Minister Naughton opens expression of interest process for the Convention on Education

Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, has opened the application process for membership of the Convention on Education. Children, young people, parents and guardians, school staff and early years educators can now submit an expression of interest form online to apply to become members.

The Convention on Education is a once in a generation opportunity for children and young people, parents, school staff and early years practitioners and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come. The Convention will be chaired by Professor Anne Looney and will meet four times over weekends in March, May, September and November 2026 to discuss key issues about the future of education. The names of Convention Deputy Chairs and Secretariat were announced in November.

The Convention will comprise 150 people across 4 groups:

• Children and young people (30 people)
• Parents and guardians (30 people)
• School employees and early years educators (30 people)
• Education stakeholders (60 people)

The focus of the Convention will be on primary and post-primary (secondary) schools as well as the transitions from early years into primary, and from post-primary into further and higher education. The Convention’s agenda will be informed by a national conversation due to commence early in the new year. It will look at what is working well, what challenges need attention, and what changes may be needed in the years ahead.  Recommendations from the Convention will inform a new long-term Department of Education and Youth strategy for schools in Ireland.

It is anticipated that there will be significant interest in membership of the Convention. There will also be opportunities for individuals, groups and anyone who wishes to share their thoughts on the future of education to get involved in the national conversation.

Children and young people, their parents and guardians and school employees and early years educators can apply to become members of the Convention at gov.ie/educationconvention. Expressions of interest will also be circulated through schools from today.

Further information on the Convention on Education can be found at www.gov.ie/educationconvention.

Minister Naughton said:

The expression of interest form will remain open until 16 January 2026, when a process will begin to select participants.

The Convention on Education

The Convention on Education is a once in a generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come.

The application process for the Convention will be open from today, 11 December 2025 to 16 January 2026. Membership of the first three groups, children and young people, parents and guardians and school employees and early years educators will be based on stratified random sortition.

The Convention will be chaired by Professor Anne Looney and will meet four times over weekends in March, May, September and November 2026 to discuss key issues about the future of education:

The Convention will comprise 150 people across 4 groups:

• Children and young people (30 people)
• Parents and guardians (30 people)
• School employees and early years educators (30 people)
• Education stakeholders (60 people)

The last Convention on Education took place over 30 years ago. The 1993 National Education Convention was led by Professor John Coolahan. This convention represented a major democratic debate on the future of the Irish education system. The foundations of this debate were set out in the Green Paper Education for a Changing World. That paper followed on from the OECD Review of the Irish Education System (1991).

The Green Paper, published by the Minister of Education in June 1992, proposed a major project of reform to be carried out within the Irish Education system. Included in the Minister’s foreword to the Green Paper was an invitation to those who were committed to improving the education system to take part in a national debate. The results of this national debate were to then inform the policy commitments of the government in the area of education which would then be set out in the White Paper Charting Our Education Future.

The publication of the Green Paper sparked a period of nationwide meetings, seminars and conferences. On top of this, the Department of Education received over 1,000 written submissions in response to the Green Paper. The culmination of all this activity was the announcement of the National Education Convention to be held in Dublin Castle from the 11th – 21st October 1993.

The 2026 Convention will focus on primary and post-primary (secondary) schools, the transitions within education, looking at what is working well, what challenges need attention, and what changes may be needed in the years ahead. Recommendations from the Convention will inform a new long-term Department of Education and Youth strategy for education in Ireland.

Chair, Deputy Chairs and Secretariat

Biography of Anne Looney, Chair of Convention on Education

Professor Anne Looney is a former Executive Dean of Dublin City University’s Institute of Education.

From Dublin, she worked as post-primary teacher for fourteen years before joining the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in 1997 where she became the CEO in 2001, a post she held until 2016. She held the position of Interim CEO at the Higher Education Authority before joining DCU in 2017.

She completed her doctoral studies in education at the Institute of Education in London. Her research interests include assessment policy and practice, curriculum, teacher identity and professional standards for teachers and teaching. She has also published on religious, moral and civic education, and education policy. She has been a team member for reviews for the OECD on school quality, curriculum, and assessment systems, and acts as a technical expert for the European Commission on projects in initial teacher education. She is the current president of the International Professional Development Association.

In 2001 she was the first woman to be nominated to the management committee of the GAA and served until 2024.

Biographies of Deputy Chairs

Aideen Howard, Deputy Chair of the Children and Young Person’s group

Aideen Howard is Director of The Ark Children’s Cultural Centre. She has worked in theatre and the arts as artistic director, producer, dramaturg and commissioner of new work. Her leadership of The Ark combines advocacy and art-making including the establishment of a rights-based participation practice and the founding of the Right Here Right Now festival of children’s rights. Aideen is a PhD student in Queens University Belfast researching child and adult collaboration in performance. She has been a member of the National Campaign for the Arts, the National Advisory Council for Children, the Creative Youth Expert Advisory Group and the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin City. Prior to The Ark, Aideen was Literary Director of the Abbey Theatre and is editor of Irish Shorts: New Plays from The Abbey Theatre. She was founding Artistic Director of the multidisciplinary Mermaid Arts Centre and has worked as literary consultant to Arts Council projects. In 2014 she curated the poetry programme of The Mountains to Sea Festival. Aideen holds BA in English and German from Trinity College, Dublin and an MA in Drama from UCD. She completed a Certificate in Children’s Rights in Queens University Belfast in 2018 and a Professional Certificate in Governance at The Institute of Public Administration in 2019.

Shari Irfan, Deputy Chair of the Children and Young Person’s group

Shari Irfan is a Law and History student at DCU. He has extensive experience working within the Department of Education and Youth’s national policy structures, having served on the Council of Members for the NCCA. Shari has also served on multiple departmental working groups, including the Student Participation Expert Group, the Implementation Group for the Review of Out-of-School Education Provision, and the Working Group to Review the 2013 Anti-Bullying Procedures under Cineáltas. He has contributed to the Programme Delivery Board and the Senior Cycle Redevelopment Partners’ Forum, working on curriculum reform, inclusion, and equality of access. At a European level, Shari represented Ireland through the Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU) and participated in the EU Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project. As the former President of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU), he has represented the voice of over 300,000 students.

Paul Gilligan, Deputy Chair of the Parent’s and Guardian’s Group

Paul Gilligan, BA, MA, DipClin Psych, RegPsychol, FPsSI, is a Clinical Psychologist and Chief Executive of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS). He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Trinity College Dublin. Paul is a former Vice-Chairman of the National Children’s Advisory Council, a former President of the Psychological Society of Ireland, a former Chairman of the Children’s Rights Alliance and a former Chairman of Early Childhood Ireland. He was a member of the government-established Vision for Change Independent Monitoring Group and Garda Vetting Implementation Group. Before taking up his current post with SPMHS, he was Chief Executive of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Paul is author of two parenting books, Keeping Your Child Safe (2008) and Raising Emotionally Healthy Children (2015). He is an internationally recognised children’s rights advocate and a Fellow of the Psychological Society of Ireland. 

Kathy Hall, Deputy Chair of the School Staff and Early Childhood Educators Group

Kathy Hall is Emeritus Professor of Education in UCC. She has had various roles in education including teacher, principal, lecturer and professor. She has researched and published on many aspects of education and contributed to national policy initiatives in Ireland and the UK. Examples of such research include initial and ongoing professional development of student teachers and practitioners for and within the profession (Teaching Council of Ireland) and teacher education for inclusion (National Council for Special Education). Sociocultural ideas, such as inclusion, identity and agency have framed her own academic and professional practice as a teacher, mentor and leader. 

Ken Muir, Deputy Chair of the Education Stakeholder’s group

Ken Muir is Honorary Professor at the University of the West of Scotland. He retired in March 2021 from his post as Chief Executive and Registrar of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Prior to that, he was Chief Inspector of Education evaluating the quality of provision in early years, primary, post-primary and further education sectors.  In August 2021, he was commissioned as independent Advisor to the Scottish Government to produce his report, Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education, published in February 2022.  He has a particular interest in the Finnish education system where he has worked with Helsinki University and the Finnish National Agency for Education.  Kenneth is the Vice-Chair of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and a Trustee of the Children’s Parliament. Over the past three years he has been involved in reviewing teacher education programmes in Ireland under the auspices of the Teaching Council. 

Biographies of the Secretariat

Dr Majella Dempsey

Majella Dempsey is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Education at Maynooth University, where she lectures and researches in Curriculum Studies, Leadership, and Assessment. Her work focuses on pedagogy, democracy, and curriculum development. She is Link Convenor for the EERA Curriculum Network, leads the ESAI Curriculum Studies SIG, and is a member of the International Network for Curriculum Studies. Majella has chaired national curriculum groups and contributed to EU-funded projects including Erasmus+ and FP7.

Dr Niall Seery

Dr Niall Seery is currently Chair of Technological Education at the Technological University of the Shannon. He has previously served as Vice President of Academic Affairs and Registrar at AIT, before being appointed as the joint-director of the Technological University Project, that resulted in the establishment of TUS. Niall is an experienced academic with a demonstrated impact in Technology Teacher Education. He has a special interest in design and technology education and associated pedagogical practice. He has served as director of studies at undergraduate and postgraduate level for Initial Technology Teacher Education, while also developing a related research agenda. He established and continues to direct the Technology Education Research Group (TERG), where he remains active in research development, supervision, dissemination, and mentorship.

Professor Jim Spillane

James P. Spillane is the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Professor in Learning and Organizational Change at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and faculty associate at Northwestern’s Institute for Policy Research. A former primary school teacher from Ireland, Spillane has published extensively on issues of education policy, policy implementation and school reform. His work explores the policy implementation process, focusing on intergovernmental relations. He also studies organizational leadership and change, conceptualizing leadership as a distributed practice. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Institute of Education Sciences, Spencer Foundation, Sherwood Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. He has authored several books including Distributed Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2006), Distributed Leadership in Practice (Teachers College Press, 2011), Diagnosis and Design for School Improvement (Teachers College Press, 2011), Navigating the Principalship: Key Insights for New and Aspiring School Leaders (ASCD, 2019), and over 150 journal articles and book chapters. Spillane was elected to the US National Academy of Education in 2013 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.  He was President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), 2022–2025. 

Catherine Byrne  

Catherine Byrne is an experienced teacher, trade union leader, advisor, negotiator and mediator, with a life-long commitment to education, human rights, social justice and the arts.  She was deputy general secretary of the INTO and worked in Brussels for the European Trade Union Confederation. She went on to become a Senior Policy Advisor in Ireland for The Atlantic Philanthropies where Chuck Feeney invested heavily in health, human rights, social and education  projects in this country. She studied at Carysfort College of Education (primary teaching), Sheffield University (Master’s in Education), the IPA (mediation) and the renowned Lee Strasberg Institute (theatre and film) in New York City. Catherine has served on the boards of the Abbey Theatre, THE ARK, the NCCA,  Oxfam Ireland,  DICE and VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) and chaired organisations dealing with the arts,  primary teaching in Cambodia (SBBI), development and cultural education and as well as the Rutland School board of management. She is an Associate at  the Burren College of Art. 

Professor Jane Suiter 

Jane Suiter is Professor in the School of Communications, her research focus is on the information environment in the public sphere and in particular on scaling up deliberation and tackling disinformation. Jane is director of DCU's Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society. She was awarded an IRC Laureate in 2022 for COMDEL Examining the Potential of Communicative Deliberation for Climate Action. She has been involved in various research and oversight capacities on the Irish Citizens' Assembly (2012-2022) and was a founder member of We the Citizens (2011), Ireland’s first deliberative experiment. She is a member of the OECD's FutureDemocracy network and on the advisory board of the Federation of Innovation in Democracy Europe (FIDE) and has also advised in Scotland and elsewhere on citizens' assemblies. Jane has testified at the OECD, the European Parliament, the UN and the UNDP as well as the Oireachtas. She was the joint winner of the Brown Democracy Medal in 2019 and the President's Award for Research. She was awarded the prestigious title of the Irish Research Council's Researcher of the Year in 2020. 

Dr Hannagh McGinley

Dr Hannagh McGinley is an Assistant Professor in Education at MIC Thurles. She is a member of the Irish Mincéir/Pavee (commonly referred to as Travellers) community and an early school leaver. Her research expertise is Traveller education, anti-racism, and culturally responsive and intercultural approaches to education. Her previous roles have included post-primary school teacher and community development practitioner. Dr McGinley also worked as an Education Officer at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) where she was responsible for advancing the recommendations of NCCA’s Traveller Culture and History in the Curriculum: A Curriculum Audit.

Dr Johanna Fitzgerald

Dr Johanna Fitzgerald is a teacher educator and researcher in inclusive and special education for the past 20 years, prior to which she served as a post primary and special education teacher. Currently, she is seconded to Education and Training Boards Ireland from her previous role as Head of the Department of Educational Psychology, Inclusive and Special Education in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Her current research involves leading a knowledge engagement strategy across the ETB sector of post primary schools, focusing on developing systematic, collaborative, evidence-informed approaches to inclusive and special education and leadership development through multi- stakeholder collaboration. Additionally, she is a member of the research team on the Teachers' Professional Journeys: The First Decade longitudinal study, co-funded by The Teaching Council and the Department of Education and Youth. 

Professor Laura Lundy 

Professor Laura Lundy is Professor Emerita of Children's Rights at Queen’s University, Belfast and Professor of Law at University College Cork. She has expertise in international children’s rights with a particular focus on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, education rights and children’s right to participate in decision making and led the Expert Group on Student Participation in the Department of Education.  Professor Lundy has developed what has come to be called ‘The Lundy Model of Child Participation’ which a way of conceptualising a child's right to participation, as laid down in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. She is Joint Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Children’s Rights and a qualified barrister at law.