Options
Harford, Judith
Preferred name
Harford, Judith
Official Name
Harford, Judith
Research Output
Now showing 1 - 10 of 28
- PublicationPower, Privilege And Sex Education in Irish Schools, 1922-67: An OverviewAn overview of the thinking that led us to write our most recent book, Piety and Privilege. Catholic Secondary Schooling in Ireland and the Theocratic State, 1922-67, constitutes the substance of this paper. Our central argument is that during the period 1922-1967, the Church, unhindered by the State, promoted within secondary schools, practices aimed at “the salvation of souls” and at the reproduction of a loyal middle class and clerics. The State supported that arrangement with the Church also acting on its behalf in aiming to produce a literate and numerate citizenry, in pursuing nation building, and in ensuring the preparation of an adequate number of secondary school graduates to address the needs of the public service and the professions. This situation proved attractive to successive governments, partly because the great majority of the nation’s politicians and public servants were themselves loyal middle-class Catholics. In addition, the teaching religious played a crucial role in the State’s project of harnessing schools as part of its Gaelic nation-building project. This paper considers what we deem to be three distinctive aspects of our work. First, we detail how it is a contribution not just to the history of education in Ireland but also to the broader field of the history of Catholic Church and State relations in education in the English-speaking world for the period examined. Secondly, we deliberate on the research approach we adopted in generating our exposition. Thirdly, we outline our consideration of three aspects of the process of education in Catholic schools that have been neglected in many accounts to date, namely, the manner in which privilege, piety, and sex education were approached.
52 - PublicationTeacher Leadership: The Imperative of Pedagogical EnquiryAs countries work towards the reform of education systems, the focus has increasingly turned towards the multiple forms of leadership activity in schools. This concept is receiving more and more attention in scholarship not only in relation to school management and administration but also in relation to a broad range of activities within education praxis. In recent times, the idea of distributed models of leadership is gaining ever more ground as a response to the growing complexity of school leadership. One key dimension of a distributed approach to school leadership is the nurturing of teacher leadership in schools. The potential here to significantly impact on the outcome of schooling may well be the thread that could provide the combined focus or common ground to the field of school development. It is argued here that teacher leadership is the critical element in any successful professional learning community. By opening their classroom practices to their peers, teacher leaders help to de-privatise teaching which in turn is viewed as an indispensable first step in the process of school development. "When given opportunities to lead, teachers can influence school reform efforts. Waking this sleeping giant of teacher leadership has unlimited potential in making a real difference in the pace and depth of school change"
376 - PublicationThe Changing Landscape - State Policy - Making, Public service and teacher education in Ireland, 1950-1980Radical economic policy change from the 1950s had major implications for Irish education which had traditionally drawn its values and orientation from Catholicism and cultural nationalism. While change to the economicallyrelated administrative structures were bold and innovative, responses in the sphere of education were less so. This article outlines the change and forms of administrative response in teacher education and the implications for the administration of teacher in-service professional development.
50 - PublicationHigher and Further Education: Historical PerspectivesBoth higher education (H.E.) and further education (F.E.) are relatively recent concepts in the history of education, broad umbrella terms which capture the complex and ever-widening role and function of post-secondary education. While historically, H.E. and F.E. have operated quite independently, with little if any convergence, increasingly, the boundaries between the two fields are being tested, and their remits fused. This part of the Handbook examines the broad themes of H.E and F.E through the following lenses: Transformations to Higher Education, Higher Education Institutions Across Time and Space, Empire and Exchange in Higher Education, Students in Higher and Further Education, Women Professors and Deans, and Women Workers’ Education. Tracing the expansion of H.E. and F.E. over time, each chapter captures the historical trajectory, contextualizing key developments, and offering a historiographical and comparative analysis of the major theoretical and methodological issues and ideas.
12 - PublicationThe DEIS programme as a policy aimed at combating educational disadvantage: fit for purpose?Existing research in the area of educational disadvantage in the Irish context is located either within the historiography of policy in the area or in contemporary macro analysis of dominant trends. The existing canon of research tells us that prolonged periods of unemployment and poorer health outcomes are features of early school leavers, that the educational experience of young people are reflected in their future life trajectories, and that inter-generational transmission is common. While broader macro analysis is fundamental in informing policy, context-specific research is also critical in shaping the policy trajectory and policy implementation. This article provides for the first time in Irish post-primary education an in-depth examination of the experience of existing policy in six case study schools, as articulated through the voices of school leaders, teachers, parents and pupils. The focus here is on the adequacy or otherwise of the resources provided under the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme in light of the particular challenges those school communities face. Clear evidence emerges that not only are the resources inadequate but that mechanisms are in place in the state’s funding of post-primary schools to ensure the perpetuation of educational disadvantage.
113Scopus© Citations 25 - PublicationEmerging as a teacher: Student teachers reflect on their professional identityThe purpose of this chapter, in line with the overall theme of the book, is to use the student teacher voice as a basis for exploring the underlying fragmentation, or otherwise, of teacher education. We argue that fragmentation arises because teacher education has been unable or unwilling to make connections between the vast amount of in-depth research conducted at the level of the individual teacher, and the world of policy in which education is essentially seen as a systemic, industrial activity. In other words, a nuanced understanding of individual teacher characteristics and values does not translate into policies which acknowledge these characteristics and values. In this chapter, we argue that student teachers do not enter the world of teaching via teacher education, but are always already within it as a result of their own schooling. In relation to student teachers, teacher education is, therefore, a "phase change" between school-as-pupil and school-as-teacher, rather than "entry into a profession". This tension will emerge as we explore the autobiographies of the student teachers that form our data.
534 - PublicationWomen and the Irish University QuestionThe Irish Universities Act of 1908 brought to an end a protracted dispute over the ‘Irish university question’ which had dominated the Irish political agenda at least since the 1850s. Although university access was an issue which affected only a small minority, the politically charged nature of the university question was such that it represented more than simply the provision of an adequate university infrastructure; it was in a way colonised by the more pressing issue of rights for Catholics and ultimately by concerns around nationality. The stumbling block for successive governments was the provision of adequate university education for the expanding Catholic middle-classes, whilst at the same time adhering to a non-denominational policy agenda. Although the settlement reached under the Irish Universities Act was presented as one based on the principle of non-denominationalism, it was a clever compromise, conceding to the demands for denominational education on both sides without overtly supporting it. However, despite the highly charged nature of the Irish university question, the subject of women’s place within any university settlement received scant attention. The issue of providing for a more egalitarian model of university education was narrowly understood in terms of denominational equality for males. To quote Francis Sheehy Skeffington, prominent suffragist and nationalist, ‘in all the history of the Irish University Question, it is astonishing how little attention has been given to that aspect of it which concerns the position of University Women, and how generally it is assumed that the matter is one for discussion and settlement by men only’.
366 - PublicationIrish educational policy in the 1960s: a decade of transformationA decade of transformation that emerged following a period of inertia and insularity in Irish education, the 1960s is widely regarded by scholars as representing a paradigm shift in education policy. Marked by a more interventionist, strategic policy approach, this period resulted in significant democratisation of education, particularly at post-primary level. Based on an analysis of key primary sources, many of which are here examined for the first time, this article argues that this step change in policy, the impact of which should not be underestimated, would not have been possible without the deep-seated commitment of a number of politicians and policy advisers committed to the democratisation of post-primary education.
204Scopus© Citations 16 - PublicationChallenging the dominant Church hegemony in times of risk and promise: Carysfort women resistHistorically, patriarchy has been as dominant in education in Ireland as elsewhere. In the Irish context, it was promoted through the male-dominated Catholic Church, which controlled either directly or indirectly the vast majority of education institutions in the country. This dominant hegemony was most powerful during the period post-Independence, achieved in 1922, and up until the 1960s. By the 1960s, however, Irish society had begun a process of self-reflection and modernisation triggered by exposure to international ideas, the Second Vatican Council, the democratisation of education and radical changes in economic policy. This article focuses on one manifestation of this process, namely a strike initiated by female students at a female-run teacher training college in Dublin in demand of a greater voice in the nature of the curriculum taught and in the governance of the college. However, these women were protesting not against the male hegemony, rather against the women religious who perpetrated this hegemony. The focus of this study is thus on patriarchy perpetuated by women on women.
132Scopus© Citations 2 - PublicationThe gendering of diaspora: Irish American women teachers and political activismThis article examines the way in which Irish American women teachers used education as a platform to extend the reach of their social and cultural capital, enabling them to subvert patriarchal and imperialist ideologies and, embracing subjectivity, assume key leadership roles in a range of associations fundamental to organised feminism. Drawing on a tapestry of primary sources, it interrogates how these gender transgressors successfully resisted the patriarchal ideology of nineteenth century American society, subverting essentialised notions of womanhood. Two women are examined over the course of this article, Margaret Haley (1861–1939), teacher and labour leader and Julia Harrington Duff (1859–1932), teacher and educationalist activist. Focussing on the ways in which Irish American women teachers enhanced their social mobility in and through education allows for a re-reading of the historiography of diaspora, establishing the educational and historical record within diasporic spaces as deeply gendered as well as women's role therein inherently agentic.
44Scopus© Citations 1
- «
- 1 (current)
- 2
- 3
- »