Episodes
Saturday Apr 25, 2020
Saturday Apr 25, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's episode I speak to Professor Yong Zhao from the School of Education at the University of Kansas. Among the topics we discuss on the episode are the following:
- We currently have the opportunity to reimagine education without schools: Do we have to do these subjects? Do we have to teach this much?
- A good time to teach global understanding, empathy and competency
- Innovation in education
- The importance of having an entrepreneurial mindset
- The Digital Pencil
- Alternative ways of organising the education of young people
- Difficulty of finding like-minded people in a small school
- Globalisation as the “death of physical distance”
- Globalisation is localisation of global forces
- Implications of globalisation for teachers
- Why everyone should have a local identity and affirm the identities of others
- Your uniqueness can only become valuable when it’s valuable to others
- Why schools encourage people to be independent and selfish rather than interdependent
- Schools as a place to bring about a better society
- Students as job creators versus job hunters
- Enhancing entrepreneurship in students
- Unintended consequences of education policies
- PISA test scores and the illusions of excellence, science, progress.
- His experience of being educated in China
- The impact of technology on education
- To compete with a machine, a person must avoid becoming one!
- Be unique and great in your own way; understand yourself, your talents and virtues.
- "Creative" means identifying problems worth solving
- Empty creativity versus good creativity – the need to have a domain to excel in
- What schools should be for: a place to equalise community resources
- David Berliner and Bruce J. Biddle The Manufactured Crisis.
- David Berliner as a former guest on the podcast
- Diane Ravitch’s blog: https://dianeravitch.net/
- If we want a better life in the future, we need to help our children create a better life for us
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
Programme 397, Alfie Kohn on Homework, Testing, Rewards and More (15-4-20)
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
Wednesday Apr 15, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's podcast I bring you my interview with Alfie Kohn, who writes and speaks about education, especially in areas such as homework, standardised testing and punishments and rewards. Among the items we discuss on the podcast are the following:
- Fostering students’ curiosity and encouraging them to think deeply
- Teachers participating with children in an exploration of ideas to move beyond factual knowledge
- How teachers can teach to promote students’ thinking
- The inverse relationship between teacher control and student learning
- Why learning starts with a question
- John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Ed Deci and Richard Ryan (Self-determination theory)
- Why rewards and punishment don’t help children learn
- Why saying “Good job” to your students is the equivalent of a “verbal doggy biscuit”
- Children who are frequently praised are less generous than their peers
- How children know when they’re being controlled and how they respond to it
- How teachers can respond to students’ work and respect the child’s autonomy
- Implementing a no-homework policy in a school
- Why he believes that giving homework to children constitutes malpractice.
- Excitement (about learning) drives excellence
- Standardised tests and teacher accountability; Authentic assessments – tap into projects done by students over time
- Why standardised teaching tells you only two things: (i) how much time was given to teaching test taking and (ii) how big the houses are near the school.
- Differences between role of parent and teacher: Unconditional parenting and unconditional teaching
- Punished by Rewards
- Unconditional Parenting
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Programme 396, Education about Health and Nutrition (8-4-20)
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Wednesday Apr 08, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
One thing that often surprises me is how difficult it is for teachers to have an impact on students' health. It's not as if there aren't enough efforts through the curriculum and through various commercial ventures to promote health in schools. This week I look at some interesting research articles about education, health and nutrition and I identify six lessons that teachers might keep in mind if they want to think about educating children about health and nutrition in a way that will stick.
The programme is based on research articles that are listed below. The main points raised are:
- Health and nutrition in the primary and post-primary school curricula in Ireland
- Why a teacher’s example matters: Perikkou, A., Gavrieli, A., Kougioufa, M-M., Tzirkali, M., Yannakoulia, M. (2013). A novel approach for increasing fruit consumption in children. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113: 1188-1193.
- Promoting cooking competence after school: Jarpe-Ratner, E., Folkens, S., Sharma, S., Daro, D., & Edens, N.K. (2016). An experiential cooking and nutrition education program increases cooking self-efficacy and vegetable consumption in children in grades 3-8. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 48(10), 697 – 705.
- Boost students’ academic performance through sleep education: Gruber, R., Somerville, G., Bergmame, L., Fontil, L., & Paguin, S. (2016). School-based sleep education program improves sleep and academic performance of school-age children. Sleep Medicine, 21, 93-100.
- Alienation from and hiding in physical education class: Carlson, T.B. (1995). We hate gym: Student alienation from physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. 14: 467-477 and Lyngstad, I., Hagen, P-M., Aune, O. (2016). Understanding pupils’ hiding techniques in physical education. Sport, Education and Society, 21(8): 1127-1143.
- Eliminate or change treats: Shan, L.C., McCafferty, C., Tatlow-Golden, M., O’Rourke, C., Mooney, R., Livingstone, M.B.E., Pourshahidi, L.K., Corish, C., Kearney, J.M., Wall, P., & Murrin, C. Is it still a real treat? Adults’ treat provision to children. Appetite. 2018; 130: 228-235.
- Changing food habits consistently in multiple dimensions over a sustained period of time. Merrotsy, A., McCarthy, A.L., Flack, J., Lacey, S., & Coppinger, T. Project Spraoi: A two-year longitudinal study on the effectiveness of a school-based nutrition and physical activity intervention on dietary intake, nutritional knowledge and markers of health of Irish schoolchildren. Public Health Nutr. 2019; 22(13), 2489-2499.
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Programme 395, Home Education Network (31-3-20)
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I speak to Lorna Tormey and Pauline O'Reilly from the Home Education Network. Both Lorna and Pauline have decided to educate their children at home and the share the experience for the benefit of listeners who might be interested in doing the same, in the immediate term or in the future. Among the various topics we discuss are:
- Why they began home educating their children
- A typical day of home educating
- Unschooling
- Autonomous Education
- John Holt
- Not following a specific curriculum
- A weekly routine that constantly changes
- Giving up a career to home educate
- Choices about secondary schooling and going to university
- Learning algebra
- How different families approach home education
- Helpful sources of information for home education
- Steiner Education (bringing together hands, heart and head)
- Dealing with challenge
- Dealing with boredom
- How active parents are as home educators as children grow older
- Difficult days and creating space for parents’ own projects
- Support of the Home Education Network
- Opportunities for children to socialise with other children
- Play-based learning
- World schooling
- Advice for parents who are currently involved in involuntary home education
- Deschooling
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Podcast 394, Ciara Reilly with a Guide to Teaching Online (23-3-20)
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I speak to my colleague in Marino Institute of Education, Ciara Reilly, about ideas for teaching online and offline while schools are closed. The initial impetus for our discussion was a padlet wall that Ciara developed to support teachers and which is available here. But our conversation covered many additional topics including the following:
- Where to start in online teaching and learning at primary school in particular.
- Digital Learning Framework.
- The value of having children work as a group rather than individually
- Use a timetable with children
- Singapore experience
- Acceptable Use Policies
- What teachers expect from students
- Planning for the future and online learning
- Risk of children spending too much time on screen
- The value of children being bored
- Use of iPads and use of textbooks
- Exam preparation for post-primary students
- Things you can do offline
- Hashtag for teachers to use on Twitter: #edshareie
And Ciara discusses many resources available to teachers and their students including the following:
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- Padlet
- Google Classroom
- Skype Classroom
- Zoom
- Google hangouts
- Aladdin
- Classdojo
- G-Suite for Education
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Docs
- Cúla4
- Quiver 3D
- Gonoodle
- RTE 10 at 10
- Body Coach, PE with Joe
- Bebras
- Khan Academy
- Epic Reading App
- Teach your monster to read
- Geoguessr
- Science Foundation Ireland
- Active School Flag and Run around Ireland challenge
- Seesaw
- Edmodo
- Webwise
- TikTok
- Net Nanny
- Apple Classroom
- Watchkin
- Twinkl
- CJ Fallon
- EdCo
- Folens
- PDST Distance Learning Resources
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Podcast 393, Professor Kathy Hall (11-3-20)
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Wednesday Mar 11, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I'm delighted to speak to Professor Kathy Hall from University College Cork. In a wide-ranging discussion about teaching, teacher education, research and policy, the topics raised include the following:
- Becoming a primary teacher in Carysfort College
- Doing a Bachelor in Arts degree in University College Dublin, with many other primary teachers, followed by a H.Dip
- Returning to Carysfort to do a postgraduate diploma course in special educational needs
- Starting a Masters degree in Trinity College, transferring to complete and PhD and becoming a teacher educator in Christchurch Canterbury College
- Moving to Leeds Metropolitan University and subsequently to the Open University and two years later to University College Cork
- Her doctoral dissertation on the topic of discovery learning and first language learning
- Her book, Listening to Stephen Read and its implications for teaching reading
- Why some children leave school with limited literacy
- The relationship between policy and teaching literacy
- How the market influences education in Ireland
- Assessing student teachers’ preparedness to teach literacy
- Summative and formative Assessment – Black and William Important Review on Formative Assessment
- Can anyone teach?
- The relationship between skills, practice and reflection in teaching
- School and University roles in teacher education
- The unifying theme across all her research
- Discourse analysis as a research method and what you can learn about classrooms from using this method. In this framework she refers to the IRF – initiation, response and feedback – pattern of classroom interaction.
- Doctoral research topics
- How different opportunities to learn can exist within the same classroom
- Problems with competitive classrooms
- Advice she would give the Minister for Education
- Etienne Wenger Communities of Practice book
- Tara Westover Educated
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Podcast 392, Darren Ralston from The Ed Narrative Podcast (4-3-20)
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Wednesday Mar 04, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
This week's podcast is a collaborative one with Darren Ralston from The Ed Narrative podcast. Darren was in Ireland to present a workshop at the annual conference of the Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI), which was held in Athlone on Saturday last. Among the topics we discuss on the podcast are the following:
- Integrating technology into one’s teaching
- The difference between an instructional coach and a learning technology integrator
- Using virtual reality in the classroom, using Google Expeditions
- How instructional coaches are organised in US schools
- Becoming, and working as, an instructional coach
- Managing his workload as a coach
- Comparing mentoring and coaching as interpreted in his setting
- How he got into teaching
- How he teaches literature
- How he chooses literature to teach
- Teaching drama – using comedic improvisation
- Brave New World
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Starting The Ed Narrative Podcast
- Equipment used for podcasting
- Selecting guests for podcats
- Neil Postman
Wednesday Feb 26, 2020
Podcast 391, Finbarr Hurley on European Schools and School Leadership (26-2-20)
Wednesday Feb 26, 2020
Wednesday Feb 26, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I interview Finbarr Hurley about his experience teaching in some European Schools and about his thoughts on leadership. He is currently working as a Coordinator with the Centre for School Leadership. Among the topics we discuss on the podcast are the following:
- Wanting to teach from a young age
- His experience in Mary Immaculate College
- Proving yourself as a teacher when you begin in a school
- The importance of changing career post every 5-6 years
- The importance of figuring out what makes children tick
- Teaching in Cork and Teaching in Brussels
- Designing a classroom of the future
- A synopsis of the European Schools system
- Learning from working alongside teachers from other countries
- Moving to an International School in Qatar
- Working with teaching coaches
- Involving children in parent-teacher meetings
- Teaching without textbooks
- Bringing members of a circus in to work with his students in Germany
- Identifying what is valued in a school, across the school community
- Challenges of being a principal in Ireland
- Providing continuous professional development (CPD) for principals and principals’ needs for CPD
- Why it’s okay for principals to fail (the first attempt at learning)
- One of his own principals
- Simon Senek (Be the last to speak)
- Andy Hargreaves
- Book: Wholesome Leadership
- Luke Jefferson Day, editor of GQ Magazine in London.
- Simone Marchetti – creativity outside of education
- The value of sofas in classsrooms
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Podcast 390, Liz Dunphy on Early Childhood Education (19-2-20)
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I speak to Dr. Liz Dunphy, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in Dublin City University's Institute of Education about her work. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
- Choosing a career in teaching over one in law
- Becoming interested in early childhood education
- Childcare and the growth of love by John Bowlby
- Her first teaching job
- Doing a Masters degree in education in Trinity College Dublin
- Offering professional development for teachers through the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation
- Children’s early experience of number as seen through a socio-cultural lens
- Looking at how the work of educational researchers complement each other rather than adopting a more polarised approach.
- Her research on early childhood education: mathematics, curriculum, and assessment
- How the area of early childhood education has evolved nationally and internationally over Liz’s career in education to date
- Play, Playful pedagogy, and playfulness
- James McGarrigle – psychologist and a student of Margaret Donaldson
- Why international models of early childhood education cannot be imported directly to Ireland
- Jerome Bruner
- Reggio Emilia model of early childhood education
- Why developments in the last five years have been positive for early childhood education and care
- Choosing a pre-school for your child
- The transition from non-compulsory to compulsory education
- The qualities she looks for in early childhood education practice
- The Katie Morag books with Mairi Hedderwick
- How teachers and children can establish a “shared world”
- Understanding the child from the perspective of their family
- Mathematics with reason: The emergent approach to primary mathematics by Sue Atkinson:
- Assessment and record keeping in early childhood education settings
- Vivian Gussin Paley Mollie is Three. The Boy Who Would be a Helicopter. White Teacher was also mentioned: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88364.White_Teacher
- The Erikson Institute
- Herb Ginsburg
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Podcast 389, Karen Edge on Generation X Leaders in Education (12-2-20)
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I speak to Dr. Karen Edge who is a Reader in Educational Leadership at the University College London Institute of Education. Karen Edge was a keynote speaker at the 2020 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network, the IPPN. Among the topics we discussed were the following:
- Helping principals make their job meaningful
- Constraints on principals working on teaching and learning and working with students and teachers include: to be accountable, to share information, manage data, manage external relations
- How principals can live a full life outside of work and be a leader in their work
- Helping principals align their professional priorities with what students, teachers and parents expect of them
- Supporting a new generation of principals from Generation X (born from 1965 to 1980) in schools designed for Baby Boomer principals who have now retired or who are retiring (those born from 1946 to 1964)
- Collaborative decision making and Generation X leaders
- How leadership in education differs across countries and continents and how this is influenced by being an adult in the wider society (and why borrowing policies from other countries may not work in the same way here).
- Rewards of being principal
- Why “being busy” is not a badge of honour
- How schools can productively partner with schools in other countries
Among the people she mentioned on the podcast were the following:
- Dan Freedman- book series Jamie Johnson
- Judy Goldberg and Wondershift
- Viv Grant