From the time my siblings and I were young, my Dad taught us how to think about things by getting us to ask the question WHY? We would spend a long time sitting around the table after dinner at home in Dublin discussing the things that we had learnt in school. On these occasions my parents would challenge us to think beyond what we had been told, to analyse and to take other points of view into account. This was particularly important in the case of Irish history, always a conflictive topic! Thanks to these and other stimuli, I grew up with a strong leaning towards reflection which was further developed by my choice of studies: a BA in English Literature and Economics (UCD, Dublin) and an MA in Theology (PUSC, Rome).
When I began teaching in an international environment in Rome, this reflective tendency became much more practical as I tried to work out how to teach according to my own educational values: learning should be interesting! There is nothing worse than sitting in a lecture where the subject matter is important and of interest but the mode of teaching is boring!! I also wanted to help my students to learn to think through my classes, and to discover how to apply what they were learning to life! Initially knowledge had interested me for its own sake, but gradually I became more interested in discovering how such knowledge could contribute to enriching one's life. For me, this is particularly so in the case of Philosophy and Theology. I have found that knowledge can change one's life and contribute to satisfying the longings of our minds and hearts if we let it do so by getting personally and actively involved in our own learning. I discovered this through experience and I try to give my students the opportunity of having the same experience in their own lives!
In 2004 I moved to Kenya where I teach Philosophical Anthropology and Ethics to our undergraduate students in the Faculties of Commerce and Information Technology and the School of Hospitality and Tourism at Strathmore University (Nairobi). This change in my teaching context has contributed greatly to developing my reflective and lecturing skills as I try to find ways of facilitating my students' learning in the fields of Philosophy and Ethics. In fact, thanks to these circumstances, my own educational values have evolved to include more explicitly elements such as respect for other people, love for the freedom of others (which I also learnt from my parents), the desire to love and serve other people through my work, the effort to encourage others to open up by opening up myself to them. I try to live these values in my work and to foster them in my students through what I teach them and the way in which I teach. You can find some examples of how my students are trying to bring these values to life in their own context at: http://www.strathmore.edu/academics/iheds/student-papers.php.
At present I am working on my PhD proposal which is in the field of living educational theory, as I try to understand how my educational values have evolved over time in the effort to improve my teaching practice. I am seeking ways of teaching Ethics and Philosophy to facilitate self-transformation in my students while moving towards an understanding of the teaching and learning process as a "spiration" of love.
I look forward to the new opportunities for development and sharing that have been opened up to me by becoming a peer reviewer for EJOLTS!
