An Irish perspective on education for all who value teaching
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 30, 2019
Wednesday Jan 30, 2019
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune by David Vesey.
This week I bring you the first of my interviews recorded at the 2019 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. The theme of the conference was Sustainable Leadership: Challenges and Opportunities. My interview today is with the Chief Executive Officer of the Network, Páiric Clerkin. Among the various topics discussed this week are:
- Relief from teaching duties on one day a week for teaching principals
- Restoration of posts of responsibility in larger schools
- Establishment of the Primary Education Forum (Calendar of reform)
- Problems in schools arising from children who are homeless or in direct provision
- His priorities for the year ahead (mentoring and the Centre for School Leadership; redeveloping online services)
- Members’ positive response to the address by the Minister for Education and Skills
- Applying for a position as School Principal
- Prioritising for principals and making school leadership "doable"
- Teachers’ developing their expertise in areas they’re passionate about
- Transitioning into the role of CEO of the IPPN
- The writings of Andy Hargreaves
Wednesday Jan 23, 2019
Wednesday Jan 23, 2019
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune by David Vesey
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Paul O'Donnell, Principal of St. Patrick's National School in Slane. Among the topics we discuss on this week's programme are:
- His work with the CPSMA
- Numbers applying for principalship
- Principals acting as gatekeepers
- Challenges of being a principal with full teaching duties
- What schools are for (and a sense of place)
- What inspires him
- Being outdoors in poor weather
- Outdoor education in the United States
- Questions to ask yourself before applying for principalship
- Favourite book, writer
Among the books he recommends are The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli and Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday on leadership and Messy Maths by Juliet Robertson. He follows Tom Bennett (@tombennett71) and Pasi Sahlberg (@pasi_sahlberg) on Twitter.
Wednesday Jan 16, 2019
Wednesday Jan 16, 2019
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune by David Vesey
On this week's programme I speak to Paul O'Donnell who is principal of St. Patrick's National School in Slane, Co. Meath. He is the author of Wild Teaching: Cross-curricular Lessons Outdoors for Agoraphobic Teachers which is published by Meath County Council. Among the topics we discussed are:
- How his upbringing fostered a love of the outdoors
- The influence of Paddy Madden on his work as a teacher
- How tempting it is to teach indoors all the time
- Having students gather resources for lessons
- Specific lessons in Wild Teaching
- Making the transition from teaching to being principal
- Challenges of principalship
- Eliciting voices of children in running the school
- Learning about life and death through keeping hens in school
- The school garden
- Minimising rubbish in the school
- Earning six green flags for the school
Wednesday Jan 09, 2019
Wednesday Jan 09, 2019
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune David Vesey
On this week's programme I speak to two teacher educators, Anja Swennen from the University of Amsterdam and Professor Kay Livingston from the University of Glasgow. Kay Livingston talks about innovative teaching with specific reference to a cross-European research study she is conducting with colleagues in her Research Development Community of the Association of Teacher Education in Europe. Anja Swennen continues the discussion which was begun on last week's programme and among the topics discussed are the following:
- How she goes about her work as a scholar of the history of education
- Using “memorial books” to write about the history of institutions
- Teacher education in the Netherlands during the Second World War.
- Returning to “normal” after the Second World War
- Teachers who had significant impacts on her
- How her father inspires her
- Why she likes the work of Michael Apple and especially his book Education and Power and John Loughran, whose book is titled Developing a pedagogy of teacher education: Understanding Teaching & Learning about Teaching.
Wednesday Jan 02, 2019
Wednesday Jan 02, 2019
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
Theme music by David Vesey
On this week's programme I discuss teacher education with Anja Swennen from the VU University, Amsterdam. I met up with her at the annual conference of the Association for Teacher Education of Europe in Gavle, Sweden in August 2018. Among the topics we discuss in this part of the interview are the following:
- Jean Murray’s idea of first-order and second-order practitioner
- The move from expert teacher to novice teacher educator
- Recruiting a teacher educator
- The curriculum for a course in Teacher Education
- Preparing for registration as a Teacher Educator in the Netherlands
- Identity of Teacher Educators (Subject specialist; pedagogue; a teacher in higher education; researcher; and teacher)
- Teacher Educators and researching practice and research in schools
- How history of education can help teachers understand their work