Over 200 first year pupils from four post-primary schools across Limerick, Galway and Kerry gathered at (UL) to take part in the inaugural ‘NEEDS’ Schools Conference – a unique event celebrating student-led learning and democratic education.
Hosted by UL’s School of Education, the event brought together students, teachers, researchers, and key figures from the education sector to mark a significant milestone in the Negotiating the Essentials for Education in Democratic Societies (NEEDS) research project.
A first of its kind, the NEEDS project aims to demonstrate and research practical approaches to education through democracy involving authentic student voice and agency.
NEEDS enables Junior Cycle students to co-create their learning experiences by designing short courses that address real-world issues that matter most to them.
Showcasing their projects at the event were St Michael's College Listowel, Co Kerry; Galway Educate Together Secondary School, Co Galway; Coláiste Iósaef Community College, Kilmallock, Co Limerick; and John the Baptist Community School, Hospital, Co Limerick.
Topics explored by the school students included social media’s effect on mental health, farm safety and mental health, homelessness, surviving the first year of secondary school, the impact of sport on climate change, and challenges in public transport.
Throughout the day, students and teachers shared their learning and experiences through poster exhibitions, oral presentations and short videos.
Dr John O’Reilly, Associate Professor at UL’s School of Education and Principal Investigator on the NEEDS project said: “This process empowers students to shape what, how and why they learn to support meaningful engagement with issues that really matter to them.
“Often this involves ‘wicked’ problems that are difficult to resolve such as homelessness, climate change, mental health and issues that are resistant to simple solutions.
“Students have time to come to understand the nature of these complex issues and, in time, the space to take small, local action that can raise community awareness and enable change.
“As such, NEEDS represents a paradigm shift in the purpose of education, where schools can become knowledge generators in their communities. Such fundamentally democratic purposes do not otherwise exist in formal national and international curricula,” he added.
Éabha Hughes, PhD researcher with the NEEDS project, said: "The inaugural NEEDS conference showed that when we give students a real voice in their education and empower them to take charge of what, how, and why they learn, the results are extraordinary.
“These young people aren’t just learning differently; they’re redefining the purpose of education. They're showing that student-led democratic education isn’t just a concept, it can be a powerful, practical pathway to real transformation."
Through frequent school visits, classroom observations, teacher interviews, student and teacher focus groups and student surveys, initial findings from the research suggest the development of shared responsibility and positive mutual interdependence amongst students.
One first year student remarked: “It's like you can express yourself more. You're learning and you get to learn from the students as well as teachers. In most classrooms, you're sort of just getting information from the teachers and not from your peers and the other students, but in negotiated learning you've got to hear from the teachers and the students both, together.”
Another added: "It helps us understand the world around us and it's not about learning straight from a book, it's about taking action."
Nine teachers are involved in the NEEDS project across the four participating schools.
Noel Ryan, teacher from Coláiste Iósaef, Kilmallock said: "I'll be very honest that from a teacher's perspective, we're used to being at the top of the room, the expert in our fields, there to impart knowledge on the students. But now it's a situation where I'm not the expert, I'm along on the journey with them. I was as blind as my students heading into it, and with that, it changed my perception of what you have to do to really facilitate learning as opposed to dictate it."
Leanne O’Toole, teacher from Galway Educate Together Secondary School said: "It places students at the heart of their own education, encouraging collaboration between teachers and students to shape the content, the methods and assessment rather than following a reduced, predetermined syllabus."
NEEDS represents a student-centred approach to curriculum co-construction and democratic education, aligning with global education priorities around student wellbeing, Global Citizenship Education, and the Competencies for Democratic Culture.
NEEDS has already drawn strong national support, with collaboration from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), WorldWise Global Schools, Oide, and school leadership organisations including the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools and the Joint Managerial Body (JMB).
This research is funded by Research Ireland through the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship.
For more information on the NEEDS project visit .
