Abstract/Summary

Drawing insight and inspiration from the work of Paulo Freire, this thesis used co-operative inquiry to explore post-primary Irish students’ experiences of learning under the New Junior Cycle (GCSE) curriculum reform in the Republic of Ireland. The literature reviewed for this thesis provided evidence to suggest that successive Irish governments have organized the lower-second level curriculum around demand in the international labour market. The purpose of this inquiry was to investigate the link between economic shifts and the demand for certain types of subject knowledge under this curriculum reform. The object of the research conducted was to discover whether or not there was a correlation between the types of knowledge promoted under this reform and the subjects chosen by students for their Leaving Certificate (A Levels). The theoretical framework was informed by the principles of critical theory in exploring how organized learning has become part of the knowledge industry in Western schooling. The empirical study built upon the tenets of critical pedagogy by incorporating the pedagogical teachings of Paulo Freire into an applied research project. The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which the inclusion of students as researchers would enhance their ability to recognize the co-relation between curriculum reform and the subjects chosen by their peers. This research study took place in a single public school with a mixed student body, where the researcher is employed as a full-time teacher. The study focused on the curricular experiences of Transition Year (TY) students. A method of co-operative inquiry was used to carry out an empirical study in which the teacher as principal researcher worked alongside a small group of Transition Year students as assistant researchers. The conclusions drawn from the data gathered in this study confirmed that a positive co-relation existed between and the two main research objectives. It is hoped that this research will contribute to an ongoing debate in critical educational literature about the function of learning in schooling from the perspective of those who experience it.