Exploring the enablers, tensions, and sectoral responses to embedding core values within publicly managed schools in Ireland

ABSTRACT

The role of schools in developing values is internationally recognised, with many systems grappling to identify and embed values in schools. Within an Irish context, the Education Act (1998) frames values from the perspective of ‘characteristic spirit’, giving responsibility to boards of management to uphold the characteristic spirit as established by the school’s patron. This was the first time this concept applied to publicly managed schools. Recently, the largest publicly managed sector, Education and Training Boards, has grappled with the question of which values should underpin the characteristic spirit of their schools. Following a national consultative process, the sector has identified values (excellence in education, care, equality, community, respect) and is now tasked with embedding these within its schools. The change literature highlights the complexity of this task. Following a review of the corpus of relevant research, this paper explores the enablers that support publicly managed schools to embed the core values in schools, as well as potential tensions that need to be considered to support enactment. The paper provides a critique of the sectoral response to these enablers and tensions. This paper contributes to international debates on values in education by considering these enablers and tensions to support change.

KEYWORDS:

• Core values
• ethos
• characteristic spirit
• values in education
• publicly managed schools
• educational change

Introduction

In 2018, two of the authors published a paper in this journal that explored the moral, religious and spiritual values and traditions of staff and students in publicly managed schools. Reported findings from that paper suggested that both teachers and students identify values such as equality, respect and inclusion, and describe these values in practice. However, some differences emerged in the findings that highlighted the vacuum left by a lack of sectoral guidance on what values underpin publicly managed schools in Ireland.

It is generally accepted that the model by which schools are governed in Ireland is under the principle of plurality of provision (Coolahan 2000; IHREC 2011). All schools, although fully state-funded, belong to individuals or groups known as ‘patrons’. Kitching (2020, 11) describes the Irish education system as a ‘patron-based, effectively privatised approach to state-funded schooling’. The legal basis for the embedded nature of the patronage system lies in the Irish Constitution (1937). Article 42 (4) of the Constitution outlines that ‘the state shall provide for free primary education (emphasis added). The ‘for’ here has enormous significance as it has allowed the state to finance private bodies or patrons to operate the public education system (Daly 2012, 201). The state’s ‘minimal interference’ (Clarke 2012, 481) approach to education is unique in a democratic Western context where the norm is for the state to manage the vast majority of schools and for privately-run schools to be in the minority (Hyland 2017, 43). O’Donnell (2015, 53) describes the Irish patronage system as ‘an anomalous figure in the landscape of international schooling’.

Publicly managed schools in Ireland are state-established and are under the patronage and management of Education and Training Boards (ETBs). The role of patron and the accountability regarding establishing the ethos of a school resides in a public body. In 2013 sixteen publicly managed Education and Training Boards (ETBs) were established across Ireland, with ETBI acting as the representative body for these ETBs (Government of Ireland 2013). ETBs are currently patrons of 27 Community National Schools (CNSs) and 252 second level schools. They also manage further education colleges and a range of adult and further education centres delivering a wide range of education and training programmes (Sweeney 2013).

Within an Irish context, ‘values’ are legislated for in the Education Act (Government of Ireland 1998) through the concept of ‘characteristic spirit’. The Act defines the ‘characteristic spirit’ as being:

Determined by the cultural, educational, moral, religious, social, linguistic and spiritual values and traditions which inform and are characteristic of the objectives and conduct of the school. (S.15.(2) (b))

The concept of characteristic spirit understood internationally more generally as ‘ethos’, did not apply to the publicly managed sector in Ireland prior to the publication of the Act (Government of Ireland 1998). It is only in the last decade that ETBs have begun to consider the core values that underpin and inform practices in their schools. Prior to this, the sector suffered from a lack of clarity on what it stood for, resulting in the ETB sector and schools struggling to ‘deliver a coherent and clear message regarding its characteristic spirit’ (McCormack et al. 2019a, 177). ETB principals reported having to resolve the many dilemmas they encountered in school using their personal values as a reference point in the absence of a sectoral values framework (ETBI 2019). The authors’ previous paper in this journal identified the vacuum created by this lack of consideration and called for an urgent need for research on the articulation of the core values underpinning publicly managed schools in Ireland.

Extensive work and progress have been made, both in terms of sector lead consultation and school-based research, since the publication of that first paper (O'Flaherty et al. 2018a; ETBI 2019, 2022). Two of the authors have published extensively within the area of values education, and publicly managed schools in Ireland. Drawing on this and additional work, the publicly managed sector in Ireland has recently developed the ‘ETBI Patrons Framework on Ethos’ (ETBI 2022) and is currently supporting publicly managed ETB schools to embed the core values identified within the lived reality of school life. Agreeing on and embedding values in schools is a complex, and frequently contested, undertaking (O’Flaherty et al. 2018b; Hoggett 2006). Getting to this point is significant, as publicly managed schools in Ireland have reached an important milestone on the journey to gaining clarity on what it means to be a state-run, multi-denominational school under the patronage of an ETB.

This paper explores the enablers that support publicly managed schools to embed the core values in school life and the emerging tensions that need to be considered if schools are to truly live out and experience the identified core values. The sectoral response to these tensions is also considered. Through review and analysis of the relevant published literature, this paper aims to contribute to the national and international discourse on values education by consideration of these enablers and tensions when identifying and embedding core values within publicly managed schools. The paper is structured in four parts. First, the context is further established by examining the relationship between values and education, followed by a brief discussion of some relevant national contexts. Second, the paper describes the enablers and tensions emerging from a review of previously published work on the core values of publicly managed schools in Ireland. Third, the paper explores the sectoral responses to these enablers and tensions, in light of the educational change literature. Finally, we suggest areas for ongoing and further consideration if the identified core values are to be truly embedded and lived out within publicly managed schools in Ireland.

Setting the context

Values and education

Education, and schools, have long been recognised as important sites for instilling values in future generations (Dewey 1934; Ferrari et al. 2019; Hansen 2021; Jeynes 2019; Kennedy 2019; Starratt 1991). Cochran-Smith (1999), for example, argues that social justice and responsibility are important purposes of education, while Noddings (1997) sees education as having a ‘morally defensible aim’ of creating ‘competent, caring, loving and lovable people’ (27). A review of the international research literature highlights a number of countries giving consideration to the place of values in education. The National Framework for Values Education in Australia (Department of Education, Science and Training 2005) suggests that schools should focus on values, social responsibility, ethics, and character building. Within a Finnish context, Husu and Tirri (2007) believe that schools play an important role in supporting students ‘to negotiate the diverse values and social norms of their communities’ (2007, 390). [Please see Conboy 2023 for a comprehensive discussion and problematisation of values education]. Values are considered central to education in Ireland, with the Teaching Council of Ireland (2012, 2016) identifying inclusion, social justice, equality, and holistic development as core values underpinning the teaching profession.

Identifying and collectively agreeing the values that underpin education is a complex process, given the inseparability of values from questions regarding culture, religion, economics, and politics (McLaughlin 1994). O’Flaherty et al. (2018b, 325) describe schools as ‘sites of polycultural contestation’. As societies and schools have become more diverse, questions about whose values and traditions should be promoted are raised (Noddings and Slote 2003, 350). Irwin (2012, 9) contends that this issue is heightened when people arrive in a society where their values and norms are at odds with those of the dominant culture. Answering such questions are ‘more challenging’ within diverse contexts (Department of Education, Science and Training 2005), potentially leading to ‘contentiousness, disagreement and uncertainty’ (McLaughlin 1994, 454). Public bodies, in particular, have responsibility to reflect the ‘common good’ of society and to support a variety of ‘worldviews, social customs and behaviours’ (Peifer 2004, 2). Publicly managed schools play an essential part in the development and protection of values (O’Flaherty et al. 2018b). This is no easy task, with Hoggett (2006) viewing the public sector as the ‘necessary embodiment of … … conflictual purposes’ (176), and who therefore must cope with value conflicts. Such a role is considered a ‘vital dimension of public life’ (ibid). Clashes in values pose considerable challenges in diverse school contexts given Parekh’s (2006) contention that for multicultural societies to function effectively, a sense of shared culture and values is essential. In diverse school settings, a very delicate balance needs to be struck between respect for diversity and the need for a shared identity (Halstead 2007; McLaughlin 2008). Even when particular values are claimed by school authorities to underpin school life, Al-Ani (2014) suggested that espoused values are not always reflected in the lived reality of school life. Hession (2015, 43) argues that there can be a ‘disconnection between the rhetoric of those charged with championing a particular schooling type and the extent to which teachers, managers and principals on the ground actually share the aspirations, values and commitments espoused by organisations or institutions at a public level’. The dissonances between espoused values and practices can be described as a series of ‘fault lines’ (Smith 1987, cited in Rusch 2004, 18). National contextual factors impact on the place and role of values in Irish education. These are now briefly explored.

National context and values

Within an Irish context, an ‘immense variety’ of second-level school types exist (Colton 2009), with each school type having its own foundations, goals, and traditions (Hannan and Boyle 1987). ETB Schools, the focus of this paper, are publicly managed schools governed by local education authorities (ETBs). The sector was initially established in the 1930s as vocational schools, representing the first direct involvement of the state in second-level schooling. In 2013, Vocational Education Committees (VECs) were restructured as 16 ETBs, governing primary (Community National Schools) and second-level schools (Community Colleges). At the second level, ETB schools can be categorised as either ‘non-designated’ or ‘designated’. The majority of Community Colleges are ‘non-designated’ with the ETB being the only body involved in the patronage and management of the school. However, one fifth of ETB second-level schools are ‘designated’. Most ‘designated’ Community Colleges were formed following an amalgamation, with the ETB entering into agreements with other school providers, usually religious orders, to manage and run schools. While the ETB is the patron of ‘designated’ Community Colleges, legal agreements allow for the participation of religious bodies in the organisation and management of these schools.

Nationally, values education has been greatly influenced by religious doctrine (McCormack et al. 2019a), evident in the fact that religion was considered ‘an integral part of the cultural identity to be promoted in [VEC/ETB] schools’ (Williams 1999, 322). The emergence of the multi-denominational publicly managed state sector in the 1930s with the introduction of ETB (formerly VEC) second-level schools could be considered counter-hegemonic to an essentially privatised, largely Catholic education system (Conboy 2023). Prior to their establishment, all schools were under religious control (McCormack et al. 2019a). However, the Church’s concern over its lack of influence on the values being promoted in these new multi-denominational schools prompted them to negotiate with the state on how they would operate (Clarke 2012). The legacy of the influence of the Catholic Church in these schools’ lives on today. Although they are de jure ‘multi-denominational’, various pieces of research have concluded that many remain de facto Catholic, prioritising the dominant group over those from minoritized backgrounds (Bryan 2009a, 2009b, 2009c, 2010; Bryan and Bracken 2011; Liddy and Liston 2016; McCormack et al. 2019a).

The Education Act (Government of Ireland 1998) introduced the concept of ‘characteristic spirit’ into Irish education. The Act identifies the ‘patron’ as the guardian of the ‘characteristic spirit’ of a school. In this case, the ETB is the patron of its schools and has responsibility for their ‘characteristic spirit’. Prior to the Act, there was no legal requirement on the ETB to safeguard or maintain its characteristic spirit. Since the publication of this Act, the sector has engaged in considerable progress through consultation, research and published work to explore and establish a shared understanding of the core values that inform the objectives and conduct of ETB school. As the Education (Admissions to Schools) Act, 2018 requires all schools to clearly set out their characteristic spirit, the sector’s identification of the core values underpinning their schools was timely.

Enablers and tensions to embedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools in Ireland

A review of six empirical research articles identified several enablers and tensions to embedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools (see appendix 1 for the full list of the six research articles). The research corpus reflects published empirical articles that explored participants’ understanding and expression of characteristic spirit (ethos) and core values in publicly managed schools in Ireland. Empirical data from these studies reflect the perspectives of sectoral actors, school leaders, teachers, and students. The empirical data reported in these articles were reviewed using the following two guiding questions:

1. What are the enablers that support publicly managed schools to effectively embed their identified core values in school life?

2. What tensions do publicly managed schools need to consider to effectively embed their identified? core values in school life?

For the purposes of this paper, enablers are aspects of the school, sector or education system that would support values or core values being embedded in school life. Tensions are aspects of the school, sector or education system that would contradict, or challenge values or core values being embedded into school life. The three authors individually analysed the 6 articles in terms of the two research questions, identifying all relevant enablers and tensions. The three authors then met to share, discuss, and collectively agree the emerging themes. All selected themes were identified and agreed by all authors, wherein they ensured each theme was supported by sufficient evidence from the reviewed research articles.

What are the enablers that support publicly managed schools to effectively embed core values in school life?

A supportive culture, be it within individual schools, the community, or the sector, was the main enabler to emerge from the review of the articles. Dalin’s (1993) framework on school culture acknowledges the importance of beliefs and values; structures; strategies; relations and the environment to the culture of a school. This supportive culture was evidenced in several ways across the reviewed articles. Participating schools, irrespective of the context in which they were situated, identified the same range of values, with school staff and students portraying a collective agreement on the core values that underpin and inform the work of publicly managed schools (Liddy et al. 2019; O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019). The existence of supportive relationships, a positive school environment and supportive structures and strategies enabled participating schools to live out the identified values within school life (McCormack et al. 2021; see Dalin and Rolff (1993) for further discussion on a framework for school culture based on five mutual inter-dependent dimensions).

Effective schools have a clear understanding and shared vision regarding their purpose and values (MacNeil, Prater, and Busch 2009). The review of the selected articles revealed that participating schools explicitly identified common values as underpinning their school and publicly managed schools generally (Liddy et al. 2019; O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019). These schools, while different in many ways, deemed ‘respect’, ‘care’, ‘equality’ and ‘community’ to be central to their work and the work of their school (Liddy et al. 2019; O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019). These four values of equality, care, respect and community, were considered ‘the primary drivers of everything that [publicly managed schools] do’ (Liddy et al. 2019, 112).

While a school’s values can often times exist ‘below the surface’, they are reflected in behaviours, symbols, stories and rituals within a school (Schein 2010). The review of the research articles identified the many ways in which these values were embedded within school life through various existing supportive structures and strategies. These included, for example, inclusive school admission policies, extra-curricular activities, democratic approaches to decision-making, student and parent councils and anti-bullying policies (Liddy et al. 2019). Disciplinary approaches frequently drew on restorative justice practices in order to ensure students were treated respectfully (ibid). A number of schools offered ‘large learning support’ (ibid), as well as pastoral care supports, and classroom tutor structures to support students (ibid). Teaching and learning approaches weren’t ‘just all about the book’, student participation was encouraged, and students were supported to link learning ‘back to their lives’ (McCormack et al. 2021).

The review of the articles identified a connection between embedding shared values and the relationships that existed within the school and the wider community. These values were evident ‘every day … through how we deal with each other … it’s our relationships with each other, our relationships with the students, and what we value’ (Liddy et al. 2019, 111). Positive relationships were evident in the extent to which teachers volunteered to support students learning outside of timetabled class time: ‘they [teachers] are so generous with their time. I have never met anything like their generosity with time’ (O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019, 132). The review of the research articles found evidence of students speaking positively about their relationships with teachers. Students, in general, viewed the student–teacher relationship as effective indicating, for example, that ‘teachers are friendlier here’ resulting in a ‘very friendly environment’ (McCormack et al. 2021, 430). Such relationships created a positive environment within and surrounding the school, with positive working relationships existing both internally and externally to the school, resulting in ‘an environment that one would be happy and would like to be in where people are respected’ (Liddy et al. 2019, 111). Being a ‘community school’, resulted in close connections and relationships with the local community, as previously outlined (McCormack et al. 2019a).

The literature provides a comprehensive overview of the features of an effective school (MacNeil, Prater, and Busch 2009). Values and culture are explicitly interlinked (Dalin and Rolff 1993), with culture playing an important role in any change process (Goodson 2001). A central element of culture are belief systems (Cavanaugh and Dellar 1997). Effective schools understand and agree on their core values and have collective buy-in regarding ‘why it exists and what it must do and who it should serve’ (MacNeil, Prater, and Busch 2009, 74). The current findings, emerging following a review of published research articles, bodes well in this regard, with participating schools expressing a shared sense of values that underpin the school and sector. The capacity to embed the core values within publicly managed schools was evidenced in existing supportive structures, strategies, relationships, and environments, again boding well in this regard.

What tensions do publicly managed schools need to consider to effectively embed core values in school life?

The review of the research articles identified tensions that are worthy of consideration when embedding core values into school life. Three emerging tensions are now outlined and discussed.

Normalised and unquestioned Catholic practices in ETB schools

Continued, and oftentimes unquestioned, Catholic practices in schools emerged as a potential tension to embedding core values within publicly managed schools (McCormack et al. 2019a). Some schools were found, for example, to engage in normalised, and unquestioned, Catholic practices as part of school life:

Catholic ethos is a big thing hereWe have a beginning of year mass, just to kind of set off the yearOf course, we have a leaving certificate mass at the end of the school year. (McCormack et al. 2019a, 170)

The faith of the community and the student cohort emerged from the analysis as a common rationale for the inclusion of Catholic practices and events in school life. For example, one of the schools in McCormack et al. (2019a), while multi-denominational, engaged in Catholic practices as, ‘99% of the students would be Catholic so I suppose we kind of express that’ while another school principal indicated that while the school is ‘multi-faith’, they ‘couldn’t ignore the fact that the majority of kids are Roman Catholic’ (McCormack et al. 2019a). Such practices are situated in and informed by wider historical and cultural contexts (Cornbleth 1990, 170).

The review also found evidence that participants believed their school was inclusive, respectful, and supportive for all students, treating all equally, irrespective of their religious beliefs (McCormack et al. 2019a). Publicly managed schools were considered ‘holistic and all-embracing’ (McCormack et al. 2019a, 172). However, the review also identified that consideration of inclusion, equality and respect was largely considered from a Catholic perspective. For example,

Fundamental to our beliefs as Catholics is acceptance of people of different faiths (emphasis added).

We mark occasions and mention obviously the Christian occasions and then we mention about Ramadan and other major religions as well (emphasis added). (McCormack et al. 2019a, 172)

Staff indicted that while Catholic events were the norm, the school was open to alternative forms of celebration if suggested by students and the community, however ‘nobody has come to me and said, “I want to have a Buddhist ceremony” or “I want to have a Muslim ceremony”. But if they did, I would have it’ (McCormack et al. 2019a, 173). The voluntary nature of Catholic events was considered important as students aren’t ‘forced to go. They can go and sit in, those that don’t want to go, don’t go’ (McCormack et al. 2019a, 13). One of the analysed papers, raised concerns regarding the juxtapose of ‘respect’ and ‘equality’ as core values within contexts where one religion, and students of that faith, receive greater recognition than others (McCormack et al. 2019a). Our concern here, as discussed again later in the paper, is not necessarily with the presence of Catholic values within a multi-denominational context, as such values are shared with many religious and belief worldviews, but rather with ETB schools resorting to more traditional and familiar Catholic values without considering the implications on all students and on the capacity of the sector to express its core values in a coherent and inclusive manner.

A focus on care within an exam-orientated system

As outlined within the section on ‘enablers’, care emerged as a core value underpinning and informing the work and experiences of teachers, students, and staff in participating schools.

The review of the research articles identified a potential tension in terms of embedding care as a core value within an exam-orientated system. Teachers, see O’Flaherty and McCormack (2019a) for example, identified a tension between their desire to care for students, and support their holistic development, and the pressure they experience to support student academic achievement within an exam driven system:

If other things are measured in senior cycle things like cooperation, involvement, leadership, all the things that so many young people do here, none of that is measured, so the narrow definition of measurement creates terrible pressure both on teachers to deliver and on us trying to help students who find the going tough but have so much to offer if there was a broader measurement. (O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019a, 132)

Within such contexts, care frequently fell within the remit of particular subject areas/teachers (for example, Social, Personal and Health Education; Religious Education; Civic, Social and Political Education and Transition Year) or was supported outside of scheduled classes, in a teacher’s own time. O’Flaherty and McCormack (2019a) found that teachers supported with extra-curricular activities, took on additional caring roles beyond their job description and gave time during lunch breaks to support students. The sustainability of such approaches to care were questioned however, with interviewees expressing concern that staff could experience ‘compassion fatigue’ and ‘burn out’ (O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019a, 133). While common, the allocation of care to discrete and specific subjects (McNamara et al. 2012), often those held in lower esteem within academic systems (Gabhainn, O’Higgins, and Barry 2010), goes against Department of Education (DES 2005) and NCCA (2021) guidelines, which consider wellbeing to be the remit of all teachers and the whole school. Some work may be required to change teachers and schools’ perspectives in this regard (O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019a). Newly introduced Wellbeing Guidelines,¹ requiring 400 hours of ‘Wellbeing’ to be timetabled across three years of lower second-level education (NCCA 2021), should support the ETB in embedding ‘care’ as a core value within school life. Ongoing consultation regarding changes to upper second level and related assessment should also be supportive (NCCA 2022).

Public perceptions and a focus on school promotion

The review of the reviewed articles identified a historical but, in some contexts, ongoing issue that may impact on schools’ capacity to embed core values within their context. McCormack et al. (2020) found that a number of ETB schools believe that a negative perception of the school/sector existed, with interviewees suggesting that a ‘stigma’ was attached to publicly managed schools (McCormack et al. 2020). The result was that, for some schools ‘the biggest challenge is the perception in the community’ (McCormack et al. 2020, 541).

While McCormack et al. (2020) explored the main reasons for this perceived negative perception, our main interest for this paper lies in the potential consequences of this perceived negative perception in terms of the time and energy schools place into promoting the school externally and how this might impact on the ‘living out’ of core values within school life. The review of the reviewed papers found that publicly managed schools, particularly within contexts where multiple schools co-exist within a locality, found themselves competing for student numbers, as reflected below:

The school is battling a little bit in terms of competition

There are four second level schools here, so we are all vying for numbers. (McCormack et al. 2020, 542)

The review also identified the amount of time and energy affected schools spent in promoting the school and attempting to change public opinion (McCormack et al. 2020). While the recent publication and implementation of the Admissions to School Act (Government of Ireland 2018) may alleviate the extent of the issue, international research evidence highlights the impact school competition and external promotion has on the emphasis and priority placed on internal dimensions of school life. Within competitive contexts, schools, particularly those struggling against negative public perceptions, prioritise image promotion and salesmanship, resulting in a diversion of energy away from other school issues, such as core values (Lubienski 2006; Wilgoren 2001). This could result in core values being used mainly for external promotion purposes and not being truly lived out and prioritised within school life.

The sectoral response to embedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools in Ireland

A review of the change literature identifies a number of important principles that should be adopted in order to achieve deep lasting change. Consultation and voice when identifying, developing, and implementing change within education is important (Halpin 1999). Consultation, voice, and democratic participation are particularly important when considering the selection of core values (McLaughlin 1994). The need for change should be informed by the views and experiences of schools but also by the wider international and national research literature (Fullan 2007; Myer 2012). Fullan and Miles (1999) tell us that at times of change ‘problems are our friends’ and if change is to be effective and long lasting, those leading change processes should deal with issues in ‘an open, frank way’ (Terhart 2013, 488). Again, this is particularly true when implementing changes or policies regarding core values, which are inherently controversial (Hoggett 2006). The sectoral approach to identifying and embedding core values is now discussed in light of the education change literature and, where relevant, the tensions outlined previously.

The sectoral response

The journey of considering the core values of the ETB sector started with a series of conferences where the leaders from each ETB considered the question of the most appropriate characteristic spirit for publicly managed schools. A significant outcome of this conference series was the commissioning of two of the authors of this paper to undertake research in 18 ETB schools across 6 ETBs, with the purpose of exploring and expressing the core values of publicly managed ETB schools in a bottom up, research informed manner (Myer 2012). Set against a policy and practice vacuum, one of the key recommendations of this research was the need to develop overarching ‘normative’ guidelines for the articulation of the core values of the schools in the sector (O’Flaherty et al. 2018b). In 2016, ETBI established a ‘Patronage Task Group’. The initial purpose of the Patronage Task Group was to consider the implications of the research and its recommendations. Drawing on principles of consultation and voice (Halpin 1999), the ‘Patronage Task Group’ established a process of engaging in a ‘Core Values Review’ with all ETB schools, moving beyond the 18 schools who were engaged in the initial research. The focus, at this stage was particularly on school leaders.

Core values review

The Core Values Review consisted of two workshops in all 16 ETBs with principals and deputy principals from all schools.

Workshop 1: consultation on the core values that underpin the sector

Leading on from the school-based research, the purpose of the first workshop was to consider the rationale for an overarching values framework and to explore the core values currently underpinning the schools from the perspective of school leaders. School leaders’ need for a set of core values was a key conclusion from the workshop (ETBI 2019). In the absence of an overarching sectoral values framework, school leaders reported having to resolve school-based dilemmas by relying on their personal values framework, leading to charges from staff of decisions being highly subjective and personal to school leaders. Therefore, the need for a shared understanding of the sectors core values emerged from school leaders themselves (Fullan 2007).

Drawing on the values emerging from the school-based research (explored in section ‘Enablers and tensions to embedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools in Ireland’ above), school leaders identified a similar set of five core values they believed underpinned, or should underpin, the sector and their schools. Following this process of consultation across the 16 ETBs and all ETB schools, the core values were identified as being Excellence in Education, Care, Respect, Equality and Community. These values would form the basis of an overarching ‘ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos’ (ETBI 2022). School leaders were then invited to write ‘statements of effective practice’ reflecting how the core values which were identified in the workshops were currently being lived out and reflected in their schools. This involved school leaders considering each of the core values identified in the workshops and writing up how one might see evidence of that core value in action in their school. These ‘descriptive’ statements were gathered by ETBI and were later central to the development of the overarching ‘normative’ ‘ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos’ (ETBI 2022) which sets out the core values and how they are defined in an ETB school context.

Workshop 2: exploring the place of religion in publicly managed schools

In direct response to tension 1 regarding the place of religion in publicly managed schools, workshop 2 focused on the place of religion in publicly managed schools. The workshop, again drawing on principles of consultation and voice (Goodson 2001), provided school leaders with an opportunity to represent and reflect their views and experiences in this regard. School leaders identified a need for sectoral support in terms of religious practice in the school, as they reported being increasingly questioned by parents/guardians, students and in some instances the media about the place of religion and beliefs in their schools. The report on this workshop (ETBI 2019) outlined how many principals reported dealing with instances of ideological differences within the school community in relation to the place of religion in their schools. These often occurred between staff members and management, students and staff and staff and parents. In the absence of an overarching sectoral framework in relation to these questions, differences in opinions around what form whole-school celebrations should take, e.g. graduation celebrations, were often resolved through plebiscite type arrangements. Some principals reported being satisfied with these arrangements as they were an example of ‘student-voice’ being exercised. However, it also raised questions in the workshops as to whether such practices were ‘majoritarian’ in nature. There were other examples of students expressing a desire to move towards more inclusive, pluralist celebrations but teachers or parents expressing a different opinion and vice versa. In other instances, it was reported that the approaches to religions and beliefs depended on the principals’ own attitudes and personal beliefs or those of some dominant teachers. There was a consistent call from school leaders across all ETBs for leadership from their patron body in setting broad parameters for how religions and beliefs were facilitated in ETB schools (Fullan 2007).

Following the comprehensive consultation process with all ETB schools and the 16 ETBs as patrons, ETBI commissioned three further key pieces of work:

1. An international systematic review and policy background paper (McCormack et al. 2019b): Two of the authors were commissioned to review over 2000 documents as part of an international systematic and policy review. This resultant work provided ETBI with a comprehensive understanding of how the core values underpinning the ETB Patrons Framework are understood and lived-out in schools as reflected in the international literature, again supporting a research informed approach (Elliott 1994; Trant 1998; Myer 2012).

2. A baseline survey on the core values underpinning the Patrons’ Framework on Ethos. Dr Shivaun O’Brien was commissioned to undertake a sectoral baseline survey on how ETB schools were currently experiencing the core values and statements of effective practice underpinning the ‘ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos’ (ETBI 2022). This survey was responded to collectively by each school’s ‘Ethos Leadership Team’ (ELT). The purpose of the survey was to identify where the sector, as a whole, was doing well in relation to what is set out in the Patrons’ Framework on Ethos and where it needed to develop further.

3. ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos: A Quality Assurance Framework (O’Brien 2022): Drawing on the key pieces of research (Liddy et al. 2019; McCormack et al. 2019a; McCormack et al. 2020; McCormack et al. 2021; O’Flaherty et al. 2018; O’Flaherty and McCormack 2019), the literature review and policy background paper (McCormack et al. 2019b), the reports from the numerous consultation events and other relevant national policies, O’Brien (2022) devised ‘domains’, ‘standards’ and ‘statements of effective practice’ in line with the Looking at Our Schools (2022) document. These set out very clearly each of the identified core values and how they are defined in an ETB school context. In addition, O’Brien (2022) devised a ‘school self-evaluation’ (SSE) process where schools could examine their current practices in relation to the Patrons’ Framework on Ethos (ETBI 2022). By going through this process, schools are enabled to identify their key strengths. They are also enabled to identify areas for development and set out specific actions and timelines to address these areas.

In 2021, ETBI consulted again with all principals and deputy principals on a draft of the ‘Domains’, ‘Standards’ and ‘Standards of Effective Practice’ to ensure that the final document was reflective of the views expressed during the consultation process (Halpin 1999).

Areas for on-going consideration

While extensive work has been completed on the Patrons’ Framework to date, this only marks the beginning of an on-going process of living out these core values within all aspects of school life. While many schools (and ETBs) have embedded these core values for years, the sector is now legally responsible and accountable for ensuring these are evident and reflected in all aspects of school life, as required by the Admissions to School Act (2018). Additional work needs to be conducted on clarifying the interplay between the core values and how they are defined in the ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos and the legal agreements underpinning designated community colleges. This work has begun and is ongoing between ETBI and the Irish Episcopal Conference (IEC) which represents the religious bodies involved in these schools.

Implementing, or more accurately enacting, policy is a complex and challenging process, one that is nonlinear and unpredictable (Braithwaite et al. 2018). The potential dissonance between policy and practice is well recognised in the change literature, with the OECD (2015), for example, noting the ongoing challenge to governments to support successful policy implementation. Rather than being passive implementors of policy, school personnel ‘recreate’ policies, resulting in ‘apparent slippage between conception and practice’ (Macdonald 2013, 141). This is supported by the work of Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012) who note that ‘texts cannot simply be implemented! They have to be translated from text to action – put “into” practice’ (3). As a result, few educational reforms make it past the classroom door on a permanent basis (Cuban 1990).

While the Patrons’ Framework (ETBI 2022) and the Quality Assurance Process (O’Brien 2022) provides ETB schools with a structure through which they can realise and live out their core values, there is flexibility for schools to enact the framework in a way that responds to local contexts and needs. The framework is the overarching guide however and due consideration needs to be given on how schools can be supported to enact the framework effectively. While enactment is a messy and complex process, there are structures and approaches that can be employed to strengthen and support the process (Hudson, Hunter, and Peckham 2019). Some of these are now briefly considered:

• Leadership: Effective leadership is important for any change process but is particularly central when it comes to values (Dimke 2012; Goddard, Skrla, and Salloum 2017; Henkle 2018; McCormack et al. 2019b). Ongoing leadership is required from both ETBI and the ETBs to ensure the correct conditions for change are provided to schools, but school-based leadership, schools taking on and owning this Framework is central to its sustainability and longevity. ETBI now has a dedicated team to support ETBs in their role as patrons (at primary and second level). Each ETB has appointed a part-time ‘Ethos Coordinator’ and the majority of ETB schools have established an ‘Ethos Leadership Team’ (ELT). The Ethos Coordinator supports ELTs in the implementation of the ‘ETBI Patrons’ Framework on Ethos’. Such leadership structures need to be maintained, sustained, and reviewed as the process evolves.

• Continuous Professional Development (CPD): The link between CPD and effective enactment of policies and reforms is well established in the research literature (Drudy 2013; McCormack et al. 2019b; O’Sullivan 2011). It is important that school personnel, are not only supported to engage in all relevant CPD but are enabled to establish professional learning communities within and across schools. The international research literature outlines the link between PLC’s and the effective enactment of these core values within school life (Stoll and Louis 2007; DuFour, DuFour, and Eaker 2008; McCormack et al. 2019b). Selection of staff and induction of new staff and Boards of Management all need to provide ongoing relevant CPD.

• Ongoing Review: Values are not static and will continue to change and evolve with society (Hoggett 2006). Therefore, while the sector has adopted an extensive process to identify and embed core values at this point in time, it is vital that structures are put in place to enable schools to reflect on these core values on a regular basis in order to adapt and respond to any changes in context (O’Brien 2022).

Conclusions

Kincheloe’s (1997) claim that no truth exists beyond culture, highlights the importance of the concept for schools. The fact that publicly managed schools appear to have a supportive culture, with an agreed set of values at its core, as identified firstly by the school-based research reviewed in sections ‘Enablers and tensions to embedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools in Ireland’ and ‘The sectoral response to mbedding core values within publicly managed ETB schools in Ireland’ above, and then expanded and agreed through a consultative process, will support the sector in ensuring that core values become part of the lived reality of the structures, strategies, relationships, and environment of school life.

Collectively agreeing and then embedding a set of core values is inherently controversial and will always give rise to conflict and contradictions (Hoggett 2006; McLaughlin 1994; Weiler 1990). It is no surprise that tensions emerged from the review regarding the views and practices of those in publicly managed schools. Pretending these tensions don’t exist, ignoring them or reducing their importance impacts on the capacity of publicly managed schools to embed core values, for as Hoggett (2006, 179) argues:

It is often at the level of “operations” that unresolved value conflicts are most sharply enacted, with the result that public officials and local representatives find themselves “living out” rather than “acting upon” the contradictions of the complex and diverse society in which they live.

The sectoral response to date, being research informed, consultative in nature, being led by the needs of schools and acknowledging and exploring these tensions, aligns with good practice as per the educational change literature. This process may act as a guide for other sectors or jurisdictions grappling with identifying and then embedding core values into schools.

While it is very positive to note that the sector has made inroads in providing guidance with regards an agreed set of core values embedded within the Patrons’ Framework, thus explicitly responding to the dissonance of understanding and expression of values as identified in the authors original publication with this journal, the ‘real work’ of enactment has only just begun. Continuing to engage with the international change literature on enactment, some of which is briefly suggested above, will support the sector to reduce the level of dissonance between policy and practice. We look forward to seeing where the sectors journey goes from here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Orla McCormack

Orla McCormack is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Limerick. Orla's research and teaching interest focus on curriculum change/development, as well as reflective practice.

Joanne O’Flaherty

Joanne O’Flaherty is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Limerick and Research Lead for the Ubuntu Network (www.ubuntu.ie). She has a primary degree in Physical Education and English. Joanne has worked in a variety of educational settings, including the formal post-primary sector and the NGO sector, before joining the University of Limerick faculty. Her research interests include teacher preparation, social justice education and social and emotional learning and she has published in these areas.

Seamus Conboy

Séamus Conboy is a Director of Schools in ETBI. He has responsibility for the development of the Community National School model across the country and supporting ETBs in their roles as patrons of CNSs and Community Colleges. Séamus completed a Master's in Intercultural Education in 2015. More recently, he completed his doctoral studies with his thesis focusing on conceptualisations and enactments of the Community National School Ethos in one diverse primary school.

Notes

1. The Wellbeing Guidelines (NCCA, 2021) make a clear link between care, ethics of care, schooling, and wellbeing

Appendix 1

• Liddy, M., O’Flaherty, J., & McCormack, O. 2019. “‘The million-dollar question’–exploring teachers and ETB staff understanding of characteristic spirit in publicly managed schools in Ireland”. Irish Educational Studies, 38(1): 105–119.

• McCormack, O., O’Flaherty, J., O’Reilly, B., & Liston, J. 2019. “‘That’s how it works here’: The place of religion in publicly managed second-level schools in Ireland”. British Educational Research Journal, 45(1): 161–180.

• McCormack, O., O’Flaherty, J., & Liddy, M. 2020. “Perception of Education and Training Board (ETB) schools in the Republic of Ireland: an issue of ideology and inclusion”. Irish Educational Studies, 39(4): 535–552.

• McCormack, O., O’Flaherty, J., & Liddy, M. 2021. “Students views on their participation in publicly managed second level schools in Ireland: The importance of student-teacher relationships”. Educational Studies, 47(4): 422–437.

• O’Flaherty, J., Liddy, M. & McCormack, O. 2018. “The teachers put effort into teaching us about life, and what’s right and what’s wrong: values and moral education in publicly-managed schools in Ireland”. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 39(1): 45–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2017.1291109

• O’Flaherty, J., & McCormack, O. 2019. “Student holistic development and the ‘goodwill’of the teacher”. Educational Research, 61(2): 123-141.