The title of the Workshop / Presentation given by Dr. Pádraig Hogan and Mr. Greg Smith on Saturday, 21 April 2007 in the Keadeen Hotel, Newbridge, Co. Kildare was "Development Planning and the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning".
Claire Bogan, on behalf of the Interim Executive of the Network of School Planners, Ireland, welcomed all present to the Workshop / Presentation that afternoon. She especially welcomed Dr. Pádraig Hogan and Mr. Greg Smith from the Department of Education in N.U.I. Maynooth. Having alluded to Pádraig and Greg's field of research, Claire explained that the Workshop would explore the significance for School Development Planning of some of the central findings of the research project "Teaching and Learning for the 21st Century".
Pádraig explained that this project has been engaged in a range of new
initiatives, including Teacher Networks, with fifteen post-primary schools in
three regions of Leinster. The Workshop / Presentation shared key insights and
practices from the project's work. The group was informed about the structures
of the project and how the project had two main aims. They were -
" To strengthen Teachers' capacities as authors of their own work
" To encourage students to become more active and responsible participants
in their own learning.
Pádraig stressed that the project is not a project for a minority of
Teachers within a school. Rather, it is a development initiative with a commitment
to feedback and building professional capacities over time.
Mr. Greg Smith related to the group that in its "in-school work", the project is providing opportunities for School Development Planning to develop within schools, as there is a sharing of new approaches across subjects. Inbuilt, there is a capacity for self-evaluation and the subject teams are focused on pedagogies. Therefore, there exists an innovative professional culture, which is directly linked to School Development Planning.
In its "out-of-school work", Greg continued, the project is developing informal networks amongst Teachers of Gaeilge, English, Maths and Science. The project liases regularly with statutory and national support bodies in education. It gains feedback from educational research and it feeds lessons and insights from the project to educational policy-makers.
There followed a "question and answer" session where many matters were discussed amongst the group with Pádraig and Greg.
In her closing remarks, Claire thanked Pádraig and Greg for coming to the Conference. She said that the Workshop / Presentation had shown all present that schools and the Teaching profession are at the interface between the present and the future. Insights had been offered to the group by Pádraig and Greg who had shared with everybody ways in which the quality of Teaching and Learning in our schools could be enhanced. Pádraig and Greg had in turn encouraged all present to go back to their schools and to consider sharing these key insights and practices in their own schools. Claire presented Pádraig and Greg with tokens of thanks on behalf of the Interim Executive of the Network of School Planners, Ireland.