Current Research Projects

NCSE Research Current Research Projects

Current Research Projects

What are the Research Team currently working on?

We are currently working on several key research and pilot initiatives aimed at improving inclusive education in Ireland.

You can read the details of each on this page. Below we outline:

-The evaluation of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES) Transition Pilot Programme, which supports young people with disabilities after they leave school
– A Universal Design for Learning (UDL) support model pilot involving 44 schools
– A study examining the factors contributing the increased demand for special class and special school placements

Each project is being independently evaluated to inform future policy and practice in special education.

Current Research Projects

NCSE Externally Commissioned Research

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Current Research Projects – Externally Commissioned Research

Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES) Transition Pilot Programme Evaluation

The CES Transitions is a pilot programme that supports young people with disabilities with their options after they leave school.

There are two groups involved in this pilot. Group one involves mainstream and special schools and began in the 2022/23 school year. Group two involves special schools only and began in the 2024/25 school year.

The NCSE commissioned RSM (now Fortia Insight) to evaluate this programme to establish the impact it is having. The evaluation for group one began in 2023 and continued into 2024 and the evaluation for group two began in April 2025

Read the evaluation report

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Current Research Projects – Externally Commissioned Research

Evaluation of the Universal Design for Learning Support Model

The NCSE began the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) support model as a pilot in September 2024. It involves up to 90 teachers across 44 schools (33 primary, 9 post-primary and 2 special). It will run over two academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26.

The project aims to support the learning, engagement and participation of students by building teacher capacity to:

– Plan for variability
– Reduce barriers
– Support resourceful, purposeful and goal-orientated learners

In October 2024, we commissioned Edge Hill University and University College Cork to evaluate the UDL support model.

The aims of the evaluation are to:

– Establish what is working well
– Identify improvements
– Check the impact of the model at the student, teacher, classroom and school levels.

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Current Research Projects – Externally Commissioned Research

Research exploring the factors behind the growth in demand for special school and special class places

This research is exploring the factors that have led to the growth in demand for special class and special school places in Ireland in the past 20 years.

We commissioned Hibernia College and the Institute of Child Education and Psychology Europe to carry out desk-based rand Empirical research.

The desk-based research includes a description of the policy landscape in Ireland. This will focus on key policy and model changes, in terms of supports and provisions for students with special educational needs in mainstream and special education settings.

It will also collate and analyse data and trends on special class and special school placements in Ireland. It will consider prevalence data and compare it with international data and trends. The empirical research will investigate the views and experiences of key stakeholders. This includes:

– Parents
– Teachers
– Students
– Advocacy groups
– School leaders
– Special educational needs organisers
– Clinical professionals
– Policymakers

This research is set to be published in early 2026.

Current Research Projects

NCSE Internal Research

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Current Research Projects

Evaluation of the NCSE Towards Inclusion Pilot Project

Towards Inclusion is a pilot programme with 20 schools exploring inclusive practices between local schools. There are 10 clusters of one mainstream and one special school involved in this pilot that commenced in the 2023/24 academic year. The projects the schools are undertaking are varied and school led for example, one cluster is conducting cause-and-effect science experiments; another is grouping social activities such as horticulture and cookery. The evaluation has begun and will be finalised in 2025.

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Current Research Projects

Evaluation of the NCSE Practice Based Research Pilot Project

The NCSE’s Practice-Based Research Programme (PBR) supports practitioners within schools or clusters of schools to engage in research on topics relating to inclusion and special education. The programme has a number of aims: to build the research capacity and skills of practicing educators; to enhance inclusive and special education teaching and learning experiences for teachers and learners through exploring, reviewing, conducing or applying research/research evidence; build and enhance relationships between Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and schools; and to develop a repository of practice-based research evidence and shared learning and experiences.

The NCSE has collaborated with a number of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to provide training to practitioners to support them in conducting or using research within their school(s). There are 5 HEI’s recruited, and 20 schools involved. The evaluation is ongoing as each school is at a different stage of their own research.