Research Centres

Centre for Assessment Research and Policy in Education

CARPE, based at the Institute of Education, St Patrick’s Campus, Drumcondra, is supported by a grant from Prometric to Dublin City University. The centre was established to enhance the practice of assessment across all levels of the educational system, from early childhood to fourth level and beyond. Work at CARPE is focused on conducting high quality research and professional development in assessment, as well as establishing global networks and contributing to assessment policy making. If you are an educator, test developer, policy-maker, academic or research student interested in assessment please feel free to contact us.
CARPE Director: Prof Michael O'Leary

Centre for Evaluation, Quality & Inspection (EQI)

EQI is a research centre specialising in the evaluation of educational policies, programmes and personnel. Evaluation involves research to make data-informed judgments about organisational and professional performance. Our work encompasses schools, other learning centres and the wider public service. It is primarily concerned with governance and accountability mechanisms including quality assurance processes, school inspection and organisational self evaluation. We also undertake evaluations of educational programmes and projects. EQI is a multidisciplinary research group with a diverse membership drawn from within DCU, from schools and other educational institutions within Ireland and abroad and from a range of other organisations.
Directors: Dr Martin Brown and Prof Joe O'Hara

Centre for Research Across Teacher Education (CREATE21)

CREATE21 marks the coming together of the Centre for Excellence in Post-Primary Teacher Education (CEPPTE) at the Mater Dei Institute of Education and the CREATE programme at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra. CREATE21 is based at the DCU Institute of Education.

The Centre aims to drive research into the continuum of teacher education, to disseminate this research, and to draw on the research to ensure teacher education is subjected to sustained critique and innovation and to inform policy development, pedagogy and programme development.

There are currently over 30 research projects at various stages of completion and which fall into six over-arching themes.

Directors: Dr Sabrina Fitzsimons and Professor Catherine Furlong

Further Education and Training Research Centre (FETRC)

FETRC’s Mission is to 'engage with research at all levels to help influence the overall strategic direction of the further education and training sector in Ireland and ensure that policy and practice is driven by evidence based research'. Some important developments in F/VET in Ireland suggest the need to move this work to an altogether higher level and in effect to develop a research capacity in the area capable of informing innovation across the sector at both regional and national level. These new developments include reformed structures in the form of SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and the increasingly important national and EU wide qualifications and quality assurance frameworks. All of this is occurring in the context of high levels of youth unemployment, skills deficits holding back economic growth and the need for innovative approaches to the content and processes of education and training including work based learning and new forms of assessment. The urgency and importance of this work was demonstrated recently by the EU Council of Ministers decision to include some six billion euro in the budget between now and 2020 devoted to initiatives to tackle youth unemployment.
FETRC Director: Dr Justin Rami