An Irish perspective on education for all who value teaching
Episodes
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
My guest on the podcast this week is Dr. Pam Moran who is the Executive Director of the Virginia School Consortium for Learning and is a former superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools.
Among the points we discussed in the podcast were the following:
- The role of a superintendent in US education
- Desmos software that is used to teach mathematics.
- The reintroduction of maker skills into US education in response to narrow testing and the benefits of it
MAKER LEARNING
- Students who take making courses
- Safety in maker learning
- Involving the wider family in maker learning
- How maker learning is reflected in the school curriculum
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
- Her thoughts on professional development that works best for teachers
- Professional development to help teachers teach online
- Flipgrid
EDUCATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
- What schools need to do to be more relevant to the twenty-first century (automation, climate change, working from home, demographic changes, superficial learning for tests)
- Edward Hess books: Learn or Die, Humility is the New Smart and Hyper Learning: Learning at the speed of change)
- How she would reform the mathematics and science curriculum to make it more relevant for students
- The book she co-authored, Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools. Reimagining education using zero-based thinking
- Ira Socol.
- Yong Zhao episode on Inside Education.
- Catherine Cronin's interview on Inside Education.
- Pam O’Brien, Mags Almond, John Heffernan.
- Maya Angelou, Séamus Heaney
- Stories from the Pandemic.
- Website of Pam Moran and Ira Socol
Wednesday Sep 25, 2019
Wednesday Sep 25, 2019
Presented and Produced by Seán Delaney
Theme tune by David Vesey
This week my guest on the programme is Leadership expert Professor Andy Hargreaves. Andy Hargreaves is Research Professor at Boston College, Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University, Professor at the University of Stavanger, and Honorary Professor at Swansea University.
Over the course of our 42-minute conversation, we covered a wide range of topics, including the following:
- The effect of wealth inequality on people in many countries and the implications for education
- Negative effects the international test PISA has had on education systems and why the focus on such results is changing in some countries
- How the focus has now moved to matters such as identity and belonging
- Three things have happened which have led to a revised agenda for schools to respond to:
- Existing methods and strategies have become exhausted in seeking additional marginal gains on international tests
- People start to sense that something is amiss (backlash against testing from middle-class parents – “coasting schools” in the UK and mental health issues among children and problems of teacher recruitment and retention)
- Changes in society as an impetus for change: People are asking how do refugees and immigrants affect our curriculum and sense of community? How do we respond to school shootings and violence in North America? Anxiety among adolescent girls associated with social media
- (Irish primary) teachers’ preparedness to respond to matters such as equity, identity and wellbeing.
- Why identity is more important than achievement (with reference to Franco-Ontarian community)
- Responding to conflicting identities
- Welcome all children and every aspect of their identity
- Recognising that many reasons may underlie why students struggle with their learning other than being unable to master a concept
- Understanding that most identities are flawed and that societies have values which people are expected to subscribe to
- How anxiety, narcissism and hopelessness are impacting on young people’s wellbeing.
- May be related to lack of mobility/lack of opportunity. Public services (library, education, health service and housing) may not be as strong as in the past. The need to reinvest in public life, including teaching to promote mobility
- Ideas of success have become skewed. The need to see success in ways other than monetary value and having a sense of fulfilment.
- He refers to the work of Jean Twenge: With advent of smart phones adolescents (especially girls) are less prone to experience violence, to drugs, to alcohol and to early pregnancy but much more prone to anxiety, depression, self-harming and suicidal thoughts, mainly because they’re not going out. Instead they’re getting less sleep, digitally enhancing pictures of themselves and comparing themselves to others, and responding to postings from others (including mean ones)
- Why he disagrees with schools banning mobile phones.
- He would like to see more outdoor education, more adventure, more working in the community, more connection to the environment and more face-to-face interactions.
- What is wrong with wellbeing? (Seeing it as an individual solution to a huge systemic problem; schools creating wellbeing in one part of their work and creating “ill”-being in another part; wellbeing can be interpreted differently across cultures e.g. happiness, fulfilment, duty to parents, respect for elders, loyalty to the group, attention to your family, delayed gratification, etc. Being calm, which is often prioritised by schools, is only one way to be well – exuberance, physical engagement, and happiness are others.)
- What is wrong with growth mindset? It can detract attention from other factors that affect learning (poverty, disadvantage, prejudice) but growth mindset is still a powerful idea.
- How teacher collaboration can help schools respond to the problems outlined.
- Teachers who collaborate with colleagues do better, on average, than those who do not. Children learn more, teachers are more motivated and engaged, it’s better for implementing change
- Professional Learning Communities – tended to be liked by administrators but considered to be contrived and constraining by teachers in some countries.
- A question Professor Hargreaves asked in his research: “If collaboration is good sometimes, but not always, how should collaboration be designed?” Build trust and relationships and establish helpful procedures and protocols around collaboration.
- Sometimes collaboration is most important where it is most difficult – in difficult to serve areas or in areas experiencing rural poverty.
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Wednesday Jan 31, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Páiríc Clerkin, the Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN). In this part of the interview our conversation covers topics such as:
- What the IPPN does
- How he finds the role of CEO of the IPPN
- What teachers should think about before applying for roles as principal or deputy principal
- How will job of principal be different in ten years’ time to what it is today
- What inspires him
- What he likes to read/listen to
- Changes he’d make in the IPPN
- The five minute bench break
- How his own education influences his work as an educator
Wednesday Jan 24, 2018
Wednesday Jan 24, 2018
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I look ahead to the 2018 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network with the Chief Executive Officer of the Network, Páiric Clerkin. Among the topics we discuss are:
- Priorities for principals at this time
- School funding
- Droichead
- What to expect at the IPPN Conference
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Wednesday Feb 22, 2017
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's progrmame I bring you new material from three guests who previously appeared on the programme. Below I list the guests and put links to the programmes on which they featured:
Siobhán Keenan Fitzgerald on Public Speaking 1 and Public Speaking 2
Wednesday Jun 22, 2016
Wednesday Jun 22, 2016
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Professor Susan Moore Johnson from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. Among the topics we discussed this week were the Public Education Leadership Project, a collaboration between Harvard's Graduate School of Education and Business School.
Wednesday Feb 04, 2015
Wednesday Feb 04, 2015
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme my guest is Dr. Rob Evans who was a keynote speaker at the 2015 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network.
Sunday May 05, 2013
Sunday May 05, 2013
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney For this interview I met up with Professor Eric Hanushek from Stanford University and spoke to him about important issues in education - such as class size, international test results, and teacher pay - from an economics perspective. The interview took place at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
Sunday Apr 07, 2013
Sunday Apr 07, 2013
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's programme, I speak to Professor Brian Mac Craith, President of Dublin City University, about the Séamus Heaney Lecture he gave in St. Patrick's College, titled Envisioning the Future of Education, and about his work as a university president today.
Tuesday Jun 12, 2012
Tuesday Jun 12, 2012
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's programme Mark Candon, who is currently on study leave from his position as principal of St. Laurence O'Toole's CBS in Dublin, discusses the targets he set himself on appointment to the position and the successes he has had and the challenges he has faced along the way. Mark is currently studying for a doctorate at Trinity College Dublin where he is studying the school.