As the invited Guest
Speaker of the ASTI President Ed Byrne I had an opportunity to speak at the
ASTI 2017 Convention in the INEC Convention Centre, Killarney. My keynote address
is on the ASTI website and it is not my intention to repeat it here. However, positive
feedback received from many of the teachers afterward has prompted me to write
this article.
As educators and teachers
it is our public responsibility to inform ourselves of what is happening in the
global world if we are to accurately interpret and act to improve our teaching
and play our full part in the wider moral, social and political needs in a democratic
society – as a wholesome, compassionate and just place to live.
Since the start of
this century, and since the global recession of 2008, Ireland’s education
system and public services have been subjected to a relentless policy of
austerity economics (Galvin & Mooney Simmie, 2017; Mooney Simmie et al.,
2017). This has resulted in new languages
of learning, entrepreneurship and self-evaluation, all deeply contested among
academics and philosophers of education (Brady, 2016; Hederman, 2012).