Section One: Setting the Context

Rushgreen is located in a large residential area on the outskirts o f a medium sized urban centre. It is a co-educational school under the patronage o f “Educate Together.” The school was founded seven years ago largely in response to the exponential rise in children seeking school places in the area. Initially based in a

30 Educate Together is an independent Non-Government Organisation. A detailed account o f Educate Together is provided on p.95.

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number o f temporary prefabricated buildings, the school moved to a permanent building in June 2010, five years after its establishment. There are approximately 300 students enrolled at the school, many o f whom are multilingual. The school has 28 staff members including an administrative principal, 14 mainstream teachers, five Learning Support (LS) teachers, six English as an Additional Language (EAL) support teachers, one Home-School-Community-Liaison co-ordinator (HSCL) and one part-time Resource teacher.31 There are six Special Needs Assistants (SNAs).

The school is a designated disadvantaged school and has DEIS Band One (Urban) status.32

A large rectangular sign affixed to the front o f the school building promulgates the Educate Together motto “No Child is an Outsider”. Similarly, a poster on the main external door proclaims “Learn Together to Live Together”. This rights inspired approach continues in the internal environs o f the school. A framed copy o f a section o f the Universal Declaration o f Human Rights is prominently displayed on a bookcase in the principal’s office; notice boards support displays o f human rights related artwork (“the right to education”) and photographs o f the students participating in human rights related dramas such as a photographic display on “Cambodia - The Killing Fields, 1967” and “India - Street Children Today” . Project work completed by students on prominent human rights activists such as Martin Luther King also adorns the walls. Signs and posters which promote cultural diversity and acceptance are a noticeable feature. have been given disadvantaged status, with additional funding, access to the Schools’ Completion Programme, a Home-School-Community-Liaison Co-ordinator, a lower teacher-student ratio and professional development opportunities for teachers in the teaching of numeracy and literacy.

“Let’s give diversity the thumbs up!”

“Different

“Individuals Valuing Each other Regardless o f Skin

Intellect Talents or Years”

“Be Y o u rself- An original is always worth more than a copy.”

Student artwork inspired by diverse cultures accompanies these posters on the internal walls o f the school. A montage o f paintings influenced by Australian Aboriginal art hangs outside the fourth class classroom as do photographs o f the students completing this work.

Such displays are indicative o f the multicultural nature o f the student population and the centrality of child-centeredness and celebratory multiculturalism in the school’s approach to education. They are also a visual representation o f the school’s promotion of “cultural maintenance”, defined by May (1994) as “the fostering o f identity and self-esteem though affirmation o f cultural difference”

(p.61). While significance is accorded to cultural maintenance in the school, even greater significance is accorded to giving students “access to power” (May, 1994, p.61). The principal’s recognition of unequal power relations and o f the existence o f processes which undermine educational equity has led to the considered establishment o f a network o f organisational structures. These organisational

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structures are designed to promote processes which support social justice, democracy and equity and to provide students with the skills and cultural and intellectual capital to be academically successful in school and in wider society.33 The school’s determination in this regard is evidenced in the following extract:

The remit which we set ourselves is wider than that set down by the curriculum. We aim to bring all but the most extreme needs within reach o f our normal provision and curriculum (An Seomra Suaimhneach Policy).

The school’s commitment to inclusion and equity is further evidenced in its endeavours to promote a critical multicultural approach.

4-3 Local Circumstances: An Overview of “Templemines”

“Templemines” experienced extensive demographic and physical change during the Celtic Tiger era of economic expansion. The 2011 Census suggests that the population o f Templemines grew by 57.5% between 2006 and 2011 (Central Statistics Office (CSO), 2011). The CSO attributes this significant population increase to rapid housing development coupled with a large increase in the number o f young families settling in the area (2011).34 According to the principal, Oliver Flynn, Templemines was “a small industrial town” with “a certain amount o f diversity” when he came to teach in the area in 1982. Despite the presence o f industry, Oliver asserts that the town has always been considered socio-economically disadvantaged relative to its more prosperous neighbours (Interview 2). Indeed, the

33 These organisational structures will be explored in detail in section two.

34 There is a dearth of information available about the area o f Templemines. As a result, a significant amount o f the detail presented in this section is drawn from the interviews conducted with the principal.

local County Council’s Corporate Plan 2010-2014 acknowledges that

“unemployment, poverty and social disadvantage” remain “serious problems” in certain areas (2010, p.7).

Templemines is home to a large African population* Oliver states that the schools still frequently receives applications from African families who had initially settled in other urban centres. Students from the countries o f Eastern Europe account for the second largest group o f students in the school. Largely recruited to work in the construction industry, Oliver states that similar to the African population, the settlement o f a certain number of Eastern European families initially attracted the settlement o f many more families from similar language and cultural backgrounds.

Oliver asserts that despite the economic recession, a high percentage o f the Eastern European population are still employed in the area.