HAPPEE - Health Alliances for Practice-Based Professional Education and Engagement

The HAPPEE initiative is designed to improve outcomes for children and families living in the regeneration communities by facilitating UL students from the disciplines of physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy to complete their professional placements in the schools. The students provide collaborative, evidence-based and best practice therapy supports to the pupils and school, which complement existing HSE-funded essential therapy services. This innovative interprofessional education approach is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a key strategy to address current complex challenges in healthcare. Following best practice and with professional supervision, the UL students work with the schools to provide co-designed interventions using a multi-tiered 'continuum of support' model as described by the National Council for Special Education (NCSE).

Children attending schools in Limerick regeneration communities have been identified due their higher level of need as families in may have more difficulty accessing health services. These placements represent international best practice as they involve interprofessional education with students from different disciplines learning to work together in their respective professions. These interventions benefit the community by increasing early identification of pupils’ needs, reducing non-attendance for interventions, and providing services in communities with community support. The project also benefits UL by creating new and sustainable student placements.

Corpus Christi Primary School; Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy, Le Chéile National School, Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Our Lady Queen of Peace National School, St. Mary's National School, St Gabriel's Foundation, the School of Allied Health, UL; UL Engage, Limerick City and County Council, the Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation (MGCF). 

The project is project is designed in accordance with an Engaged Research / Participatory Health research design. Governance arrangements involve all stakeholders, and the project is subject to continuous review. An independent evaluation of HAPPEE was sponsored by a successful What Works funding award (June 2023 – Dec 2024) from the Dept of Children, Disability and Equality: HAPPEE - Evidencing Clinical health supports to improve primary school educational & health outcomes. Hickey, B.   It was singled out as an exemplar of good practice by the OECD review of Ireland, 2024 and won the s described as 'transformational' and a 'game changer' by participating schools. In 2024 HAPPEE won the Irish Healthcare Award for 'Innovation in Primary Care'

UL is the only university in Ireland providing interprofessional education for students on placement. In-school professional placements enable students to be fully immersed in the education setting, learning about the importance of effective collaboration between clinicians, therapists and teachers to best meet the needs of the pupils in their placement schools. Working in partnership with class teachers and special education teachers, students will learn in an interprofessional setting, which follows best practice guidelines from the World Health Organisation.

During their placements, UL students work across disciplines to learn their own scope of practice and how to collaborate with other professionals in complementing the continuum of support in schools and working towards a full-service extended model of education and health supports on school campuses (LCCC IAG, 2021). The project aims to build the capacity of the school to identify and support students with special educational needs. Obtaining experience in schools and achieving clinical competencies in the education setting provides students with the training that they need to align with contemporary changes in service delivery.

Students will work in collaboration with class teachers and special education teachers to implement an evidence-based programme of interventions, which will be tailored to support the needs of classes within their placement school.

Student placements will be supported by UL Practice Tutors and the relevant clinical supervisors who will ensure that their professional experience accords with the clinical standards set by their professional regulatory body (CORU).

In 2024, an independent evaluation of HAPPEE was sponsored by a successful What Works funding award (June 2023 – Dec 2024) from the Dept of Children, Disability and Equality: HAPPEE - Evidencing Clinical health supports to improve primary school educational & health outcomes. Hickey, B.   

In 2025, we undertook a scoping review to assess the gaps in knowledge concerning allied health interventions in primary schools (publication is currently in progress).

From Autumn 2025, HAPPEE interventions have been included in a larger scale multi-cohort longitudinal study to assess children’s acquisition and development of age-appropriate skills (see: PRIME).

We are now seeking EMERGE Fellows to carry out case study vignettes of specific HAPPEE school programmes and interventions. 

Despite a range of research activities concerning HAPPEE, we do not have any case study research. The community-based inter-professional placements provided by HAPPEE are quite unique and we think that they would benefit from practice-based case study research and reporting.

Corpus Christi Primary School; Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy, Le Chéile National School, Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, Our Lady Queen of Peace National School, St. Mary's National School, St Gabriel's Foundation, the School of Allied Health, UL; UL Engage, Limerick City and County Council, the Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation (MGCF). 

This research will be supported by academics participating in HAPPEE and PRIME projects from the Department of Politics and Public Administration, and the Department of Sociology

The project is designed in accordance with an Engaged Research / Participatory Health research design protocols. Governance arrangements involve all stakeholders, and the project is subject to continuous review. 

Annual Reports on outputs and outcomes are submitted to all project stakeholders and funders including: the HAPPEE Advisory Board and Implementation Group; Limerick City and County Council, Economic and Social Intervention Fund (ESIF); Michael Guinee Charitable Foundation (MGCF). Updates on project progress available via a series of policy briefings (available in the resources tab).