[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-588680-105":59,"doc-detail-588680-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","complex-contexts-women-and-community-higher-education-in-ireland","Complex Contexts: Women and community-higher-education in Ireland","","Education is argued to be a non-neutral force that can enforce conformity or enable liberation and social change. The paper traces how, since Ireland’s 1831 National School system, Catholic influence shaped a gendered, conformist education landscape, supported by exclusion, coercion, and control. It then documents women’s challenges to mainstream access, including within the academy, and their creation of innovative adult and community education to promote empowerment and confront inequities, with a focused lens on community higher education in Ireland.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/complex-contexts-women-and-community-higher-education-in-ireland/588680/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/complex-contexts-women-and-community-higher-education-in-ireland/588680.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Rizky","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the paper argue that education is not neutral?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues education can establish and maintain conformity or function as part of liberation and social change. Power is exercised through exclusion, coercion, and control, while education can also support empowerment.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the paper describe the Catholic Church’s role in Irish education?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It states that from the National School introduction in 1831 onward, Catholic influence characterized the education system with a gendered and conformist nature.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What actions did women take to challenge the established education system?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Women demanded full and equal access to mainstream education at all levels, including in the academy, and they pioneered innovative and radical forms of adult and community education to empower individuals and communities.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},588680,1792161777,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962085564807,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Complex Contexts: Women and  \ncommunity-higher-education in Ireland  \naideen quilty, mary mcauliffe & ursula barry, university college of dublin  \nAbstract  \nEducation is not a neutral process, it can be used to establish and maintain conformity or be part of a process of liberation and social change (Freire, 1979; hooks, 1994) . The Irish State’s failure to acknowledge this lack of neutrality has characterised the formal education system in Ireland since its inception. From the introduction of the National School System of education in 1831 to the present day, the ruling force of the Catholic Church within education is evidenced in the gendered and conformist nature of this formal education landscape. Systems of privilege have been maintained and reproduced through education, in which power is exercised by means of exclusion, coercion and control. However, simultaneously individuals and groups of women have challenged this formal, religiously infused conformist education system. Their demands for full and equal access to mainstream education at all levels, including within the academy, served to challenge this hegemonic force. They also pioneered the development of innovative and radical forms of adult and community education as a means toward individual and community empowerment. This paper seeks to highlight women’s educational interventions historically and socially through an explicit gendered lens and with a particular focus on community-higher-education.  \nKeywords: community-higher-education, historical context, gender, women, access, widening participation, societal inequality, feminism  \nIntroduction  \nEducation is not a neutral process, it can be used to establish and maintain conformity or be part of a process of liberation and social change (Freire, 1979; hooks, 1994) . The Irish State’s failure to acknowledge this lack of neutrality has characterised the formal education system since its inception. From the  \nintroduction of the National School system of education in 1831 to the present day, the ruling force of the Catholic Church within education is evidenced in the conformist nature of this formal education landscape. Maintained through systems of privilege, it exercises power through exclusion, coercion and control. However, simultaneously individuals and groups of women have challenged this formal, religiously infused conformist education system at all levels. Their demands for full and equal access to mainstream education, including within the academy, served to challenge this hegemonic force. Focusing on education’s liberatory and transformational potential, women’s demands provoked challenges to established knowledge hierarchies, pedagogic processes and power relations. In addition to challenging this formal education system, they also pioneered the development of innovative and radical forms of adult and community education as a means towards individual and community empowerment (Connolly et al., 2007; AONTAS, 2010). Over time this level of provision has developed to include in/non-formal education in addition to accredited learning at further and higher levels, spanning levels one to eight in the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) . This paper seeks to highlight women’s educational interventions historically and socially with an emphasis on the particular context of community higher education in Ireland, women’s role in forging this important educational space and in challenging systemic inequities and exclusions within higher education.  \nComplex Historical Contexts  \nThe National School system of education was introduced to Ireland in 1831, and although planned to ‘unite in one system children of different creeds’, it soon took on a denominational character. Under pressure from the various churches ‘Government concessions…ensured that by mid-century over ninety per cent of national schools in Ireland were under denominational management’ (INTO, 1991) . From the beginning this national sys","cbCairpQkPjjwQ8u","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairpQkPjjwQ8u","pdf",110760,17,"English","# Introduction\n## Complex Historical Contexts","[{\"question\":\"Why does the paper argue that education is not neutral?\",\"answer\":\"It argues education can establish and maintain conformity or function as part of liberation and social change. Power is exercised through exclusion, coercion, and control, while education can also support empowerment.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper describe the Catholic Church’s role in Irish education?\",\"answer\":\"It states that from the National School introduction in 1831 onward, Catholic influence characterized the education system with a gendered and conformist nature.\"},{\"question\":\"What actions did women take to challenge the established education system?\",\"answer\":\"Women demanded full and equal access to mainstream education at all levels, including in the academy, and they pioneered innovative and radical forms of adult and community education to empower individuals and communities.\"}]","Complex Contexts: Women and community-higher-education in Ireland | PDF",1792065731,43]