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Part 1
https://1drv.ms/w/c/2e011fceb0cf924e/EXuNTLzrmZ5AjUZSsYiYzIABxvanFTrm6yG6IsFnmsz0BA?e=4YX8Lb
This is a reading lesson in SET, designed to allow my student to access the class novel by using AT to remove barriers to his engagement with the novel. Using Microsoft Lens, I will take a picture of the section of the novel that we are studying. I will then export it to Immersive Reader to create an editable text for my student to read. I will adjust the text size and spacing to make the text easier to read. I will also select line focus, to allow my student to follow the text flow more easily. The immersive reader will read the text aloud for my student initially. Afterwards I will highlight specific words to check word recognition. I will use the syllable function to aid with decoding the word coupled with the picture dictionary function to illustrate the meaning of the word visually when needed.
Part 2
Students’ learning cannot exceed teachers’ learning. Education provision is constantly evolving and teachers are called on to adapt to a continuously changing landscape by learning new skills, methodology and terminology.
Our experience of teaching remotely is testament to the fact that teachers can respond with agility to rapid changes in education delivery.
Communities of practice are essential to allow teachers to engage with and share new ideas and practices. Informal COP’s communicate with each other via WhatsApp, Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook. This allows for innovative ideas and best practice to be shared easily and quickly.
In Ireland, we are lucky to have a stream of free online courses readily available to us via the Education Centres. This allows for teacher autonomy, to professionally assess and reflect on their area of need. Furthermore, this flexibility allows teachers, many of whom are caring for children, or parents, to fit their professional learning around their personal lives. Notwithstanding the increasing workload that teachers find themselves dealing with, it is my experience that teachers seek our professional development opportunities.
However, I would caution against making Cosán mandatory as I believe this would only serve to disincentivise teachers and undermine their identity as professionals.
Hi Catherine, thank you for sharing the free online handwriting template. I really like Handwriting without Tears and have had great success with it in the past, particularly for children with DCD.
The immersive reader is an invaluable part of the AT toolkit for the SET. The many functions of the immersive reader allows one to tailor the support provided to the student based on their particular needs. I particularly like the built-in picture dictionary and I used this a lot with a student with severe expressive language deficits. Adjusting the text size and spacing has helped me to make the reading more accessible to my students with visual impairments such as my students with DS. Breaking the words into syllables and talk-to-text features has really helped students with reading difficulties. The translate option is perfect for ESOL children and their parents.
I have also used: Open Dyslexic for Chrome, Talk and Comment, and Google Lens in Google Workspace. However, I prefer Microsoft Lens as it automatically connects to the Immersive Reader.
These tools support Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the goal of which is to use a variety of teaching methods to remove barriers and make learning accessible to all, which is very important in SET. UDL acknowledges that children learn differently and encourages flexibility in our teaching methods.
Whilst I find Dictate helpful and beneficial; many of my students however, who would benefit most from it—particularly those with severe dyslexia and a history of phonological processing difficulties or early speech delays—often still have some residual speech-sound errors. As a result, Dictate frequently misinterprets their speech, leading to inaccurate transcriptions which can be really frustrating for those students. Therefore, to mitigate errors and speed up a writing task, careful, scaffolded support from a teacher or adult is required to review and edit the transcriptions whilst the child is dictating.
AT has been an invaluable addition to make learning more accessible for all students. However, I have often found it disheartening to see Educational Psychologists repeatedly recommend the same AT for students with wildly different learning needs. Support and guidance on the selection of AT should be provided by a centralised support service as much trial and error of particular ATs can delay the potential progress that a student could make.
The SETT model provides a framework for teachers and special education teachers to critically assess the students’ needs before selecting the appropriate AT for that student.
When compiling the students’ SSP, the SET must consider the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of the student. Reviewing the students SSP, the SET will examine interventions that have proved successful and those that have not yielded satisfactory results. The SET should then select priority learning needs – this is mirrored in the first phase of the SETT model, in which the students’ needs are assessed.
The second phase of the SETT model – the environment also aligns with the SSP. Common additional learning needs such as ADHD, DCD, Dyslexia, Autism and DS often impact on a student’s processing speed, working memory, planning and organisational skills, receptive or expressive language ability, concentration, number skills. Therefore it is important to consider how to best adapt the environment to support the needs of the student – for instance, the student should sit close to the teacher to allow for extra explicit instruction, beside the whiteboard, away from the window or door to avoid distractions, near power outlets to allow for the use of AT. If the child has mobility or sight issues, it is important to ensure that physical obstacles are removed for safety.
The third phase of the SETT model – task – encourages the teacher to consider the learning objectives of the lesson. To refer back to the SSP, in this instance the teacher will narrow down the learning outcomes to ensure that progress is measurable. What are the specific targets and what are the specific skills being targeted? How will this be measured? This will then allow the teacher to choose the most appropriate AT based on the needs of the student as if used correctly, the AT will assist the student in reaching the prescribed target. If the student fails to make measurable progress, then the SET should review the specific AT chosen for that child and seek to use a different AT.
I agree Emily. I liked the way it categorised AT into three levels of support. It simplified the process of integrating AT and redirected the focus to ensuring that the student’s needs are met by selecting the most appropriate form and level of AT.
According the EPA climate change has impacted Ireland in the following ways: https://www.epa.ie/environment-and-you/climate-change/what-impact-will-climate-change-have-for-ireland/
1. Increase overall in temperature – since the 1980s, each successive decade has been warmer than any preceding decade since 1850. 2019, was the 9th successive year with temperatures above normal.
2. Reduction in the number of and length of frost days.
3. An increase in the number of very intense storms coming over the Atlantic.
4. Sea surface temperature in Irish waters has increased at a rate of approximately 0.6°C per decade since 1994, which is unprecedented in the 150-year observational record.
Children will all relate to the increase of intense weather events as a tangible effect of climate change. School closures, road closures, flooding, loss of electricity and loss of clean water supplies are a direct consequence of extreme weather events.
In the classroom, I would engage pupils by starting with a local climate audit—observing weather patterns, changes in local biodiversity, and discussing any flooding or extreme weather events they’ve experienced. We would then explore the global causes of climate change, using resources from Green Schools, SEAI, and the EPA’s Junior Climate Ambassador programme. Inquiry-based projects, class debates, and collaborative action planning would allow pupils to connect their learning to the world around them. Three actions that I can do to reduce climate change and make the world a better place are:
1. Reduce my carbon footprint by holidaying at home instead of abroad.
2. Reduce food miles by shopping local and buying in season.
3. Canvass my local politicians to provide more cycle lanes in my area. Cycling is so popular amongst children and obviously a greener way of travelling. I also love cycling. However, once you venture out onto the main roads there are no cycle lanes and the roads are very dangerous for cyclists.
There are many organisations in my area that support refugees. Probably one of the most prominent organisations is Fingal County Council’s Local Authority Integration Team (LAIT). It works to ensure that new arrivals feel supported and included in Fingal communities. LAIT work with people seeking asylum, those granted refugee or subsidiary protection status, participants in the refugee resettlement programme, and beneficiaries of temporary protection.
A public policy paper entitled – Closing the Gap – Strategies to Improve Refugee Children’s Learning Experiences and Social Integration in Ireland, published in August 2024 https://publicpolicy.ie/education/closing-the-gap-strategies-to-improve-refugee-childrens-learning-experiences-and-social- integration-in-ireland/ sets out ways in which we can support children in primary schools. Nonetheless, many schools lack the necessary funding to implement many of the recommendations outlined in the document due to lack of SNA support and inadequate SET/EAL provision.
Key factors that support the integration of students are: 1. Language acquisition – robust EAL support. Divert SET resources to EAL provision. 2. Family and Community Engagement – Strengthening school partnerships with families—using translation where needed—and local integration services (LAIT) will enhance belonging and academic support. 3. Provide access to extra-curricular activities – activities such as homework club, sports, music, art, and dance classes. Participation in local sports activities/clubs in particular can be helpful in forming a sense of community belonging, and provides a sense of continuity with their former lives. 4. Implement a buddy system – The importance of friendships in helping refugee children to resettle in the host community cannot be understated. Quality friendships can be a strong, positive factor in shaping the children’s experiences. 5. Adopt culturally responsive, trauma-informed practices 6. Participate in whole-school CPD around trauma-informed practices, inclusion, EAL etc. possibly as part of the SSE process.
There are many organisations in my area that work to support refugees. One of the main organisations is Fingal County Council’s Local Authority Integration Team (LAIT). LAIT works to ensure that new arrivals feel supported and included in Fingal communities. They work with people seeking asylum, those granted refugee or subsidiary protection status, participants in the refugee resettlement programme, and beneficiaries of temporary protection.
A Public Policy paper – Closing the Gap – Strategies to Improve Refugee Children’s Learning Experiences and Social Integration in Ireland published in 2024 sets out evidenced-based best practices for schools. https://publicpolicy.ie/education/closing-the-gap-strategies-to-improve-refugee-childrens-learning-experiences-and-social-integration-in-ireland/
Theses include:
1. Robust EAL support to enhance language acquisition.
2. Access to extra-curricular activities to help form a sense of community and belonging. Suggestions include access to homework club, sports clubs/societies, art, drama, music, chess club. 3. Implementing a buddy-system to facilitate social inclusion. The forming of friendship is a key factor in promoting wellbeing and positive integration. 4. Fostering strong home-school links with the use of translation services through organisations such as LAIT if needed. 5. Adopting culturally responsive, trauma-informed practices in school. 6. Participating in whole-school CPD in the area of inclusion and equality, trauma-informed practices, EAL as part of the SSE process. Nonetheless, I think a school can only do so much on their own. We exist in an eco-system and support from NEPS, NCSE, Primary Care Psychology Services and other relevant outside agencies is vital. Increasing SNA and SET/EAL provision is key for enabling schools to support all of their students.
Hi Orla,
This story really shows how resilient our young people can be. For that young boy and his brother to experience such horrific trauma at a very vulnerable age and to not only survive but thrive in the care of a loving foster family and supportive school is incredible. Well done.
Hi Shane, I like that you mentioned mental health as it is something that is very relevant to everyone. It is so important that we normalise discussion around mental health in order to remove any stigma that unfortunately is still very prevalent in society.
I would focus on is SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
This goal is highly relevant to children at both local and global levels. Locally, children have access to fast fashion – through the promotion of sites such as Shein and Temu, experience excessive plastic packaging – particularly when ordering items online, and witness an inordinate amount of waste in school and at home. Globally, they may not initially realise that children their own age in other countries work in unsafe conditions to produce cheap goods, or that pollution from overconsumption contributes to climate change and biodiversity loss.
To promote action, I would design a project titled “Where Do Our Things Come From?” encouraging students to explore supply chains and make more conscious consumer choices. As part of this project, I would also guide the children to explore where our discarded (donated) and unwanted clothes end up and how textile waste is ruining the environment of countries like Ghana https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-41483044.html#:~:text=But%20Accra%20doesn’t%20have,and%20on%20to%20Accra’s%20shores.
Students could also investigate local businesses and assess the sustainability and fairness of their practices—for example, examining whether a local coffee shop uses Fair Trade suppliers, supports local producers, or promotes ethical sourcing.
These activities align with ESD to 2030 Priority Action Area 5, empowering students to take meaningful, local-level action while making real-world connections to global justice and sustainability.
Hi Harriet,
It will be interesting to see how the children adapt to a co-educational setting. I teach in a boys’ school also and firmly believe that co-education is a much healthier setting. I often hear throw-away remarks similar to yours and although the boys don’t really believe them a lot of the time, I do think they feel pressure to live up to societal expectations.
I teach in a boys’ school. In my teaching experience, I see how boys in a single-sex school can struggle with gender stereotyping foisted on them by society. Boys who do not conform to stereotypical norms can experience confusion and othering when trying to find their own place. On average, I usually see about a third of every class who do not fit the antiquated mould of gender expectations.
An example of gender stereotyping in my classroom that I see repeatedly is the assumption that a nurse will be female, a barber will be male, a fire fighter male etc. I generally explore this type of unconscious bias with my class all the time as this kind of thinking is so limiting and I do not want the children that I teach to make assumptions that hinder their or their female counterparts’ possibilities.
Luckily our school promotes inclusivity and the holistic education of the child. So, although there is a lot of sport embedded into the everyday curriculum and featured in extra-curricular activities, we also place huge value on the arts -music, drama, art and as a staff we are very conscious of teaching and modelling gender inclusivity, critical thinking, empathy and understanding.
Furthermore, as a mother, I have found it extremely frustrating to see the ways in which toys are gendered and costed accordingly – recently I was purchasing Ninjago lego for my son and daughter. Both sets were almost the exact same, bar one of the lego figures featured in my daughter’s box was a female (which is why she wanted it). My daughter’s lego cost 10euro more than my son’s lego. I was incensed! There was virtually no other differences between the two sets. Equally, a few years ago, my daughter was gifted a scrapbooking/ card-making set which she absolutely loved. Her younger brother really wanted his own scrapbooking set, as he really liked participating in arts and crafts with his sister at home, however, every single set that I could find online was heavily gendered towards girls – pink, love hearts, unicorns and glittery. I could not find one that was more inclusive or just less pink and glittery. Once my son saw how heavily the sets were marketed towards girls, he opted out, saying that he did not want one anymore. I was so dismayed as I see how much boys and girls love art and crafts, it can be such a mindful and regulating activity for everyone, yet most of the art and craft sets in stores and online are heavily gendered towards girls.
