Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly recognised as a powerful educational technology, offering immersive learning experiences that can improve student engagement, conceptual understanding, and practical skill development. Despite these benefits, VR has yet to become part of everyday classroom practice. While much research has focused on whether VR improves learning, far less attention has been given to how it can be implemented safely, sustainably, and effectively within schools.

This challenge became the focus of a Research Ireland-funded PhD project, supported by the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (d-real) at Dublin City University. Using post-primary chemistry education in Ireland as a case study, the project aimed to develop an evidence-based roadmap for implementing VR in authentic educational settings.

Building the evidence

The first stage of the project was a systematic literature review examining international research on VR in post-primary education. Following PRISMA guidelines, the review analysed 31 studies published between 2013 and 2024.

The review confirmed that VR is particularly effective in supporting STEM education, where immersive experiences improve student motivation, engagement, conceptual understanding, and knowledge retention. However, it also identified major barriers to wider adoption, including limited teacher training, high implementation costs, accessibility challenges, inconsistent research methods, and a lack of long-term studies examining sustained educational impact. These findings highlighted the need for research that moves beyond evaluating learning outcomes towards understanding how VR can be realistically integrated into schools.

Designing VR with schools, not just for schools

Building on the systematic review, this publication presents one of the first outputs from the wider PhD project. Rather than developing technology in isolation, the research adopted a participatory co-design approach that involved the people who would ultimately use it.

Over ten months, 114 stakeholders, including teachers, students, parents, school leadership teams, chemistry specialists, educational researchers, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers, and VR developers, worked together to identify the practical requirements for successful implementation.

Through surveys, interviews, and iterative prototype evaluations, the project identified the educational, technical, organisational, ethical, and health and safety considerations that schools must address before introducing VR. These findings were translated into a comprehensive framework of Deployment Needs and Design Requirements, providing practical guidance for designing immersive learning environments that are both educationally meaningful and feasible to implement.

From research to real-world solutions

The first major outcome of the project was the identification of a comprehensive set of Deployment Needs (DNs) and Design Requirements (DRs) for implementing VR in Irish post-primary education. Developed through extensive engagement stakeholders, these findings provide one of the first evidence-based frameworks tailored specifically to the Irish educational context. These findings became the foundation for the subsequent stages of the wider PhD project. Building directly on the identified deployment needs and design requirements, the project produced a comprehensive Health, Safety and Hygiene Guideline to support the implementation of VR across post-primary schools and higher education institutions. The guidance provides practical recommendations covering learner wellbeing, physical safety, hygiene protocols, accessibility, classroom management, ethical considerations, and teacher responsibilities before, during, and after VR use.

The deployment framework also informed the design and development of a fully immersive VR chemistry learning environment aligned with the Irish post-primary curriculum. The platform incorporates immersive laboratory simulations, teacher dashboards, learner analytics, embedded assessment, accessibility features, and structured pedagogical guidance derived directly from stakeholder recommendations.

Importantly, the final VR environment progressed beyond prototype development and was successfully implemented and evaluated in two Irish post-primary schools, involving students, teachers, school leadership teams, and parents. This real-world evaluation demonstrated both the educational value of the immersive learning environment and the practicality of implementing VR within authentic school settings.

Looking ahead

This publication represents the early stages of a broader programme of research that follows the complete journey from evidence synthesis to real-world implementation. Beginning with a systematic review of international research, the project progressed to identifying stakeholder requirements, translating these into practical design guidance, developing a curriculum-aligned VR learning environment, and producing implementation guidelines that support safe adoption across schools and higher education. It's publication in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction marks a significant milestone, given the 16% acceptance rate of the journal generally.

Future publications will report on the educational outcomes and long-term evaluation of the VR platform. Collectively, the project provides one of the first comprehensive, stakeholder-informed roadmaps for implementing VR in education, helping schools, universities, researchers, developers, and policymakers move immersive technologies from promising innovation to sustainable educational practice.