Teachers Inspire Ireland
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: 24 days ago -Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise the transformative role they play in our lives and in our communities.
Hosted by acclaimed author Louise O’Neill, the Teachers Inspire podcast meets inspirational teachers, those whose lives they’ve touched along with researchers and educators, discussing topics including early childhood education, inclusion in education, mental health and wellbeing, teaching gifted children and STEM education.
To share your own story of a teacher who made a difference in your life, go to teachersinspire.ie.
Producer: Elaine Keogh
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Meet the four Teachers Inspire awardees of 2023
June 20, 2024 04:00 - 13 minutesWe conclude the series by meeting the four teachers who were presented with their Teachers Inspire award for 2023 at a special event in DCU in May. The awards were presented by our curator, and podcast host, Louise. The awardees for 2023 are: Jill Farrell, a primary school teacher in County Limerick, Joe O'Driscoll, who was a primary school teacher in County Cork, Dublin secondary school teacher Meg Offiah and Ursula O’Mahoney, a primary school teacher in County Tipperary. Two were nominated...
The teacher who inspired Abbott Elementary
March 21, 2024 05:00 - 12 minutesFor our penultimate episode we talk to Joyce Abbott, a teacher who inspired a student to name a hit TV series, set in a school, after her! The former student is American comedian and actress Quinta Brunson and the show is Abbott Elementary. As well as popular characters, great scripting and touching storylines, it portrays the huge efforts made by teachers, often with little resources, to do the best for their students. Joyce spoke to Louise from Philadelphia about the programme, her love of ...
DCU’s unique Teacher Fellowship Programme
March 07, 2024 07:00 - 17 minutesProviding teachers with the opportunity to work with student teachers while also progressing their own studies, is at the heart of the Teacher Fellowship Programme. It is a unique programme offered by DCU and the second group of teachers began their fellowship a few months ago. Louise is joined by two of them – primary school teacher Emma Farragher and secondary school teacher Niall Farrell. They tell her why they applied for the fellowship, what they enjoy about it and what they will take fr...
Why are there more ‘Miss’ teachers than ‘Mr’ ?
February 22, 2024 06:00 - 21 minutesThe Teachers Inspire awardees have come from primary and secondary school level. One question we have frequently pondered is why there are so many more women than men picking teaching as a career, particularly in primary school. To discuss this, Louise is joined by Dr Alan Gorman who is Assistant Professor in the School of Policy and Practice lecturer in DCU Institute of Education. He trained, and worked, as a primary school teacher before moving to third level and in 2022 he was award...
Teachers Inspire awardee Gemma Maher
February 08, 2024 11:00 - 22 minutesFor the final time in this series we meet one of the 2022 Teachers Inspire awardees and the parent who nominated her. Some of the most moving and powerful nominations are from parents and often it is because the teacher has noticed ‘something.’ Joining Louise is Gemma Maher, who is now the principal at Rathcoole Educate Together National School in county Dublin but, as you will hear, the nomination goes back a few years. It was made by Kirsten FitzGerald who explains that Gemma played a...
DCU - valuing autistic students and staff
January 25, 2024 10:57 - 20 minutesDCU is unique when it comes to autism because in 2018, it became the world's first designated autism-friendly university and plans were announced last year to make it an even friendlier campus for autistic staff and students with the launch of phase two of the autism-friendly project. In this episode Louise is joined by Fiona Earley, the Autism Coordinator in DCU, and by Clíodhna Harrison, a DCU Computer Science graduate who found out she was autistic during her time in DCU. Fiona talks about...
The freedom to be who you are
January 11, 2024 07:00 - 21 minutesThe teenage years bring challenges for all young people. For this episode Louise is joined by Jacob Donegan who by the age of six knew he was not in the right body. He tells her about the day he saw a story in a magazine about a girl who ‘transitioned to the boy he was,’ and he turned to tell his father, “that’s me.” Now in his twenties, Jacob has been very open about his transitioning journey on social media. He has 1.2 million followers on TikTok alone. He chats to Louise about navi...
DCU’s Graduate Diploma in SPHE/RSE - underpinned by a rights-based and inclusive approach.
December 28, 2023 07:00 - 20 minutesLouise is joined by Drs Kay Maunsell and Leanne Coll who, with their DCU colleagues, deliver a ground breaking Graduate Diploma in SPHE/RSE. The students are experienced secondary school teachers from across the country and they are the first group to study on the programme which is the only specialist teacher development programme of its kind at post primary level in Ireland. Leanne and Kay tell Louise it is underpinned by a rights-based and inclusive approach and they discuss how sex edu...
What Teachers Inspire is all about
December 14, 2023 11:00 - 15 minutesIt is time to meet another of the Teachers Inspire awardees of 2022. Ruairi Farrell is the Principal of Greystones Community College but some 15 years ago he was a Year Head in another school where he intervened after becoming concerned about a student. The student was Ciara Nolan and in her nomination to Teachers Inspire last year she said he was ‘always looking and making sure everyone was okay but when he realised I was suffering, which was probably before I even realised I had a probl...
Dr Katriona O’Sullivan and the teachers she has never forgotten
November 30, 2023 11:00 - 20 minutesHer memoir ‘Poor” has been a bestseller for months, it has won two awards in recent weeks and in this episode Dr Katriona O’Sullivan joins Louise to talk about the teachers at primary and second level that she has never forgotten. Some showed her how to wash, another nurtured a love of reading and literature. But they also did much more: they made her feel empowered and cared for. In many ways they epitomise what Teachers Inspire is about. Education, and access to it, remain very important ...
Young children and STEM education
November 16, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutesFree play and fun, Lego and Barbie all get a mention in this fascinating discussion Louise has with Prof Hamsa Venkat, the Naughton Family Chair in Early Years/Primary STEM education in DCU. They hear from children, parents and the facilitator of a Brickx club where, without realising it, young children were solving engineering and maths problems as they designed and built amazing creations during free play using Lego. Prof Venkat says it is important to grow enthusiasm around STEM for c...
Mixed or single-sex schools?
November 02, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutesTwo secondary school principals join Louise to discuss one of the big questions for parents, and students, when it comes to selecting a secondary school. Louise chats to secondary school principals Alan Mynes, Ballymakenny College, Drogheda and Seán Stack, St Joseph's, Fairview, Dublin who share their experiences and discuss mixed and single-sex schools. Seán’s father was a teacher and he attended mixed schools at primary and secondary level. St Joseph’s began to accept girls this year a...
A million reasons to nominate…
October 20, 2023 09:46 - 18 minutesThere is no better way to start the 2023 podcast series than with one of our most recent awardees. Louise is joined by Joe McAndrew who may have retired over twenty years ago from Banagher National School but his influence on former pupil Ann Loughney never faded. Ann tells Louise, “it wasn't hard to think of a million reasons to nominate Joe. He’s just been so inspirational to me all of my life.” Joe’s classroom was welcoming and supportive and even though it was the 1980s he never dis...
The DCU Teachers Inspire Awardees
June 15, 2023 10:44 - 12 minutesFor the final episode of this series the podcast comes to you from DCU, the home of Teachers Inspire. A special event was held there for the four teachers who are our Teachers Inspire awardees for this year at which Louise presented them with their award. The teachers are Gemma Maher from County Dublin, Joe McAndrew from County Mayo, Jennifer Hutton from County Carlow and Ruairi Farrell from County Wicklow. Gemma and Jennifer were nominated by a parent while Joe and Ruairi were nominated...
Professor Mathias Urban, Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Education and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre (ECRC) at Dublin City University
April 13, 2023 09:53 - 22 minutesProfessor Mathias Urban, Desmond Chair of Early Childhood Educate and Director of the Early Childhood Research Centre at DCU is Louise’s guest. He talks about DCU’s decision to use a donation from Mr Dermot Desmond to set up the only dedicated research centre at university level in Ireland that looks at questions around early childhood from an interdisciplinary angle. He tells Louise about early childhood education and care being a fundamental part of the education system in Ireland and t...
Well known mathematician and broadcaster Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin discusses her passion for education and STEM in particular.
March 30, 2023 10:42 - 22 minutesIn this episode Louise is joined by Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin. An Assistant Professor in the School of Mathematics & Statistics at UCD, Dr Ní Shúilleabháin talks about her love of education and how she did not initially set out to be a teacher. She tells Louise she is someone who “never thought that they were good at maths,” and she had failed her maths test at Christmas in sixth year. It was a grind that helped make the difference - “it was literally somebody else explaining it in a dif...
DCU’s STEM Teacher Internship Programme (STInt) gives student teachers the opportunity to work in leading STEM companies.
March 16, 2023 10:04 - 17 minutesIn this episode Louise hears about a unique programme that DCU offers student teachers at primary and secondary level. The STEM Teacher Internship Programme – known as (STInt) – provides 12-week paid summer internships in STEM roles. Professor Deirdre Butler from the school of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies tells Louise the programme, “is actually globally unique.” She explains what makes it unique and outlines the positives for the student teachers, the students they go on to ...
DCU’s Changemaker Schools Network is helping to empower primary school children.
March 02, 2023 11:00 - 21 minutesThis episode looks at DCU’s Changemaker Schools Network which is a collaborative, professional, learning network of 19 primary schools from all over the island of Ireland who are creating systemic change in education. Louise hears from Fiona Collins, the network coordinator. She tells her the network aims to support teachers to lead programmes of change in their schools and to support schools to address society's most pressing challenges such as mental health, inequality, and climate change....
Nominations for Teachers Inspire 2022 remind us that teachers can help change lives
February 16, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutesEvery year Teachers Inspire receives nominations that continue to remind us of the role teachers can play and how sometimes a single sentence or suggestion can make a powerful impact. The nominations for 2022 have closed and are being reviewed at the moment. The four awardees will be announced in the near future. In the meantime, for this episode, Louise introduces us to two of the nominators. The first is Sarah Doran who went to Pobalscoil Neasáin, Baldoyle, Dublin. Sarah had a tough ti...
DCU Alumni, now working in the education sector, share their stories.
February 02, 2023 11:00 - 27 minutesDCU Alumni can be found around the globe and in this episode Louise is joined by two who remain deeply committed to education. They are Dearbháil Lawless, the CEO of AONTAS, Ireland’s National Adult Learning Organisation and Kevin Shortall, principal of St Aidan’s Community School in Tallaght. They share their personal stories about accessing education and what, and where, education has brought them. An access style programme meant Dearbháil was on the DCU campus for one day a week initially...
The teachers of tomorrow at DCU's Institute of Education
January 19, 2023 09:38 - 21 minutesCelebrating the influence and impact teachers have had on their students is at the heart of Teachers Inspire. Hundreds of people have shared their stories and told us about that one teacher who helped to change their life. Some of the teachers nominated for a Teachers Inspire award were retired, others are still working in schools, primary and secondary, around the country. A great many of them trained to be teachers at DCU’s Institute of Education, and on St. Patrick's campus. Louise’s gue...
DCU’s Centre for Talented Youth Ireland has provided courses to tens of thousands of gifted children
January 05, 2023 05:00 - 19 minutesIt is thirty years since DCU set up it’s Centre for Talented Youth Ireland for children who are high achievers. Codes and Ciphers, Law, Veterinary Science and Philosophy are some of the courses available at the centre, which is known as CTY Ireland. They are for young people from the ages of six to seventeen, who have high academic ability or are bright and motivated. They learn about subjects and topics that are not available at their schools. We hear from a student who has done a number o...
Wherever you are in the world, you can nominate a teacher
December 15, 2022 11:00 - 22 minutesTeachers Inspire 2022 is now open for nominations at https://www.teachersinspire.ie/shareyourstory Nominating a teacher, whether primary or secondary, is done by filling in a form on teachersinspire.ie. Virgin Media journalist Rob O’Hanrahan chats to Louise about why he nominated his former teacher at Skerries Community College. He had been a shy student yet with her support he took up public speaking and learnt skills that he still uses. Rob is also a teacher and he tells Louise about teach...
'Mental health and wellbeing of students 'is fundamental to the life of a school.'
December 01, 2022 09:20 - 21 minutesTeachers Inspire 2022 is now open for nominations at https://www.teachersinspire.ie/shareyourstory English teacher Una Smith, from Virginia College in county Cavan, was one of the four Teachers Inspire awardees last year. Shauna Sheridan decided to nominate her after watching our host Louise chatting about Teachers Inspire on Ireland:AM on Virgin Media television. As well as preparing for her Leaving Certificate exam that year, Shauna's father took his own life and her mother was recovering ...
The benefits for children of reading and playing and the role both have in early childhood education
November 17, 2022 11:00 - 21 minutesTeachers Inspire 2022 is now open for nominations at https://www.teachersinspire.ie/shareyourstory A love of reading and the pleasure, and benefits, of reading to children feature in this episode of the Teachers Inspire podcast. Louise is joined by Dr Sinead McNally, Assistant Professor in Psychology at the DCU Institute of Education and they listen to parents who share a great love of reading to, and with, their children. Louise discovers she shares childhood experiences revolving around a l...
Why inclusion in education matters
November 03, 2022 11:00 - 20 minutesTeachers Inspire 2022 is now open for nominations at https://www.teachersinspire.ie/shareyourstory Inclusion in education is a recurring theme in the nominations to Teachers Inspire. In this week’s episode, Louise catches up with Sinead O’Mahony, who was one of the four awardees in 2019, the inaugural year of Teachers Inspire. She was nominated by Rachel Broderick whose son Daniel, now aged 11, was taught by Sinead. After chatting to Sinead and Rachel, Louise introduces us to Elizabeth Mathe...
Louise speaks to two teachers who have inspired her
October 20, 2022 09:28 - 19 minutes“I come from a family of teachers.” Acclaimed author Louise O’Neill returns as curator of Teachers Inspire and the host of the Teachers Inspire podcast of 2022. Teachers Inspire wants to celebrate the life-changing influence that so many teachers have had so it seemed appropriate to open the podcast of 2022 by chatting to the teacher who had that influence on Louise. So, for the first time publicly, Louise introduces us to Jo Keane, the teacher who gave her a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale by ...
The Awardees 2021
January 27, 2022 07:00 - 34 minutesThe Teachers Inspire Ireland initiative is organised and run by Dublin City University. Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise the transformative role they play in our lives and in our communities. Our curator is the author Louise O’Neill has been going through the uplifting submissions over the last few months and we are delighted to say that Louise announces on the podcast the four inspirational awardees for 2021. Curator Louise ...
Rachel English and some 2021 Stories
December 02, 2021 06:45 - 14 minutesThis Teachers Inspire Ireland initiative is brought to you by DCU. Over the last month our curator Louise O’Neill has been sharing a selection of your story submissions celebrating those inspiring teachers that made a positive impact on your lives. Today we will first hear from RTE’s Rachel English talk about her most inspiring teacher. Then Louise will share read three more submissions from this year. Our curator Louise O’Neill and our Fergal O’Keeffe have loved reading your entries over t...
A selection of 2021 inspirational stories
November 25, 2021 07:00 - 11 minutesLouise O’Neill chats on the podcast today about Adele who picked her English teacher this week as the most inspirational person on her Audience with Adele show. Emma Thompson asked Adele who her childhood inspiration was growing up and she said it was her Year 8 English teacher, Miss McDonald: “She was so cool. She got me really interested in literature. We knew she cared about us.” Louise also shares two inspirational story submissions from this year, and they are both French teachers. For ...
2019 Shortlisted Stories
November 18, 2021 06:00 - 11 minutesThis Teachers Inspire Ireland initiative is brought to you by DCU. Over the last month we have been receiving lots of uplifting story submissions from you celebrating those inspiring teachers that made a positive impact on your lives. Our curator the best selling author Louise O’Neill shares more inspirational stories. I’d ask that you follow or subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform to be the first to get a new episode every Thursday. We look forward to chatting to you again ne...
Louise Nealon
November 11, 2021 06:00 - 8 minutesThis Teachers Inspire Ireland initiative is brought to you by DCU. Over the last month we have been receiving lots of uplifting story submissions from you celebrating those inspiring teachers that made a positive impact on your lives. We have a special episode today with the debut author Louise Nealon telling us about her inspiring teacher. Louise Nealon released her debut novel Snowflake this year to both critical and commercial acclaim going straight to No.1 in the bestseller charts with t...
Jamie Heaslip talks about his inspiring teacher
November 04, 2021 06:00 - 11 minutesTeachers Inspire Ireland is an initiative brought to you by DCU that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise those teachers that made a difference for the better in your life. To give you an example of the types of stories we are looking for we hear today from former Irish rugby player and entrepreneur Jamie Heaslip about his most inspiring teacher. Our curator the author Louise O’Neill also reads a selection of your submissions from this year. For the eligibility rules and details on h...
Andrea Corr and Eithne Shorthall Inspiring Teachers Stories
October 28, 2021 05:00 - 10 minutesTeachers Inspire Ireland is an initiative brought to you by DCU that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise those teachers that made a difference for the better in your life. To give you an example of the types of stories we are looking for we hear today from Andrea Corr and Eithne Shorthall about their inspiring teachers. Our curator the author Louise O’Neill also reads a selection of your submissions from this year. Louise looks forward to reading your submissions and sharing your in...
Louise O'Neill some reads 2021 submissions
October 21, 2021 05:00 - 11 minutesOur curator the author Louise O’Neill reads a selection of submissions from this year. We also hear from the GAA referee and primary school teacher David Gough about his inspirational teacher and finally we hear from Caitriona Ni Cassaithe who nominated the shortlisted teacher Nora Duffy in 2019. Over the next few weeks Louise looks forward to reading your submissions and sharing your inspiring stories every Thursday. Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative brought to you by DCU th...
Louise O'Neill shares an inspirational 2019 shortlisted story
October 14, 2021 05:00 - 15 minutesThe Teachers Inspire Ireland Podcast is curated by the acclaimed Irish author Louise O’Neill. In this episode Louise reads an inspiring 2019 shortlisted story about Limerick based teacher Sinead O'Mahony who teaches at the Mid-West School for the Deaf in Limerick. We hope this will inspire you to send in your submissions about that teacher that had a positive impact on your life. Over the next few weeks Louise looks forward to reading your submissions and sharing your inspiring stories every...
What is Teachers Inspire Ireland?
October 07, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutesThe Teachers Inspire Ireland Podcast is hosted by the acclaimed Irish author Louise O’Neill who has written many bestselling and award-winning books including Asking for it and After the Silence. Over the next few weeks Louise looks forward to reading your submissions and sharing your inspiring stories every Thursday. Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative brought to you by DCU that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise the transformative role they play in our lives and in o...
Teachers Inspire Ireland Trailer
September 27, 2021 21:33 - 2 minutesWe are delighted to announce that acclaimed Irish author Louise O’Neill will host the new Teachers Inspire Ireland Podcast every Thursday from the 7th of October until December. So what is the Teachers Inspire Initiative? Teachers Inspire is an Ireland-wide initiative brought to you by DCU that seeks to celebrate teachers and to recognise the transformative role they play in our lives and in our communities. We want to hear your personal inspiring stories of that teacher who inspired your...