Inside Education On 103.2 Dublin City Fm

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's podcast Education Historian Dr. Thomas Walsh applies a historical perspective to analyse cotemporary policy and practice in curriculum, early childhood education and more. Among the topics we discuss are: The career trajectory that brought him to working in the Education Department of Maynooth University. Working in the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education Influence of nationalism and Catholicism on the curriculum of the 1920s The Commission on Manual and Practical Instruction and its influence on the 1900 curriculum Removing subjects to focus on the Irish language in the 1920s Becoming interested in the study of curriculum and curriculum change over most of a century Influence of John Coolahan on Tom’s work How a historical perspective on curriculum enriches our understanding of curriculum today The Stanley Letter from 1831. The importance of context in curriculum development Policy as text and policy as discourse (Ball). Curr

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this week's podcast I interview the editors of a book titled Challenging perceptions of Africa in schools: Critical approaches to global justice education. They are my colleague Dr. Barbara O'Toole, from the Marino Institute of Education and Dr. Ebun Joseph and Dr. David Nyaluke from University College Dublin. Among the topics we discussed on the programme are the following: How our education system is focused on a Eurocentric view of people from Africa Chimamanda and the Danger of a single story What teachers are doing well when presenting Africa to their students How history is taught impacts on the past and on life today The need to hear the story of Africa from a different perspective How our system encourages us to perform racism The benefits of reading African authors to see how they represent Africa The need to present a balanced story of Africa Why discussing Africa with a deficit perspective needs to be balanced with a discussion of its strengths N

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's programme I am delighted to interview my colleague, Dr. Jennifer O'Sullivan on the topic of teaching reading. Specifically, we explore the areas of phonemic awareness, phonological awareness and picture books. Jennifer also recommends several useful resources for teaching reading. Among the topics we discuss and the resources mentioned are the following: Jennifer's route to becoming a teacher The joys and challenges of teaching in a junior school that had disadvantaged status Doing a master’s degree in literacy. Specific challenges teachers experience in their first year of teaching The research base for how children learn to read The path to learning to read: alphabetic principle, apply sounds of language to print on page, decoding, comprehending meaning The importance of teacher content knowledge in diagnosing what a child needs to work on when learning to read The importance of phonological awareness and what phonemic awareness is Why not to

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, demog

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's podcast I discuss drama and theatre in education with Madeline Michel, a teacher in Monticello High School in Charlottesville Virginia. Madeline was the 2019 winner of the Tony award for excellence in theatre education. Among the topics we discuss in the course of the podcast are the following: How she approaches theatre education How a sports –competitive – paradigm is mistakenly applied to the arts Theatre in education versus drama in education How she tried to make her class more diverse Teaching multiple grades in her classes Letting students know that their stories and their talents are important Her credo: art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable How she became interested in theatre in education What she reads How education is a microcosm of the wider world Stimulating teenagers to write plays The first day in her drama class and building community Collaborating with other teachers Staging a school production The

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's podcast my guest is Professor William (Bill) Damon from Stanford University Graduate School of Education where he directs the Stanford Center on Adolescence. He is the author of many books, including The Path to Purpose. We discuss how students can be helped to find purpose in life. Among the topics discussed on this week's programme are: Many young people looking for something to believe in - about a quarter of them “drifting” Responses to being adrift: hedonism, anxiety. Being adrift originates in not finding something that is a positive direction for themselves. Profile of young people who are drifting How young people have found purpose in previous eras (national, economic…) Difference between seeking a purpose and seeking a meaning in life How having a sense of purpose can help you have a psychological balance Any activity can be purposeful if you believe in it, do it well and give it your all How teachers can model a purposeful life for th

On this week's programme I speak to Paddy Madden about teaching and learning outdoors. Among the topics we discuss are: How weather engages the senses when we learn outdoors Benefits of teaching outdoors Forest bathing Noticing Nature Cloud watching, listening to the sound of birds, smelling flowers. Daily 15-minute walkabout Teaching outdoors across the curriculum Book: Sue Waite Children Learning Outside the classroom A silly symphony Preparing for outdoor learning Learning outcomes Ways of Knowing by John Quinn A spiral curriculum – revisiting topics at a more complex level Teaching outdoors in September What to do when a wasp enters your classroom Spiders Planting a square metre of wheat Integration across the curriculum using topic of wheat Painting – called The Gleaners (I mistakenly called it “The Garners” in the recording) Places to visit at this time of year Fruit and seed walk: Dry fruit (e.g. helicopters, nuts) and succulent fruit (blackberries, rowan berries, sloes) How sch

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. This week on the programme I interview five colleagues who participated recently in an Erasmus+ project titled EDUCATE. This project involved developing materials for teachers, providing providing professional development, and conducting research on how to combine challenge and differentiated instruction in the teaching of mathematics at pre-primary, primary and post-primary levels. Project materials are available here. The guests on the programme are Charalambos Charalambous from the University of Cyprus, Ann Marie Gurhy from the Marino Institute of Education, Despina Potari from the University of Athens, João Pedro da Ponte from the University of Lisbon, and Evridiki Kasapi from the University of Cyprus. Among the topics we discuss are: Realising that mathematics is more than memorisation and drill and practice. How the study of differentiated instruction and challenge in mathematics came about What it means to introduce challenge to mathematics tasks An overview

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. This week on the podcast my guest is Derek Sivers, a musician who founded the CD company CD Baby before leaving it to write and practise philosophy. His website is well worth checking out. Among the topics we discuss on the podcast are: We all have the ability to be smart or to be stupid and how some environments reward stupidity and others reward being smart Thriving educationally in and out of school: being engaged and receiving direct feedback The power of finding the intersection between students’ interests and a nudge from parents’ towards learning/growing experiences Why being smart (critical thinking, challenge assumptions, look past the obvious, to question the world) is more impressive than being educated (you’ve done the assignments) Naval Ravikant is an example of someone he thinks is smart. Smart is something you do, not something you are A list of books Derek Sivers has read and the notes he made on them. A great teacher or educator interrupts expe

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week's programme school librarian from the Albemarle School System in the State of Virginia in the United States, Ida Mae Craddock (Mae) makes the case for having a school librarian in every school. We discuss her work as a school librarian. Among the topics covered are: A description of the school she teaches in Allocation of librarians to schools in Virigina The job of school librarian Describing the library and the services offered Doing a masters in library science (Old Dominion University) Content of masters course The challenge and importance of locating resources that are relevant and used Developing the library collection The library of things “Being stuck at home is no fun, being stuck at home with no books is tragic.” Cataloguing library materials The kind of literature that is popular among the students in the school she works in Loss of library stock Value of having a librarian in a school The history of school libraries The future o

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this 400th episode of Inside Education I am delighted to be joined by the co-presenter of my favourite podcast, Speak-up Storytelling. Matthew Dicks is also an elementary school teacher and the author of Storyworthy: Engage, teach, persuade, and change your life through the power of storytelling. He blogs and shares other resources at his website. Matthew shares a story with listeners to this week's podcast and among the other topics we discuss are: Becoming a teacher Studying in a community college while working in McDonalds before winning scholarships to university Manipulating his dream to fit his reality instead of manipulating his reality to fit his dream What he likes and dislikes about teaching Teaching children writing like an editor treats a writer (giving them time, choice, audience, purpose) The importance of letting a child share their writing and how to respond to the child’s writing Providing feedback for students on their writing Why he writes

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this week's podcast my guest is website entrepreneur, bestselling author and performance nutritionist, Daniel Davey. Daniel Davey is the senior performance nutritionist with Leinster Rugby and with the Dublin Senior Football team. The focus of our conversation is nutrition and education. Among the topics we discuss are the following: What made him decide to study nutrition Memories of preparing food and cooking at home from a young age Studying home economics at school and agricultural science at college Making the connection between nutrition and sport Importance of a positive relationship with food His message for students when he visits schools Challenges in applying principles of healthy nutrition in our lives How he sees his role in promoting nutrition as that of a coach Why he does not prepare meal plans for the athletes he works with Questions he is asked by students in schools Attempts to use schools in the fight against childhood obesity Why he p

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 S

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 student

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., F

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 projec

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

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 relatio

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

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