Cork Prison teacher honoured for dedication to adult education
A champion of prison education and learning has been honoured for her dedication to adult education.
Edel Cunningham is the Head Teacher at the Education Unit at Cork Prison and has been awarded by University College Cork for her work.
Edel Cunningham recently received the 2024 Bertram Windle Award, which honours outstanding contributions to adult education, lifelong learning, and advocating access for non-traditional students.
For years she has been a leader in education within the prison itself and an advocate of extending educational opportunities for the female relatives of prisoners and ex-prisoners, through the innovative Dillon’s Cross Project. Her approach has been life-changing not only for prisoners and ex-prisoners, but for their families and their communities.
Edel Cunningham said she is thrilled to win the award. “Education plays such a vital role in peoples’ lives and truly has the potential to change them for the better, be it through learning to read and write, studying for a Leaving Cert, or gaining a better understanding of the nature of addictions.
“It is wonderful to work for an organisation such as Cork ETB which understands the importance of supporting students at every level and epitomises their motto, ‘A pathway for every learner’.
“It is really beneficial to our non-mainstream learners to have the support of UCC and the team in the adult continuing education section. It is also wonderful to be part of the wider Cork Lifelong learning network where our students can study at different levels with ETB’s further education section, MTU, UCC, and more,” she said.
She was presented with the award at the annual Alfred O'Rahilly Lecture, which was hosted by UCC’s Adult Continuing Education (ACE) last Thursday night.
This year’s event focussed on critical issues within the Irish education system, featuring a keynote lecture titled Beyond the University: Learning from Life - Exclusion and Discrimination in the Education System by Ann Burke, a prominent advocate for human rights and inclusive education opportunities for Irish Travellers.
Ann Burke, who works with the Southern Traveller Health Network, has dedicated her career to advocating for human rights and equality of opportunity for Irish Travellers. Ms Burke’s lecture highlighted systemic exclusion and discrimination that Irish Travellers still face in the Irish education system.
She said she was delighted to deliver this year's Alfred O'Rahilly Lecture. During the lecture she shared some insights on who Irish Travellers are, and how racism against them “manifests itself in the education systems here in Ireland focusing on our experiences of exclusion and discrimination”.She also celebrated the very positive experiences of a ‘life changing’ educational programme that she and others “designed and delivered in collaboration with UCC to empower Traveller women leaders in our community”.
As a Coordinator and Lecturer for a groundbreaking initiative, Ms Burke played a pivotal role in enabling 21 Irish Traveller women to graduate from UCC with a third-level Diploma in Leadership in the Community in 2022.
The event was part of Irish Learning Cities Day, which promotes learning in cities, across Ireland.