Two members of academic staff have helped raise the research profile of the College by being successful in joint research proposals to SCoTENS during the most recent call for 'seed funding' for research in 2011. These initiatives support the commitment by staff at St Mary's University College to build partnerships and to contribute to educational research.
The first project is titled "A critical analysis of North-South educational partnerships in development contexts" and is a joint research project between Professor Peadar Cremin, Mary Immaculate College Limerick and Professor Peter Finn, St Mary's University College Belfast. The aims of their project are to: initiate a critical review of North/South teacher education partnerships involving Irish and African institutions to assess the contribution of the principles and practice of the partnership model; identify and itemise the key issues to be addressed within sustainable, mutually beneficial teacher education partnerships; organise a conference of Irish and international experts to assess educational partnerships and to consider how future planning and policy decisions nationally and internationally may be improved; and produce an edited book of papers to disseminate the lessons learnt and inform future collaborative projects in development contexts. The amount awarded to the project is £5,000.
The second project is titled "Assessment in teacher education North and South" and is a joint research project between Dr Tracey Connelly, University College Cork and Dr Geraldine Magennis, St Mary's University College Belfast. The aims of their project are to: explore the nature and conduct of school-based work assessments within a sample of primary and post-primary initial teacher education degree courses drawn from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; investigate the links between various school-based assessment techniques and subsequent planning, teaching and learning at degree and post-graduate diploma level; examine the extent to which these various methods of assessment of the school-based work element are found to be satisfactory in the opinions of a selection of stake-holders and end-users; and situate and critically discuss the findings with reference to current thinking, including formative assessment. The amount awarded to the project is £5,000. Dr Magennis who is looking forward to working on the research project with Dr Connelly commented:
"With the relatively recent elevation of assessment as a key informant in the planning-teaching-learning cycle, it is necessary to explore this element and how it is currently understood and conducted within teacher education provision. It is even more important to look at the creative possibilities available that honour various educational philosophies and learning styles of third level pre-service teachers so that they may be equipped with a wider and hopefully more equitable and accurate array of assessment techniques as they enter the teaching profession where they will be 'legally' required to assess their pupils in turn. Comparing across borders can only help to enhance this process".