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I love the idea of having a buddy system. As was mentioned during this course, we need to give children agency and help them feel that they can take action (rather than just teach them about these big issues and then leave them feeling overwhelmed and unable to help). The buddy system gives them this opportunity for action and enhances empathy and makes it more personable
Those are all great, age appropriate ways to incorporate these topics into your classroom. Even though they are very young, they are so impressionable at this age and will take on board the messages you send through how and what you are teaching.
These are great actions Mairead. Giving the children responsibility and agency is so important. It can be very overwhelming for them to hear and witness the effects of climate change. However, when they feel they are making change, it can be less daunting.
Reflect on how Climate Change is impacting on your own local area and how you would engage your pupils to explore this further. Suggest three actions that you can do to make the world a better place and slow down climate change.
I work in a large suburban town outside Dublin. The large amount of traffic contributes to fuel emissions. There is a signficant litter problem despite the presence of a Tidy Towns Committee. It is a growing town, and forestry is being sacrificed to make room for more housing. Within the school specifically, a lot of oil is used to heat the school as it is an old building and heat escapes easily.
Three steps to action:
1- Monitor the Air Quality Index (AQI) at box outside the school- Investigate why and when the air quality is bad. Discuss why and plan action to help it (Walking initiatives, planting more trees etc.)2- Debate talk- Hold a debate pretending that a new factory is being built in the local park. In teams, children discuss the pros and cons to this (jobs, training programmes, materials for local environment vs increased emissions, traffic, waste, heating). In the end, build the factory with considerations to climate change. E.g., renewable energy sources only, leave space in the park, staggered start times at the factory to prevent traffic congestion, shuttle buses etc.) Then do research to see what businesses already do this.
3- Look at combating waste and litter- In school, a strict recyclable and non-recyclable bin along with a food bin. Work with the Tidy Towns to clean up the area and look into getting more public bins.
Each of these could be incorporated into the SSE as part of reducing waste in school and in the community.
According to a Google search, there are a few organisations that help in the town closest to me. Firstly, there is diversity Sligo, which cffers confidential advice, adult and children’s education support, and mental health guidance.There is also a Local Authority Integration Team (LAIT) which is run via Sligo County Council to assist with financial, medical, and community settling needs.Finally, Sligo LEADER Partnership provides social inclusion programs and links to English classes via Mayo Sligo Leitrim ETB. Unfortunately I was unaware of the first two. I had heard of Sligo LEADER Partnership but I was unaware of the services that it provides.
Looking at Diversity Sligo’s website, there are many ways that people can volunteer, for example, as English language teachers/ translators. This could be something that school staff and children could help with. Learning from the previous modules, we could begin with a discussion about how refugees might be feeling when in a new country, after leaving their home and in a place where they do not know the language. We could then discussion an action plan to help. This could include information sheets about the area in different languages as well as key phrases and important words to know.
A big part of their mission is to make everyone feel included in the community regardless of where they are from. Making home links with the families working with Diversity Sligo and their new schools would be an ideal way to do this. Everyone learning about each other’s cultures.
Community outreach could be incorporated into the SSE and links with inclusion and wellbeing. (Improving and reflecting on the schools success in being respectful and welcoming)
That is a great idea Michelle. It is so topical, and definitely something that children are aware of, even if they are not directly taught about it in school. Learning about these issues can be overwhelming and scary for children, but I think the action plan you proposed is good because it is achievable and rewarding for children to feel like they are making a difference.
Goal 15 life on land.
Children would be affected and most aware of life on land in their local environment. In parks, forests, rivers, seas, lakes etc. More globally, they might not be aware of the variety of species in plants and animals that exist on planet earth. Nat Geo Kids is a great website for resources to this. After drawing children’s attention to the life on land in their locality and more broadly, we could then start looking at what these animals do for us. For example, if we focus on the bee, and how it not only produces honey but acts as a natural pollinator for us. We could research how the number of bees are deteriorating and investigate how we could encourage more bees to the area. This is something I did with my class last year, and we came up with the slogan ‘Let it Grow!’. We shared this with all classes and parents/guardians. We asked everyone who was able, to leave a patch of grass in their garden for bees and other pollinators to visit. It was a great success.Michelle it has been a while since I was in a junior classroom. I had presumed that gender steriotypes would get progressively worse and more deeply routed as children get older. However, now that I think back to doing Aistear on school placement, it was always the girls doing the cooking/organising of activities and boys recieving the food or doing more boisterous activities. You are correct, through the modelling of different genders doing different roles and jobs we can help them see that anyone can do anything. Picturebooks would be a good way to incorporate this.
Getting boys to carry heavy things, giving art projects to the girls, giving the football to the boys. A lot of the actions that teachers make are subconscious and not necessarily deliberate. However, when this happens repeatedly over time, is reinforces expected behaviours for children based on their gender. I watched a documentary called ‘No More Boys and Girls’. It recorded a teacher during the day, and one of his subconscious behaviours was addressing girls as “darling,” “princess,” or “sweetie,” while boys are addressed as “mate,” “mister,” or “dude.” It is no surprise that these actions have a knock on effect on children. I once gave my class an outline of 6 bodies. They had to draw and name 6 characters: a dancer, a builder, a doctor, a nurse, a babysitter and a teacher. Unsurprisingly, EVERY child made the dancer, nurse and babysitter a female ( bar 2 children) and the builder and doctor male. Teacher was the only one that is 50/50. Does this mean that children can’t see themselves in these carriers based on gender?
Development education methodologies could help to challenge this by encouraging children to question assumptions and think critically about the messages they receive from society after completing this drawing and naming activity. This participatory approach is useful because it allows children to share their own experiences and listen to different perspectives rather than simply being told what is right or wrong. Development education also encourages empathy, equality and respect for diversity, which can help children become more aware of how their words and behaviour may reinforce stereotypes. By creating space for children to question and challenge these ideas from a young age, we can support them in developing more inclusive attitudes.
Development Education can be incorporated into School Self-Evaluation by helping schools identify areas where students may experience inequality or stereotypes and then using this information to plan improvements. For example, if a school notices through observations, student voice or classroom discussions that gender stereotypes are influencing how children participate or how they are treated, this could become an area for reflection within the SSE process.
Why Development Education is important
Children are aware of the many issues in our world today, thanks to the ever increasing access and availability of information to them (Tik Tok, Youtube, Instagram). As educators, it is our duty to teach them and talk to them about what is happening and to ensure that the information the have on global issues are correct.
How to include Development Education in my own teaching and influence colleagues to do the same
I love how Ehigie (2021) acknowledges the importance of bringing action to local level. When teaching about Development Education, it can be easy to feel helpless, when many of the issues are far away or feel ‘too big’ for a classroom to help. When teaching children about DE it is important to make them feel like they can help, and take action as Global Citizens and ‘see where they can use their unique abilities to improve it for those who are less fortunate’ (Ehigie, 2021:4). According to Ehigie, Global Citizenship is to care and it is to empathise. As educators we can facilitate this Global Citizenship in our classrooms
Bringing colleagues and classes together is a great way of addressing DE because it makes children feel like they are part of a bigger group, rather than in isolation trying to take action and make change. Using the video ‘The Hummingbird and the Forest Fire’ is a great way to show them this. By coming together, even small efforts can have an impact, on both the other and the self.
How does Development Education fit into SSE
It supports School Self-Evaluation by promoting critical thinking, global citizenship, inclusion, reflection, and continuous improvement in teaching, learning, and student outcomes.
