Convention on Education begins 21 March

The Convention on Education will begin this weekend, 21 and 22 March, the first of four weekends in 2026 that it will meet to discuss key issues about the future of education.

The Convention will comprise 150 people across 4 groups, drawing from a pool of 5,200 who applied to take part as well as the education stakeholders.

Children and young people (30 people)

Parents and guardians (30 people)

School employees and early years educators (30 people)

Education stakeholders (60 people)

Chaired by Prof Looney from Dublin City University’s Institute of Education, she is joined in the Convention secretariat by Prof Jane Suiter from DCU’s School of Communications, a recognised expert in deliberative democracy, and Shari Irfan, a student in the School of Law and Government, and former president of the Irish Secondary School Students’ Union.  

Speaking ahead of the Convention, Prof Looney said

“This convention is an enormous opportunity to look to and shape the long term future of education in Ireland.

Over 42,000 responded to the survey, answering the questions of what’s working well, what needs to change and what do we need to be doing more of and better.

I see us going back to the fundamentals of what do you learn, why do you learn it, how do you that you’ve learned it and what do people go to school for?

We’ve seen in other countries that have conducted a similar process, like Scotland, Finland, themes emerge such as mental health and wellbeing, role of technology, role of AI, and social sustainability. I imagine that these themes will feature in the Irish deliberations, but I expect that we will also have some ideas that are uniquely ours.”

You can find out more about the Convention on Education on the Department of Education website.