In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Ben Mallon about Teachers and Global Citizenship Education: Values, Attitudes and Practices. Throughout the podcast, Ben about the recent report on a national survey of Irish Primary teachers and global citizenship education.

You can find the report here: https://globalvillageschools.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TRO23001-Teachers-and-Global-Citizenship-Ed-ONLINE.pdf

You can find out more about Dr Mallon here: https://www.dcu.ie/stemeducationinnovationglobalstudies/people/benjamin-mallon

You can find Dr Mallon on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/BenjMall

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Conall O Breacháin about his PhD research which explores teachers’ agency in the context of engagement with Ireland’s new Primary Language Curriculum.

You can find out more about Dr O Breacháin here: https://www.dcu.ie/languageliteracyandearlychildhoodeducation/people/dr-conall-o-breachain

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Natalie O’Neil about her recent publication “From recipe to enquiry – a curriculum tool for science teachers to align policy with practice in practical lessons”. Natalie talks about the challenges of translating policy into practice with regard to enquiry-based teaching and learning. Through her work, Dr O’Neil explores a design-based research approach to improving the enquiry-based teaching and learning capabilities of teachers. Here paper was published in Irish Educational Studies in October 2023.

You can find Dr O’Neil’s article here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03323315.2023.2261001

You can find out more about Dr O’Neil here: https://www.dcu.ie/policyandpractice/people/natalie-oneill

You can also follow her on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/natalie4oneill

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Just Rami, Director of the FETRC Research Centre. Dr Rami discusses the foundation of FETRC, highlights projects and initiatives that are currently underway, and talks about the future of the centre.

You can find out more about FETRC here: https://www.dcu.ie/fetrc

You can follow FETRC on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/FETRC_DCU

You can find out more about Dr Rami here: https://www.dcu.ie/policyandpractice/people/justin-rami

You can also follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/rami_justin

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Malgosia Machowska-kosciak and Dr Maria Barry about their research into integrating migrant voices into teacher education in Ireland. The project, which is funded by The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, uses digital stories to tell authentic stories of young people's experiences of identity, belonging, representation, racism, and discrimination while growing up in Ireland. During the podcast, Dr Machowska-kosciak and Dr Barry discuss many issues which impact belonging such as teacher representation and the representation of minority groups in the curriculum. Their research highlights the need for openness regarding identity and encourages teachers not to ignore the topic with their students. The digital stories emerging from this project can be used as a stimulus for conversation on teacher education programmes to tackle the themes of identity and belonging.

You can find out more about Malgosia and Maria at their staff profiles here:

https://www.dcu.ie/chrce/people/malgosia-machowska-kosciak

https://www.dcu.ie/stemeducationinnovationglobalstudies/people/maria-barry

For more information on their work, you can visit the intercultural education website here:

https://sites.google.com/dcu.ie/intercultural-education/home

You can find the report here:

https://www.ihrec.ie/app/uploads/2023/02/Experiences-of-second-generation-ethnic-minority-young-people-in-Ireland-1.pdf

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Audrey Doyle about her recent publication titled “Disturbing the teacher’s role as assessor: the case of calculated grades 2020–2021 in Ireland.”

Audrey begins by providing listeners with an overview of the assessment context during Covid-19, detailing the dramatic shift from state examinations to teachers as assessors. In this study, Audrey speaks with teachers about their experiences of assessment during this time and draws out the challenges and opportunities faced by teachers, as well as teachers' perceptions of their future role in the assessment of their learners.

You can access the open-access paper here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03323315.2023.2236597

You can find out more about Audrey at her staff profile here: https://www.dcu.ie/policyandpractice/people/audrey-doyle

You can also connect with Audrey on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Audrey_MDoyle

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Sinéad McCauley Lambe about Move Write. Move write is a whole-body sensorimotor approach to handwriting. Sinéad provides a detailed overview of the research that led to the development of the Move Write programme. Sinéad worked with teachers and students from 10 schools in the Dublin area to develop the programme. Evidence suggests that the Move Write programme has a positive impact on students’ writing ability and motivation to engage in the writing process. The Move Write programme is published by ABC School Supplies and will be launching in a limited number of schools from September 2023.

You can find out more about Sinéad and her work on her blog here: https://sineadmccauleylambe.com/2023/03/12/move-write/

On her staff profile page here: https://www.dcu.ie/inclusiveandspecialeducation/people/sinead-mccauley-lambe

You can connect with Sinéad on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/sinlambe

For more information about the Move Write kit, visit the ABC School Supplies website here: https://www.abcschoolsupplies.ie/product/move-write-complete-kit

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Orna Farrell and Prof Mark Brown about the EDEN Annual Conference 2023. We discuss the history of the EDEN community and its core values, before focusing on the annual conference 2023. Dr Farrell and Prof Brown provide an overview of the conference, including the overarching theme of hope. They detail how this was evident throughout the conference sessions and keynote speakers. Our conversation highlights the importance of community to the EDEN management committee and the ways in which this is fostered throughout the year. Dr Farrell and Prof Brown discuss the importance of positivity and action in an education landscape that is increasingly more connected with technology rather than a binary choice of digital vs face-to-face. EDEN’s strategic plan is also discussed, which focuses on developing leaders of the future.

You can find out more about the EDEN conference 2023 here: https://eden-europe.eu/event/eden-2023-annual-conference-in-dublin/

You can find out more about EDEN here: https://eden-europe.eu/

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Dr Aoife Brennan. Dr Brennan is Head of School at the School of Inclusive and Special Education in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University. Aoife has spent many years researching the impact of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on inclusive practice. Aoife begins this podcast by discussing the overall timeline of her research and how, from doctoral level, she has continued her investigations in this area. This episode first draws on Aoife’s recently published paper titled “Teachers’ experiences of transformative professional learning to narrow the values practice gap related to inclusive practice”. The paper stems from a desire to improve the confidence of teachers to meet the diversity of needs of all learners. The paper identifies PLCs as a tool for providing meaningful and transformative development in this area. The study showed that the PLC helped to enhance teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, enhanced their efficacy, their ability to enact inclusive practices, and their collaboration with one another. When the study ended, questions arose, such as: does the impact last? how can we sustain the learning? A follow-on intervention found that a culture of collaboration had developed from the PLC, which lasted over time. The second part of the episode focuses on Aoife’s current research project which broadens out the scope of the PLC, bringing in new schools (including primary and post-primary) and participation from a wider range of staff (e.g. SNAs). This project, funded by the Teaching Council, found that teachers viewed PLCs were a safe space that facilitated collaboration and collegial support around problems of practice. Finally, Aoife speaks about an upcoming comparative study which examines the links between face-to-face and online professional learning communities.

You can read Dr Brennan’s paper titled: “Teachers’ experiences of transformative professional learning to narrow the values practice gap related to inclusive practice” here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2021.1965092

To find out more about Dr Brennan and her work, you can view her academic profile here: https://www.dcu.ie/inclusiveandspecialeducation/people/aoife-brennan

You can also find Aoife on Twitter @aoifebren123

In this episode of the podcast, I speak with members of the CASTeL research centre about their conference ‘STEM Education in Ireland: Spotlight on Research Impact and Practice’, which took place on Thursday the 25th of May 2023. CASTeL is Ireland’s largest research centre in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. Centre Director, Dr Clíona Murphy began by providing an overview of the CASTeL centre and its mission, followed by an introduction to the themes of the conference - how they emerged, and their importance to the CASTeL centre. She also highlights the innovative, collaborative approach used in the development and presentation of these themes at the conference. Dr Aisling Twohill provided an overview of the conference theme ‘STEM education and global challenges’. Aisling talks about the importance of preparing students for the future and the need to tackle global challenges such as climate change, fake news, migrating populations, and inequality. STEM education will play a crucial role in supporting students design solutions to these problems. Dr Paul van Kampen provided an overview of the conference theme ‘STE and M education: context and tool or inseparable’. The purpose of this theme was to question the relationship between mathematics and the other STEM areas. On one end of the spectrum we can view mathematics as a tool for science, technology and engineering, on the other, everything is integrated. Dr Paul Grimes provided an overview of the conference theme ‘STEM education research for impact’. This theme focused on the different types of impact that can be achieved by education and researchers in the STEM field - including publications, impacting children's perceptions of science, and raising critical questions. Finally, Dr Gillian Roehrig talks about the key global challenges facing STEM education and the importance of sharing practice and the development of a common goal for STEM education.

You can find out more about the CASTeL and their conference here: https://castel.ie/

You can also find out more about the contributors: Dr Clíona Murphy @clionamurph, Dr Aisling Twohill @aistwo, Dr Paul Van Kampen @PaulvanKampen, Paul Grimes @grimesp3, and Prof Gillian Roehrig @ghroehrig