5. EU folio: A Classroom’s ePortfolio Pilot Project

Presenters: Sinéad Tuohy and Ben Murray:

Ben Murray (NCCA) and Sinéad Tuohy (JCT) are mentors inthe EUFolio project and have extensive experience inusing digital tools to support teaching and learning.EUfolio - EU Classroom ePortfolios is a project funded bythe European Commission. The aim of the project is todesign and test innovative ePortfolio models which willinform and support the implementation of innovativelearning environments using ICT across Europe.

This workshop looks at the findings of the Irish ePortfoliopilot programme in 26 Irish schools and how ePortfolioscan support formative and summative assessment inteaching and learning.

6. Strategic Professional Developmentin the school improvement process.

Presenter: Anthony Kilcoyne

Anthony Kilcoyne is the Team Leader for SchoolLeadership in the Professional Development Service forTeachers (PDST) in Ireland. PDST provides continuingprofessional development and support for teachers andschool leaders. His role includes facilitating structured CPDand school based, action research opportunities foraspiring and practising school leaders. He will explore thetheme that one of the keys to school improvement is thestrategic professional development of staff.

DIRECTIONS

FROM THE SOUTH

Leave the M7 at Junction 10 for Naas. At the

roundabout take the 4th exit, at next roundabout

take first exit & continue forward straight until

you approach traffic lights & take a right onto

ring road. Go straight through first roundabout &

on second roundabout take 3rd exit onto the

Kilcullen road. Continue for 0.5 mile the Killashee

is located here on the left.

FROM DUBLIN

N7 take Exit 9 for Naas. At first roundabout take

2nd Exit. At second roundabout (Big Ball) take

first exit. Continue straight, at third roundabout

take 2nd Exit. Continue straight ahead through

the town, you will go through 7 sets of traffic

lights. After the 7th set of lights continue out this

road (Kilcullen Road) for 1.5 miles and Killashee is

located on the left.

Online applications available from

www.nspi.ie and www.eckildare.ie

Tel: 045 530200

Web: www.eckildare.ie

Email: office@eckildare.ie

For presentations from previous

NSPI conferences, please see

www.nspi.ie

Temple Printing Co. Ltd., Athlone

9th NATIONAL CONFERENCE

“Resilience and supportfor successful planning”

Saturday, 28th February 2015

The Killashee House Hotel,Naas, Co. Kildare

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:Professor John West-Burnham

PRESENTATION:Practical strategies for the

prevention of burn out in teachers

WORKSHOPS:Monring and afternoon workshops

Online Application Forms available fromwww.nspi.ie and www.eckildare.ie

Closing date for Applications:30th January 2015

Early application is advised.

Key note speaker:Professor John West-Burnham

FROM THE OPERATIONAL TO THE STRATEGIC

This presentation will focus on the centrality of strategicthinking to any model of effective leadership.

In particular the session will explore the dimensions of thestrategic planning process as an essential precursor to anymodel of school improvement planning. The presentationwill stress three key elements of the planning process –

1 Planning as an essentially moral process that is concerned with translating principle into practice.

2. Planning as the means of securing a consistent focus on the core purpose of education – the quality of teaching and learning and

3. The importance of planning as a means of securing teacher commitment and engagement through the development of scenarios and stories of a preferred future.

John West-Burnham is a writer, teacher and consultant ineducation leadership with a particular interest in leadershiplearning and development and learning in schools andcommunities. He has been a schoolteacher, teacher trainer,education officer and has held posts in five universities. He isProfessor of Educational Leadership at St Mary’s Universityand Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Education,University of Bristol. John is the author or editor of 26 booksincluding Education for Social Justice and RethinkingEducational Leadership and he has worked in 27 countries. Hehas been involved in the work of LDS and PDST in Ireland.

Second Speaker Presentation: Gerry Farrell

PRACTICAL STRATEGIES FOR THE PREVENTIONOF BURN OUT IN TEACHERS.

In this provocative workshop the current challenges in theschool environment are put in context. Drawing on theprinciples of analytic psychology there is an attempt to

explore the opportunities for the building of resilience. Byaltering the perspective and seeing the archetypal forces atwork in contemporary problems Gerry Farrell hopes tochallenge and reassure in equal measure. Following theHero’s journey in a light-hearted but inspiring style, it ishoped that teachers will be renewed in themselves and theirprofession.

Gerry Farrell was involved in the training of teachers for thedelivery of the SPHE programme in second level schools. Hehas also given numerous in-services in schools throughoutIreland. He worked and researched at the Maudsley hospitalLondon in the areas of forensic psychiatry, addictions, eatingdisorders as well as general psychiatry. He is the formersenior counsellor with the Probation and Welfare services’treatment centre at Harristown House Castlerea. He was aUnit Manager at Oberstown for teenagers with challengingbehaviours. He was a tutor at Trinity College Dublin on theDiploma in Counselling course where he also guest lecturedon “Psychiatry and Counselling”. He lectured at the Instituteof Technology Sligo on Applied Social Care on the degree inSocial Care as well as on the Diploma in Custodial Care forIrish Prison Officers. He was a tutor for NUI Maynooth on theCertificate in Addictions studies. He has always had a keeninterest in stress management for staff working inchallenging care or educational environments. His workshopshave a reputation for being energetic thought provoking,practical and experiential.

www.professionalcounselling.ie

WORKSHOPS

1. AfL – How it can support a whole-school approach to assessment and planning.

Presenter: Anne Jones (NIPT)

This session will provide an overview of the NIPT Assessmentfor Learning Workshop for newly qualified teachers.Particular attention will be placed on the subject specific A-Zwhich was developed by NIPT associates and how they canbe used to support a whole school approach to assessmentand planning"

2. It’s All About The Learning

Presenter: Audrey Doyle

Audrey Doyle is principal of St Joseph's College, Lucan. Inrecent years she has led a review of assessment practiceswithin the school alongside promoting the developmentof key skills within teaching, learning and assessment.Audrey has shared this work with many schools and isalso Associate Trainer with the JCT team. The workshopoutlines the process the school took to introduce AFL, KeySkills and assessment strategies.

3. Forging the Future through Digital Worlds

Presenter: Kevin Cahill

This workshop will consider contemporary thinking onintersections between digital technology and the world ofthe school. He will address the theory and practice ofdigital literacies in second-level school settings as well asintroducing and eliciting practice in schools. He willconsider the power and the pitfalls of the digitalecosystem. Kevin Cahill is a former post-primary teacher ofEnglish and SEN in Mayfield Community School, Cork(1999-2014) who is now a lecturer in Education atUniversity College Cork. His research interests includedigital literacies, equality in education and socioculturalapproaches to learning and identity.

4. Moving Forward with Numeracy – a Practical Approach

Presenter: Jerry McCarthy

Abstract: This presentation will identify and describe howschool-wide numeracy development can be planned,initiated and sustained in the second level school context.Jerry Mc Carthy has been involved in numeracy andmathematics education for over 40 years. He is anexperienced and well-known provider of numeracy CPD tosecond level schools, on third level college courses, ineducation centres and at national and internationalconferences. He co-planned and developed the multiplestrands of the JCSP Numeracy Strategy. He is a formerChairperson of the Irish Learning Support Association.