Politics of Irish Primary Education

Sean Mcgraw is a Comparative Political Scientist specialising in Irish politics. He earned his BA and MDiv from the University of Notre Dame, MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and PhD in Comparative Politics from Harvard University. He currently teaches Political Science at Boston College and is active as a mentor and philanthropic leader in the educational and mental health sectors. He has published How Parties Win: Shaping the Irish Political Arena (University of Michigan Press, 2015) and co-edited with Eoin O'Malley One Party Dominance: Fianna Fáil and Irish Politics 1926-2016 (Routledge, 2017). His articles have been published in the European Journal of Political Research, Parliamentary Affairs, Government and Opposition, Irish Political Studies, Research in Comparative and International Education, and Eire-Ireland: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies.Jonathan Tiernan is the Education Delegate for the Irish Jesuits and their network of 5 secondary schools and 3 primary schools. He is a former primary school teacher having earned his BA from St. Patrick’s College/ Dublin City University and his MEd from the University of Notre Dame. His writing has appeared in The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie, Irish Catholic, Educatio Catholica Journal, and Research in Comparative and International Education.

«McGraw and Tiernan have produced a powerful scholarly interrogation of the changing face of Irish Primary Education. History conferred dominance of the sector on a powerful Catholic Church. The future will be different for a weakened Church that faces new actors, new voices, new aspirations, in fact an emerging new secular, liberal Ireland. This study calmly and convincingly explores this transitioning landscape, asking “What Next?”. It is an invitation to one of the most crucial and profound debates in the story of modern Ireland and a welcome exemplary, fresh contribution to that debate.»(Mary McAleese, former President of IrelandCurrent Professor of Children, Law & Religion at the University of Glasgow and Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin)

• Contents: Primary Education Reform: Background and Context – What’s Next? A Campaign to Limit the Catholic Church’s Role in Primary Education – Control in Irish Primary Education: Who Controls What and When – Demand for Change in the Irish Primary Sector – Key Actors in Primary Education Reform – The Catholic Church and Education Reform – Educate Together – Community National Schools – Irish Media and Primary Education Reform – The Politics of Primary Education Reform and Policy Case Studies – Policy Evolution: LGBTQ and Abortion Rights as Precursors of Educational Reform – Political Parties and Education Reform – Divestment – Admissions – Curriculum – What’s Next in Irish Primary Education Reform? – Media Analysis Notes.