For the past decade or so, summer has begun for me with a visit to Borris in Co. Carlow. The wonderful Festival of Writing and Ideas fills my mind with new thoughts and interesting opinions and books-I-need-to-read lists that crowd out and chase away the CBAs and the lesson plans and the reports. This year I heard Fintan O’Toole being interviewed by fellow journalist Gary Younge on the state in which we find ourselves. O’Toole spoke as eloquently as ever, touching on the heft of the multi-nationals in influencing Irish public policy, a heft that is sometimes felt in terms of direct demands (or ..read more

I must begin by acknowledging a debt here to Joe Kirby, who first applied the analogy of the double helix structure of DNA to the relationship between skills and knowledge in English. Joe (@joe_kirby) points out, entirely reasonably, that teaching knowledge and teaching skills are not in opposition and that they cannot be completely separated and positioned as polar opposites. This image, of two distinct yet interconnected strands that aid in each other’s formation, comes to mind as I consider the plans to move the examination of English Paper I to the end of fifth year. (The Irish systems see ..read more

It has been almost two years since I last compiled a list of interesting books that I have enjoyed, so “recent” here spans quite a length of time. I had a browse through the shelves and these were the ten that called to me. I’ve left out “Bringing Forth the Bard” as I can’t add anything to this excellent review here. “The Art of Falling” by Danielle McLoughlin “The Art of Falling” is a novel about art and artists that is it itself a quiet and subtle masterpiece. McLoughlin was already known for short stories that are clear examinations of human desires and shortcomings and this, her debut nov ..read more

Back in the late eighties I remember my second-year English teacher (who now has rather a big job in Irish education) introducing us to the term “hyperbole”. No, Wordsworth did not actually see ten-thousand daffodils but the inclusion of this impressive number gives a sense of there being many, many daffodils. It’s a term I teach my own pupils today and one that sprang to mind when I read this Irish Times article and the many retweets it featured in. All of them seemed to accept that the Leaving Cert is “brutal but fair”. “Brutal” applied to the Leaving Cert is a nice example of hyperbole. It ..read more

Ah, but the summer isn’t over, you say. This was originally called “lockdown reads” but I can’t anymore. “New normal”, “blended learning”, “social distancing”… it’s all enough to make you want to escape to eighteenth-century Bath or early-nineteenth century Moscow. Even the persecutions of early Christians and the enforcement methods of Eastern European criminal gangs become distraction from the great uncertainty and the frazzling idiosyncrasies of the online learning platform. The merits and demerits of New York charter schools and the empirical evidence base of recent pedagogical trends ser ..read more

The Irish National Organisation of Teachers of English (INOTE) held our annual conference in Portlaoise on 12th October. This is always a good day to be an English teacher and this year’s conference was a vintage one. Fresh from the triumph that was the previous weekend’s ResearchED Dublin, Julian Girdham delivered an inspiring keynote address on the building blocks of English as a subject discipline. Also in the main conference room, Frances Rocks demystified the Leaving Cert marking scheme and Patrick Huff spoke on the importance of cultural capital and gave an impressive list of book a ..read more

“It’s this big volume of information that they have to cram into their heads which is a big source of the stress.” Dr. Denise Burns quoted in The Irish Examiner  Today is Leaving Cert results day, and around 57,000 candidates – almost all of them school-leavers- will be opening that long-anticipated envelope with either joy or tears or something in between. The media will be out in force covering this event and there will be words from Minister Richard Bruton, whose department is currently working on changes to senior cycle curriculum and assessment. In a prelude to today’s results, the ..read more

“Instead of teaching generic critical-thinking skills, we ought to focus on subject-specific critical-thinking skills that seek to broaden a student’s individual subject knowledge and unlock the unique, intricate mysteries of each subject.” Carl Hendrick   Question 9 A film version is being made of the Shakespearean play you have studied.  What would you include on a poster advertising the film, to represent what you think is important in the play and to create a sense of anticipation for its upcoming release?  Explain your decisions with ..read more