Impact case study database

From the outset, Project IRIS was designed to co-develop research-led impacts with Ireland’s NCSE, a statutory body which advises the Irish Department of Education and develops policy interventions to improve delivery of education services. Impacts were also developed via the project’s steering group which included representation from Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), and networks of teacher-training providers, school leaders, service-providers and service-users. Testimony from ESRI describes Rose’s work as ‘of immense policy importance in Ireland, largely attributable to the ground-breaking evidence emerging from this large-scale longitudinal study’ [5.1]. Testimony from NCSE describes Project IRIS as ‘important and fundamental’ in shaping special education policy and practice, nationally and internationally: ‘it is rare…[to] see the link so clearly between research conducted and its impact on policy advice and subsequent policy implementation’ [5.2]. In particular, stakeholders describe three major lines of impact:

‘Fundamentally’ shaping Irish national policy on special education

NCSE’s Head of Finance, Research and Governance describes Project IRIS as ‘fundamental’ in ‘informing Irish policy and practice’, by proving comprehensive longitudinal data about issues where evidence was previously ‘only anecdotal’ [5.2]. According to NCSE, Rose’s research directly and significantly underpinned policy advice to the Irish Department of Education & Skills (DES) and Minister for Special Education and Inclusion, resulting in implementation of three specific policy interventions [5.2]:

• New national approach to allocating support resources for SEN students (2017). According to NCSE, ‘Project IRIS provided evidence about challenges posed to the education system and the impact on parents by having our [national] resource allocation model linked to formal diagnosis (diagnosis of disability was required to access additional special education resources)… This had been the long-term basis of funding in Ireland and the research identified the multiple problems with it. Prior to this research, much of this evidence was only anecdotal or literature based’ [5.2]. NCSE’s policy advice to transition to more equitable needs-based assessments ‘relied heavily’ on Project IRIS data [5.2]. This new model is now operating in Ireland’s 3,305 primary and 729 post-primary schools, ensuring that children with complex needs are better provided with therapeutic support, in-class assistance and specialist equipment where necessary [5.2, 5.3]. NCSE guidance to schools on the new allocation model is also explicitly underpinned by Rose’s research [5.4].

• New national approach to therapy provision for SEN students (2018). Rose’s findings about inequalities in access to therapeutic services ‘provided the base’ to support a shift in DES policies around therapy provision [5.2], directly prompting DES investment in an ongoing national pilot of in-school therapy for SEN children in 75 schools and 75 pre-school settings, resulting in 31 practitioners being trained in in-school therapeutic roles [5.5].

• Towards new approaches to monitoring outcomes for SEN students. Rose’s findings about the need to develop enhanced support for SEN students around assessments, targets and outcomes directly led NCSE to commission three evidence reviews and ongoing feasibility studies regarding potential innovative models for measuring educational engagement, progress and outcomes in SEN contexts [5.2], and also underpinned multiple ongoing regional pilots of inclusive assessment design [5.1, 5.6].

‘Benchmarking’ and ‘reimagining’ inclusive teacher training/development in Ireland

In the light of findings identifying a need for enhanced, evidence-based teacher training/development interventions in SEN contexts, Rose and colleagues have worked closely with a number of Irish training/development providers to shape new training/development resources, which have been further developed/disseminated through input to training events organised by Irish Association of Teachers for Special Educational Needs (IATSE) and Irish Learning Support Association (ILSA) [5.6]. Teacher training/development providers describe Project IRIS as ‘instrumental’ in ‘shaping…thinking and priorities’ [5.1], requiring and prompting ‘reimagining’ of established practices [5.6]. For example, one provider describes how Rose’s research was utilised to ‘benchmark’, ‘re-evaluate’ and ‘redevelop’ eight initial teaching training programmes and multiple Post Graduate training materials to directly ‘reflect…areas of recommendation highlighted in Project IRIS’, incorporating ‘excellent…influential’ new resources on in-school SEN support, inclusive assessment, and engagement with SEN teams [5.6].

Facilitating international innovation in special education practice

Project IRIS research/training instruments have subsequently been replicated as prompts for innovative/inclusive educational practice in diverse national contexts. For example, Rose’s research has been ‘a primary source’ in the inception of the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ longitudinal study tracking 18,000 Irish young people since 2006, providing a replicable template for ‘developing inclusive measures of student engagement, participation and wellbeing,… teaching and learning and school climate’ [5.1]. Similarly, a consortium of Swedish researchers has used Project IRIS to develop a replication study, reporting that Rose’s work 'provided greater detail about both the development and practical details of applying inclusive classroom practices than any other from a European context’ [5.7].