Building post-primary school teachers’ capacity to support student organisational skill difficulties: A collaborative occupational therapy and education intervention

Introduction: The ability to manage time and materials effectively is foundational to post-primary students taking control of their education. For many students, organisational skill difficulties serve as a barrier to academic achievement in the high-stakes environment of post-primary education. This study explored Irish post-primary school teachers’ perspectives of student organisational difficulties and their experiences of engaging in an occupational therapy led teacher professional learning pathway aimed at building capacity to implement the Getting it Together programme. Method: An exploratory, descriptive methodology was employed. A group survey design was used, with data collected from the same group of teachers at three timepoints in 2021 to capture evolving perceptions. Convenience sampling recruited 21 post-primary teachers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results: Four themes emerged: ‘Challenges with Organisational Skills Leads to Frustration and Impacts Student Confidence’, ‘Embedding Organisational strategies into everyday teaching’, ‘Organisational skills in out-of-school contexts’ and ‘Facilitators and Barriers to implementing GIT’. These reflected teachers’ perspectives of students’ organisational skills and their experiences of engaging in an occupational therapy led teacher professional learning pathway. Conclusion: This study provides insights into how school-based occupational therapy can build educators’ capacity to implement evidence-informed strategies to support students’ organisation.