The UCD School of Education launched the evaluation report for Rethink Ireland’s Equity in Education Fund (2022-2025)
Posted 26 November, 2025
Over the past few years, our research team (Dr Angeliki Lima, Dr Olga Ioannidou, Dr Gabriela Martínez Sainz, and Associate Professor Seaneen Sloan) collected and analysed data to understand the work of four incredible groups of Awardees:
- The Donegal Travellers Education Project by Donegal Travellers Project CLG
- The Inclusive Education Project by Offaly Travellers Movement and Ballycommon TTC
- The Teen-Turn PLUS programme
- The Big Idea - Ireland Youthreach programme
Professor Judith Harford open the launch event with a powerful and compelling address on educational disadvantage and inequity.
A highlight of the launch was hearing directly from all four Awardee organisations who came together for a powerful panel discussion, expertly chaired by Dr Angeliki Lima.
Across the four programmes, the following messages stood out:
Relationships matter: the strongest driver of engagement was the presence of trusted adults who showed up, stayed present, and understood the cultural, social and emotional contexts of young people’s lives.
Holistic supports remove real barriers: Education does not happen in isolation. It happens within the realities of people’s lives. Supports like transport, food, materials, emotional support and mentoring can create the conditions that make participation possible.
Representation matters: Seeing one’s own culture, identity, or gender positively represented in educational spaces had a lasting impact.
Out-of-school learning is a powerful driver of equity: Learning doesn’t only happen in classrooms. For many students, out-of-school programmes support their confidence, belonging, wellbeing, and aspirations.
The evaluation also highlights some persistent challenges:
Persistent discrimination and low expectations, particularly for Traveller and Roma learners, undermining their sense of belonging. Rural isolation, compounded by transport and digital access issues, constrain young people’s choices. Short term funding cycles threaten the potential for impact that can only be realised through the relational and community-based work that the Awardees undertake.
Our evaluation’s recommendations:
1. Long-term, stable investment in relationship-based, community-embedded practice.
2. Embedding culturally responsive, community-led approaches in mainstream education.
3. Recognising and resourcing out-of-school learning as an essential part of the education ecosystem.
The full report is available here: (opens in a new window)https://lnkd.in/eCJBjdr5