Ireland's education system is fundamentally flawed, experts warn at ResearchEd conference

Ireland's fourth ResearchEd education conference in Bandon highlighted systemic flaws in the education system, with experts warning that current teaching and study methods are fundamentally ineffective for long-term learning. Key speakers presented evidence that common practices like highlighting text, dense PowerPoint slides, and lengthy study sessions fail to improve retention. Instead, research shows repeated quizzing, distributed 30-minute study sessions, and interleaving topics are more effective, while short-term assessment performance does not guarantee long-term learning. The conference also addressed attention in classrooms, with contrasting approaches from traditional teaching and TikTok-style engagement tactics, plus the importance of creating safe environments for student failure. Experts reiterated that AI use in student work is undetectable, questioning homework and project-based assessment value.