When one examines the traditional pattern of the study of Education in modern Ireland, one is struck by its very chequered history. There have been periods of breakthrough, promise and serious concern for its promotion. These were succeeded, however, by long valley-periods where the approach to the subject was unimaginative, instrumental and intellectually shallow. It is a topic on which there has been very little published research. Yet, it can be argued that the strength or weakness of Educational Studies has an intimate bearing on the quality of the education system. Educational Studies and teacher education are again under appraisal in contemporary Ireland, with two reviews of teacher education recently completed, the imminent establishment of a Teaching Council and Ireland's involvement with two contemporaneous international studies--the OECD's "Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers" and the EU's Study Group of the Lisbon Objectives on the "Education of Teachers and Trainers" (2002-2004). This synoptic paper attempts to identify the key approaches to the study of Education, to give some evaluation of them and to establish a perspective from which current developments in the subject can be assessed.