Institute for Education and Social Policy Studies (PRISEM)

About

The Mary Immaculate College Institute for Education and Social Policy Studies (PRISEM) was established in 2015 and its aim is to give effect to the provisions and values in the MIC Strategic Plan and Mission Statement on the advancement of research, the fostering of knowledge and best-practice, the promotion of social inclusion and the delivery of excellence in education.

Objectives

To encourage and facilitate inter-departmental and inter-faculty collaborations in research on education and social policy;
To contribute more effectively – using evidence from our collective research–to national policy and practice in ensuring that the Irish education system is the best in the world;
To enable Mary Immaculate College to engage more fully with education providers at primary and second level in the promotion of best international practice;
To collaborate more extensively with community education and community development organisations in delivering on preventive education and in promoting virtuous inter-generational cycles that value and foster education, creativity and individual self-actualisation.

Activities

In-house seminar series to enable staff to share their research and receive feedback and mentoring from colleagues;
Electives/Modules on community education/social inclusion/social policy/school governance delivered on a cross-faculty basis (possibly seminar-based);
Applied-research projects in conjunction with schools and communities–providing opportunities for postgraduate research and for students during their off-campus placement year;
Annual seminar for schools and community-education providers in the mid-west region;
Liaise with the OECD (and other international bodies) on international best practice–via our (potential) membership of relevant working groups and through the provision and inclusion of Irish material and case studies;
Dissemination of information and learnings acquired by colleagues from their attendance at education and social policy fora (nationally and internationally);
Developing linkages with families (through relevant bodies) in promoting the value of education and its contributions to social well-being;
Contributing in a co-ordinated manner to applied and action-research projects and initiatives in the fields of education (all tiers), social policy, childcare, family support and community development.