Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching

Programme 363, Lin Goodwin on Mentoring

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune by David Vesey

On this week's programme I interview Professor A. Lin Goodwin, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong and formerly of Teachers College, Columbia University about mentoring and teaching. Among the topics we discuss are the following:

• What mentoring is and is not
• Everyone can be a mentor but people need to learn to mentor
• Her experiences of being mentored by Celia Genishi
• The kind of honesty that mentors need to have
• The kind of feedback that is helpful
• Skills and behaviours of mentors
• Mentoring future researchers
• Mentoring future teachers
• Mentors learning from mentees
• Letting mentees make mistakes
• Problems if a mentor is reluctant to give candid feedback
• Why having a framework or a mindset is better than having a formula for giving feedback
• Getting away from looking at teaching dichotomously
• Mentors for different occasions
• Reluctant mentees
• Some moments are more productive for mentoring than others

Programm 361, Tasks, Mathematics, Questioning and Research

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune by David Vesey

This week I am joined on the programme by Professor David Clarke and Dr. Man Ching Esther Chan from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. We discussed many aspects of research and teaching, with a focus on mathematics, tasks, questioning and language. Among the topics discussed were:

• Why a laboratory classroom was set up at the University of Melbourne
• The social unit of learning research project
• The layout of the laboratory classroom
• Negotiating of meaning in mathematics tasks (e.g. meaning of average)
• Using open ended tasks in teaching mathematics
• Marking answers to open ended mathematical tasks
• Involving students in assessing
• Sources of open-ended tasks
  • If the area of an apartment is 60 square metres, what might the five-room apartment look like?
  • Picture a bar graph where all you have are the bars and the axes but no labels of any sort. What might this be a bar graph of? Label the bar graph and explain what information is contained in the graph.
  • The average age of a family of five people is 25 and one of them is the same age as you. Who might the people be? What are their ages? And how are they related to one another?
  • The average of five numbers is 17.2. What might the five numbers be?
  • A number is rounded off to 5.3. What might the number be?
• The difference between good questions and good questioning
• Asking the question, “what is your utility function?” (i.e. that which is maximised by a system)
• Recognising the learning potential of student voice and cultural differences in how student voice is promoted and elicited
• Finding tasks that link to the curriculum
• The Lexicon project

Among the collaborators named by David and Esther were Peter Sullivan, and Neil Mercer. He also mentioned this paper on "initiating and Eliciting in Teaching: A reformulation of Telling" by Joanne Lobato, David Clarke and Amy Burns Ellis.

Programme 358, 2019 Conference of Irish Primary PE Association (20-3-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune by David Vesey

On this week's programme I bring you some interviews I recorded at the 2019 annual conference of the Irish Primary PE Association which was held in the Watershed, Kilkenny on 9 March. First I spoke to Dr. Liam Clohessy, who is chair of the Association and Cameron Stewart who is a member of the Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education. Among the topics we covered were

• Adapting games for use in PE
• Using PE to develop leadership, resilience and fair play
• Why physical education is more than physical activity
• Time allocated to teaching physical education
• The place of physical education in Scotland
• Motivating children who are reluctant to engage in physical education class
• Benefits and drawbacks of specialist teachers for physical education

Cameron recommended Joey Feith's website and Liam recommended the websites Move Well and Move Often and the PE section of the PDST website.

Next I spoke to Dr. Frances Murphy from Dublin City University. The topics we discussed included:

• Evaluating the Irish Primary PE Association today
• Strengths and challenges of PE in Ireland today
• The benefits of integrating physical education with other school subjects
• How physical education can contribute to addressing obesity among children

Frances recommended checking out the Primary Schools’ Sports Initiative resource.

Programme 355, IPPN Deputy President and Aquaculture Remote Classroom (27-2-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme music by David Vesey

This week I bring you my third and final episode from the 2019 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. First of all I step inside the Aquaculture Remote Classroom to find out what's in store for schools when the mobile classroom visits and I speak to John Hurley of H2 Learning who was involved in designing the experience.

I also speak to Damian White who is Deputy President of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. Among the topics we discuss are:

• The highlight of the conference for him
• Prioritising initiatives for schools
• The role of a school in a community
• How the IPPN has encouraged cooperation across schools
• Teachers who taught him
• How he’d like to be perceived by students in his school

Programme 352, Adam Harris & Patrick O'Shea at IPPN (6-2-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

Theme tune by David Vesey.

On this week's programme, the guests were two of the keynote speakers from the 2019 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network, the IPPN, Adam Harris and Patrick O'Shea. Adam Harris is the Chief Executive Officer of AsIAm, an organisation set up to give people with autism a voice. My conversation with Adam included the following topics:

• His message for primary school principals
• The importance of school culture
• The “scattered skill sets” of people with autism
• The value of focusing on a student’s strengths
• Disclosing the having of autism
• Support for students with autism
• A student’s relationship with their SNA
• The work of As I Am
• Awareness of versus Understanding People with autism
• Coping mechanisms for difficult situations and places
• Being diagnosed as having autism

 

Professor Patrick O'Shea was appointed President of University College Cork in 2017 following a three-decade career in academia in the United States. My conversation with Patrick included the topics below:

• Why he sees Brexit as a tremendous opportunity for Ireland and Irish education
• Why he emigrated to the United States and how Ireland changed while he was away
• His impression of University culture in the United States
• The mission of University College Cork
• How learning will happen without teaching
• Educating explorers rather than training tourists
• Motivation of Students
• The role of a School of Education in a University
• Comparing leadership of a university with leading a primary school
• A typical day
• Junior Conferring
• Why history is what’s left when the noise and the news are gone

Programme 351, Páiric Clerkin at the IPPN Conference 2019 (30-1-19)

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

Programme 348, Teacher Education with Anja Swennen & Kay Livingston (9-1-19)

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.

Programme 347, Anja Swennen on Teacher Education (2-1-19)

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

Programme 342, Frank McNally, David Powell & Arjen Wals on Education (21-11-18)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune composed and arranged by David Vesey

On this week's programme I bring you new excerpts from guests who featured on recent programmes: Frank McNally who is the main contributor to the Irishman's Diary column in The Irish Times, was a keynote speaker at the annual conference of the Literacy Association of Ireland. David Powell from the University of Huddersfield and Arjen Wals from the Wageningen University both contributed to the annual conference of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe.

In the course of his interview David Powell referred to the research team led by Stephen Kemmis.

Arjen Wals named a number of concepts, people, websites and publications related to sustainability and education.

• Doughnut Economy
• Martha Nussbaum
• Gert Biesta
• Michael Apple
• Peter McClaren
• Naomi Klein This Changes Everything
• Website: transformativelearning.nl
• Transgressive learning.org
• The Global Education Monitor Report (2016) Education for People and Planet: Creating Sustainable Futures for All.

 

Programme 341, Frank McNally's Education (14-11-18)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's programme I speak to the main author of An Irishman's Diary in The Irish Times, Frank McNally. Frank was a keynote speaker at the 42nd annual conference of the Literacy Association of Ireland. Among the topics covered in the interview are the following:

• Why Frank's family members were known by the nickname the “College” McNallys.
• Among native English speakers, why only the Irish and the Scots use the expression “Amn’t I?”
• Doing two Leaving Certificates and no Inter Cert
• Doing a masters degree without doing a bachelors degree
• How he goes about writing An Irishman’s Diary in The Irish Times
• The books he read while attending the “University of Life”
• Two English teachers who had a significant impact on him