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  • How can community education be a source of hope for a socially just world within this current climate?

    Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

    Author: Suzanne Kyle

    Sometimes it feels like the world is on fire and it can be difficult not to feel despondent when the news is full of images of extremism, hate and rising far-right activity. So how can community education be a source of hope for a socially just world within this current climate? This is one of the questions I wished to explore as part of my PhD research. I hope this blog will be a source of inspiration for all those working towards these goals.

    It’s worth noting first of all that community education in Ireland has had a lot to contend with over the past fifteen years. Along with the restructuring of the adult education landscape with the formation of Solas, the ETBs  and QQI, it was significantly impacted by austerity measures following the economic crash of 2008. This led to the dismantling of the Community Development Programme and sharp, disproportionate cuts to the Community and Voluntary sector, which forms the backbone of state funded community education provision. Back in the year 2000, a radical model of community education had been espoused by the Government in their policy document Learning for Life: White Paper on Adult Education. Consciousness-raising and community building were named among the priority areas in this paper for all adult education provision. However, all the restructuring brought with it a new policy focus for adult and community education, one which prioritised individual rather than collective outcomes, and adult education was positioned primarily as an economic tool rather than a social good.

    In many ways this context is relevant in seeking to understand the national and global rise of the far-right  and the role of community education in these times of social unrest. In our current climate, consciousness-raising is an important tool in understanding power dynamics and how stoking divisions between groups, rather than looking upwards at the real causes of poverty, is a tactic used to gain support by the far-right. Legitimate grievances are being exploited by agitators who whip up moral panic and scapegoat migrants and other minorities, blaming them for political failures that have led to such grievances.  The vacuum created by cuts in the community development and education space has not helped matters. Many practitioners wish to be responsive but have a lot on their plates juggling multiple funding streams, data collection processes, and the loss of sectoral knowledge as people retire, move to less precarious employment, or simply get burnt out.

    My PhD, which I have been carrying out under the supervision of Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons, aims, through the use of focus groups and a national survey, to explore the experience of community educators in these times of social unrest. It has emerged that far-right rhetoric and activity, targeting migrants and other minorities, is penetrating community education spaces. While this is a worrying development, it is also clear that there is an appetite for the strengthening of alliances to work collectively towards inclusive solutions based on community solidarity rather than misdirected anger and divisions. This blog draws on some of the qualitative data captured through the focus groups and the open-ended survey questions. It proposes that community education can nurture relationships between people from diverse backgrounds and build trust and solidarity within and among communities. Where issues and grievances arise in areas of housing, unemployment or health services for example, they can be teased out within community education spaces through the use of dialogue, finding common ground, and identifying collective, inclusive and democratic responses. 

    Research findings:

    It is evident that community educators are experiencing more divisive rhetoric and open expressions of hostility, and that they are finding themselves navigating the tensions arising within this environment. One practitioner states the following, pointing to the impact of social media:

    We always had to deal with an odd person making racist or homophobic comments. Now it is coming from people who weren’t engaging in this before. It is as if seeing this stuff online or hearing it more is giving people permission to say it, or else creating anger in them that they didn’t feel before.

    Others, while acknowledging that the expression of racism and far-right views is not something new to contend with, point to a worrying sea change:

    Through my work, down through the years, I have encountered many people with what we now term ‘far right’ views.  However, in the past, their views simply felt ‘different’ to mine.  At the moment, there is a sense of that difference being  inherently ‘against’.  There is an angry undercurrent which is worrying. 

    As the following quotes illustrate, people are experiencing the challenges of facing misinformation in their work:

    [In] my work with refugees I often have to tackle the misinformation and hatred spread by right wing ideology. e.g. ‘why can’t we look after our own first’ narrative.

    Participants and staff of the organisation (who live in the city) have heard and spread misinformation originating from far-right sources. They have joined marches without truly understanding the politics of the individuals they are walking with. There have been positives from conversations started, but a far-right influence has been clear in the area generally.

    Online learning can pose a particular challenge. Another survey respondent shared the following story:

    People I identify as holding far right views have joined various online workshops that I run. We have a statement of values that everyone is required to read and agree with in order to register. Despite this, a small number (3 or 4) joined a recent workshop. They start very reasonably and joined in with the general thrust of what was being discussed. Then they started to conflate social issues of housing and crime with too many migrants in the country (Ireland is full / we need to look after our own first). This required deft handling by the tutor (me!) to bring the topic under discussion back on track, after pointing out the inaccuracies in what they were saying, and they didn’t push it.

    Others pointed to increasing polarisation within community education itself:

    Adult students who were once happy to mix with students from other countries are now more suspicious of them and less likely to want to interact with them in class.

    Fear

    A prominent theme to emerge in the research was the prevalence of fear with some saying that they were feeling the impact of anti-migrant protests in the local area:

    Protests in the city have stoked people’s fears.

    Some respondents feared for groups of people they are working with:

    I would have met the residents of [named accommodation centre] recently.  The [anti-migrant protests] there were beyond upsetting  for these people.  I also meet many migrants who are in fear (…) and feeling blamed for the social issues in this country e.g. housing.

    The research also uncovered a fear among community educators of speaking out against far-right rhetoric or, as one respondent put it, “fear of hosting culture specific events, fear of being targeted for being ‘helpful’ and encouraging intercultural events on the premises”.

    Another shared the following:

    My safety has to come first and foremost. There are times when I really strongly feel I should challenge it yet  do not feel safe to do so.

    Community educators from underrepresented groups, those often targeted by the far-right, shared their feeling of vulnerability:

    …as a migrant and someone who belongs to an ethnic minority it has been incredibly difficult when communities I have worked in are being fed misinformation. I have felt scared to interact with my own community as well as communities I would have previously worked with.

    One of those organising courses also expressed fears for such people:

    (…) our tutor pool has diversified a little bit and we are getting people in who have (…) different cultural backgrounds, and it’s brilliant. But, I’m also conscious that we’re sending those tutors out (…) in to a community that has been kind of torn apart by that conflict, and then I have to think about that tutor’s safety in that environment.

    The role of community organisations in calming local fears was highlighted with one respondent sharing:

    The arrival of 120 young men to this city centre hotel raised some fears but were allayed by the action of this organisation through meeting and greeting (of IPAs), linkage to services etc and reflecting this in local media.

    Another points out the importance of dialogue within community education as a tool to allow for the airing of grievances:

    People have legitimate fears and concerns and they need to be listened to or those people feel their opinions don’t matter and that creates more of a divide.

    Capacity:

    It was evident from the research that many practitioners felt there was a need for more training and support for community education practitioners if they are to be responsive to challenging dynamics when they arose within groups. One survey respondent shared the following:

    It is difficult to refute wild claims (i.e. through fact-checking) because the far-right encourages people to believe that all information from official sources is wrong. Conspiracy theories thrive on making people feel that they have the inside story, while their tutor in the education centre is naive!

    Even very experienced practitioners highlighted the type of challenges that can be encountered, with one stating the following:

    It’s never straight forward, like I remember working with a tutor, and (…) I would have a lot of background and information around anti-racism. And I did one session with a class and it backfired so horrendously (…). It just went the wrong way and they became, I could actually see it, they became more entrenched in a particular viewpoint.

    Continuous training and upskilling was seen as essential if educators are to be equipped to embed dialogic practices in their work:

    Time for conversation is required, where discussion and debate is facilitated and fears are expressed in a healthy way on both sides of arguments.  This is a skill and practice which requires nurturing, in my opinion.

    Resources of hope:

    A worrying trend to emerge was linked to the sense of isolation that some community educators feel.

    I expect many practitioners feel they are sole workers in this regard and perhaps don’t feel part of a community of practice.

    It’s important therefore to look at where we can find resources of hope and opportunities for building alliances and strengthening community education through collective action.

    For one thing, a values-led approach to community education, which focuses on what we support, and what kind of world we wish to see, rather than what we’re against, was promoted by many educators. This approach is supported by the Hope and Courage Collective, an organisation committed to strengthening communities in the face of rising far-right extremism, who develop useful resources around this.

    We can also look to the power of the arts in promoting our common humanity. This inspiring story shared by one responded is something from which we can draw hope:

    In March the organisation I worked for put on a play in Dublin city (…) focused on the things that bind us. The group included a young man from Eritrea and a young woman from Ukraine. On the way to the theatre, we walked past a far-right demonstration with approx 150 attendees outside store street garda station. The Community Drama about solidarity stood in opposition to far-right misinformation that night. The play was written, directed and performed by the group.

    Another focus group participant, working in the area of addiction recovery, spoke about how community education can nurture empathy, rather than division, between marginalised groups:

    (…) they understand what it is to be stigmatised, victimised and excluded so you can bring in some degree of (…) empathy (…) the like with like.

    This empathetic engagement can be nurtured also through the means of storytelling:

    Sharing stories and insights (including intersectional insights) and giving accurate information about the community is one of the ways in which we hope to build solidarity.

    While many educators feel a pressure to diffuse tensions when the arise, or to have all the counter arguments at hand, an approach which facilitates dialogue can be more effective and empowering for groups. The experience of this respondent highlights the importance of having faith in the knowledge, experience and capacity among learners within groups:

    I’ve heard what I would regard as bigoted and discriminatory opinions expressed by a handful of individuals but in most cases these are countered or challenged by other learners.

    While it can seem at times like hate and racism are overshadowing positive forces in the world, it is useful to remember that, as one respondent stated it’s ‘usually it’s a very few expressing anti-minority sentiments’. This is true also of social media which amplifies negative stories. Recent research carried out by the Hope and Courage Collective indicates however that, while the voice of the far-right may at times be loud and overbearing, it is actually representative only of a minority of the population. Community education can therefore be a powerful force for amplifying voices committed to social justice, particularly if nurtured through the building of networks and creating spaces for shared learning and collective action.

    Author: Suzanne Kyle

    Suzanne Kyle is a PhD student in Maynooth University and a recipient of the John & Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarship. Her PhD research examines the factors which enable community education practitioners to embed inclusive, democratic and social justice focused values in their work at a time of rising far-right extremism. She has worked in the area of community development and education for over twenty years at local, regional and national levels.

    Author: Suzanne Kyle

  • In Review: An LGBTQI+ Inclusive Classroom – In conversation with Jamie Kenny, TUTOR Ambassador

    Author: Sinead Matson

    The power of conversation should never be underestimated. It can change attitudes, thinking, policies, research, and practice. We wanted to create conversational spaces for change through the TUTOR Ambassador webinar series, the first of which was hosted by Maynooth University. The webinar,  An LGBTQI+ Inclusive Classroom: In conversation with Jamie Kenny TUTOR Ambassador, was held in early December. TUTOR is an Erasmus + project about inclusive education in second level and Further Education and Training of which Maynooth University is a partner. Jamie Kenny is the executive director for Dublin Pride and the first Irish TUTOR ambassador. He hosted a fireside chat with Angela Rickard, Course Leader for the year one Professional Master of Education (PME) in Maynooth University Education Department; Carrie Archer, Professional Learning and Development Coordinator for City of Dublin ETB and adjunct assistant professor in the National College of Ireland; Andrew Maloney, deputy principal in Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School; and Eoin Houlihan, second level teacher and guidance counsellor also at Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School, and lecturer on the PME programme in Maynooth University.

    Carrie led the discussion on how a classroom can be LGBTQI+ inclusive without directly changing or adding content that is not already an existing part of the curriculum or learning outcomes – an argument she has frequently experienced in her work. She pointed out that even in business, childcare, beauty therapy, and hair dressing courses in FET, spaces for LGBTQI+ conversations already exist – you just have to look for them. Eoin agreed and added that in second level those spaces do already exist within the curriculum; for example mentioning the scientists and inventors from the LGBTQI+ community in science lessons when introducing students to a concept, theory, or experiment contextualises and makes visible LGBTQI+ for students. The same approach applies for English, Music, Geography, History, Art…really any other subject on the curriculum. When it is threaded through the curriculum and the day-to-day experience for students in the classroom it has the potential to become a more authentic way of inclusion and representation.

    The conversation turned to the lived experiences of LGBTQI+ staff leading the advancement of greater representation and inclusion in schools and education settings which places those staff in demanding and potentially vulnerable and fatiguing positions. They described a fear experienced by many potential allies in education; a fear of getting it wrong, of causing offence, or of hurting someone. This fear can sometimes stifle or even silence the conversation. However, the burden of leading the conversations must not always be held by LGBTQI+ staff themselves.  Andrew really highlighted the need for teachers to know that it  backed up by law and equally importantly made explicit by leadership:

    “I think it’s important to back teachers up, particularly teachers who are in teacher education, to understand that actually you have a legal basis to discuss this in your classroom… And particularly from school leaders, they need to hear that openly because if they don’t hear it openly, it’s not good enough just to be implicit about it because it happens to be enshrined in law.”

    This struck a chord with me. In all the years I have worked with children I have never had a ‘child protection day’, or a ‘child protection week’ – it is enshrined in law therefore it is weaved into everything we do. If it is a legal requirement, is it part of the daily landscape of education?

    Angela spoke of the appetite for inclusive conversations and spaces amongst the students in the initial teacher education programme in Maynooth University, and her experiences of visiting many second level schools across the country that are flying progress flags and taking part in BeLonG To’s safe and supportive schools training. This, she surmises, is hopeful and is having a very positive effect, making spaces for those conversations to continue amongst leadership, allies, and the LGBTQI+ community within schools  and local communities. It is also providing opportunities for allies and leadership to lead the conversation rather than relying on LGBTQI+ identifying staff.

    This conversation facilitated by Jamie in his position of TUTOR ambassador for Ireland has already  caused real change. It has helped to inform the discussion we, as the TUTOR project researchers, have and the decisions we make when we will put together training and resources in the TUTOR programme.  Attendees, who included teachers, tutors, leadership, and students engaged in initial teacher education have already spoken to us about the learnings they have taken and will put into practice. If you missed the conversation, but would like the opportunity to listen, please click this link and take an hour out of your time to listen to the real, practical knowledge and lived experiences that were shared with us. 

    Author Bio:

    Sinéad Matson is a post-doctoral researcher with the Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University. She has worked in all levels of education for over 20 years. Sinead’s research areas include social justice and equality in education, critical education, and decolonizing research methodologies. Sinead currently works on the TUTOR project which is an Erasmus+ funded transnational project aimed at improving inclusive education.

  • Adult and Community Education with Turn to Teaching: how we do things….

    Adult and Community Education with Turn to Teaching: how we do things….

    Written by:  Declan Markey, Co-Coordinator of Turn To Teaching

    Adult and community education is about the development of skills, human relationships and the engagement of people in understanding the wider social forces that impact both locally and globally (Lynn Tett in Radical Learning for Liberation 2007:73  )

    I used to love a good (random) house party in my hedonistic days. There was something about getting together with a group of people you didn’t know and learning about their lives, if only for a short while. I loved the sense that we all had a common cause to have a good time and keep the night going  – let’s face it the rest of the week could be fairly mundane.  But most of all it was the thrill of not knowing what might happen. They were my three ingredients for a good house party – good people, a common cause and an element of the unknown. It makes me laugh that they are the three  main reasons why I get a thrill from Adult Education. They  motivate me every time I’m with a group.

    The Turn to Teaching (TtT) programme is one of those groups – a one-year college access/preparation course for students from diverse backgrounds or communities who are under-represented in higher education. It’s aimed at young adults and mature students who want to be primary school teachers but didn’t get the necessary points or have the required criteria to apply.  What’s really pro-active about TtT is that once the students acquire a set grade, they are guaranteed a place in one of Maynooth’s primary teaching education programmes. The steps are clear – “you do this, and you will go there”. That’s a BIG, BRIGHT carrot on the end of a short stick for anyone who needs a different way to achieve their dream of becoming a primary school teacher. You could say TtT is it’s very own “yellow brick road” where dreams come true. Only this road is made of orange carrots with each step being another motivating force and supportive step to help people on their way.

    One of the most challenging parts is the recruitment process. We only have 16 places. All applicants complete a personal statement explaining why they want to be a teacher and every year we receive between 80 and 100 applications who meet the criteria for entry. One hundred minus 16 means a lot of disappointed applicants and every year, it is abundantly clear to the TtT team that our schools are missing out on some of the most amazing people who want to be primary school teachers but can’t because of the entrance criteria. But unfortunately, due to the lack of places many of the applicants will embark on different journeys that will take them away from their dreams of being a teacher.

    Turn to Teaching is, what we call, a “widening participation initiative” – that means the people who are selected are coming from groups or communities who, on average, don’t usually become primary school teachers; Travellers, people with disabilities, people from working class backgrounds, minority ethnic groups and more. We are widening/increasing the participation of people from these groups in primary teacher education. Being a widening participation programme we realise that for those that don’t get accepted– once again the education system has let them down. This plays heavy on our minds and is the main reason why we make sure to reach out to all applicants, especially those who are not offered a place, and stay linked in with them as they try to navigate different ways of continuing their education. Sometimes, we are the first people to talk about PLC courses or to provide clear information about grants or to explain how a full time course doesn’t always mean 9am to 5pm every day. Many of us in the third level sector know all of this as if it was common sense but this information about going to college is a language and form of cultural capital all of its own. For many of the people for whom widening participation initiatives are aimed at, a conversation with someone who cares about their future – at the time when they are thinking about their future – and how college/university can play a part in that future – is the ultimate form of student support. And this is the point at which the relationship starts for TtT and the many people we engage with.

    VIPs

    Because so many TtT students are from groups or communities who we don’t see enough of on university campuses, it may be fair to say that the “imposter syndrome” can hover around like an unwanted guest at a house party; somebody who nobody invited, nobody can get to leave, and….there is a sense that they might cause havoc at any minute. It’s a very real feeling for many students that find their way to university through widening participation projects. But this is the very reason why “how we do things” in adult education – building relationships, learning about each other (students and staff), understanding our strengths and our challenges, all play a vital part in how we pave the yellow brick road of chasing dreams. We’re not throwing out the ‘imposter syndrome’ guest, we actually want them to stay. But in staying we want to understand how they were invited to the party in the first place, and what is making them stay.

    Turn to Teaching, like all of the programmes in the Department of Adult and Community Education, is about building relationships first and foremost, of the group of learners and the course they are on. For many students their previous educational experience maybe has not been as positive as they would have wanted it to be or, for some, it may have been an entirely negative experience. Through our adult education processes (how we do things) this previous experience (whether positive or negative) now becomes a strength, now becomes something to learn from and use to help shape the TtT student into the educator/teacher they want to become. Afterall….

    In a sense Turn to Teaching turns something our students may have perceived to be their weakness into their strength. And we do this through learning about ourselves, our fellow students, the wider university and the education system by critically reflecting on our lived experiences as they are connected to all of those things.

    Our hope is that the relationships we build with any of the Turn to Teaching applicants or students will continue for as long as it’s required, even if that requires going to some house party with an unwelcome “imposter syndrome” who eventually passes-out in the corner and we all forget they are even there.

    The Turn to Teaching Team would like to dedicate this blog to our friend and TtT student Catherine Gavin, who tragically passed away this year after a short illness. Catherine was on her journey towards achieving her dream of becoming a primary school teacher and will forever be in our hearts.

    Photo by Aleksandr Popov on Unsplash

  • Celebrating 20 Years of CEFA Ireland: A Journey of Strengthening Community Education

    Community Education Facilitators (CEFs), representing all 16 Education and Training Boards across Ireland, gathered in Athlone on the 11th and 12th of October for our annual two-day Networking Event. The event marked the upcoming 20th anniversary of the ​Community Education Facilitators’ Association (CEFA) in Ireland.   Facilitated by Michelle Anne Houlihan, Kerry CEF and Chair of the CEFA Executive, ‘Fiche Bliain ag Fiche Bliain ag Fás’ (20 Years a-Growing) was attended by former and current CEFs, including some veterans who were first appointed in 2002.

    We were joined by Nina Burke and Maria Walshe from SOLAS who updated us on the forthcoming National Framework on Community Education.  This Framework will be an important policy development in Community Education and CEFA have participated heavily in the consultation process with SOLAS in 2022 and 2023.   Fergus Craddock joined us from Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) and spoke about the inter-connectivity of Community Education with other further education programmes. Camilla Fitzsimons, head of the Department of Adult and Community Education at Maynooth University reminded us not only of our roots but of some of the important achievements of CEFA over the past two decades and asked pertinent questions about how and why we measure outcomes. The highlight of the day came from members of the Irish Wheelchair Association who spoke about their wonderful collaboration with the LWETB Community Education Programme. Finally, Barbara Nea from AONTAS gave us an update on the National Community Education mapping project. Community Education Map which aims to make visible the vital Community Education taking place in communities around the island of Ireland. 

    The two days served as timely reminder that CEFA has played a pivotal role in shaping and strengthening the landscape of community education in Ireland.  

    CEFA and its contribution to Community Education

    The establishment of the post of Community Education Facilitator (CEF) was a key part of the Learning for Life: White Paper on adult education (2000).  The posts were based in each of the county Vocational Education Committees (VECs) and the first CEF was recruited in 2002.  CEFs, with their diverse backgrounds and wealth of experience, are the driving force behind statutory community education in Ireland.

    CEFA was established in March 2004 as a professional representative association for ​CEFs; its primary goal was to provide a platform for CEFs to share information, foster collaboration and contribute to the development of community education.

    The association serves as a voice for CEFs in Ireland, advocating for their groups’ needs and interests.  CEFA has created a platform for CEFs to come together, exchange perspectives and collectively work towards the advancement of community education. Their advocacy efforts have been instrumental in promoting the value and impact of community education in Ireland. CEFA members have represented their sector on numerous decision and policy-making bodies and have produced evidence-based research to underpin their advocacy work – see Publications (cefa.ie))

    By engaging with policymakers and other stakeholders, they have helped shape policies and strategies that support the growth and sustainability of community education initiatives. This advocacy work has ensured that the transformative power of community education is recognised and prioritised at a national level.

    The success of CEFA Ireland is a testament to the dedication, passion, and hard work of the individuals involved. It is important to acknowledge the countless CEFs, executive board members, and supporters who have contributed to the growth and achievements of CEFA over the past 20 years. Their commitment to community education and their pursuit of social justice have been the driving force behind CEFA’s success.

    Through its professional representation, information sharing, report writing, resource repository, and advocacy efforts, CEFA has significantly contributed to the landscape of community education in Ireland. As we look back on the past two decades, we view the achievements of CEFA and reaffirm our commitment to the continued growth and advancement of community education for the benefit of communities across Ireland.

    Thanks to our colleague Sheilla Holland GRETB who compiled a map of CEFs in each County: https://www.thinglink.com/card/1449381451991613442

    For more information contact CEFA at CEFA.Ireland@gmail.com

  • DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR WOMEN (DEW)

    DEW is an operational solution to the challenges faced by existing and potential female entrepreneurs in a post-pandemic world. DEW aligns itself with key Erasmus+ priorities including: 

    • Inclusion and diversity in education and training
    • Digital transformation
    • Adapting Further Education and Training (FET) to labour market and female entrepreneurship needs
    • Increase flexibility of opportunities in FET

    DEW brings a gender perspective to the issue of digital entrepreneurship and the barriers facing female entrepreneurs. It creates a European-wide Community of Practice on the issue and combines the learning and results into a format that can enhance and strengthen new policy initiatives in the area of female entrepreneurship.

    The Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth university, are partners in the DEW project, along with Tara Farrell, CEO Longford Women’s Link, Brendan Mulry, Irish Rural Link. The consortium partners hosted a webinar on 20th June 18 with entrepreneurs and emerging entrepreneurs from across the country in attendance.

    The aim of the Webinar was to introduce the participants to the DEW project website and Training Materials. The website represents a repository of the project’s outputs, results, news and contacts, and is the OER platform for entrepreneurs to access DEW resources and training materials. Tara Farrell, CEO Longford Women’s link and Chair of Irish Rural link, welcomed participants and provided an overview of the DEW project, she outlined several of the training modules.

    • Digital skills for entrepreneurship
    • Managing a digital team
    • Financial literacy
    • Business Literacy
    • Leadership and Communication

    Tara then provided focused input on the Leadership and Communications Module. Brendan Mulry from Irish Rural Link presented the navigation of the website and signposted the various training materials and resources, highlighting the case studies and good practice guidelines.

    Margaret Nugent from the Department of Adult and Community education, gathered participants feedback about the usability of the various functions and explored the relevance of training materials for a wide variety of purposes. Participants provided very comprehensive and in-depth feedback on a range of topics.

    Summary of Feedback:

    ‘The notion of an elevator pitch could be explained in greater detail, an audio visual example would be helpful, and expand that to the other sections, tie it into practical examples’

    ‘Great job on the templates’

    ‘‘The mission statement could be linked to strategy’

    The cross referencing is excellent’

    ‘It is great, there is huge potential in it’

    ‘Prompts and reminders, keep a person on track, keep a person on goal’

    ‘‘Terminology and phraseology is important, consideration of literacy is very important’

    What QQI could it be pitched at, would you say level 4?’

    ‘The courses are great for rolling it out with a small group’

    ‘Compliance and cyber security is a consideration, it needs to be user friendly and there is a legal responsibility. Consideration should be given to privacy policies, cookie pop ups, transparency, who is at the background, is there access to shared data, if so by whom’

    ‘It is a nice experience online, very good’

    ‘Easy accessible assessment’

    ‘Is there a way of linking it to Linked in profile?’

    ‘Some guidelines on how to deliver the training in diverse settings would be helpful’

    Some comments in the  chat function regarding the training content feedback:

    ‘Does the training include anything on creating a products page with a shopping cart? And how people can buy products from you? I know this is an advanced topic, so maybe another topic on how to choose a company who can create a website for you.’

    ‘I think that a contact page is a ‘must’. I don’t trust a site unless they have a contact page, which includes a real address.’ 

    ‘The menu item ‘Assessment’ is unclear as to what it contains. Assessment to me is an exam.‘

    ‘The PowerPoint Presentation is so good , easy and accessible for my groups and looking forward to using and sharing it.’

    ‘I think a lot more visual content would be beneficial, video instruction as well as examples of well-designed websites, social media posts etc.’

    ‘I love the certificate at the end of the module. Nice touch’. 

    ‘The presentation on YouTube was a little fast, on some slides there wasn’t enough time to read all the content. ‘

    ‘I would also include hands-on practical activities and tasks’

    ‘I agree with the comments around practical.  One of the best courses I did involved creating a resource pack with each module that was for future use in business.  I was using the HR stuff for years’

    ‘Looks like a useful relevant online module, maybe an overall statement of how long the module will take to complete, and maybe include some textbooks in the references, and some online podcasts (Ted Talks?)’

    ‘The plain English & UDL resources from AHEAD are worth a look and could be referenced in each module and for teaching purposes’  

    ‘It’s a really interesting concept that I would like to explore further before I could give any constructive feedback. It could be suitable for our AES provision so I’d like to bring the concept back to the team’

    ‘A very interesting resource and a much-needed area to focus on in increasing the number of women entrepreneurs.  Well done.’

    ‘Brilliant session. Great also to know this will be online for the next 2 years’

    ‘Good session , very interesting and informative – great feedback’ 

    ‘Thank you for the opportunity, excellent experience and very informative.’

    ‘An excellent T&L resource and not bogged down in assessment which is great!’   

    ‘I will share this resource with colleagues and explore with them’

    ‘Interesting and informative. Thank you’ ‘It’s a fantastic resource and a great starting point for potential entrepreneurs. Thank you. I will certainly be revisiting the site.’

    In summary the webinar was very well attended by a diverse mix of people, including  educators, programme designers and validators, entrepreneurs, potential entrepreneurs business managers and trainers and community education practitioners. The overall response to the website design and the testing and validation process was positive. Participants took time to fully engage with the course material and the links and resources. They provided nuanced analysis of the various features of the website and the content of the courses. They offered detailed recommendations on how the content could be enhanced for greater accessibility and usage

    DEW project lead, Tara Farrell thanked everyone for their engagement, and encouraged everyone to keep in touch with the project, and to join the European DEW community on the website.

    ‘The DEW project has been a very welcome addition to the range of online programmes available to female entrepreneurs, particularly in a post-Covid landscape. We are delighted to see the range of interest in this initiative and look forward to disseminating the results on a wide scale throughout the sector.’

    Tara Farrell
    CEO
    Longford Women’s Link

    Further details:

    Contact: Margaret Nugent- margaret.nugent@mu.ie

    Website: https://www.dewproject.eu/

    Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DEW-Project-106768855234561 

    DEW Consortium Partners:

    Dr. Margaret Nugent is an academic and researcher with the Department of Adult and Community Education. Her professional experience and research interests extends to international peace building, conflict intervention, reconciliation in post conflict contexts and inclusive education. She specialises in qualitative, engaged and participatory research methodologies, and is an experienced practitioner and innovator in developing peacebuilding pedagogies. Margaret has delivered a very extensive portfolio of consultancy work with the adult, rural and community development sector, within further and higher education.

  • Lifelong Learning and the Older Learner (and Teacher).

    In memory of the late Anne Roundtree.

    Anne Roundtree in full flow.

    I would just to like to pay my respects on behalf of the Department of Adult and Community Education to the late Anne Roundtree. Anne along with her long time friend and teaching partner Margaret Sweetman introduced so many adults to a new life as mature students in the Return to Learning certificate programme that they delivered for over twenty years. Their care with this unique cohort of students has been a lesson to us all and one that I as a lecturer on that programme am happy to continue.

    Margaret Sweetman.

    There is a widely held belief that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks and while it might be true in terms of training it is palpably not true for education. You train dogs, you educate people. Education = liberation. This was brought home to me recently in a Return to Learning course where a 76 year old student Áine Grace recounted that since beginning this course in university she has felt seen for the first time since she left the workforce. It has been liberating for this woman who no longer ‘feels like I’m in god’s waiting room’ to feel validated at this stage of her life. ‘Belonging’ and ‘mattering’ two words that resonate with adult learners, and the university is a place where these can be enacted if we can really give time to think about Lifelong Learning in its wider sense.

    The current understanding of Lifelong Learning has become conflated with work related skills and employment opportunities. It’s part of a wider ‘education to service the economy’ discourse. This way of thinking fails to take into account adult students at all life stages who return to learning for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with employability or future skills. The Maynooth University Return to Learning certificate and the ComMUniversity provide ample evidence of people who attend programmes for a variety of reasons, some explicitly career focused and some social and recreational.  Adults and especially older adults are a vast untapped and unsupported population whose motivation to engage with Higher Education has as much to do with coming to terms with the vicissitudes of life such as grief, loss, bereavement, aging, loneliness and isolation, encroaching disability, etc., as it has to do with job prospects. Of course many people enrol in courses for the qualification and that is a useful outcome. However a lot of people find there is also the unexpected benefit of studying in university in that it offers Community. Here in the classroom among our peers our desire to be seen and heard and to be part of something greater than ourselves can be satisfied.

    From mid August to late September every year the media is full of stories about teenagers and exam results, getting their preferred college course or not, leaving home or not, finding accommodation or not and the world of education seems a territory completely occupied by the young. When I listened to Áine in the classroom or witnessed the ovation that Phil Devitt received by her fellow graduates when she was conferred with her BA in Community Studies at the age of 86 I can’t help but think of the thousands of people who have worked all of their lives, paid their taxes, sacrificed so much for their families and Irish society and by doing so help create a wealthy country in the relatively short one hundred years since independence. Adult students have much to reflect on and much wisdom to share. Áine gave a great talk at this year’s ComMUniversity Celebration of Learning Day in June about her experiences coming to university in later life as a student on the Return to Learning certificate course. Take a look at Áine’s talk HERE and you will see the transformative impact that her time in Maynooth has had on her and her plans for the future.

    For the generations of older learners who didn’t get the chance to study in university in their youth it’s about time they got something back. Along with the free bus pass and the free TV licence, free funded education for our senior citizens, in a way that is compatible with their life style (part-time, off campus) is an idea whose time has come. As a society and a Higher Education sector we have so much to learn from them.

    Tony Weekes Economics and Cathal Coleman Politics ComMUniversity.

    Dr Derek Barter is a lecturer and the Continuing Education Co-Ordinator in the Dept. of Adult and Community Education (DACE) Maynooth University and Director of the Communiversity. In his post as Academic Co-ordinator of Continuing Education in the Department of Adult and Community Education in Maynooth University his main aim is to facilitate the entry into higher education of mature students who may or may not be first time entrants to university and foster a culture of lifelong learning for personal, community and professional development. This includes the night-time/part-time degree for adults the BA Local Studies/BA Community Studies. Dr Barter works with different statutory, voluntary and especially community organisations in order fulfil the university’s strategic goal for Community Engagement and Widening Participation. Initiatives, such as the Communiversity, which brings higher education out of the campus in a partnership arrangement between MU, LEADER Partnership Companies and Local Public Libraries.

  • As universities return to normal, spare a thought for the ‘Covid-graduates’ who missed so much.

    As universities return to normal, spare a thought for the ‘Covid-graduates’ who missed so much.

    In this month’s blog, Anna MacNeill reflects on the impact of the Covid19 pandemic on university students

    The COVID-19 pandemic tore a hole through the fabric of our lives in March 2020 when I was just over halfway through the second year of my three-year undergraduate degree. For most of us, the initial reaction was to rejoice at the idea of a small break believing the university would be closed for perhaps two weeks. For me, I was never back on university campus until I graduated in September 2021, a year and a half later. In other words, I completed the entire second half of my degree on my laptop, sitting on the floor in my bedroom. It has taken me a long time to even begin to process just how much of the educational experience I was robbed of.

    The classroom structure is a sacred space for free-flowing ingenuity and imaginative thought. Often, there are few arenas in our lifetime which offer such freedom of thought and expression as we learn through the contributions and experiences of others, and offer that same thing in return. Any well-intentioned and unrestricted classroom environment will be led by educational methodologies that encourage participation and creativity and that foster a democratic space where learning is continuous and collaborative. It’s the best way to learn anything, until that fateful day in March 2020. All my memorable moments of learning and creative expression I experienced in college happened in small classrooms, not in lecture halls. It’s the most powerful mode of study. Then, it was taken from us.

    Completely contrasted with this collaborative space I speak of, is the year and a half I, and many others, spent removed from this learning environment. Whilst it was repeatedly touted that the online Teams and Zoom spaces were an easy and convenient replacement, the experience was in no way comparable to that of an in-person class. Classrooms around campus were swapped for the spaces where people slept every night, and the houses where, for some people, childcare and housework were added pressures.

    As my home became the container for the second half of my degree, my days would center around seeing tiny, pixelated images of people on a laptop screen with fellow students confined to their own domestic spaces, obscured through a camera lens. I tried to remember the name of others in my class and couldn’t, thrown into this sea of digital boxes, the capacity to build friendships became near impossible.

    It’s hard to quantify what is lost when the real life inter-personal connection between peers in a learning environment is denied – the communication that exists in a group of people who are all in a room for the same reason and out of the same interests. The interactions we built through eye-contact, body language and the way in which conversation ebbs and flows was lost when we are forced to communicate through the awkward and muffled lens of a webcam. Confined in our tiny boxes on a screen, we were divided.

    To rub salt in the wound of this monotonous experience, some lecturers appeared to set the same expectations and level of participation that they would expect from an in-person class. This didn’t work for me rather I sat there, day after day, as group leaders urged a quiet class of people to speak up and be involved. And while I understand the difficulty of this position for the educator, how you can expect people to feel supported to contribute to what is supposed to be a group experience, when in actuality they are alone, often in their bedroom or juggling other responsibilities they enjoyed escaping from as part of their college experience.  

    The pandemic is now mostly behind us, universities are back to normal and students, young and old, have returned to face-to-face learning. But is it worth remembering the thousands who didn’t get to finish their journey on campus. I got to graduate in person, with no guests invited and with no campus reception. Others graduated online and within the same four walls where they finished their studies. I know that our loss is not comparable to the much greater losses others experienced because of Covid19. But they were not insignificant either. As universities are again buzzing with activity, spare a thought for those of us whose ultimate experience was very different.

    Anna MacNeill

    Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash

  • Being a part of Turn To Teaching

    Turn to Teaching runs the Think About Teaching course which is a year-long Foundation Course for Initial Teacher Education. The course aims to diversify the Irish classroom by fostering a culture among students from groups currently under-represented in teaching to consider the teaching profession as a desirable and achievable career option. The year-long course will support students academically, personally and socially; providing a pathway to the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education and the Professional Master of Education (Primary) in the Froebel department.

    The TTT Team.

    I was a part of the very first year of Turn to Teaching (TTT), looking back to that time, I was in a job I hated and dreading going to everyday and just really feeling low! I was at a time in my life that I felt like if I don’t try get back into college now, then it’ll never happen for me. 

    I had always wanted to be a primary school teacher but for many reasons it was not the path I chose straight out of leaving school, however it was always in the back of my mind that being a primary school teacher was my dream job. Hearing about the TTT program was amazing! I firmly believe in the saying ‘everything happens for a reason’ because just as I was about to begin my search on how I could go about starting my teaching journey, this course opened up. Getting onto the course has been one of my best achievements to date!

    The course itself was a great experience and I got to meet so many amazing people and friends. I learned a lot about myself in my year in TTT and the type of learner I am but also the type of teacher I want to be and the influence I would like to have on children and people around me. The course is so diverse and you meet so many people from all walks of life that you learn from. You hear of experiences that people have had in our education system, some positive, some negative but it all pushes you broader and makes you want to do better for those who have had bad experiences. 

    Through reflecting while participating on the TTT program, I became and continue to be an advocate for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) and am so passionate about getting people from DEIS backgrounds to realise their potential and that barriers can be broken! This course allows people like myself, (someone from a DEIS background) or people who are not the ‘typical teacher’ to enter the workforce, which benefits our education system greatly. My cohort of peers on the course are, or are in the process of becoming some of the best primary school teachers in the teaching profession! To think that without this course it may not have been possible (for myself included) is shocking as we bring so much creativity, diversity and enthusiasm to the profession. The children of our future would be missing out on unbelievable teachers if this course was not created, as we would be slipping through the cracks of our education system and our potential would never be highlighted. 

    This course has changed my life for the better and I owe so much of my successes to it. I would not be a fully qualified primary school teacher , living out my dream job in my dream school without this course and I will be forever grateful for the opportunities it has given me – Meghan Shannon.

  • What has Adult Education got to do with Social Justice?

    Maynooth University Social Justice Week : 6th-10th of March

    In the last few weeks I visited distant relations in Leeds, England. On the visit we spoke about their life journey leaving a west of Ireland county in the late 1930s as teenagers and arriving in Leeds where an older sibling or a friend of the family had arrived a few months or years earlier. They spoke of the Irish networks for work, socialisation and accommodation. They told me of the strenuous work in factories, in construction as navvy’s, on farms and in hard physical service work. They worked to establish themselves and their families after they had sent money home and/or saved to bring a younger sibling to Leeds (See https://www.untoldstories.co.uk/).

    Now in their 60s, 70s and 80s they have grown families and, in their view, have had a hard but a livable life. Some of their friends are passed on from old age, accidents, excessive drinking and smoking, or poor health due to over-work in poor conditions. Staying in Ireland was not an option for them though many, not all, came back regularly to visit. Progressing in education was not an option either and most dropped out of an oppressive school system that, to them, was not going to give them a much-needed family income.

    Source: https://www.untoldstories.co.uk/

    I learned about the very big textile, printing and steel factories in Leeds, the poor working conditions, and the struggles to get by through the war years. With so many new workers coming to Leeds there were very big house-building programmes giving more employment and self-employment opportunities. Walking through many areas of Leeds these dense terraced housing estates are in poor condition and towers of high rise flats are dotted around reminding me of Ballymun, Dublin. I also saw leafy suburbs, but there were few in the city area I was in.

    As I walked and listened, I thought about my career as an educator that is now going through a seismic transition. I thought “What is the purpose of adult and community education today?”

    There is no such thing as a neutral educational process according to Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972). Freire posits that education is either an instrument to integrate younger generations into the logic of the present system bringing about conformity, or it is the “practice of freedom” where people deal critically and creatively with reality and their participation in societal transformation. I’ve been re-reading Tom Lovett’s 1975 book titled Adult Education, Community Development and the Working Class. Lovett says “Adult Education as it developed in Great Britain has always had a strong sense of social purpose” and so it has been in Ireland with its benefit presented in the history of adult education among women’s, youth, and community groups, and most ably presented in the government policy white paper Learning for Life (2000).

    However, I am fearful that we are following the English experience where, as Alan Tuckett in the Rise and Fall of Life-Wide Learning for Adults in England (2017) states, adult education has mapped and deprecated “… the .. narrowing of public investment to an increasingly utilitarian focus on qualifications for labour market participation with the rise of Treasury (finance ministry) influence on adult learning policy from 2003.”

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armley

    If we are to respect social justice, a ‘Social Justice Week’ is not good enough. Social justice must be the heartbeat of all social and democratic conversation, research, innovation and enterprise. Yet so much of our mainstream education does not explicitly have social justice central to its content, league tables, points race and cramming for exams. Adult education, particularly community-based adult education is among the last and is strongest repository of socially aware education for justice practice. How are we to address peace, democracy, equality, inclusivity, liberation from poverty, and tackling global challenges such as biodiversity breakdown and climate change without the form of adult education that Freire, and Lovett evidenced?

    That visit to my relations in Leeds, stimulated my soul.

    Michael Kenny teaches and researches in Maynooth University’s Department of Adult and Community Education, was course director of the Post-Graduate Higher Diploma in Further Education (HDFE), with Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons, and the Programme Design and Validation (PCPDV) Certificate, and continues as principal investigator (PI) on a number of European research projects. He has recently retired from full time employment.

    All views are those of the author only.

  • TUTOR PROJECT

    Teachers Upskilling aiming at a holistic inclusivity in learning. 

    TUTOR is a 3 year European Union funded Teacher Academy project. The Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth University is a lead partner in TUTOR. 

    Ensuring inclusion in education has been a strong motivator for the Department of Adult and Community since its inception and over several decades. The Department is focused upon holistic, dialogical and pedagogical accompaniment of marginalised communities. It does this by co creating spaces for traditionally excluded voices to be heard,  and on ensuring a standard of excellence is achieved in qualitative, engaged and participatory research. The department’s philosophy of education, initial teacher education and continuous professional development is leading and influencing pedagogy and practice within adult, community and further education and training settings. That philosophy is strategically aligned with, and supportive of, the aims and objectives of the TUTOR project, and with the TUTOR consortium partnership.  The TUTOR project, alongside all of the international research projects the department partners with, encourages wider impact of inclusive education across the teaching profession at a European level.

    Key messages of the TUTOR Project:  

    Summary of the TUTOR Project  

    TUTOR aims to create partnerships between teacher education and training providers to set up Teacher Academies developing a European and international outlook on inclusion in teacher education.  These Academies will embrace inclusivity in education and contribute to achieving the objectives of the European Education Area. In particular, the project will address the need for educators to develop their capacities to understand, analyse and develop strategic responses to the diversity in their classroom and to promote a more inclusive learning environment. TUTOR project intends to foster a more inclusive environment in education, that is open to students from migrant, LGBTQI+, and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, with a particular focus on safeguarding the elements of tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion.

    The TUTOR objectives 

    To contribute to the improvement of teacher education policies and practices in Europe by creating networks and communities that bring together providers of secondary teacher education and providers of continuing professional development, and other relevant actors (such as ministries) and stakeholders to develop a Train the Trainers approach, focused on inclusivity in learning, 

    • To define a forward-looking strategy upskilling strategy for secondary school teachers, 
    • To enhance the European dimension and internationalization of teacher education through innovative and practical collaboration and by sharing experiences for the further development of teacher education in Europe, 
    • To foster holistic inclusivity in the learning environment, covering all its aspects such as tolerance, non-discrimination, flexibility, etc, 
    • To assess current and future skill mismatches in the targeted (teaching) profession, 
    • To disseminate widely all project products & maintain them in future communications. 

    Who is the TUTOR project for?  

    It is for teachers, students and policy makers who have an interest in inclusive education 

    • Educators/Teachers/ Trainers from the four participating countries of Greece, Ireland, Austria and Turkey 

    Reasons for engagement:  

    1. To update inclusivity skills of secondary education teachers in inclusive education.  
    1. To raise awareness with regards to the inclusivity needs of students being discriminated because they are part of the LGBTQI+ community, have migrant background and they face socioeconomic difficulties.  

    The TUTOR Consortium will 

    1) conduct desk and field research on the inclusivity skills needs of teachers, exploring both the desired status of inclusive education and the actual status within the partner countries, and at European level. 

    2) design a training program to match country-specific needs  

    3) promote and provide access to TUTOR e-learning platform – access to training materials and a network of professionals within their sector.  

    4) support teachers to develop skills to enable a more inclusive teaching experience for students from LGBTQI+ community, migrant backgrounds, and socioeconomically disadvantage to ensure that they are being equally treated.   

    5) work with policy-makers including ministries, local & regional authorities, EU bodies, (and other officials with the ability to influence policies) to make changes at a European and national level regarding transitions to a more inclusive teaching environment. 

    What has the TUTOR project achieved so far? 

    We commenced in June 2022 with a meeting of all partners in Athens, Greece, where the consortium partners developed an overall strategy including an assessment methodology, a Project Management Handbook and Financial Plan, a Dissemination Plan and a project website. Desk research was undertaken across the four countries and at EU level. Partners produced country specific literature reviews on inclusive education, and an overarching Transnational Literature Review.  

    The Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth University is the lead partner for Work Package 2 (WP2) Definition of a forward looking upskilling strategy for teachers. Partners have conducted focus group meetings with teachers and stakeholders in Ireland, Austria, Turkey and Greece. 

    What is currently happening in TUTOR? 

    TUTOR’s Transnational  Partner Meeting (TPM) is being hosted by the Department of Adult and Community Education, Maynooth University on 1st and 2nd February 2023, where we welcome partners from Greece, Turkey, Austria and Belgium. All partners are advocates for and are specialists in inclusive education. We will discuss the implications of the key findings of desk and field research to date and plan our strategy for defining a future looking upskilling strategy for teachers across Europe. For further information,  

    The TUTOR website is http://tutor-project.eu/ 

    The TUTOR Facebook: TUTOR Facebook 

    What’s next? 

    Large scale research activity and needs analysis on upskilling of teachers on inclusive education for students from LGBTQI+, migrants, ethnic minorities, and socio economically disadvantaged contexts. 

    TUTOR partners are exploring National-level and EU-level research on the current skills levels of secondary education and VET (Vocational Education and Training) teachers on inclusivity. As part of that process we will be conducting surveys and interviews with 800 teachers, engaging with 500 stakeholders and policy makers. We are developing a professional network of teachers, and developing opportunities for training and mobilities for teachers across the consortium partnership. 

    Contact bernie.grummell@mu.ie and margaret.nugent@mu.ie for further information and if you would like to find out more and become involved in the project. 

    TUTOR partner consortium 

    P1. AKMI ANONIMI EKPAIDEFTIKI ETAIRIA (AKMI), Greece  

    P2. School of Pedagogical & Technological Education (ASPAITE), Greece  

    P3. Symplexis, Greece 

    P4. EVTA, Belgium  

    P5. EVBB, Belgium 

    P6. Maynooth University, Ireland 

    P7. BPI OJAB, Austria 

    P8. Die Berater, Austria 

    P9. National Education Directorate of Serik District, Turkey

    P10. SERGED Teaching Academy, Turkey 

    P11. IGLYO, Belgium 

     

    Dr. Margaret Nugent is an academic and researcher with the Department of Adult and Community Education. Her professional experience and research interests extends to international peace building, conflict intervention, reconciliation in post conflict contexts and inclusive education. She specialises in qualitative, engaged and participatory research methodologies, and is an experienced practitioner and innovator in developing peacebuilding pedagogies. Margaret has delivered a very extensive portfolio of consultancy work with the adult, rural and community development sector, within further and higher education.

    Bernie Grummell is Associate Professor in the Department  of Adult and Community Education. She is co director of the Centre for Research in Adult Learning and Education and is the lead researcher for the TUTOR project in Maynooth University.