Reach Journal

Research Index

Click here to search the Rearch journal.

What is REACH journal?

REACH Journal is the journal of Special Needs Education in Ireland and is published twice yearly by the Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education. It is the associations official journal. It aims to be a resource for teachers of pupils with special needs and for other professionals through the publication of articles reflecting research findings, good practice and international perspectives. It wishes to promote co-operation and understanding between teachers across the spectrum of educational settings, including primary, post-primary schools and special schools. It aims to engage parents, service providers, policy makers and people with disabilities themselves in fruitful dialogue.

REACH Journal of Special Needs Education in Ireland also publishes papers presented at the Annual Conference for the Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education. It publishes reviews of current books and software related to special needs education. If you are interested in reviewing such material, please contact the editor. REACH Journal is FREE to members of IATSE. REACH Journal is available in Ireland’s Colleges /University Libraries.

The views or opinions expressed in REACH Journal are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Editorial Board, the Central Executive Committee of IATSE or IATSE itself.

Copyright © REACH Journal


How to write for REACH

Contributions are invited and should be typed in double spacing on A4 paper.

Articles should be approximately 2,500 words in length or 10/12 pages of type.

Text should also be emailed to reacheditor@iatse.ie, saved as a text file, naming programme used.

The Harvard style of referencing is used in this journal.

Authors referred to in the text are written as follows:
(Westwood, 2007) or … according to Westwood (2007); if quoting directly (Westwood, 2007, p.55).

Full references are listed alphabetically at the end of the article
e.g. Westwood, P. (2007) Commonsense Methods for Children, with Special Educational Needs (5th ed), London:Routledge.

Articles submitted for publication are sent anonymously to a panel of editorial advisors for assessment.

Post hard copies to:

REACH Editor,
Irish Association of Teachers in Special Education,
Drumcondra Education Centre,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.

How to subscribe to REACH journal

REACH is free to members of IATSE.

Subscription rates (including postage):

  • Ireland and UK: €25 annually; €43 for two years.
  • Rest of Europe:€30 annually; €52 for two years.
  • USA and World:€36 annually; €65 for two years.

Cheques /drafts must be made payable to REACH Journal and sent to:

  • REACH Journal Subscriptions,
  • Education Centre,
  • Drumcondra,
  • Dublin 9,
  • Ireland.
Requests for back issues may also be made to this address.

A word from the Founding Editor

Scanning the article headings of the REACH Journal of Special Needs Education in Ireland is richly illustrative of the road that special education has travelled since the first volume was published in June, 1987. The early issues of REACH Journal tell of teacher fortitude and imaginative curricular endeavours in the often uncertain environment of resource constrictions and official inaction. Unsung innovations and investigations in classroom practice and institutional change frequently shone forth as practitioners put forward their ideas and outlined their experiments in tentative but professional pride.

Side by side with research articles from fellow practitioners in related fields and news of advances in other countries, these teachers, parents and, sometimes, pupils themselves, paint a picture of emerging partnership in the quest for quality in education for all in a changing Ireland. Policy developments too are documented as commentators charted the emergence and aftermath of the Report of the Special Education Review Committee of 1993. Has any educational document been so determinedly dissected and analysed?

Annual Conference, more assured and international as each year progressed, helped channel dialogue and discussion into the challenging areas of collaboration, support and reflectivity. These movements too, are reflected in the pages of REACH Journal as we reel in the years.

As well as remembering and thanking the many authors whose names are listed, it is appropriate that this brief foreword should acknowledge the teamwork of numerous editorial boards and dedicated individuals – editorial readers, assistants, illustrators, designers, typesetters and printers who worked willingly to make the hands of REACH come together twice each year.

Seán Griffin
Editor 1987 - 1997