Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching

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.

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

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey

This week I bring you the second part of my interview with Katie Ashford Deputy Head of Michaela Community School in Wembley Park in London. The wide range of topics we discuss include the following:

• Michaela Community School Building
• The Teach First Programme
• Starting a blog, which led to a job offer
• Personalised Instruction and whole class instruction
• Her blog posts
• A typical day
• Family Lunch (at school)
• What she likes most/least about teaching
• Her ideal English lesson
• What schools are for
• Teachers who had a significant impact on her
• Who inspires her

Katie also referred to Tom Bennett's blog and to books by Daisy Christodoulou and Daniel Willingham.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey.

On this week's programme I speak to Katie Ashford who is Deputy Head and Director of Inclusion at Michaela Community School in Wembley Park London. Her blog is called Tabula Rasa. We talk about school culture and other aspects of teaching. In the course of our discussion Katie mentions how she is inspired by people such as Rafe Esquith and Erin Gruwell.

• Different kinds of school culture
• Identifying problems in a school
• Changing School Culture
• Why teaching is tiring
• The kind of records UK teachers need to keep
• Marking children’s work
• The approach used by teachers in Michaela Community School: teacher as authority

 

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey

On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with Professor Anne O'Gara, former President of Marino Institute of Education and current board member of Tusla. Among the topics we cover in this part of the interview are:

• The role for inspectors in our education system
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Recognising learning
• The Home School Community Liaison Scheme – Establishment and Purpose
• Dr Concepta Conaty’s vision for the Home School Community Liaison Scheme
• Her primary teaching experience
• What schools are for
• A teacher who had a significant impact on her

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey

On this week's programme I speak to my friend and former colleague, Professor Anne O'Gara. Professor O'Gara was President of Marino Institute of Education from 2006 to 2018. Prior to that she taught in primary schools for several years before becoming Assistant National Coordinator of the Home-School-Community Liaison Scheme, and subsequently an inspector at the Department of Education and Skills. In this first part of our interview we focused on leadership in education. Among the topics discussed were:

• Entering an institution as a new leader
• Identifying priorities as a leader
• Bringing about Change and Resistance to Change
• Doing courses, lifelong learning and coaching
• Developing new courses
• Changing your leadership style
• 360-degree feedback
• Preparing for difficult conversations
• Partnerships with stakeholders
• What she misses and does not miss about the work

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.

 

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

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme tune composed and arranged by David Vesey

On this week's programme I speak to Ray Gallon of the Transformation Society about education outside the formal settings of school. I interviewed Ray at the 2018 annual conference of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe.

Among the topics we discuss are the following:

• How the phrase “knowledge is power” has changed meaning
• Educating outside formal school settings
• Working with different sized groups
• Presenting webinars
• How he organises his own learning
• Effective presentations
• How teaching is changing
• Ingredients of a good radio programme
• Difference between a radio programme and a podcast
• What inspires him personally and professionally

 Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

Theme music composed and arranged by David Vesey.

On this week's programme I speak to Arjen Wals from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands where he is Professor of Transformative Learning for Socioecological Sustainability/UNESCO Chair. He was a keynote speaker at the 2018 annual conference of the Association for Teacher Education of Europe, which was held in Gävle in Sweden in August. Among the topics we discussed were the following:

• Why a sustainable approach to teaching is important
• Why teachers alone cannot bring about sustainable living
• How to promote sustainable choices in education
• How sustainable choices may vary from one place to another
• Why making teachers more accountable discourages them from taking risks
• CSI – Critical Sustainability Investigations (example with old mobile phones)
• Students taking photos of things that bother them in their environment and sharing them
• “Alternative” pedagogies (experimental learning, embodied learning, place-based learning, discovery learning, problem-based learning)
• The risk of having future people in power acting in an eco-totalitarian manner if sustainability issues are not addressed while time is available
• What Policymakers can do to make education more sustainable

During our conversation Professor Wals referred to Fairphone.