Sarah Reynolds
Educational Policy
This section explores how educational policy shapes teaching, learning, assessment, and inclusion within the Irish education system. Through critical policy analysis and reflective practice, these projects examine tensions between high-stakes assessment, student-centred learning, and inclusive classroom practice. Drawing on national policy frameworks, educational research, and classroom experiences, the work reflects on the evolving role of the teacher in supporting meaningful, equitable, and reflective learning environments.
Senior Cycle Reform in Ireland
Tensions Between High-Stakes Assessment and Inclusive Learning
This paper critically explores Senior Cycle Reform in Ireland, examining the tensions between high-stakes assessment and inclusive, student-centred learning. Drawing on educational policy, stakeholder perspectives, and frameworks such as the OECD Implementation Framework and Bridgman and Davis’s Policy Development Cycle, it reflects on the challenges of implementing meaningful educational reform while supporting the key competencies and holistic aims of Senior Cycle education within the Irish education system.
Reflecting on Practice
This reflective paper explores the role of effective questioning in supporting student engagement, understanding, and independence within the visual art classroom. Drawing on classroom experiences, Brookfield’s reflective framework, educational research, and Irish educational policy, it examines how questioning can support inclusive and student-centred learning for students of varying needs and abilities.
Informed by the Junior Cycle Visual Art Specification (NCCA, 2016), Looking at Our School 2022, and the Teaching Council’s Cosán Framework, the paper reflects on how questioning can function as a form of scaffolding, assessment for learning, and differentiation within the classroom. Through this lens, it considers the tensions between structured teacher support and student independence, while highlighting the role of reflective practice in shaping meaningful and inclusive learning experiences in Art and Design education.