Kilkenny Education Centre News

Education Conference

Tuesday, October 20 2009
Educating Children from the Fireside to the Farside: Education Conference

A major Education Conference for teachers and members of Boards of Management took place over the weekend for schools from Carlow and Killenny. The Conference, organised by Kilkenny Education Centre was entitled, Supporting the Teacher in a Challenging Environment. Over 100 teachers were in attendance.

One of the main speakers on the day was former Taoiseach Dr Garrett Fitzgerald, now an active writer on many policy issues in education. Dr Fitzgerald made a strong call for schools to educate people towards a civic society, one where people would value the society of Ireland rather than just a focus on local society. This viewpoint caused much discussion and debate as Dr Fitzgerald emphasised the importance of society looking to see what is best for the nation of Ireland rather than just the immediate area that we live in. He called for the Department of Education to extend the Civics (CSPE) Programme into the senior cycle years so that teenagers could debate the local society versus national society issue.

Dr Fitzgerald also emphasised the need to harness our strengths as a nation. “We are known for our people skills. The rest of the world sees us as a group of social networkers who are warm and friendly. This is part of the Irish nature and being. We have more    day-time talk shows on radio than any other country in the world, because we love communicating with each other: it is a major strength of our people”, he stated. “Other countries do not have this high level skill of communication and networking. The people skills that we innately possess should not be forgotten as we endeavour to move to towards a more science and IT based society”, he stated.

The conference was also addressed by Dr Anne Looney from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment ( NCCA) Dr Looney emphasised the importance of teachers having time to focus on the development of the person in the classroom. She acknowledged the importance of new curricula, but also was anxious that new curricula would not crowd out time for the teacher to engage with their students about matters of life, and on matters of growing up in modern Ireland. Dr Looney spoke about the need to allow children to be creative in their play and learning. “We have become a head and helmet society, where children cannot play unless they have a helmet for each game”, she said. “We need to allow children to become creative in a safe environment, but not to stifle play to the extent that it is no longer a fun area”. Dr Looney also spoke about the importance of harnessing the potential of the digital world in teaching our children. The title of her presentation was, From the Fireside to the Farside, and she emphasised the role of teachers in educating children through this process. “We begin by reading them books and telling them stories and we end by bringing them into the world of IT and digital media”, she said. “How we do this is so important, and our role in society as teachers is to ensure that each child is given the time to make the transition from the Fireside to the Farside. For some children, this will not cause any difficulties, but for many it does. The place of school in assisting these students is so important”, she said.

The conference was also addressed by Fr Peter McVerry and by Fergus Finlay, CEO of Barnardos. They emphasised the importance of bringing all of the children to the education ‘well’, and challenged society that perhaps the current system of education does not do this. The final speaker on the day, Dr Jean McNiff, from the University of York in the UK, emphasised that teachers can become reflective about their own practice. Dr McNiff encouraged teachers to engage in Action Research about their own practice.  

Speaking after the Education Conference, the Director of Kilkenny Education Centre, Paul Fields, was delighted with the quality of debate on educational matters that had occurred on the day. “This event brought to the teachers of Kilkenny and Carlow an opportunity to engage in discussions about the value of education in Ireland. It also provided people with an opportunity to engage with some of the leading speakers on matters of educational interest in society”, he stated.

Handouts for the Conference are now available:

Presentation by Fergus Finlay

Presentation by Dr. Anne Looney

Presentation by Fr. Peter McVerry

Presentation by Dr. Jean McNiff

Presentation by Dr. Garret Fitzgerald