Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching

By Sean Delaney

An Irish perspective on education for all who value teaching... more

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FAQs about Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching:

How many episodes does Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching have?

The podcast currently has 318 episodes available.

Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching episodes:

February 05, 2020Podcast 388, Coaching for Principals with Viv Grant (5-2-20)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I speak to Viv Grant who is Executive Coach and Director of Integrity Coaching. She was a keynote speaker at the 2020 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
Identifying your stories as a school leader: why are you in the profession? What motivates you? What inspires you? What brings you joy?
Her story and how she began to articulate it for herself
The importance for principals of recognising and articulating their inner, subconscious narrative
How underlying thoughts and experiences can affect a principal’s ability to have difficult conversations
Becoming aware of when the old narratives no longer serve us
Getting our back stage narratives aligned with our front stage performance
The role of the Centre for School Leadership
What coaching for principals involves
Just like social workers and psychologists get “supervision” in their work as a matter of course, so should school principals because as well as being leaders of curriculum and instruction, many of them are practising aspects of psychology and social work.
Why school development and human growth and development go hand in hand and why offering coaching to principals is a way of appreciating their taking on this important role.
Is coaching something that is needed on an ongoing or on a needs-only basis?
How coaching for a principal works
Qualities a coach needs to have in order to work with principals
How coaching differs from mentoring
Why supporting coaching for principals is a good investment for a school
Why coaching is the norm in several other sectors
How she turned around “failing” primary school
How to bring about change at school level
The source of a school’s vision
Her book called Staying a head: The stress management secrets of successful school leaders
The challenge of creating time to develop the inner work of school leadership
Pauline Lysaght Jones and Mary Fuller
David Whyte’s poetry
John O’Donohue
...more
49min
January 29, 2020Podcast 387, IPPN Conference 2020 (29-1-20)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I speak to the President (Damian White), Deputy President (Brian O'Doherty) and Chief Executive Officer (Páiric Clerkin) of the Irish Primary Principals' Network at the annual conference of the Network. The IPPN is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
Damian White
Workload and making the job of principal more sustainable into the future
The PIEW model: Prioritise, Implement, Embed, Wait.
Prioritising initiatives in a school. Refers to the Looking at our Schools document.
Identifying and making room for urgent new initiatives within the PIEW model.
Wellbeing
Support groups for principals
Working with local education centres
Relationship between the Centre for School Leadership, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and the IPPN
Relationship between the IPPN and the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
On having the Secretary General and not the Minister address the conference

Brian O’Doherty
Difference between roles of President/Deputy President and Chief Executive Officer of IPPN
Being principal of a large school
Working collaboratively with an administrative Deputy Principal
Principalship and school budgets
The financial and support services unit (FFSU) and reporting procedures
Challenges in managing cash flow in schools
Questions principals should ask about school finances

Páiric Clerkin
Reflecting on life for principals before the IPPN (on the 20th anniversary of its founding)
Progress made over the last 20 years
The importance of dialogue in our education system
Reflecting on factors that brought about the establishment and success of the IPPN
The challenge of sustainability for principals
The importance of remembering small schools and teaching principals when considering policy changes
What he’s reading: Uplifting Leadership: How organisations, teams, and communities raise performance by Hargreaves, Boyle and Harris.
...more
1h 4min
January 22, 2020Podcast 386, Professor Mark Morgan on Psychology and Education (22-1-20)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I speak to Professor Mark Morgan from Dublin City University about psychology, education, his career and his thoughts on education. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
How he became interested in psychology as a student teacher in St. Patrick’s College
Being taught by John McNamara (who was known for his study of bilingualism)
Completing postgraduate studies in London
Being appointed as lecturer in St. Patrick’s College
Having Albert Bandura as a tutor when offered a fellowship at Stanford University
The idea of self efficacy
His interest in TV and violence, resilience and substance misuse prevention
The use of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods data in psychology
His doctoral research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
His research on adversity and resilience
What teachers can do to be more resilient
How he planned his classes as a teacher educator
How early home and school experiences influenced his subsequent interests and ideas
Why psychology is useful for student teachers
How the field of educational psychology has evolved over the last 50 years
His involvement in the Growing Up in Ireland study
Learning in later years
He recommended Albert Bandura's book Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory.
...more
46min
January 15, 2020Podcast 385, New Educate Together CEO, Emer Nowlan (15-1-20)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
This week I bring you an interview with the new Chief Executive Officer of Educate Together, Dr. Emer Nowlan in the week she takes up her new appointment. Among the topics we discuss are:
Her career in education to date: becoming a PE teacher, running a language school in Portugal
Doing a masters and doctorate in UCD
Being project manager for setting up second level Educate Together schools
Working on the Migrant Teacher Project
Challenges faced by migrant teachers who wish to teach in Ireland
Lessons learned from the Migrant Teacher Project to date
Anticipating her new role as CEO of Educate Together
Plans for establishing new Educate Together schools
How Educate Together has evolved over the last 40 years
What equality-based education looks like
How to promote equality-based education without stereotyping
Educate Together’s role as school patron
Enrolment policies for schools
The work of CEO in Educate Together
Her priorities for her term as CEO
Challenges facing the Educate Together sector
Characteristics of a principal in an Educate Together school
Facilitating denominational religious instruction in Educate Together Schools
She names some people whose work she admires.
Michael Apple
Henry Giroux
Áine Hyland
Simon Lewis
Kathleen Lynch
...more
56min
December 19, 2019Programme 384, Teaching as a Political Activity (18-12-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's podcast I speak to Professor Paola Valero from Stockholm University about the political aspects of teaching in general and of teaching mathematics in particular. Professor Valero was in Ireland as a keynote speaker at the 2019 Mathematics Education in Ireland conference, which was held in Dublin City University in October.
This podcast will be of interest to anyone who likes to stand back from their teaching and think about the why, what and how of their work. Among the topics we discuss in the podcast are:
The difference between teacher knowledge and researcher knowledge and why both need to work together
Responsibilities of researchers (in education)
Relevance of her work on the politics of mathematics education for teachers
Why teachers’ work is inevitably political, whether or not that is acknowledged
How can teachers become more aware of their political stance (from 12’06”)
What it means to be a teacher-intellectual
What is political specifically in mathematics education
Working with powerful and empowering knowledge
It is a desired area of competence/it is highly valued
Mathematics is widely assessed
A brief history of how the status of mathematics in schools evolved
How less was expected of girls in mathematics education
The experience of learning mathematics for immigrants and people with disabilities
How teachers can respond to the political nature of mathematics
She recommended the work of Ole Skovsmose and in particular the chapter he co-wrote with Lene Nielsen, Critical Mathematics Education.
...more
1h 4min
December 11, 2019Programme 383, Dave Rudden on Writing and Teaching Writing (11-12-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's podcast I am joined by author Dave Rudden who created the Knights of the Borrowed Dark trilogy. Dave talks about his own writing, about teaching writing to adults and children and he discusses the bullying that was a feature of his life in post-primary school. The specific topics discussed on the podcast are:
How he began writing Knights of the Borrowed Dark as a college assignment
The premise of the series
Who the audience for the books is
His experience in the classroom and what attracts him to writing
His school visits
His writing practice
How he learned to write and what teachers can do to help children learn to write
Getting into drama and theatre to overcome shyness
Getting into live storytelling in Dublin and moving onto writing short stories and then to a Masters in Creative Writing
Why Terry Pratchett is a role model
He also likes Irish authors Sarah Maria Griffin, Deirdre Sullivan, Catherine Doyle.
The benefits of doing a masters course in creative writing
Why you don’t have to do a masters course to be a successful writer
Differences in teaching writing to children and adults
How teachers can teach children to write
Explaining why words are weapons, writing is a muscle, and you don’t have to get it right first time
The recipe for a character
The recipe for a plot
Stretch Goals
What schools are for
How teachers can support children who experience bullying
A teacher who had a significant impact on him
Who or what inspires him
A favourite book or writer or blog about writing: Chuck Wendig, On Writing by Stephen King
Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Speech: Make Good Art
...more
44min
December 04, 2019Programme 382, Thoughts on Homework (4-12-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
This week's podcast is a solo episode in which I riff on the topic of homework. Your feedback and thoughts on the topic and on the podcast are welcome as always.
Among the topics mentioned on the podcast are the following:
Is time spent on school homework a good return on investment?
Overview of podcast
Why teachers give homework
The Goldilocks principle and setting tasks for students, both in class and for homework
Why research on homework can be problematic
Lessons from research that can help children benefit from doing homework
The “Matthew Effect” in homework
Acquiring the habit of doing homework
Image of rider, elephant and path from the books Switch and The Happiness Hypothesis. I also drew on ideas from Atomic Habits in the podcast.
Questions to ask your child about homework
Teaching your child strategies for doing homework
How teachers can make homework more interesting for children
When parents and teachers provide contradictory information for children
Study strategies teachers can teach children
...more
47min
November 27, 2019Programme 381, Scifest Finals and Science Teaching (27-11-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast I bring you interviews from students, teachers and organisers who attended the National Finals of Scifest 2019 in Marino Institute of Education on Friday, 22 November. Among the guests I speak to are the following:
Sheila Porter, the founder and CEO of Scifest
Aideen Hodgins from TU Dublin – Blanchardstown
Students Ella, Eva and Willemijn from Loreto Balbriggan
Students Caomhán Budhlaeir and Illann Wall from Presentation Brothers’ College, Cork
Teacher Kristina Troy from Kishoge Community College
Overall Winner Timothy McGrath from Killorglin Community College
Former winner Aaron Hannon
Eoin Gill from Waterford Institute of Technology.
Rory Geoghegan
...more
43min
November 20, 2019Programme 380, Playing Chess in School (20-11-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you an interview with Liam Murray who is secretary of Ficheall, a network of teachers around Ireland who teach chess in primary school. Among the topics discussed and the resources mentioned are the following:
Is chess a curricular or extra-curricular activity?
What students learn from playing chess: developing their social, cognitive and mental fitness skills
How he organises chess teaching in his own classroom, using the lesson plans on the website and adopting a “(mini-) game-based” approach
Organising a school chess tournament
Helping students lose and win gracefully
Using a points system to decide who wins a game of chess with limited time to play
Describing the game of chess (what is meant by checkmate and castling?)
History of the game
How chess compares to draughts
How children respond to playing chess
How Liam first became involved in teaching chess in schools when he was a student teaher
How different children respond to learning or playing chess
Playing face to face versus playing on apps or computers
Children getting better at chess over time
The “Masters” competition (for fifth and sixth class) and the “Budding Masters” competition (for third and fourth class).
Children playing chess from first class onwards
Why it’s good to play chess with players who are better than you (“If you’re not losing, you’re not learning”)
Resources available on the Ficheall website
The Ficheall network of teachers
How inter-school chess tournaments are organised (the “Swiss System, ” timing games)
The role of chess arbiters in inter-school tournaments
Relationship of Ficheall to Moves for Life
How Liam got interested in chess himself
Follow-on opportunities for children to play chess
Opportunities for playing chess in post primary schools (Leinster Schools Chess Association)
The use of clocks in professional chess games
What is school for/what are schools for
Volunteering with Graham Jones and the Solas Project
How he is inspired by the selfless dedication of teachers
Evidence-Based Teachers’ Network
Anseo podcasts
Book Bounce by Matthew Syed.
Book Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed.
Book Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
...more
1h 2min
November 13, 2019Programme 379, Nell Duke on Literacy Education (13-11-19)
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's podcast I speak to Professor Nell Duke from the University of Michigan School of Education about literacy education and project-based instruction. Professor Duke was a keynote speaker at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Literacy Association of Ireland. Among the wide range of topics we discuss on the podcast and the resources mentioned are the following:
The role of project-based literacy in promoting reading and writing development
The importance of purpose and audience for children’s writing
Sources of project ideas: Edutopia, PBL works, Nell’s website
Identifying sources of project in local communities
Incorporating student voice and choice into projects
Teacher preparation to design the flow of a project work with students
Nell’s website – Inside Information Downloadables
The importance of audience beyond teachers, parents and grandparents
Working alone versus working in groups on projects
At what age can children begin to work on project-based literacy?
The ideal duration of a project
The balance of literacy goals and cross-curricular goals in project-based literacy instruction
Educating children from an early age about trustworthy sources. The use of the mnemonic WWWDOT (Who? Why? When? Does it meet my needs? Organisation of site/text? To Do List for future)
Molly of Denali
Helping students move beyond bland responses to peers’ work
Various templates mentioned available here.
Why reading is so hard for many students to master
The DRIVE model of reading (Deploying Reading in Varied Environments)
The value of teaching sound-letter relationships; deliberately teaching phonics, morphology and text structure
Gaps between research on reading instruction and the practice of reading instruction
Reliable sources of research evidence for teachers: Institute of Education Sciences What Works Clearinghouse; Practice guides.
Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators General Education Leadership Network Early Literacy Task Force and Literacy Essentials.
International Literacy Association.
Literacy Association of Ireland.
Responding to differences among students in a literacy classroom: small group literacy instruction
Why it’s important to teach reading and writing together. See work by Gram and Hebert (2010).
What parents can do in the home to promote literacy achievement
What a typical working day is like for her and how she manages her time
Knowing what not to do in teaching
Not this but that book series.
What schools are for
She loves reading: Reading Research Quarterly (Journal of the International Literacy Association), Scientific Studies of Reading, Review of Educational Research.
In her keynote address Nell referred to the following websites, which were not mentioned in the podcast. I'm listing them here because they may be of help to some listeners.
High Quality Project Based Learning
Pow+Tree Writing Strategy
She also referred to this article which was a meta-analysis of process writing.
...more
1h 7min

FAQs about Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching:

How many episodes does Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching have?

The podcast currently has 318 episodes available.