Image: BBC News Six years ago today, I became an Irish citizen. I remember it as an uplifting and deeply emotional experience, especially in the aftermath of Brexit and as the British government's direction of travel contrasted ever more starkly with Ireland's reputation as a modern, confident and outward looking nation. I cherish my Irish passport and what it represents: the burgundy cover (much nicer than blue/black😀); the green, white and gold stitching; the affirmation t

When I took part in a recent panel discussion, I remarked that I seem to have spent half my time lately responding to consultations about retrenching and weaponising ESOL.

It's that time to send out the festive greeting/graphic and put on the out-of-office, but before I do here's a few hastily gathered thoughts and reflections on the year just gone.

Reflecting on running the Lanzarote Half Marathon (slowly!) 🌍🏃‍♂️ last weekend, amidst some thoughts about the state of Adult Education across these islands and the need to keep running up the down escalator.

You may have noticed the phonetic spelling of my name at the top of each page on this website. It's something I was introduced to a few years ago by the Race Equality Matters #MyNameIs phonetic name-spelling campaign. My first name doesn't seem to present too many difficulties for most of the people I interact with, but I've lost count of the number of times my surname has been mangled into variations of Skee-ney , Screen-ey , Swee-ney , etc. And then there's the mild micro-

Discussion, collaboration and praxis aren't optional extras for educators and education professionals. We ALL need thinking and sharing space. Last week I spent a few days away in Wales and England, working with two organisations close to my heart - North West Migrants Forum (NWMF) and Research and Practice in Adult Literacies (RaPAL) . Since leaving the Technical Advisor role a year ago, I've spent less time travelling than I used to and (Masters aside) less face-to-face ti