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E S S A Y Exploring Learning & Teaching BY BARRY O’CALLAGHAN Irish schools have devoted considerable energies in recent years developing written policies across a wide range of areas – such as Admissions, Discipline, Bullying, Attendance, Health & Safety, Critical Incidents etc. We can (and sometimes certainly feel we do) have policies for just about every- thing. We try to cover all eventualities and possibilities as best we can, yet what happens in our classrooms every day/week/year ultimately determines the success, or otherwise, of our schools. There are few that would argue against the idea that Learning and Teaching (L&T) is the core business of every school and yet there is considerable anecdotal evidence to suggest that very few schools have formally developed a Policy for Learning & Teaching. After devoting much energy to policy development some will recoil at the idea of yet another policy to satisfy the Department’s or the Board of Management’s requirements (and destined, perhaps, to gather dust on a high shelf in the Principal’s offi ce). If you are to consider constructing a Teaching and Learning Policy for this reason, don’t bother, stop right here – your time will be much better spent address- ing the myriad of issues that knock incessantly on your door. 18 <strong>ESHA</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2011
Teaching has been traditionally been characterised by solo practitioners working behind closed doors. While every school has some excellent teachers, their excellence is often based on their personal professionalism, ability and integ- rity and not on any system that supports and helps them develop. Teaching has been traditionally been characterised by solo practitioners working behind closed doors, sometimes defending the intellectual copyright of their notes and their methodologies – “I’m damned if I am giving him/her/them my work, or helping them to do their job better”. Thankfully in recent years this has begun to change, though this welcome change would seem to be inconsis- tent across schools. EXPLORING LEARNING & TEACHING Wouldn’t it have been nice if someone had handed us the school’s Teaching and Learning Policy? Barry O’Callaghan <strong>ESHA</strong> MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2011 19
Page 1 and 2: magazine September 2011 High Perfor
Page 3 and 4: In this issue September 2011 4 Colu
Page 5 and 6: To make this happen, go get more ki
Page 7 and 8: GUEST COLUMN JENS PORSGAARD NIELSEN
Page 9 and 10: By giving the teacher´s these comp
Page 11 and 12: November 3 - 4 NAHDS Annual Confere
Page 13 and 14: ICP 2011 TORONTO, CANADA Over 2,000
Page 15 and 16: of the study was that, whether a ch
Page 17: long in school - up to twelve hours
Page 21 and 22: the Policy - compliance, perhaps, t
Page 23 and 24: Practical, usable strategies need t
Page 25 and 26: • How can an understanding of mul
Page 27 and 28: A fi nal thought Could a L&T progra
Page 29 and 30: teachers’ pedagogical ICT compete
Page 31 and 32: supposed to comment and supplement
Page 33 and 34: A N N O U N C E M E N T Learning to
Page 35 and 36: PAYROLL SAVINGS REQUEST POSES ‘UN
Page 37 and 38: PAYROLL SAVINGS REQUEST POSES ‘UN
Page 39 and 40: In a world where complexity increas
Page 41 and 42: The development of talented student
Page 43 and 44: leadership. With the right professi
Page 45 and 46: Based on the results of a meta anal
Page 47 and 48: The focus is on middle leaders whos
Page 49 and 50: will have to be changed. Interventi
Page 51 and 52: The way to achieve High Performance
Page 53 and 54: Marlou van Beek MMC CMC HIGH PERFOR
Page 55 and 56: Kommunene må med LOKALT MANIFEST I
Page 57 and 58: SUMMARY IN ENGLISH Local manifesto
Page 59 and 60: NORWEGIAN HEADMASTER-PROGRAM Among
Page 61 and 62: - Can it now be appropriate to let
Page 63 and 64: • Reduction of unnecessary tensio
Page 65: Occupation of positions is done in

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