S2 Episode Four: Schools as sites of tension and contradiction

Professor Gerry Jeffers’ experience as an educator has been wide ranging. In his twenties, he taught in a school in Kenya, East Africa. That experience shaped much of his subsequent work as a teacher, guidance counselor, school leader, national coordinator of the support service for Transition Year, lecturer in the Education Department at Maynooth University and as a writer. In the 1980s, Gerry edited Young Citizen, a social education magazine for teenagers that promoted civic education before CSPE was established in schools. From 2013-2019 Gerry served as the independent chairperson of Ubuntu, a network of those in initial teaching education committed to integrating Development Education/Global Citizenship Education into initial teacher education. Some of his recent projects include - leading the team that created FairViews, a development education photopack; - a study of how schools respond to educational inequality; and, - with Maynooth University colleagues Carmel Lillis and Majella Dempsey, a scoping study of deputy principals in schools. His books include Transition Year in Action (Liffey Press) – now translated into Korean -and Clear Vision, the Life and Legacy of Noel Clear, Social Justice Champion (Veritas), a biography of a former national president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Until Covid struck, Gerry facilitated a consultative forum for educators as part of the Inchicore Regeneration Project. He is also a member of a Board of Management in a secondary school in the DEIS scheme. In this episode Gerry highlights the paradoxical roles schools play, from nurturing academic excellence to addressing social justice and the expectation on schools to fulfill multiple roles in society. He emphasizes the importance of reflective practice and the need for schools to challenge existing inequalities. He recounts his experiences, including the mainstreaming of the Transition Year program and the impact of educational research on practice. Gerry also touches on the potential and ethical challenges of AI in education, stressing the need for equitable access and the role of professional conversations in addressing educational disparities. Gerry talks about how his wide-ranging experiences led him to question where these experiences fit into the bigger picture of society. He emphasizes the importance of sociology and sociology of education in understanding the role of schools in society and the tensions and contradictions they face. He speaks about the tensions between preparing students for employment and developing their potential. We talk about the role of schools in creating a fairer and more just society and Gerry highlights the importance of reflective practice and challenging one's assumptions. Dr. Jeffers recounts his experiences growing up in the late 60s and the O'Malley initiative, which aimed to address educational inequality. His volunteer work in a disadvantaged youth club and reading an ESRI report on young law breakers shaped his understanding of poverty, inequality, and the role of schools. We discuss the power dynamics within schools, including the impact of uniform policies and the challenges of maintaining a balance between order and creativity. We explore the concept of school culture with Gerry defining it as the shared basic assumptions and beliefs that operate unconsciously within the school. Gerry emphasizes the importance of professional conversations in schools to address tensions and contradictions. We discuss the mainstreaming of the transition year programme and its success in providing a bridge between junior and senior cycles. He highlights the role of transition year in building confidence, identity, and academic development for students while also highlighting the challenges of implementing transition year in disadvantaged schools and the need for it to be available to all students.