By Robert Hannan, PhD candidate.  

Supervisors Dr Niamh Laferty; Prof Patricia Mannix McNamara 

Summary Bullet points 

• Ireland’s population has changed quickly, and classrooms now reflect a wide mix of cultures, languages, and identities—but school leadership does not.  

• Although policies promise fairness and equity in hiring, the teaching and leadership workforce remains mostly white, Irish, and Catholic.  

• Barriers such as recognising overseas qualifications and Irish language requirements limit who can enter the teaching profession and progress to leadership.  

• Informal cultural practices—such as who is encouraged to apply or seen as a “good fit”—reinforce the same types of leaders over time.  

• Ireland faces a leadership crisis, making it even more important to widen access to leadership roles and build a more diverse pipeline for the future. 

Ireland has changed quickly. In the space of a couple of decades, a country long associated with emigration has become a country shaped by in-migration, dual heritage, multilingualism, and a much more complex sense of who belongs. Walk into many classrooms now, particularly in urban areas, and you will see that change in real time. Pupils bring a wide range of languages, cultures, family histories, faiths, and identities. That is the Ireland we now live in. But step into the staffroom, or look at who tends to lead schools, and the picture often feels stuck in an older version of our country. 

This is the core tension my research takes seriously: the theory-practice gap. On paper and in policy, Irish education is committed to equity, fairness, and transparent promotional processes. Frameworks talk about inclusion and shared responsibility. Recruitment and selection are supposed to be competency-based and objective. The language is strong and the intent is clear. However, the workforce that teaches and leads in schools remains largely homogenous. That matters, not because representation is a box-ticking exercise, but because schools are social institutions. They rely on legitimacy, on trust, and on a basic sense that the people making decisions understand the communities in which they serve. When pupils rarely see themselves reflected in authority, it quietly shapes what feels possible and showcases what is accessible to them, or in this case, overtly inaccessible. 

So why does the gap persist? Part of the answer is structural. If you trained abroad, getting your qualifications recognised can be difficult. At primary level, Irish language requirements can be an additional barrier. These are not small details. They shape who can enter teaching in the first place, and if the entry point is narrow, the leadership pipeline becomes narrower again over time. Another part is cultural, and this is where things become uncomfortable. Even in systems with formal procedures, informal processes still matter. Who is encouraged to apply. Who is seen as leadership material. Who is perceived to “fit”. When selection panels privilege familiarity, they can end up reproducing the same leadership identities again and again. Merit is not a neutral concept if the yardstick was built around one dominant norm – white, Irish and Catholic. 

There is also the question of what counts as diversity. Conversations often centre on gender and race and indeed the intersectionality of the two, but other dimensions are easily sidelined: social class, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and more. That selective focus can create a narrow version of equity, where certain differences are visible and discussable, while others are ignored. Diversity issues are further compounded by the intersectionality of two or more of these diversities for potential candidates.  

All of this is happening at a time when Ireland has a leadership and staffing crisis. Senior roles are demanding, workloads are high, and burnout is real. If schools are struggling to attract leaders, it becomes even more important to widen the pool of who sees leadership as realistic and worthwhile. Diversity is not separate from sustainability. It is part of it. The argument here is simple: Ireland cannot claim to be preparing pupils for contemporary society while its leadership pathways reflect yesterday’s demographics. Closing the theory-practice gap means looking beyond policy statements and into the everyday mechanics of promotion, culture, and access. If the country has changed, our schools need to catch up. This cannot happen overnight, with career pathways to leadership roles in schools taking a prolonged period of time, this is a long term project of attracting more diverse candidates into ITE and encouraging them into leadership roles, if they so wish to pursue this narrow path.  

Readers can read more about Roberts work here: 

Hannan, R., Lafferty, N., & McNamara, P. M. (2025). Perceptions of Diversity in School Leadership Promotions: An Initial Exploratory Study in the Republic of Ireland. Societies, 15(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15100277  

  

Hannan, R., Lafferty, N., & McNamara, P. M. (2025). Exploring diversity in principal promotions: A systematic review of global trends and challenges. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432251380163  

  

Hannan, R., Lafferty, N., & McNamara, P. M. (2025). Gendered Perceptions of Diversity in Educational Leadership Promotions in Irish Schools: A Quantitative Study. Education Sciences, 15(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15101323  

Hannan, R., Lafferty, N., & Mannix McNamara, P. (2023). Leadership Opportunities in the School Setting: A Scoping Study on Staff Perceptions. Societies, 13(5), 129. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13050129