Inside Education - a podcast for educators interested in teaching

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this week's programme Professor Jim Spillane, from Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy in the United States, who is a graduate of St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra talks to me about organisational routines, Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life, and about how educational research could be improved in Ireland to have a greater influence on policy. Jim is the principal investigator on the Distributed Leadership research project.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this programme Dr Matthew Grenby from Newcastle University told me about the origins of childhood and children's literature in the eighteenth century. He was the keynote speaker at the ninth annual conference of the Irish Society for the Study of Children's Literature which was held on 25 and 26 February 2012. In the course of the interview Dr. Grenby referred to the Hockliffe Project website.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Research Centre report by Barry Hennessy On this programme Professor Ron Tzur from the University of Colorado Denver talks about teaching and learning maths, and discusses the importance and difficulty of counting on and multiplicative reasoning.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney ASTI interview by Barry Hennessy On this programme Barry and I ask the three general secretaries of the teaching unions to preview their 2012 conferences. We spoke to Sheila Nunan of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, Pat King of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, and John MacGabhann of the Teachers Union of Ireland.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Homework report by Barry Hennessy Barry spoke to Professor Pam Sammons from Jesus College Oxford on the subject of the latest findings of the Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project, particularly with regard to homework. Professor Sammons referred to research reports and you can read them here, here and here. Seán spoke to Dr. Séamus Cannon, recently retired director of Blackrock Education Centre about how the work of the centre evolved during his time at the helm and he shares his thoughts on how teachers learn.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this week's programme Fred Boss talks about personal learning networks and edchatie. The interview was recorded at the CESI 2012 conference. In the first of a two-part interview, the recently retired director of Blackrock Education Centre, Dr. Séamus Cannon, discusses how he became a teacher, the influence his father - a primary teacher -had on his work, and why he likes Joyce's Ulysses.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill interview by Barry Hennessy On this week's programme poet and multi-linguist Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill speaks about the benefits of learning Irish. Simon Lewis of Carlow Educate Together NS and of Anseo.Net describes how to create an app for your school using appmakr. Patrick Felicia from WIT discusses the educational potential of video games. Both Simon and Patrick presented workshops at the annual CESI conference in 2012.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Report on physical activity and schools by Barry Hennessy In this programmeI spoke to Professor Emer Smyth of the Economic and Social Research Institute about two studies that were recently published by the Institute: Influences on 9-year-olds' learning: Home, school and community and The primary classroom: Insights from the 'Growing up in Ireland' study I also bring you the second part of my interview with Professor Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University who was the keynote speaker at the 2012 CESI conference. In it he speaks about online learning and virtual learning environments.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Report on introducing Chinese to Irish schools by Barry Hennessy On this programme environmentalist and educator Paddy Madden discusses how teachers can mark springtime in their classes. He also bemoans the lack of biodiversity in the landscaping of newly built schools. Paddy's book, Go Wild at School has just been republished and is available directly from him. The licence for teachers to use frogspawn in their classrooms, mentioned  by Paddy, is available here.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Websites reviewed by Barry Hennessy In this programme I spoke to the keynote speaker at the 2012 CESI conference, Professor Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University. He blogs at Learning with E's and tweets using the handle @timbuckteeth. Barry reviewed a selection of his favourite education websites. The sites featured were Kbears, Ocean.si.edu, SFS Kids, Make Projects, Espanol Extra, and Free Rice.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Census for School Report by Barry Hennessy This programme featured the second of a two-part interview with practising poet and retired primary school teacher and principal, Gabriel Fitzmaurice. Gabriel grew up in Moyvane, Co. Kerry and returned to teach there for over thirty years. He talks about how he used stories in his teaching, about how his experience as a teacher has shaped his views on education and how his teaching inspired his poetry. He reads his poem, The Teacher, from one of several collections of his poetry published by Mercier Press.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Modern Languages Feature by Barry Hennessy This programme featured the first of a two-part interview with practising poet and retired primary school teacher and principal, Gabriel Fitzmaurice. Gabriel grew up in Moyvane, Co. Kerry and returned to teach there for over thirty years. He describes how primary school has changed from the time he was a primary school pupil in the 1950s and on what it is like to teach in a rural school in Ireland. He reads his poem, An Apple for the Teacher, from his collection, Really Rotten Rhymes, published by Mercier Press. Barry's guest, Tanya Flanagan who is National Coordinator, discussed the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative.

Presented and Produced by Seán Delaney Mock Exam Feature by Barry Hennessy On this week's programme Gene Mehigan, Principal Lecturer at the Marino Institute of Education explains why vocabulary development might be the missing link in the chain of developing literacy. The interview was based on Gene's presentation to primary principals at the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network. Barry examines the area of mock exams for Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney In this programme I interviewed three keynote speakers at the 2012 annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN). My guests were Gerry Murphy, President of the IPPN, Professor Michael Fullan of OISE at the University of Toronto, and film producer and education thinker, Lord David Puttnam.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Guidance interview by Barry Hennessy In this programme young scientists who studied education topics describe their studies. The students include Aisling Lawson from Hartstown Community School, Greg Bauer and Ben Morris from Donabate Community College, and Eva Wallace, Elizabeth Foley Landers and Sarah Shanahan from Presentation Secondary School in Ballyphehane in Cork. I also spoke to Lisa Curran, a teacher in Donabate Community College and to Mícheál Martin, leader of Fianna Fáil who was visiting the BT Young Scientists Exhibition.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney John Quinn presented The Open Mind and Education Forum on RTE Radio 1 in the 1980s and 1990s. Through these and other programmes, he introduced Irish people, including teachers, to some of the most inspirational thinkers and communicators on education. Some of what he learned on those programmes has been compiled in his book,  The Curious Mind, published by Veritas. In this, the second part of my interview with John Quinn, he talks about his journey out of the classroom and into RTE. He discusses educational broadcasting and identifies some of the educators who inspired him during his distinguished career as a broadcaster.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney In this programme, I spoke to the man who was the voice of educational broadcasting in Ireland from 1975 to 2002. In that time he elicited insights into education from some of the greatest living thinkers in the area. On this first of a two-part interview, he shares his own insights into education gained from his time as a teacher and from his time as anchor of The Open Mind and Education Forum. Some of what he learned on those programmes has been compiled in his book, The Curious Mind, published by Veritas.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Budget analysis by Barry Hennessy The guest on this programme was Dr. Elizabeth Mathews, the coordinator of the newly established Deaf Education Centre on the Marian campus in Cabra. Here is a transcript of the programme that was provided so that anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing can have access to the programme.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Budget report by Barry Hennessy In this week's programme, Yvonne Higgins, music educator in the Marino Institute of Education, talks about how teachers teach children to listen to music. Barry analyses the education content of the recent budget for Ireland.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Reporter Sinéad Burke On this programme the former president of the University of Limerick, Dr. Ed Walsh, discusses the early days of NIHE Limerick. The broadcast was the second part of an interview with Dr. Walsh to mark the publication of Upstart: Friends, Foes and Founding a University. Sinéad Burke spoke to Fintan O'Mahony, who tweets using the handle @levdavidovic, about using Twitter in the classroom and about the #edchatie network.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this week's programme Dr. Ed Walsh, former president of the University of Limerick discussed his new book, Upstart: Friends, Foes and Founding a University and his Irish Times article on 13 Lessons We Must Learn. In a week when Senator Eamonn Coghlan called for schools to help tackle the growing problem of youngsters being overweight, obese and unfit, Caitriona Cosgrave, PE lecturer in Marino Institute of Education and Chairperson of the Irish Primary PE Association, discusses the difference between physical education and physical fitness.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney PISA series by Barry Hennessy Reporter: Sinéad Burke Barry Hennessy concludes his series about the PISA test by drawing together some of the voices who have been heard during the series. To mark Science Week 2012 Sinéad Burke spoke about science teaching and learning to Dr. Paul van Kampen who lectures in physics education in DCU. On this programme you will hear the second part of the interview with Professor Thomas S. Dee from the University of Virginia. In it he discussed the research he conducted with Professor Brian Jacob from the University of Michigan on the topic of student plagiarism at college level. He describes what students and lecturers can do to avoid plagiarism.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney PISA series by Barry Hennessy Reporter: Sinéad Burke On this programme, Professor Thomas S. Dee from the University of Virginia, discussed the research he conducted with Professor Brian Jacob from the University of Michigan on the topic of student plagiarism at college level. In this interview he discusses what plagiarism and estimates its prevalence. This interview will continue on next week's programme. Sinéad Burke spoke to Róisín Ní Niadh about the Irish Studies programme at the Marino Institute of Education. Barry Hennessy spoke to Emily Richmond from the National Education Writers' Association about how U.S. students performed on the most recent PISA test.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney PISA report by Barry Hennessy Guests on the programme this week included Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, and CEO of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, Dr. Anne Looney. They were interviewed at the launch of the plan for reforming the post-primary junior cycle programme. Minister Quinn's address to the NCCA can be read here.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney PISA Investigation by Barry Hennessy Interactive Whiteboard report by Sinéad Burke On this week's programme my special guest was poet and retired teacher Gabriel Fitzmaurice from Moyvane in Co. Kerry. He spoke about teaching writing and teaching Irish, and read his poem Proud to Be Me from his collection of the same name, published by Mercier Press. One of the websites referred to by Sinéad in her report is www.anseo.net.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Roundup by Barry Hennessy Book Review by Sinéad Burke On this week's programme, Dr. Thérese Dooley, from St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, explained how and why children can learn more mathematics when the teacher doesn't tell. Thérese Dooley was a keynote speaker at the MEI conference in September and the piece was broadcast this week to coincide with the end of Maths Week. Sinéad Burke reviewed a book written by DES inspector Dr. John White and Queen's University Professor John Gardner, titled The Classroom X-Factor: The Role of Body Language and Non-verbal Communication in Teaching.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney PISA report series by Barry Hennessy On this programme Barry begins a new series where he investigates the international PISA test of literacy and numeracy. On this week's programme he speaks to Jude Cosgrove of the Educational Research Centre and to Professor Svein Sjoberg of the University of Oslo. I speak to Annie Murphy of the Marino Institute of Education who remembers Dorothy Heathcote, a major figure in drama education who passed away recently. Dr. Erika Doyle of Trinity College Dublin provides an introductory guide to how standardised tests are devised.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. The featured guest on this week's programme is Professor P. David Pearson from the Graduate School of Education of UC Berkeley, who delivered the keynote address at the 35th Annual Conference of the Reading Association of Ireland. This is the second of a two-part interview with Professor Pearson.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News roundup by Barry Hennessy. The featured guest on this week's programme is Professor P. David Pearson from the Graduate School of Education of UC Berkeley, who delivered the keynote address at the 35th Annual Conference of the Reading Association of Ireland. This is the first of a two-part interview with Professor Pearson. The second part of the interview will be broadcast on next week's programme.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy On this programme Dr. Paul Andrews from the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education discussed the role of culture in mathematics teaching and learning. In particular, he claimed that Finland might not be the best role model for improving mathematics teaching in Ireland. Paul Andrews was in Dublin to deliver a keynote address at MEI4, a mathematics education conference organised by St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News roundup by Barry Hennessy. On this programme Professor Aostre Johnson from St. Michael's College in Vermont discusses how spirituality can influence education.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy On this week's programme Professor Suzanne Wilson from Michigan State University talks about teaching methods for history and geography, about the carnival of professional development opportunities that teachers have to choose from, and about the power of social networks in professional development. She talks about a specific, successful professional development initiative, the Urban Advantage programme, that is organised at the American Museum of Natural History. Barry discusses the Hyland Report in his coverage of the week's news.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News interview by Barry Hennessy. This week we bring you the second part of an interview conducted recently with Dr. Anne Looney of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. In the programme Anne Looney shares her views on assessment, what education can learn from computer games, Junior Cert reform, the Leaving Certificate, the CAO points system and Transition Year. In the news interview Barry presents an interview with Lorraine Dempsey about cutbacks to Special Needs Assistants in schools.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News roundup by Barry Hennessy. This was the first programme in the 2011-2012 school year. The guest on this programme was Dr. Anne Looney who is Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA). In this part of the interview she discusses the role of the NCCA, the breadth of the Primary School Curriculum and how some teachers are teaching without textbooks.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Report by Barry Hennessy On this programme I spoke to Martina Gannon and Lána McCarthy from Write Minded, a service of Young Ballymun. They spoke about the Summer Slide initiative that they are implementing this year. Barry reports on the launch of Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life: The National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011-2020. He plays an excerpt from the Minister's speech on launch day and gets a response from Peter Mullan of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy The guest on this programme was Professor Suzanne Wilson from the College of Education at Michigan State University. Reference was made to the Initial Teacher Education:Criteria and Guidelines for Programme Providers developed by the Teaching Council.

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this programme Barry spoke to the principal, teachers and pupils of Balbriggan Educate Together N.S. about their student council. The principal of the school is Fintan McCutcheon and you can read his blog.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. Analysis by Barry Hennessy. The guest on this 100th programme is Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News roundup by Barry Hennessy. This week's featured interview is with the Chief Executive of the National Parents' Council (Primary), Áine Lynch, to mark their annual education conference. The theme of the conference was parental involvement, summarised by the slogan "Your child needs you."

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this second of two interviews with Professor Constance Kamii from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, we hear about constructivism and her time spent as a student of renowned psychologist Jean Piaget.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this first of two interviews with Professor Constance Kamii from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, we hear about learning mathematics in the early years.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News by Barry Hennessy On this programme Professor Pam Grossman from the School of Education at Stanford University describes how teacher education can be designed around the practice of teaching. She also explains that teacher education is just one form of professional education and teacher educators can learn from the preparation of other professionals.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy On this programme Dr. Brendan Walsh spoke to us about the role of the foundation disciplines in teaching and in education studies. This conversation was held to mark the publication by Gill and MacMillan of Brendan Walsh's edited book Education Studies in Ireland: Key Disciplines.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Roundup by Barry Hennessy The featured guest on this programme is Professor Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. In this interview she talks about how a teacher education programme might be designed around the practice of teaching.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Analysis by Barry Hennessy In this programme I spoke to the deputy general secretaries of each of the teacher unions and asked them to reflect on the highlights of their 2011 conference. My guests were Annette Dolan of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, Diarmaid de Paor of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and Noel Ward of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. In this programme I spoke to Professor David Labaree of the School of Education in Stanford University. He is the author of books such as The Future of Ed Schools, How to Succeed in School without Really Learning and Someone has to Fail.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney On this programme I spoke to Alan Bennett of Fighting Words, a creative writing initiative in Dublin's inner city to get children of all ages writing. It was set up by Roddy Doyle and Seán Love, inspired by 826 Valencia in San Francisco. The programme also featured a brief snippet of the interview with Mark Patrick Hederman, Abbot of Glenstal who featured in a recent programme. This was a clip that I was unable to bring you in the previous programme due to lack of time.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney In this programme I spoke to Dr. John Harris about his role as a special advisor to three ministers for education in the 1980s: John Boland, Gemma Hussey and Patrick Cooney. The occasion was the announcement by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, that John Walshe, Education Editor of the Irish Independent was to be his special advisor. Dr. John Harris also spent time as Principal of three schools: Newpark Comprehensive, Sandford Park and Wesley College.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy On this programme Dr. Sinéad McGilloway from NUI Maynooth describes an evaluation that she conducted of a classroom management programme that is being implemented in Irish schools. Barry spoke to Noel Ward of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation about the job situation for primary school teachers.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Roundup by Barry Hennessy On this week's programme the guest was was an expert on the Finnish education system. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, who describes himself as a "school improvement activist," was in Ireland to address the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network in January.

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy In this programme Barry spoke to Dr. Lorraine Gilleece of the Educational Research Centre in Drumcondra and to Dr. Clodagh Harris from the Department of Government in University College Cork about the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy The featured guest on this week's programme is Dr. Mark Patrick Hederman, Abbot of Glenstal Abbey in Limerick. He was a keynote speaker at a colloquium in Waterford Institute of Technology called Teaching Matters.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Sound supervision and production assistance by Barry Hennessy On this programme Aodán Mac Suibhne from Coláiste Mhuire, Marino Institute of Education and Muireann Ní Mhóráin from An Chomhairle Um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta discuss the educational implications of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. Tá leagan Ghaeilge den stráitéis ar fáil anseo.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News analysis by Barry Hennessy In this programme retiring, independent Senator, Joe O'Toole casts an eye on the education policies of the main political parties and offers a context in which they can be better understood. Here are links to the policies: Green Party (see p. 20+) Fine Gael (see p. 34+) Sinn Féín Fianna Fáil Labour Party (see p. 60+)

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy and Seán Delaney In this programme Barry spoke to education spokespersons from three of the main political parties: Fergus O'Dowd of Fine Gael, Paul Gogarty of the Green Party and Ruairí Quinn of the Labour Party. They were all attending the special delegate conference organised by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation. Spokespersons from Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin were invited to be on the programme but to no avail.

Produced and presented by Seán Delaney News Report by Barry Hennessy This programme featured a report from the 2011 Conference of the Computer Education Society of Ireland (CESI). The Chairperson of CESI, Adrienne Webb, explained how schools are using their technology grants. Simon Lewis discussed the use of cloud computing for communication in his school and Tom Barrett, the keynote speaker, discussed how he uses education in his classroom and about his blog.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News report by Barry Hennessy In this programme Professor Andy Hargreaves, the Thomas More Brennan Chair in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College,  spoke about leadership in difficult times. He was in Ireland as a guest of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN) for their annual conference. The President of the Network, Mr. Pat Goff, also described the main priorities for primary school principals at this time.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this programme Mary Chambers describes her work as Principal Teacher of the Hospital School in the Children's University Hospital in Temple Street in Dublin.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News by Barry Hennessy In this programme we visited the BT Young Scientists Exhibition and spoke to young scientists who studied education-related topics, and to their teachers. We heard about an educational operating system, Zorin OS, about how different learning strategies affect learning and about a study on dyslexia.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. In this programme Dr. Gareth Byrne, of Mater Dei Institute of Education, and author of Spread the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland talks about the future of Catholic Religious Education in Ireland, both inside and outside of schools.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney In this programme Brian Mooney who is a contributor to Education Matters and the Education Matters Yearbook looked back at some of the key events in education during 2010. These included disappointing PISA results, bonus CAO points for Maths, Grade inflation, higher education reform, the Croke Park agreement, reform of the VECs, problems with FÁS courses and school patronage. 2010 also saw a new Minister for Education and a name-change for the Department. Barry Hennessy looked ahead to anticipate some of the stories that are likely to hit the education news headlines in 2011.

In this programme a panel of experts discusses the recently released results from PISA which showed a decline from 2000 to 2009 in the performance of Irish 15-year-olds students in reading and mathematical literacy. The experts are Dr. Jude Cosgrove, a research associate at the Educational Research Centre and a co-author of the Irish report on PISA; Professor Seán Ó Riain, professor of sociology at NUI Maynooth; Dr. Eithne Kennedy, a teacher educator in literacy in St. Patrick's College, Dublin and Jackie O' Callaghan, the Public Relations Officer of the National Parents' Council - Second Level.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News report and analysis by Barry Hennessy The guest on this week's programme was Dr. Michael Flannery who is a senior lecturer with responsibility for the visual arts in Marino Institute of Education, Dublin. The news includes Barry Hennessy's analysis of the 2009 PISA results and the Government's education budget for 2011.

The guests on this week's programme were Noel Kelly who is on the management team of the Northside Partnership and non-fiction author David Shenk whose books include The Genius in All of Us, The Forgetting, Data Smog and The Immortal Game.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News report by Barry Hennessy The featured guest on this programme was Professor Sylvia Draper, from Trinity College Dublin. She received an award for excellence in teaching from NAIRTL in 2008.

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy On this programme Barry spoke to Jukka Pekkarinen an economist and politician from Finland about what lessons Ireland could take from their recession with regard to protecting spending on education.

Presented and produced by Sean Delaney This programme featured an interview with Muiris O'Connor from the Higher Education Authority about the Authority's Study of Progression in Irish Higher Education.  Muiris explained why, on average, 15% of students who begin college will not be there a year later.

Presented and produced by Sean Delaney The featured interview this week was with Professor Gretchen Butera of Indiana University's School of Education. The School recently designed a new special education programme for teachers. In the programme she describes the process including the rationale and some of the challenges experienced.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. This programme is about Dublin-based activities to mark NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. With regard to the Dublin region: *There are 240 Wrimos - 60% are new to NaNoWriMo *2.07% of Wrimos in this region have donated 55.00 so far

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney The main guest on the programme was Steve Humble, aka Dr. Maths from the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics. He shared with listeners a maths problem to solve. Barry Hennessy spoke to Peter Mullan from the Irish National Teachers' Organisation about the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 and allowing non-teachers to be employed as teachers in schools.

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy The main guest on the programme was Ms. Dipti Pandya, the Director of the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Barry interviewed Larry Fleming from the Irish Primary Principals' Network about the place of homework in children's education at primary school.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy The special guest on this programme was Professor Timothy Shanahan from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was in Ireland as a guest of Young Ballymun and he presented a keynote address at the Reading Association of Ireland's Annual Conference.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this interview Sr. Freda Kenny, who is based in the Marino Institute of Education, describes her work as a teacher leader for Reading Recovery. This is an intervention developed by Marie Clay to support young learners in learning to read.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney In this programme David Shenk talks to us about his latest book The Genius in All of Us. It describes how our genes interact with our environment to influence our potential.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney Textbook interview by Barry Hennessy This was a busy programme. It featured items on the ASTI decision to defer their industrial action, a publisher of cheap textbooks, the experience of chartered teachers in Scotland, and an educational opportunity at the National College of Ireland for jobseekers.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy The guest on this week's programme is Tony Finn who is CEO of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. He talks about the work of the Council which was established in the mid 1960's.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News report by Barry Hennessy The guests on the programme were Áine Lynch, CEO of the National Parents' Council, Pat Goff, President of the Irish Primary Principals' Network, Seán Ó Dubhlaing who is a member of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and an experienced teacher of multi-grade classes.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. You can choose the statistics about leaving certificate results that you want to view for yourself here. I compared failure rates and A grades in maths with those in modern languages, business studies and the arts. The guests on this week's programme were Mr. Noel Kelly who is the Manager of "Preparing for Life" intervention with the Northside Partnership. Dr. Orla Doyle is a senior researcher at University College Dublin's Geary Institute. Barry presented and produced "The View from Here" and his guest this week was Tony Donoghue of IBEC.

Programme presented and produced by Seán Delaney This week's guest was Dr. Marie Bourke who is Keeper and Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland. View from Here presented and produced by Barry Hennessy Barry Spoke to Pat King who is General Secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland.

Programme presented and produced by Seán Delaney This week's guest was Dr. Marie Bourke who is Keeper and Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland. View from Here presented and produced by Barry Hennessy Barry spoke to Professor Brian Mac Craith who is President of Dublin City University.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News round-up by Barry Hennessy Barry interviewed Michael Moriarty from the Irish Vocational Education Association. Alicia McGivern who is Head of Education at the Irish Film Institute was interviewed on the programme about her work.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy The guest on the programme was John Heffernan from the National Centre for Technology in Education. John is a qualified history teacher and a member of the Computer Education Society of Ireland Executive.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup and events noticeboard by Barry Hennessy The guest on the programme this week was Professor Colm Harmon who is the Director of the Geary Institute in University College Dublin. You can follow their blog at this link.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Interview by Barry Hennessy Claire Bourgeois, the Director of the Alliance Francaise in Dublin was the featured guest on this week's programme. You can determine your level of French by taking the placement test at this link.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. The guest on this week's Inside Education was Professor Ed Pajak from the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He spoke about the portrayal of teachers in movies.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News analysis by Barry Hennessy The guest on this week's programme was Joan Kiely, a senior lecturer in early childhood education in Coláiste Mhuire, Marino Institute of Education. School inspection reports published by the Department of Education and Skills can be viewed at this link.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Report by Barry Hennessy This programme features interviews with teachers and pupils who participated in a project to highlight the importance of post-primary and college education for children attending primary schools in Dublin's Docklands. The programme is organised by the Early Learning Initiative at the National College of Ireland. The coordinator of the project is Dr. Josephine Bleach. Barry reported on problems in the Junior Certificate Business Studies exam paper.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News Interview by Barry Hennessy This week's programme featured interviews with Nellie Torres and Ronan Maher to coincide with the Cluas conference on Unlocking Speech and Language Difficulties. The Cluas centre uses a specific therapy, the Tomatis method, to support children with developmental delays, especially delays in speech and language. Barry interviewed Conor Ryan about the proposed abolition of the General Teaching Council in England and about academy schools in the United Kingdom.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy Check the comments on this webpage for an important clarification about submitting a cover letter with a job application. On this week's programme Maria Doyle, the Principal of Our Lady of Mercy Senior National School in Waterford City and a member of the Executive Committee of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN), gives advice to primary teachers who are applying for jobs. The IPPN runs the website educationposts.ie. We also hear from the Principal of Balbriggan Educate Together National School, Fintan McCutcheon, who wrote on his blog about how the Student Council in the school were involved in developing criteria for appointing new teachers in the school. Barry reports on the planned abolition of the General Teaching Council in England. He also describes changes made by the State Examinations Commission to avoid a repeat of the security breach that caused problems in last year's Leaving Certificate Exam.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy In this programme John Carr outlines how the Irish National Teachers' Organisation influenced education policy over the last two decades. He also summarises the achievements and regrets of his time as General Secretary of the Organisation. Barry speaks to Judith Cosgrove of the Educational Research Centre about a report into early school leaving by Irish teenagers

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News roundup by Barry Hennessy This programme features the first of a two-part interview with the recently retired General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), John Carr. In the interview he talks about his days as a teacher and principal in Belgrove National School in Clontarf. Barry provides an analysis of the results of the teachers' ballots on the Croke Park agreement. He also discusses the proposal by the ASTI to provide an internship in schools for beginning post-primary teachers.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News report by Barry Hennessy The featured guest on the programme was David Shenk who spoke about his book Data Smog. The interview was recorded on 2 April 2001 but it could have been recorded much more recently. Barry's news report featured an interview with Sheelan Yousefizadeh, a member of the Dáil na nÓg Council, about the recently launched report on sex education in Irish schools.

Presented and produced by Barry Hennessy. In this programme Barry joins with some guests to discuss how principals, other school leaders and teachers can manage the end of the school year effectively.

Presented by Barry Hennessy Produced by Barry Hennessy and Seán Delaney The featured guest on the programme this week was Terry McParland from Enterprise Ireland who has specific responsibility for promoting Ireland as a destination for students from abroad. You can read more about this work at the Education Ireland website.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. The guest on this programme was Susan M. Parkes who recently authored a book titled A Guide to Sources for the History of Irish Education 1780 - 1922. The book is published by Four Courts Press and is available in hardback and paper back from all good bookshops and from the Four Courts Press website. A competition was run on this programme for a copy of the book. The closing date for entries is 12 noon on Friday, April 30th.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney This programme features the address given by Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh from NUI Galway at the 2010 annual convention of the ASTI. In it he talks about how the language of business does not work well for education and about the role teachers can play in rebuilding trust in our society. Ruairí Quinn, Labour Party Spokesperson on education speaks about some of the educational priorities from their annual conference.

ASTI and INTO reports by Seán Delaney. TUI report by Barry Hennessy. This programme consists of reports from the conferences of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Teachers' Union of Ireland.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney News report by Barry Hennessy The main guest was Dr. Carmel O'Sullivan from the School of Education in Trinity College Dublin. She spoke about the collaboration between Trinity College and Aspire, the Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland. Barry spoke to Moira Leyden the Assistant General Secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland about the findings of the Association's recently released survey of science teaching.

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. News report by Barry Hennessy. The guest on the programme this week was Simon Lewis of Carlow Educate Together National School. Simon talked about using technology in teaching, investing in technology for schools and about his websites www.anseo.net and www.mash.ie. He also tweets about education. During his interview Simon referred to various other websites. One is a repository of educational resources, www.seomraranga.ie. Another is the website of the Computer Education Society of Ireland and the third is the site where you can produce wordles. Barry spoke to Brian Hayes, Fine Gael spokesman on education, about the priorities for the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, in her new brief.