Login (DCU Staff Only)
Login (DCU Staff Only)

DORAS | DCU Research Repository

Explore open access research and scholarly works from DCU

Advanced Search

‘We were all sticking with the safe ones’: anti-racism education and Educate Together primary schools in Ireland

McGuirk, Niamh orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3025-7005 (2026) ‘We were all sticking with the safe ones’: anti-racism education and Educate Together primary schools in Ireland. Irish Educational Studies . ISSN 1747-4965

Abstract
In Ireland, the overwhelming majority of primary teachers are white and from the dominant ethnic group, i.e. Irish-born, settled and Catholic. In contrast, Irish schools and classrooms are racially and ethnically diverse. Teachers play a central role in anti-racism education when they recognise, affirm and represent racial and ethnic identities. The charter and ethical curriculum in Educate Together equality-based schools offer a structural and curricular response to racial and ethnic diversity facilitating an engagement with racial and ethnic identities, equality and justice, and religions, beliefs and worldviews. Limited research exists that specifically explores anti-racism education in Irish primary schools. This qualitative study examines how teachers working in Educate Together primary schools conceptualise and practise anti-racism education. It introduces an original conceptual framework for anti-racism education in Ireland informed by critical multiculturalism, critical race theory and critical whiteness studies. Teacher practices in Ireland have the potential to disrupt the perpetuation of positioning white, settled, Christian identities as the norm. To challenge hegemonic norms, decentre whiteness and bring about more transformative anti-racism education praxis, the study highlights the need for a critical interrogation of the impact of teacher positionality in Irish primary classrooms.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:Anti-racism education, Educate together, teacher positionality, whiteness, religions and beliefs
Subjects:Social Sciences > Education
Social Sciences > Racism
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education
DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Human Development
Publisher:Routledge
Official URL:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03323...
Copyright Information:Author
ID Code:32566
Deposited On:05 May 2026 14:11 by Niamh Mcguirk . Last Modified 05 May 2026 14:11
Documents

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of McGuirk 2026 We were all sticking with the safe ones’ prepublished proof.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
642kB
Metrics

Altmetric Badge

Dimensions Badge

Downloads

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record