Table of Contents Welcome from President of ESAI ...................................................................................................................... 2 ESAI Conference 2019 Theme ........................................................................................................................... 3 Keynote Speaker ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Panel Discussion ................................................................................................................................................ 4 ESAI Executive 2018-2019 ................................................................................................................................. 5 Presidents of ESAI ............................................................................................................................................. 5 List of Conference Locations 1976-2019 ........................................................................................................... 6 General Editors of Irish Educational Studies ..................................................................................................... 7 ESAI Corporate Members 2018/19 ................................................................................................................... 8 ESAI Invited Symposium at AERA 2019 ........................................................................................................... 11 5th International Forum on Teacher Education .............................................................................................. 12 ESAI AGM 2019 ............................................................................................................................................... 13 ESAI Conference 2019 Timetable .................................................................................................................... 14 Conference Practicalities ................................................................................................................................. 22 Conference Hashtag .................................................................................................................................... 22 Wi-Fi ............................................................................................................................................................ 22 th Shuttle Bus Thursday 11 April ................................................................................................................... 22 Technical Setup for Presenters ................................................................................................................... 22 th Abstracts: Friday, 12 April, 09.30 – 10.30 ..................................................................................................... 23 th Abstracts: Friday, 12 April, 11.00 – 12.30 ..................................................................................................... 30 th Abstracts: Friday, 12 April, 13.30 – 14.50 ..................................................................................................... 38 th Abstracts: Friday, 12 April, 15.20 – 16.20 ..................................................................................................... 48 th Abstracts: Saturday 13 April, 09.30 – 11.00 .................................................................................................. 53 th Abstracts: Saturday 13 April, 11.30 – 12.30 .................................................................................................. 62 th Abstracts: Saturday 13 April, 12.30 – 13.30 .................................................................................................. 68 Welcome from President of ESAI Dear Friends and Colleagues, On behalf of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, I welcome you to ESAI Conference 2019. This is the first time for our conference to be held in Sligo, and we are delighted to visit the beautiful north-west for our annual celebration of educational research. I would like to thank our colleagues in St. Angela’s College, especially Dr. Anne Taheny and Ms. Fiona Crowe, for their warm hospitality and wonderful support. This year we have seen an increase in membership numbers (individual, associate, corporate) as well as a huge number of applications to present at ESAI Conference 2019. We thank each and every one of you for your continued support of the Association. We also say a special word of welcome to those who are attending ESAI for the first time, and to those who have travelled from afar to be with us. We have tried to make a little more ‘space’ in this year’s conference timetable for conversation and discussion, and we hope that all attendees find this to be of benefit. The Association continues to expand its online and social media presence. Our Twitter account (@esai_irl) has recently passed 900 followers and continues to be a primary channel of communication with our members and the wider public. The Twitter hashtag for this year’s conference is #esai19 and we encourage all delegates to make use of this across the three days of our conference. The ESAI website (www.esai.ie) remains our primary information base with regard to the Association. In the past year we have continued to develop links and synergies with a number of other associations. In November, we accepted an invitation for a delegate of ESAI to attend the annual conference of the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA), and we are pleased to welcome a representative from SERA to this year’s ESAI conference in Sligo. In December, ESAI was delighted to partner with the British Educational Research Association (BERA) for a one-day event at Queen’s University, Belfast, entitled ‘Developments in educational research and school improvement’. Next month, ESAI will partner with a number of other educational associations for the 5th International Forum on Teacher Education (IFTE2019) which takes place 29th-31st May at Kazan Federal University, Russia. Our well-established international links with EERA (European Educational Research Association) and with AERA (American Educational Research Association) remain of great value to us. ESAI was once again pleased to accept the invitation from AERA to host an invited symposium at AERA Annual Meeting 2019 in Toronto (5th-9th April), and we continue to be represented on the EERA council and to actively participate in this. The work of the ESAI Executive extends well beyond our annual conference, and my thanks, as ever, go to the members of the Executive for their commitment and enthusiasm throughout the year. Our thanks also to the members of the Irish Educational Studies (IES) editorial team for their industry and dedication with regard to the Association’s journal. Finally, we extend an invitation to all delegates to attend our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which takes place on Friday 12th April at 4.30pm. Enjoy the conference, have a great time in Sligo, and safe travels home. Yours sincerely, Enda Donlon ESAI President (2018-2020) 2 ESAI Conference 2019 Theme Education in Times of Change, Choice and Challenge It is often said that change is the only constant in life. Whether or not this is true, it is undeniable that the pace and intensity of change in recent times has accelerated significantly. At international level we are witnessing unprecedented social, political, economic and technological change, and even change in how we view and evaluate information in the post-truth era. At national level we have witnessed a number of significant shifts and developments in Irish society, as well as wide-ranging and long-lasting change resulting from the recent economic turmoil. It is within these rapidly changing national and international contexts that education is enacted and can itself be an active and transformational agent of change. Change always involves choice, and is never without challenge; in the words of Arnold Bennett, ‘any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts’. There is a moral dimension to how we act individually and collectively in times of change, especially within the given or emerged structures that can determine our choices to act. The challenges are often intensified by attempts to institutionalise commercial values which build on the definition of choice in consumption terms. The 2019 ESAI Conference presents an opportunity to discuss emerged structures and processes, and to reflect upon the changes, choices and challenges that we have faced, are facing and may yet face within a wide range of disciplines and educational settings on both national and international levels. The broad theme of this year’s conference is intended to bring together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, emerging researchers and interested others from Ireland and beyond to debate and discuss these important educational issues, and to provide a forum for the dissemination of current research which focuses on the dynamic landscape of education in changing times. Image Attribution - Glencar Waterfall: “Glencar Waterfall, Co. Leitrim 11” flickr photo by theq47 https://flickr.com/photos/theq47/1807757375 shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license - Yeats Statue: “Yeats Statue in Sligo 03” flickr photo by Shadowgate https://flickr.com/photos/shadowgate/2849911697 shared under a Creative