The PME2 class of 2023/2024 graduated on Wednesday, October 30th. The conferring was a further celebratory milestone in the development of the PME programme in UCC marking the 10th anniversary since its introduction in 2014.

One of our talented graduates Stephen Foley came first place in the class across both taught modules and School Placement.

He was presented with a medal to mark his outstanding achievement at a ceremony before his official conferring.

Stephen is pictured below with Dr Brian Murphy, PME Programme Director and Dr Niamh Dennehy, PME Deputy Director and his parents. Stephen is currently employed in Cashel Community School teaching both Irish and French.

An awards ceremony celebrating the achievements of our B.Ed. Gaeilge 2024 graduates took place on Tuesday 29th October 2024 at 2pm.

The following awards were presented:

• Gradam Bharr Feabhais Acadúil 2024 - Siobhán Ní Chróinín
• Gradam Ildánaí 2024 - Sophie Ní Choileáin

Well done to both Siobhán and Sophie!

On Friday 27th September the School of Education Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team (SAT) held its first formal meeting. Staff from the EDI unit and CACSSS gave short presentations on the process and the central supports available. As Chair of the committee, Professor Deirdre Horgan outlined the Terms of Reference for the SAT and led a discussion on the formation of Working Groups. Professor Nicola Ingram signed the letter of commitment to the Athena Swan Ireland Charter principles to strive for impactful and sustainable gender equality work and to build capacity for evidence-based equality work across the equality grounds enshrined in Irish legislation. We look forward to working with all members of staff on this important project in the coming year with submission of an application for a Bronze award planned for April 2026.

We are delighted to announce the launch of the 2024-25 New Avenues to Teaching bursary scheme for student teachers from under-represented groups.

Further information can be found at www.ucc.ie/en/nat/

Closing date: Friday, 20th December 2024 at 4pm.

We were delighted to welcome our new Cohort of PhD students for their induction on the 21^st of September.

It was a great day and we are looking forward to seeing the contributions that our 2024 Cohort make to Irish education through their research!! 

Further information on our Cohort programme can be found at: https://www.ucc.ie/en/ckh78/

An article entitled 'Private school entry to Oxbridge: how cultural capital counts in the making of elites' by Nicola Ingram and her co-author Rachel Stenhouse is featured on BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed in an episode on British Elites.

On the 13th of September 2024, Adult Continuing Education (ACE), in partnership with the School of Education, welcomed the inaugural cohort of the Postgraduate Diploma in Further, Adult and Community Education (PDFACE) programme to the college. For the first time, in the history of UCC and teacher education provision in Cork, we are providing a FET teacher qualification for all those practitioners working with adult learners across the diverse voluntary and statutory providers in our community. We honour the seminal work of Bertram Windle, Alfred O’Rahilly and so many women and men who have worked with adult learners over the years, and we look forward to supporting the further professionalisation of adult educators into the future!

More information about the programme can be found at: https://www.ucc.ie/en/ace-pdface/

Our colleague, Dr. Wesley O’Brien was recently involved as the Athletic Development coach for the Cork Senior Camogie team, as the team secured back-to-back All Ireland titles on the 11th August, 2024. 

We were delighted to welcome the Minister for Education, Norma Foley to UCC on the 9^th of May. The Minister met with several colleagues from the School of Education to discuss initial teacher education and visited our Eureka Centre!

On April 19th, the final day of classes for the semester, the Physical Education, Sports Studies and Arts (PESSA) programme ended the year on a high note, with its first edition of a mixed-ability basketball tournament held in conjunction with partners from the Cope Foundation.

The Cope Foundation is a Cork-based non-profit organization which supports 2,800 children and adults across county Cork with autism and other intellectual disabilities. We were proud to support Cope in assisting with coaching sessions for their men’s basketball team over both semesters and are grateful to our close partnership with the Mardyke Arena for the provision of facilities, and additional court space for our final tournament. The tournament served as a fine culminating event to a community outreach project which began in semester one. Staff and students from the PESSA have served as coaches on Friday afternoons in the Mardyke arena for basketball sessions for the Cope Foundation, assisting Cope staff in their delivery. Participation in a succession of skill development activities, and games served as the cornerstone of these sessions. The core philosophy of this link-up was to highlight the role and value physical activity has for improving quality of life, developing physical fitness, and nurturing all-round health for all members of the population. Additionally, it gave our PESSA students a wonderful opportunity to gain practical experience working with individuals with additional needs supporting their in-class teaching across their range of modules.