Study finds conservative and fragmented policy-making has slowed education reform in Ireland

3 February 2026

• Warns current system is too slow to respond to emerging threats and opportunities such as Artificial Intelligence

A new study examining education policy-making in Ireland over the last 30 years finds long-standing conservative practices have significantly constrained meaningful reform.

Published in (opens in a new window)Irish Educational Studies, the research draws on perspectives from academic research, government experience and school leadership to show how education policy has historically been shaped by cautious decision-making, short-term political horizons and inherited institutional structures.

Furthermore, the study warns that the current system is too slow to respond to emerging threats and opportunities such as AI, noting that school experiences have failed to adapt to the scale and pace of change of communications technology.

“Despite important advances, education policy-making in Ireland remains cautious and fragmented, struggling to keep pace with rapid social and technological change, including AI,” said lead author Professor Judith Harford, UCD School of Education.

The paper, co-authored with Dr Brian Fleming and Richard Bruton, former Minister for Education, highlights how there exists a persistent gap between national policy design and realities in schools, limiting the capacity to respond to social change, inequality and emerging challenges.

While the influence of the Church has declined, the study finds policy-making remains slow, overly administrative, and fragmented across government departments, statutory agencies and school patrons.

It identifies several structural weaknesses that hinder progress. A primary concern is the lack of strategic continuity, with the average tenure of a Minister for Education lasting only two years.

This high turnover, combined with a bureaucratic culture focused on administrative input rather than educational outcome, has led to a system that often prioritises day-to-day management over long-term vision.

At school level, the glacial pace of curriculum reform and the restrictive nature of the Leaving Certificate restricts the ability of principals and teachers to exercise professional judgement and enact change.

“If policy-makers do not evaluate the impact of current policies, then they travel blind, prone to inertia, or worse, swaying to the strongest pressure,” said Mr Bruton, former Minister for Education.

Across all three perspectives, the authors agree on the need for a more coherent, transparent and evidence-informed approach to education policy-making.

Several reforms are suggested, including:

• Establishing a dedicated strategic policy unit to provide authoritative, data-driven advice.
• Moving away from a focus on funding and teacher ratios toward the quality of the student experience.
• Empowering individual schools to innovate and function as independent learning organisations.
• Developing more diverse educational pathways to better support disadvantaged students.

The study concludes that without a decisive shift away from conservative, bureaucratic policy-making, Ireland’s education system risks falling behind in addressing inequality, supporting school improvement and preparing students for a world fundamentally different from the one that shaped their education.

By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie