Research Interests

*	The subject matter of any research in which you are now engaged.

With a number of colleagues here in Northern Ireland I am working 
currently on a project which has tracked the views of school students 
as they apply for higher education. Our iterest lay in trying to gain 
some insight into the factors that influenced their decisions about 
higher education options, and how these changed as they moved through 
the application process. In addition, we were interested in the 
particular impact of the student loans newly introduced into the UK.

I am about to begin a project looking at the consequences of the 
selective system of grammar and secondary schools in Northern Ireland - 
more detail on this below - and this will involve, in part, 
ethnographic work.

*	The subject matter of any research you've done in the past.

We have carried out work on this theem on the past, but it has a 
particular relevance this year due to policy changes introduced by the 
new Labour government.

I have just finished a research project tried to identify some of the 
internal processes in effective schools in Northern Ireland, Because we 
retain a selective system where pupils take an 11+ examination at the 
end of priary school, the results of which determine whether or not 
they are entitled to go to grammar school, the parameters of effective 
schools in comprehensive systems may not have applied directly to our 
situation.

The third main area of interest I have lies in the role of school 
systems in ethnically divided societies. We have had a number of 
educational initiatives over the past 15 years or so which attenpted to 
promotoe tolerance, reconciliation and justice through schools. I have 
carried out some ethnogrpahic work with teachers and (to a much lesser 
extent) pupils looking at the impact of these initiatives.

*	The methodologies you have used.

The two main ethnographic methods used in most, if not all, of the 
above projects are semi-structured interviews and focus group 
interviews. I have some some particiant observation work in schools, 
but, in the kain, have relied on talking to people and analtsing 
transcripts.

*	If there are any publications resulting from the research.

We have pubished a number of papers and reports arising from these 
projects. If anyone is interested in particular aspects I would be 
happy to supply more detail. Contact me at: [log in to unmask]

Tony

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Dr Tony Gallagher
School of Education
Queen's University Belfast
[log in to unmask]

Phone: +44 1232 335958 or 335941
Fax: +44 1232 239263
URL: http://www.qub.ac.uk/edu/staff/ag.html




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