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meant that it was difficult to identify a typical Blackpool person. Consequently, the
interviewee did not use this as a case for developing either an Irish or multicultural dimension
in local schools. For the interviewee development of transferable learning skills was seen as a
particular priority given that Blackpool had to address the issue of low attainment in its
schools. This issue is supported by comparing the LEA Year 9 SATs and GCSE results with
national standards (DfES, 2006). The interviewee used the Ireland in Schools project as a
means of getting Heads of History in schools to collaborate as a team in developing thinking
skills materials. The interviewee had been able to enlist support from seven out of the eight
Heads of History in the project and was currently working with four of them. The materials,
which Ireland in Schools provided were a catalyst for their work:
My job is to get teachers working and developing strategies, and if you have got ready
made resources you can tap into, then we can look at the pedagogical side. So the
teachers don’t have to go and research. Although a lot of teachers like to do that, it is
very time consuming. It has helped me; it has given me a focus for developing [my
work] with teachers.
Teachers identified specific topics and focused on agreed thinking skill approaches.
The interviewee planned to get teachers to produce nine packs, each focusing on a different
thinking skill and aspect of Irish history. The organisation of this reflected the following
strengths and weaknesses:
What we found was the difficulty of getting them together, which is invariably a
problem with teachers, and so we found that the most practical way for us to work
would be if I were to work with each teacher individually on planning a piece of work
and then at regular stages they would come together and they would share with each
other what they had done. Now, real life inevitably takes over and out of these four
teachers I have only got one piece of work up and running.
The last point was a short-term problem rather than a long term issue, given that one of the
teachers was newly promoted and still in the early stages of their career, and two teachers had