We are pleased to publish this, our second issue of Volume 41 of Irish Educational Studies, which includes a range of papers looking at salient aspects of education, in Ireland and internationally.
We thank and congratulate our authors; the reviewers who completed thorough, critical and constructive peer-review of the manuscripts published herein; and also our editors who guided the papers expertly through from initial submissions to final, published articles.
In this issue, a diverse array of fascinating and timely educational research, Irish and international, is featured, including:
‘Teacher experiences implementing the “Active School Flag” initiative to support physically active school communities in Ireland’
‘“If I get a good job you could say that it was worthwhile”: Students’ views on higher education as a risk investment’
‘An exploration into the criteria used in assessing design activities with adaptive comparative judgment in technology education’
‘The Battle of the Colours: Irish Catholic Identity, St Joseph’s Nudgee College, and Rugby 1891–1914’
‘Implementing movement integration across the whole school: findings from the Moving to Learn Ireland programme’
‘School performance and undetected and untreated visual problems in schoolchildren in Ireland; a population-based cross-sectional study’
‘Professional development for out-of-field post-primary teachers of mathematics: An analysis of the impact of mathematics specific pedagogy training’
At the recent Educational Studies Association of Ireland Conference 2022, we presented our latest metrics. 2020–2022 has seen exceptional growth in the journal’s profile, reach and impact, in Ireland and beyond. It is opportune here to highlight some of these impressive metrics and milestones:
Near-doubling of the IES impact factor, 0.554 -> 1.017;
137% increase (2021) in full-text downloads (252% alone in 3rd Quarter of 2021);
184% increase in full-text downloads; year-to-date (March 2022). Quarter 1 downloads in 2021 were 20,488; quarter 1 downloads in 2022 were 58,258;
Largest-ever issue of IES in our 41 years (320 pages), 32 research papers from Ireland, Australia, China, Scotland and the UK, examining a wide range of aspects of the impact of COVID-19 on education, in Ireland and internationally: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ries20/40/2;
First issue of IES on digital education, designing futures and technology-enhanced learning, featuring 18 research articles (Ireland, Australia, UK) on designing educational futures and a diverse range of innovative technologies for learning and teaching: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ries20/current (published 22/02/2022);
First special issue (in preparation) on ‘Educational Disadvantage’, to appear late Summer 2022;
New associate editor appointments, nineteen leading international scholars.
Our new editorial appointments include: Professor Rupert Wegerif, University of Cambridge, UK; Professor Matthew Kearney, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia; Dr Suzanna Loper, University of California, Berkeley, US; Professor Charles B. Hodges, Georgia Southern University, US; Professor Gerry Mac Ruairc, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland; Professor Gary McCulloch, University College London Institute of Education, UK; Professor Jane Martin, University of Birmingham, UK; Professor Rosa Bruno-Jofre, Queen's University, Canada; Professor Kari Smith, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway; Professor Heather Ellis, University of Sheffield, UK; Professor Daniel Tröhler, University of Vienna, Austria; Professor William Reese, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US; Professor Tim Allender, University of Sydney, Australia; Professor Tanya Fitzgerald, The University of Western Australia, Australia; Dr Eimear Enright, University of Queensland, Australia; Dr Cassandra Iannucci, Deakin University, Australia; Dr Aoife Neary, University of Limerick, Ireland; Professor Susan McKenney, University of Twente, Netherlands; Professor Jan Derry, University College London Institute of Education.
We in particular welcome the nineteen leading international scholars to the editorial board of Irish Educational Studies; we trust they will enjoy their tenure with the journal, and we look forward to working with them.
We conclude again by thanking all involved in the journal and who support its growth and development, including our readers, subscribers, authors, reviewers, editorial and production teams.
We trust you will find this a stimulating issue of the journal, and we also note for readers the upcoming special issue of the journal on ‘Educational Disadvantage’, guest-edited by Professor Judith Harford, Professor Áine Hyland and Dr Brian Fleming, and featuring articles by leading national and international scholars in the field.
The call for papers received a tremendous response, and it promises to be a landmark publication of Irish Educational Studies, our inaugural issue focusing on educational disadvantage.