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The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), in partnership with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) and Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics, DCU has launched ‘Irish Young People Decode AI: Verdicts from NYCI’s Citizens’ Youth Juries’ a new report setting out young people’s views, concerns and recommendations on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies.

This report presents the findings of NYCI’s Citizens’ Youth Juries on AI, involving 48 young people from across Ireland. It explores young people’s views on the opportunities and risks posed by AI, including its impact on education, jobs, misinformation, online safety and the environment, and sets out their recommendations for policymakers.

Read NYCI press release from the launch of the report on 4 June 2026

Download your copy of the report below.

A Form of Listening by Dr Bryonie Reid, based on Kids’ Own’s early years project in Sligo, offers a thoughtful look at how artists and practitioners engage with very young children through creative practice.

The research draws on work delivered across 2024 and 2025, where Kids’ Own Associate Artists Naomi Draper, Maree Hensey and Ruth Le Gear collaborated with two pre-school settings: Holy Family Day Centre and Inspiring Minds. Working with children aged between two years and eight months and five years and six months, the project created space for shared exploration between artists, educators and children.

Holy Family Day Centre supports children with illnesses and disabilities, bringing together both health and education practitioners. Inspiring Minds follows an emergent curriculum influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach, where children’s curiosity and capabilities shape the direction of learning.

Across a series of sessions, Naomi Draper and Maree Hensey worked together in both settings, while Ruth Le Gear led a second phase of work at Inspiring Minds, supported by Naomi and Maree. Dr Reid’s research reflects on these experiences, offering insight into how creative processes unfold in early years environments and how adults can better attune to children’s ways of communicating.

As one artist reflects:
“Are we listening through touch, are we listening through their engagement? Looking is a form of listening. I’m interested in the idea of the material listening.”

The publication invites readers to consider what it means to truly listen to young children, and how creative practice can open up new ways of understanding their experiences and expressions.

The Early Years Arts project is funded through the Arts in Early Years Scheme by the Arts Council.

Finding Creativity in the Classroom
by Bernadette Larkin

Finding Creativity in the Classroom, developed by Bernadette Larkin as part of a Master’s in Education, offers a practical and reflective guide for artists working in primary school settings.

The guide draws on the experience of artists working on Creativity in the Classroom, an arts in schools project working with children across the Canal Community, Dublin 8, since 1997, along with Bernadette’s own experience as a creative practitioner in arts, education and community. It grew out of a research Master’s in Education in Maynooth University and over three decades of practice across a range of art forms with artists of all disciplines.

As Project Manager of ArkLink in Fatima Mansions, (an initiative of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children), Bernadette spent over six years developing and managing a multidisciplinary arts programme. There she became aware of the incredible Creativity in the Classroom project as children moved between ArkLink and school, developing fluency with materials and art forms. Later, as Head of Education & Programmes in Airfield Estate, she designed arts and education programmes linked to the natural world.

Finding Creativity in the Classroom aims to support artists wishing to develop their practice in primary schools. While the guide is primarily geared towards programmes where artists have time to build relationships with children and teachers, many of the ideas and approaches explored here will also be relevant and useful for once-off workshops.

Creativity in the Classroom was a recipient of a Portal Documentation Award in 2025. View their story here

The Department of Education, in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and other stakeholders, is currently involved in developing a new Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 as a key pillar of the Creative Ireland Programme 2023-2027.

A wide-ranging consultation process involving several strands is being undertaken by the Department of Education, the Department of Children Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Affairs, and the Arts Council. For its part, the Department of Education established an Internal Steering Group and a short-term Creative Youth Consultative Stakeholder Group comprising relevant internal and external stakeholders comprising both education and creative organisations.

Here you can find the Department of Education Stakeholder and Schools Consultation on Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 Report.

Compiled by H2 Learning on behalf of the Department of Education

Creative Clusters is a pilot initiative of the Government of Ireland’s Department of Education (DoE). The initiative provides opportunities for clusters of schools to come together to experiment, innovate and collaborate on the design, implementation and evaluation of bespoke arts and creative learning projects. In this way, Creative Clusters seeks to promote new ways of collaboration between schools, and between schools and the arts and cultural sectors. These collaborations are designed to improve teaching and learning, and to enable learners and teachers to develop their creativity.

This research and evaluation report focuses on the development of Creative Clusters over the pilot phase of the initiative in the academic years 2018/19 and 2019/20. (The pilot was extended into the first term of the 2020/21 academic year due to the school closures resulting from COVID-19.) In the academic year 2018/19, 23 clusters, comprising 71 schools, participated in Creative Clusters, with 68 of these schools continuing into the 2019/20 academic year. In 2019/20, a further 21 clusters, comprising 76 schools, were added. The clusters contained between two and five schools, and were comprised of primary schools only, post-primary schools only, and a combination of both primary and post-primary schools.

Report by:

Dr. Dorothy Morrissey (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick)

‘I am Creative’ is a pilot initiative of the Government of Ireland’s Department of Education (DE). The initiative is managed by the National Arts in Education Administrative Office at the Tralee Education Support Centre, under the direction of the National Director and National Advisor for the Integration of the Arts in Education (DE, Curriculum and Assessment Policy [CAP] Unit). This pilot initiative was designed to explore ways in which artists, members of the school leadership team, teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) could work together to enhance the provision for arts education in Special Education (SE) settings.

The ‘I am Creative’ pilot initiative comprised three residential training weekends (Friday evenings and Saturdays) for six participating artists and four staff members from each of the six participating schools. One artist was assigned to each school for a residency period of 20 hours. (The only available TAP trained artists within the Kildare and Laois ESC catchment area for the duration of the initiative were visual artists.) Each training weekend was followed by at least one school-artist engagement. This enabled the generation of a shared, iterative learning loop throughout. Outside of this, the timeline and structure of the residencies were decided at local level, and determined by the needs of participating children and young people.

The aims of the research study were to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of ‘I am Creative’ as a model for improving arts education in SE settings

• Uncover enablers and barriers to collaborations with artists in SE settings

• Provide illustrative exemplars of collaborations with artists in SE settings

• Contribute evidence-based recommendations for the national scaling up of ‘I am Creative’ across Ireland’s special schools and post-primary SE settings.

NCCA is in the process of updating Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework and have recently published the findings from Phase 1 of the consultation. Phase 1 invited stakeholders to share their views on what is working well with Aistear and should be retained and what suggestions they had as to how it might be enhanced and updated.

The work undertaken in Phase 1 included a consultation with babies, toddlers and young children. This consultation was both innovative and ground-breaking in its design and in terms of respecting the rights of all children to have their voices heard and responded to in matters affecting them. Time spent with children in their early years settings enabled the researchers to observe and notice their reactions and responses to elements of the curriculum in action. In this way, the consultation focused on determining what was working well with Aistear and what might need to be changed or updated.

This Research and Development report from the Chester Beatty’s Learning and Education Department examines intercultural education in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The Irish Museums Association (IMA) conducted a survey of teachers across Ireland to consider how museums can best work with schools to continue to support children’s cultural and arts education

This report aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to foster and develop teacher-artist partnerships in innovative ways.

Exploring Teacher-Artist Partnership as a Model of CPD for Supporting & Enhancing Arts Education is a Department of Education and Skills led (via ATECI) teacher-artist partnership initiative in primary schools delivered in partnership with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DAHRRG). This project began in September 2013 and presents the findings of the research undertaken during the first three phases of the initiative from August 2014 to June 2016.

Written by Dr Ailbhe Kenny and Dr Dorothy Morrissey, who themselves took took on participatory roles throughout the project. Commissioned by the Association of Teachers’/Education Centres in Ireland (ATECI) under the auspices of, and funded by, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG)/Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DAHRRGA).

This report collates insights from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey to look at arts and cultural participation among three, five, nine and 13 year olds, addressing the following research questions:
1. What groups of children are more likely to engage in (different forms of) cultural activities?
2. What schools and classrooms place greater emphasis on cultural activities, and how does this potentially influence children’s engagement outside school?
3. How is participation in cultural activities related to other child outcomes, including academic skills and socio-emotional wellbeing? .

The Arts Council commissioned this research to improve our knowledge and understanding of children’s participation in cultural life and the arts in Ireland, the report is written by Emer Smyth, Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin.

 

 

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

1979 Arts Council report examining the role of the arts in education and setting out recommendations for strengthening arts education in Ireland.

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

Brief setting out progress on the development of the objectives for the Arts-in-Education Charter.

Foundation document setting out the shared responsibility and understanding of both Government departments in relation to the Arts-in-Education Charter.


!!!! Irish Young People Decode AI: Verdicts from NYCI’s Citizens’ Youth Juries

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), in partnership with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) and Insight Research Centre for Data Analytics, DCU has launched ‘Irish Young People Decode AI: Verdicts from NYCI’s Citizens’ Youth Juries’ a new report setting out young people’s views, concerns and recommendations on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies.

This report presents the findings of NYCI’s Citizens’ Youth Juries on AI, involving 48 young people from across Ireland. It explores young people’s views on the opportunities and risks posed by AI, including its impact on education, jobs, misinformation, online safety and the environment, and sets out their recommendations for policymakers.

Read NYCI press release from the launch of the report on 4 June 2026

Download your copy of the report below.

!!!! Early Years Project – A Form of Listening

A Form of Listening by Dr Bryonie Reid, based on Kids’ Own’s early years project in Sligo, offers a thoughtful look at how artists and practitioners engage with very young children through creative practice.

The research draws on work delivered across 2024 and 2025, where Kids’ Own Associate Artists Naomi Draper, Maree Hensey and Ruth Le Gear collaborated with two pre-school settings: Holy Family Day Centre and Inspiring Minds. Working with children aged between two years and eight months and five years and six months, the project created space for shared exploration between artists, educators and children.

Holy Family Day Centre supports children with illnesses and disabilities, bringing together both health and education practitioners. Inspiring Minds follows an emergent curriculum influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach, where children’s curiosity and capabilities shape the direction of learning.

Across a series of sessions, Naomi Draper and Maree Hensey worked together in both settings, while Ruth Le Gear led a second phase of work at Inspiring Minds, supported by Naomi and Maree. Dr Reid’s research reflects on these experiences, offering insight into how creative processes unfold in early years environments and how adults can better attune to children’s ways of communicating.

As one artist reflects:
“Are we listening through touch, are we listening through their engagement? Looking is a form of listening. I’m interested in the idea of the material listening.”

The publication invites readers to consider what it means to truly listen to young children, and how creative practice can open up new ways of understanding their experiences and expressions.

The Early Years Arts project is funded through the Arts in Early Years Scheme by the Arts Council.

!!!! Finding Creativity in the Classroom – A Practical Guide for Artists

Finding Creativity in the Classroom
by Bernadette Larkin

Finding Creativity in the Classroom, developed by Bernadette Larkin as part of a Master’s in Education, offers a practical and reflective guide for artists working in primary school settings.

The guide draws on the experience of artists working on Creativity in the Classroom, an arts in schools project working with children across the Canal Community, Dublin 8, since 1997, along with Bernadette’s own experience as a creative practitioner in arts, education and community. It grew out of a research Master’s in Education in Maynooth University and over three decades of practice across a range of art forms with artists of all disciplines.

As Project Manager of ArkLink in Fatima Mansions, (an initiative of The Ark, A Cultural Centre for Children), Bernadette spent over six years developing and managing a multidisciplinary arts programme. There she became aware of the incredible Creativity in the Classroom project as children moved between ArkLink and school, developing fluency with materials and art forms. Later, as Head of Education & Programmes in Airfield Estate, she designed arts and education programmes linked to the natural world.

Finding Creativity in the Classroom aims to support artists wishing to develop their practice in primary schools. While the guide is primarily geared towards programmes where artists have time to build relationships with children and teachers, many of the ideas and approaches explored here will also be relevant and useful for once-off workshops.

Creativity in the Classroom was a recipient of a Portal Documentation Award in 2025. View their story here

!!!! Department of Education Stakeholder and Schools Consultation on Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 Report

The Department of Education, in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and other stakeholders, is currently involved in developing a new Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 as a key pillar of the Creative Ireland Programme 2023-2027.

A wide-ranging consultation process involving several strands is being undertaken by the Department of Education, the Department of Children Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Affairs, and the Arts Council. For its part, the Department of Education established an Internal Steering Group and a short-term Creative Youth Consultative Stakeholder Group comprising relevant internal and external stakeholders comprising both education and creative organisations.

Here you can find the Department of Education Stakeholder and Schools Consultation on Creative Youth Plan 2023-2027 Report.

Compiled by H2 Learning on behalf of the Department of Education

!!!! Creative Clusters: A Collaborative approach to Cultivating Creativity in Schools

Creative Clusters is a pilot initiative of the Government of Ireland’s Department of Education (DoE). The initiative provides opportunities for clusters of schools to come together to experiment, innovate and collaborate on the design, implementation and evaluation of bespoke arts and creative learning projects. In this way, Creative Clusters seeks to promote new ways of collaboration between schools, and between schools and the arts and cultural sectors. These collaborations are designed to improve teaching and learning, and to enable learners and teachers to develop their creativity.

This research and evaluation report focuses on the development of Creative Clusters over the pilot phase of the initiative in the academic years 2018/19 and 2019/20. (The pilot was extended into the first term of the 2020/21 academic year due to the school closures resulting from COVID-19.) In the academic year 2018/19, 23 clusters, comprising 71 schools, participated in Creative Clusters, with 68 of these schools continuing into the 2019/20 academic year. In 2019/20, a further 21 clusters, comprising 76 schools, were added. The clusters contained between two and five schools, and were comprised of primary schools only, post-primary schools only, and a combination of both primary and post-primary schools.

Report by:

Dr. Dorothy Morrissey (Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick)

!!!! I Am Creative – A Research Report

‘I am Creative’ is a pilot initiative of the Government of Ireland’s Department of Education (DE). The initiative is managed by the National Arts in Education Administrative Office at the Tralee Education Support Centre, under the direction of the National Director and National Advisor for the Integration of the Arts in Education (DE, Curriculum and Assessment Policy [CAP] Unit). This pilot initiative was designed to explore ways in which artists, members of the school leadership team, teachers and Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) could work together to enhance the provision for arts education in Special Education (SE) settings.

The ‘I am Creative’ pilot initiative comprised three residential training weekends (Friday evenings and Saturdays) for six participating artists and four staff members from each of the six participating schools. One artist was assigned to each school for a residency period of 20 hours. (The only available TAP trained artists within the Kildare and Laois ESC catchment area for the duration of the initiative were visual artists.) Each training weekend was followed by at least one school-artist engagement. This enabled the generation of a shared, iterative learning loop throughout. Outside of this, the timeline and structure of the residencies were decided at local level, and determined by the needs of participating children and young people.

The aims of the research study were to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of ‘I am Creative’ as a model for improving arts education in SE settings

• Uncover enablers and barriers to collaborations with artists in SE settings

• Provide illustrative exemplars of collaborations with artists in SE settings

• Contribute evidence-based recommendations for the national scaling up of ‘I am Creative’ across Ireland’s special schools and post-primary SE settings.

!!!! NCCA Consultation report on updating Aistear – Phase 1

NCCA is in the process of updating Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework and have recently published the findings from Phase 1 of the consultation. Phase 1 invited stakeholders to share their views on what is working well with Aistear and should be retained and what suggestions they had as to how it might be enhanced and updated.

The work undertaken in Phase 1 included a consultation with babies, toddlers and young children. This consultation was both innovative and ground-breaking in its design and in terms of respecting the rights of all children to have their voices heard and responded to in matters affecting them. Time spent with children in their early years settings enabled the researchers to observe and notice their reactions and responses to elements of the curriculum in action. In this way, the consultation focused on determining what was working well with Aistear and what might need to be changed or updated.

!!!! Embracing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom – Chester Beatty Library

This Research and Development report from the Chester Beatty’s Learning and Education Department examines intercultural education in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

!!!! Survey of teachers on museum engagement during and post Covid 19 – Irish Museums Association

The Irish Museums Association (IMA) conducted a survey of teachers across Ireland to consider how museums can best work with schools to continue to support children’s cultural and arts education

!!!! Exploring Teacher-Artist Partnership as a Model of Continuing Professional Development for Supporting & Enhancing Arts Education in Ireland – Dr. Ailbhe Kenny & Dr. Dorothy Morrissey

This report aims to provide evidence-based recommendations to foster and develop teacher-artist partnerships in innovative ways.

Exploring Teacher-Artist Partnership as a Model of CPD for Supporting & Enhancing Arts Education is a Department of Education and Skills led (via ATECI) teacher-artist partnership initiative in primary schools delivered in partnership with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DAHRRG). This project began in September 2013 and presents the findings of the research undertaken during the first three phases of the initiative from August 2014 to June 2016.

Written by Dr Ailbhe Kenny and Dr Dorothy Morrissey, who themselves took took on participatory roles throughout the project. Commissioned by the Association of Teachers’/Education Centres in Ireland (ATECI) under the auspices of, and funded by, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG)/Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DAHRRGA).

!!!! Arts and Cultural Participation among Children and Young People – Dr. Emer Smyth

This report collates insights from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey to look at arts and cultural participation among three, five, nine and 13 year olds, addressing the following research questions:
1. What groups of children are more likely to engage in (different forms of) cultural activities?
2. What schools and classrooms place greater emphasis on cultural activities, and how does this potentially influence children’s engagement outside school?
3. How is participation in cultural activities related to other child outcomes, including academic skills and socio-emotional wellbeing? .

The Arts Council commissioned this research to improve our knowledge and understanding of children’s participation in cultural life and the arts in Ireland, the report is written by Emer Smyth, Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin.

 

 

!!!! 6th Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter June 2016 – Implementation Group for the Arts in Education Charter

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! The Place of the Arts in Irish Education – Ciarán Benson

1979 Arts Council report examining the role of the arts in education and setting out recommendations for strengthening arts education in Ireland.

!!!! 5th Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter October 2015 – Implementation Group for the Arts in Education Charter

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! 4th Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter April 2015 – Implementation Group for the Arts in Education Charter

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! 3rd Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter October 2014 – Implementation Group for the Arts in Education Charter

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! 2nd Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter April 2014 – Implementation Group for the Arts in Education Charter

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! 1st Report on the Implementation of the Arts in Education Charter July 2013 – Professor John Coolahan

This report sets out the progress across all areas of the Arts in Education Charter.

!!!! Brief for Minister of Education and Skills on Progress of the Arts in Education Charter – Professor John Coolahan

Brief setting out progress on the development of the objectives for the Arts-in-Education Charter.

!!!! MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht And Department of Education and Skills

Foundation document setting out the shared responsibility and understanding of both Government departments in relation to the Arts-in-Education Charter.