A strategy and support at school level

The need for strategies and supports at school level to facilitate implementation of curriculum innovation and change has long been recognised. Teachers need the opportunity to develop a clear understanding of the innovation, to be given time to become convinced of its value and of its potential to make a difference in terms of pupil learning. This paper outlines how teacher-researchers working within the Irish context carried out research into their own practice. In aiming to understand and inform their practice as teachers, action research was the preferred approach to enquiry in both schools. Bernie Tobin is an Assistant Principal in a primary school. Her research focuses on the implementation of the approach to writing outlined in the English Language Curriculum. Mairead Ryan, at the time of the study was a classroom teacher but is now a school Principal. She investigates the use of games in a junior primary school. Margaret Farren is a teacher educator at Dublin City University. She explains the methods used to ensure the validity and rigour of the case studies. These include: Whitehead’s (1989, 2004) action research cycles; Habermas’ (1976) social validation and Winter’s (1989) criteria of rigour.