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Beyond individual schools they felt that the project’s impact was influenced more by word of
mouth than anything else, including media coverage. However, local education advisers and
university lecturers provided a critical role in developing local projects. The interviewee also
acknowledged support given by the History Officer within QCA and direct contacts made at
history conferences. Nevertheless, the interviewee felt that there were a number of factors that
hindered their work. Firstly, they felt that the number of government initiatives coupled with
the demise of history advisers made it difficult to promote their work in some areas.
Secondly, with both secondary schools and Local Education Authorities it was often difficult
to bring subject specialists from different subject areas together in order to support cross
subject initiatives.
How did the perceptions of the chairperson compare with those of people involved in the
Ireland in Schools project? This will be examined through looking at three mini case studies –
Case Study 1: The Nottinghamshire Secondary Phase Group; Case Study 2: The Blackpool
Secondary Phase Group 3; and Case Study 3: The Primary Phase Group. The people who
were interviewed were considered by the chairperson to be particularly active supporters of
Ireland in Schools work. However, before examining the perceptions of each of the groups it
is necessary to explain why the approach differs from the teachers in the TIDE chapter. When
examining the perceptions of teachers associated with TIDE, the intention was to explore how
far teacher perceptions in their schools compared to work they had produced for TIDE. It was
therefore felt appropriate to analyse each teacher’s contribution to TIDE and then consider
how this related to his or her perceptions of the curriculum undertaken within their school.
When considering work undertaken through Ireland in Schools it was found that the materials