 274, 41830
2005: 'Challenging Myths of the Deficit Perspective', Young Children, 60, 6, 12, 41831, 1
'The Silent Politics of Educational Disadvantage and the National Anti-Poverty Strategy': Irish Educational Studies, 29, 2, 189,

Other Resources

published report: B. Fleming, 2020, The Lived Reality of Educational Disadvantage, Dublin, Author,
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,
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,