Podcast 410, Education Historian, Dr. Thomas Walsh (5-12-20)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's podcast Education Historian Dr. Thomas Walsh applies a historical perspective to analyse cotemporary policy and practice in curriculum, early childhood education and more. Among the topics we discuss are:

• The career trajectory that brought him to working in the Education Department of Maynooth University.
• Working in the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education
• Influence of nationalism and Catholicism on the curriculum of the 1920s
• The Commission on Manual and Practical Instruction and its influence on the 1900 curriculum
• Removing subjects to focus on the Irish language in the 1920s
• Becoming interested in the study of curriculum and curriculum change over most of a century
• Influence of John Coolahan on Tom’s work
• How a historical perspective on curriculum enriches our understanding of curriculum today
• The Stanley Letter from 1831.
• The importance of context in curriculum development
• Policy as text and policy as discourse (Ball). Curriculum implementation – dance between policy and practice
• Influences on curriculum change in Ireland – timing and context affect the influences
• Immigrant, internationally educated teachers and controlling who can become a teacher
• Migrant Teacher Project and Turn to Teaching Project (Maynooth)
• Team teaching: when it happens; what needs to happen for it to be successful? Planning for team teaching.
• Policy and practice in relation to team teaching
• Resources for team teaching (PDST and Maynooth websites)
• Early Childhood Education in Ireland today
• Legacy of Professor John Coolahan. He featured on two episodes of Inside Education, here and here.
• School placement: from supervisor to placement tutor. What’s in a name change?
• Gert Biesta article, Resisting the seduction of the global measurement industry: notes on the social psychology of PISA and book, The Beautiful Risk of Education.