Lighting a Fire! All things Teaching and Learning with the Teaching Council

The Teaching Council - An Chomhairle Mhúinteoireachta

This podcast is designed to stimulate conversations, share information, and connect with teachers and stakeholders in the education community. Each episode will focus on contemporary areas of education, and guests will be invited to share their experiences in a reflective way.

  1. 11/01/2022

    FÉILTE 2022 Theme - Respect, Remembering, Reflecting and Reimaging

    This panel remembered and reflected on the past two years of the pandemic and reimagined the future of teaching and learning. As we journey from what has been a huge global pandemic affecting not only schools but entire communities, a conversation on the FÉILTE 2022 theme Remembering, Reflecting and Reimagining is both timely and apt. When schools were forced to close, the need for and the importance of collaboration within the entire education system became even more clear. During these extraordinary times, teachers, student teachers and schools rose to the challenge, demonstrating their ultimate professionalism along with creativity, compassion, and collaboration to ensure that learning for all continued. While the pandemic posed many challenges across the education community, it has also resulted in new, exciting, and innovative practices, many of which we saw at FÉILTE 2020 and 2021. One obvious challenge was online teaching, where teachers faced decisions such as camera on or off during class time, most suitable platform to use, GDPR, broadband connectivity, student engagement and well-being, curriculum delivery and much more. The pandemic highlighted another theme which our panel will drew on. Respect; for the teaching profession, and respect for the role that teachers play not only in the classroom but in the community. Teachers adapted admirably during the pandemic, and as former President of Ireland Mary Robinson at FÉILTE 2020 noted “every parent values teachers more now because they did their home schooling during the lockdown and learned how difficult it is to home-school well”. Teachers now have an opportunity to remember teaching through the pandemic, both the good and not so welcome elements, and to reflect on what is important. There is now an opportunity to reflect and explore what has changed, what are the implications of these changes, what have we learned? This panel remembered and reflected on the past two years and reimagine the future of teaching and learning.

    42 min
  2. 05/25/2022

    Caroline Healy (Principal) and Orla Kenny (teacher) from Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim chat about their experience of welcoming Ukrainian children and parents to their school.

    Lighting a Fire! All things Teaching and Learning with The Teaching Council In this episode, Phil Fox, Acting Director of The Teaching Council, is joined by Caroline Healy and Orla Kenny from Scoil Mhuire National School in Leitrim. Caroline began her teaching career at Scoil Mhuire in 1983 and is the principal at the school  since 2001.  Orla is a teacher in Scoil Mhuire since 1994 and the current 6th class teacher. Scoil Mhuire is a mixed primary school situated in the town of Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. The school has a present enrolment of 486 pupils and their enrolment is composed of pupils from many different nationalities - Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, England, Spain, USA - as well as a strong cohort of local pupils.  Scoil Mhuire has welcomed 15 Ukrainian students since March 2022 and has a strong history of educating pupils from other countries who have come seeking employment or asylum and refuge. It is within this context that the Teaching Council invited Caroline and Orla to participate in this podcast to share their experiences of working with pupils who have arrived at their school from other countries.  During the episode Phil, Caroline and Orla discuss the experiences of the Ukrainian children enrolling in the school, from their first day emotions to their integration with their fellow classmates. The conversation also explores the experiences of Caroline and Orla including managing language barriers, introducing the children to the curriculum and helping the families meet the local community. During the conversation Caroline and Orla offer advice to fellow principals and teachers welcoming Ukrainian children into their school for the first time. Podcast Disclaimer Notice: These recordings have been prepared by The Teaching Council for general information and discussion purposes. Any expression of viewpoints or opinions reflect the views of the individual speakers and are not necessarily those of The Teaching Council.

    41 min

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This podcast is designed to stimulate conversations, share information, and connect with teachers and stakeholders in the education community. Each episode will focus on contemporary areas of education, and guests will be invited to share their experiences in a reflective way.