Teachers Inspire Ireland

DCU Alumni, now working in the education sector, share their stories.


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DCU Alumni can be found around the globe and in this episode Louise is joined by two who remain deeply committed to education.

They are Dearbháil Lawless, the CEO of AONTAS, Ireland’s National Adult Learning Organisation and Kevin Shortall, principal of St Aidan’s Community School in Tallaght.

They share their personal stories about accessing education and what, and where, education has brought them. 

An access style programme meant Dearbháil was on the DCU campus for one day a week initially. The lecturers she saw there inspired her and a few years later she was teaching on a DCU degree programme. ‘My heart is in DCU,’ she tells Louise.

Kevin left school at 16 and going to college then had never occurred to him. A meeting with a trainee teacher when he was 19, led him to begin the next stage of his journey in education which was to repeat his Leaving Certificate. ‘It set me on this kind of trajectory and put me on the path that I've been on for more than thirty years,’ he says.

There is much laughter as they share their stories, including talking about the educators who inspired them, with Louise.

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Teachers Inspire IrelandBy Teachers Inspire Ireland