WHO WE ARE
Equitable Pathways Education Consultancy is an independent research, training, and consultancy company. We undertake research, support, evaluation, training and strategic planning services for agencies, organisations, schools, early childhood education settings, and other educational institutions working to support inclusion, diversity, and social change.
We offer quality support and training services, robust research and evaluation services to:
- Schools and educational institutions (such as Early Childhood Education and Care, Primary, Second level, Further Education and Training, Third Level, and Community Education)
- Community and voluntary sector organisations
- Government departments and agencies
- NGOs
- Local authorities
- Other public sector organisations
We are available to facilitate and deliver bespoke training, create curricula, develop and deliver training programmes, module design, or programme design. We also undertake research, planning, and evaluation of organisations nationwide, and can work within any budget.
Why Equitable Pathways Education Consultancy was founded
I founded this company in response to a system that, for too many people in Ireland, does not serve their own, their family’s or their community’s needs. Across early childhood, primary, post-primary, further and higher education, there are individuals and communities whose knowledge, identities, and ways of learning are marginalised or overlooked, such as neurodivergent and disabled learners, those living in poverty or come from communities who has historically experienced poverty, rural backgrounds, Traveller and migrant communities, LGBTQIA+ young people, early school leavers, adult returners, and anyone for whom dominant models of education feel inaccessible.
In a European study in 2024, Irish educators and leadership working within those sections of the education system reported a need for skills, language, and tools to equip them to support students for whom the system currently doesn’t quite suit.
Too often, success is narrowly defined, pathways are rigid, and alternative routes are undervalued or invisible; this consultancy exists to support those that seek to challenge that definition. Through research, training, programme and curriculum design, and the delivery of inclusive learning experiences, we work to create spaces where different ways of thinking, learning, and being are recognised as strengths. We design and deliver in person and online professional development programmes and webinars, develop practical resources, and facilitate staff and leadership in-service days that equip educators to respond meaningfully to inequality in their own contexts. Our work spans both formal and non-formal education, recognising that meaningful learning happens across many spaces and that equitable pathways must include opportunities within institutions as well as beyond them.
At its core, this work is grounded in lived experience. As a neurodivergent and disabled educator who has taught, led, and conducted research across all sectors of education in Ireland, Sinead brings both professional expertise and personal insight into the barriers that exist, and perhaps more importantly, the possibilities for change. This dual perspective informs a practice that is relational, critical, compassionate, and action-oriented; one that seeks not just to understand inequity, but to actively work with other institutions and NGO’s to dismantle it and build alternatives.
Sinead