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From reading many of the posts in this forum, it is clear that we are all noticing the effects of climate change in our own lifetimes. We are all, to varying degrees, experiencing heavier rainfall, more frequent and stronger storms, extremes of temperature, flooding etc. In my own area, we have frequent issues with water supply linked to power cuts, often related to high winds and storms. This is something that affects the daily lives of the children in our school, with them unable to wash clothes or dishes, shower, flush toilets, cook etc. often for days at a time. We also had a couple of days of school closure this year because of water supply issues to the school building. Linking this local experience to the larger topic of climate change would make it more personal for the children in our classrooms. We could investigate the issue of drought around the world and link it to their own experience, then look at flooding at the other end of the spectrum.
Actions to slow down climate change could include:
1. We could monitor our own water use in the classroom and investigate ways to reduce it.
2. Switch off lights and other electronic items when they are not in use.
3. Promoting children to walk or cycle to school. We are in the lucky position that most of our pupils live within walking distance of our school, and yet a significant number of them are driven to and from school every day.
The above actions, and others, could be instigated under SSE plans. Reducing water and energy use in the school building would be beneficial on a financial level as well as an environmental level! And reducing the number of cars using our car park on a daily basis would certainly reduce a lot of stress about parking spaces and the children’s safety.Hi Ciara, I really like your idea of the charity shop wear to school day. I regularly shop in my local charity shops and have picked up all sorts of bargains. My teenage daughter is happily following in my footsteps! With the rise in interest in shopping on sites such as Vinted, I think this is something that children and parents alike would really get behind. It’s a great way of bringing attention to sustainable shopping. I also regularly peruse the book and toy sections in charity shops for things that would be useful in my classroom, saving myself a lot of money!
I was unaware of any local organisations working to support refugees. After some research, I have discovered Cultúr, based in Navan. On its website, Cultúr is described as ‘a community organisation that works with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees promoting equal rights, intercultural inclusion and opportunities for all’. They run English conversational classes, a women’s group, a men’s project, Irish language classes, and offer training to groups in empowerment, anti-racism, inter-cultural awareness and cultural competence. This is a great organisation to be aware of, and I will certainly keep it in mind in future.
As a school, we do our best to be welcoming and supportive to any newcomers to our community. Our HSCL officer has been proactive in setting up weekly English conversational classes for parents. We have paired up new children with others who speak their language (where possible), and have found it really helpful. Class teachers make an effort to learn a few phrases in the language of new pupils. Children are taught about many cultures and languages, and are encouraged to share their experiences of other cultures. Our music programme incorporates music from around the world.
There are opportunities for many more initiatives to be undertaken through SSE. I would love to see a dedicated day or week for a celebration of the many cultures that make up our school community. It would be amazing to invite families to share their food, their music, their language etc. I have seen several other schools display the national flags of all the children in their school, or have a mural created using the flags and languages of their pupils. I would love to see something like this in my own school. Unfortunately, there was an incident towards the end of the school year where a child in my class and his parents were subjected to racist abuse from their neighbours, and it was very difficult to handle the fallout from this in the classroom. School management were unsure how to handle this and where to go for guidance; perhaps this is an area where guidelines could be drafted at a local or national level.
We have paired up new children with others who speak their language (where possible) too Fiona, and have found it really helpful. It helps the new child to settle in, and also helps the class teacher and classmates, who can sometimes struggle to communicate with a new non-English speaking child over the initial few days.
I would focus on Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production. This is something that is an issue at a local level and nationally as well as worldwide. It is a topic that can easily be seen in our school and in our community. Children are often aware of litter on their streets and in the countryside, but they may not realise the impact of global overconsumption, leading to pollution and climate change. Targeted lessons would help open their eyes to how their own small actions can have a big impact.
Food waste is an issue in my school, particularly since the introduction of the free school lunches. Unfortunately, there is always lots of food left over at the end of each day. I feel an information campaign is needed so that parents understand that they need to plan carefully so that they order food that their children will actually eat, and that they should cancel their order altogether if necessary to avoid food waste.
Within the school, we could organise litter-picking campaigns. I have done this in the past on a small scale, when my class participated in the Picker Pals programme. Each weekend a child brought home a litter-picking pack and documented where they used it, what they found etc. Also, each morning, the principal brought two children from the class outside to pick up litter in the yard, and reported back to the class. This could easily be expanded to include all class levels.
A whole-school approach to reducing, reusing and recycling could be part of SSE plans. Segregating of rubbish to maximise recycling could be established. Posters could be designed and displayed around the school. Art lessons could be planned around reusing and repurposing single-use materials.I really like what you’ve said here about educational inequality within Ireland. I think it’s an issue that many people are unaware of unless it impacts them directly. Bringing it back to a local level first so that children can see how it affects their own peers is a great way to introduce this topic. I feel the topic could then be expanded to encompass a more global perspective. I also think you are right in saying that children would very likely have some great contributions to make.
This module made me think of a young boy I taught last year in first class. He was a quiet, sensitive child who did not share the interests and temperaments of many of the other boys in the class. He loved to draw, he regularly chose to use pastel colours in his art, he had a pink schoolbag and lunch box, and chose to wear pastel pink runners on PE days. Thankfully, nobody ever made any direct comments to him, and I was delighted to see his confidence develop as the year went on. He was clearly conscious of being different, as he would often come to tell me things in private and didn’t want others to overhear. He began to tell me that he loved to sew, had got a sewing machine for Christmas, and was working on making new clothes for his collection of Barbies. He told me he had lots of dresses at home but only one friend knew about that. I love that he trusted me enough to tell me these things, but I was conscious that he didn’t feel safe talking openly among his peers.
I feel that a unit of work on gender as part of development education would be hugely beneficial to children like this boy, and to their classmates. Children accept what they see and hear and, unless we challenge the norms, they will never know any different. Our society is increasingly becoming more diverse, and we need to become more open-minded and accepting of difference to make that work. Open discussion, cooperative group work, role play, critical thinking skills and diverse role models are just some ways of tackling gender assumptions.
SSE should always endeavour to evaluate any new initiatives, resources, books, posters etc. to ensure that they portray diverse role models and use appropriate gender sensitive language. Staff should be reminded to use gender neutral language and to be mindful that they do not inadvertently reinforce negative gender stereotypes.
Louise, I have seen the exact scenario you described play out in my classroom on multiple occasions over the years. I always challenge it by simply stating ‘colours are for everyone’. Generally, this is accepted with no further discussion. I have also had many more detailed conversations when children push back against my initial ‘colours are for everyone’ statement. We discuss how in the past, pink was assigned to baby boys and blue to girls. We wonder when and why it changed, and usually children come to the conclusion that colours are just colours and ultimately they mean nothing! There will generally be a couple of outspoken children who will agree that it’s silly to say a colour is just for boys or just for girls. I think it’s important for gender stereotypes to be gently challenged in this way, and I have often heard children repeat my ‘colours are for everyone’ statement in later situations. Often it’s just a case that children have (naturally) never stopped to think about why colours are assigned to genders, and all it takes is someone to state the opposite for them to think more critically about it.
One thing that really stood out for me in Ehigie’s article was that ‘trying to be the change we wish to see in the world is both accessible and powerful, no matter how big or small one feels their contribution is’. I find that many people feel powerless to effect change in the face of so many challenges. As our world, and our children, become ever more influenced by online content, we seem to be bombarded with so much negativity and bigotry. Every time I use social media, I feel I am assaulted by racism, homophobia, sexism etc. It can be difficult at times to remember that there is so much good out there, so many great people doing great things, so much acceptance and celebration of difference. This is why it is so important that development education becomes an integral part of what we do in our classrooms, not only as part of discrete lessons, but also in how we interact with, communicate with, share and celebrate the increasing diversity of our school communities. In this way, we can begin to make small changes. When enough people make small changes, it can build into something much bigger and more effective.
Having some resources close to hand that teachers could easily access is essential to promoting development education in our schools. Dedicating some SSE time to collating and organising resources would be really helpful. Perhaps a folder in our school’s shared drive would be a good place to gather online or other electronic resources (lists of helpful websites, links to videos, PowerPoint presentations etc.), as well as nominating one member of staff to store any physical resources (books, photos, games etc.) which could be borrowed and returned as needed.
Hi Jonathon,
I agree with your observation that development education is more a mindset than an extra subject. As our classrooms become more diverse in terms of cultural backgrounds, it is vital that we, as educators, create an environment that is welcoming and inclusive. This does not happen in a stand-alone lesson here and there; it is a way of being, a way of communicating, a way of sharing, a way of appreciating and celebrating.