On April 12, 2024, New Avenues to Teaching (NAT) and UCC Access organized an "Inclusive free/built-in technologies to make reading, writing, teaching & learning easier" workshop, as part of Cork Lifelong Learning Festival 2024. Educators from the School of Education and other Schools from the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences gathered at University College Cork's Western Gateway Building to experiment with the apps and the digital tools accessible on our devices. The workshop was moderated by Dr Camelia Nadia Bran and facilitated by Deirdre Madden.

Well done to Dr Fiona Chambers and colleagues on the recent publication of their new edited book.

This innovative book presents a new framework for researchers in the field of physical education and youth sport. By examining the complex interplay between values, voice and ethics within the research process, it showcases how the CREATE Principles for Research Design can facilitate meaningful research with/for children and young people.

The School of Education have recently launched a new podcast entitled “Praxis in Motion: teachers and researchers in dialogue”.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Further, Adult and Community Education will have its first intake in September 2024. The course is custom built for teachers in the Further, Adult and Community Education sector to enable them to meet the needs of their students.

The programme was professionally accredited by the Teaching Council in July 2023. It will equipe students with the knowledge, skills and professional attitudes and values required to teach in a variety of settings in the Further Education sector such as Youthreach, PLC programmes, Further Education Colleges, Training Centres, Private Training Companies and broader Adult and Community Education settings. 

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

Congratulations to our colleague Dr Declan Kennedy who recently received a ‘Long Service Award’ from UCC for 25 years’ service.

Staff at the School of Education and the wider UCC community were deeply saddened to learn of the recent death of Dr Mary Barry Wall, former Head of the School of Education. Mary first came to UCC as a student, where she evolved her love of languages, particularly French. Upon completing her studies, Mary returned to her alma mater, St Aloysius Secondary School, Cork, to teach. In the early 1960s, she interviewed for and was offered a position as College Lecturer in the Education Department and began a long and distinguished career at UCC. 

The UCC Entrance Scholarship Award Ceremony for the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences took place on November 27th.

Congratulations to current PME 1 students Dara Keane and Laura Keeley who were awarded bursaries from the Cork Branch of the Irish Mathematics Teachers Association (IMTA).

The bursaries were awarded to Dara and Laura at a small reception in Leeholme on the 15th of November.

Huge thanks to the Cork IMTA for their generosity in awarding bursaries to support incoming UCC PME mathematics student teachers in their studies and well done to Laura and Dara on their successful applications!

Many thanks to Eoghan Long (Cork IMTA Chairperson) for making the presentations on behalf of IMTA.

Congratulations to four School of Education PhD students who were conferred with their PhD degree at a ceremony on October 26th, 2023 - Dr Conor Philpott (Staff, School of Education), Dr Katie Power, Dr Carmel Hinchion and Dr Fergal Harrington

The following B.Ed. in Physical Education, Sports Studies and Arts (PESSA) Programme graduates of 2023 recently received awards on the 20th October:

- Robyn Sheehan - ‘Award for Academic Excellence 2023’
- Kate Dooley – ‘The Eamonn Ryan Role Model Award 2023’
- Sean Murphy and Danú Ní Thuama jointly received - ‘The Oisín Kelly Above and Beyond Award 2023’.

A special mention must also be flagged with respect to the Oisín Kelly Above and Beyond Award – Oisín passed away recently on the 10th August of this year, and his legacy to the PESSA programme will be forever remembered by naming this annual student Above and Beyond Award after this incredibly resilient and brave young man from Carlow. We are very proud here in UCC to have gotten to know Oisín, when he joined the BEDSSPE programme in September 2020 as a first year undergraduate student from Myshall in Co Carlow.