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Hi Nicola. It was very interesting to read how climate change has impacted you living in a rural area. I suppose living in the city we were slightly sheltered from the greatest impacts so far. We only had 1 day closure due to weather.
I found your ideas to make the world a better place very useful. I really liked the idea of setting up weather stations. It is something I looking forward to doing the next school year.
Unfortunately Cork is already feeling the effects of climate change. There has been increased flooding from intensified storms like Storm Babet and rising sea levels up to 40 cm since the 19th century. Summers are hotter altough we haven’t seen it yet this year!! Winters have had stronger winds and more frequent flooding .
An interesting study for my class would be investigating local impacts such as comparing historic sea levels at Cork harbour or exploring Tramore Valley Park’s role in flood resilience. I would hope to use resources like the “Superhero Climate Change” toolkit or An Taisce’s Climate Smart game as part of these activities. I would also help students to connect with local EPA workshops on flood risk or local biodiversity mapping.
Three actions I could take:
1. Become more active in the Green School’s Commitee
2. Organise a gardening group in the school to help make our school more biodiverse.
3. Promote low‑carbon commuting by facilitating walking bus days or car pooling days
Hi Louise. You are quite right acknowledging the amazing work that schools do in relation to settling refugee families as a whole. As you have said the HSCL teachers play an amazing role in including the parents in the day to day running of the school. Also The EAL teacher works amazingly in helping to integrate the pupils into the class. It is indeed true that many of these children come to us deeply traumatised. I agree that schools are probably the first stable safe environment these children come to. We should definitely be very proud of our role in providing this to very vulnerable people
In Cork the most prominent organisation working with refugees is the Cork Migrant Centre in Nano Nagle Place. It supports refugees, asylum seekers and migrants through a range of integration and empowerment initiatives. Services provided by the centre include English language classes, mental health support, intercultural events and youth programmes. In the International Community Garden people of diverse backgrounds come together to grow food, share stories and build community. The centre also works in supporting those in Direct provision and works to promote inclusion and understanding in Cork’s wider community.
In my school we regularly support refugee pupils. As a whole school we have culture day each year where pupils from different countries design posters with information about their country. The refugee parents come in often inn traditional dress and often bring foods or information booklets about their country. The whole school then comes to see the exhibits. We also encourage inclusivity in class by discussing different religions and cultures. We focus on similiarities between religions and cultures rather than differences
Hi Sarah. I found you piece thought provoking especially the statement that a suitable school for children with special needs may be too far away to drive them to. It made me think of pupils in our own community who do not have school places due to their additional needs. It forces me to reflect on how we fall short in providing ‘quality education’ for these pupils.
Housing is very much to the fore in public discourse at present especially so with Irelands present housing crisis. Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is linked closely to housing. It is crucial for a child’s health , development and education to have secure, safe and affordable housing. At present in Ireland children are living in inadequate overcrowded or temporary accommodation. Indeed some of my own pupils were living in emergency accommodation and Direct Provision centres. These children exhibited higher stress levels, difficulty socially and poor academic performance as a result. Worldwide huge amounts of children live in slums or settlements without basic sanitation or even clean water. Survival is their priority. Needless to say education comes at the bottom of their list.
In my class I hope to encourage the pupils to become more aware of those less fortunate. Where appropriate I would like to teach the lessons associate in this module to make them aware of homelessness. To support Education for Sustainable Development to 2030 Priority Action5; Accelerating Local level Actions I would invite the students to take action through local projects. we could perhaps collect essential items for shelters, participate in the shoe box appeal or donate to food hampers at Christmas. In this way pupils would be involved in real world problem solving and community activism. They would learn that their actions matter in creating a fairer, more sustainable society.
Hi Michelle. I found it very interesting reading the harmless comments the junior infant boy made to the girl. Indeed it is through these throw away remarks that gender bias can be formed. It is definitely a great idea to incorporate action plans to address gender bias in a SSE plan.
Children are subject to gender stereotyping from the day they are born. Girls are typically dressed in pink and boys in blue. Gender stereotypes can influence pupils confidence, social interactions and academic performance in school. This is evident in primary school but particularly so in secondary school. I experienced this myself in the selection of secondary schools for my daughters. Most schools require pupils to select their subject choices before beginning school. Highest intake for STEM subjects were among boys. Highest intake for home economics was girls. For this reason I chose a school where pupils were allowed to experience all subjects in 1st year and could select their chosen subjects in second year.
Development education methodologies are crucial to educate towards critical thinking, inclusivity and equality among pupils which would help combat stereotyping. As I am a class teacher in an all girls school I would encourage my pupils to research female scientists and perhaps invite some female scientist to visit the class. I would also encourage the pupils to discuss diverse role models that challenge traditional ideas about gender. Through these lessons I would hope to empower the pupils to question stereotypes and foster a greater sense of fairness, respect and appreciation of human rights among the class
Hi Barbara. I also like the idea of using games with the class to explore fairness and social inequalities. I also agree that including development education topics we have seen would add greatly to our current S.P.H.E. programme
Hi Geraldine. I enjoyed reading your ideas on how to incorporate development education into your own classroom teaching. The use of chocolate production as a project to explore ethical consumerism would definitely appeal to most classes. I also thought your idea of cross curricular development days suppported by CPD would provide great opportunites for the staff to work as a whole on these areas.
Eric Ehigie’s paper was both interesting and thought provoking. The paper recognises how far we have come in recognising racism and reacting to it. The piece reflects on the interconnectedness of the world. It explores the different reasons why development education is important to teach in schools. As teachers we can make pupils aware that prejudice and injustice have no place in today’s world. We need to educate pupils on global issues such as human rights, poverty and climate change and that these injustices are all our concerns whether we directly experience them or not. pupils need to be able to recognise they are not powerless to change such issues. this is a key message in Ehigie’s paper.
I feel English, S.P.H.E. and Science provide many opportunities to teach Development Education. The last school year I taught 4th class. Starlight English reading programme had lovely pieces about children around the world and our environment which naturally lent themselves to exploration in these areas. We also took part in a STEAM climate change action activity programme where the pupils took a hands on look at climate change.