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The effects of climate change are very evident in the area in which my school is based. We are a country school, with farms all around us and a lot of our children come from farming backgrounds. These children are being affected first hand as the increased temperatures and weeks of rain have affected their family farms crops and sillage.
A school garden is a great initiative to start as it teaches the children a sustainable way of providing food for themselves and it can also teach the children that trees and plants are a great way to tackle climate change, as trees and plants absorb CO2 and give us oxygen.
Having debates in class is a great way to open children’s minds to what’s going on in the world around us. Although some children might not have seen or been affected by climate change yet, it is a good idea to show them children from other countries and how their lives are changing due to climate change.
A recycling scheme is also a fantastic idea that is easily implemented in primary schools. Children enjoy learning about how they can help their planet and being climate conscious is something that children should be taught from a young age as they will carry this with them for their lives.
The school that I am in has taken in a lot of children over the past number of years and as a staff, we have implemented some things that have eased the children’s into the school.
-Teachers can learn a few words of the language that the child speaks if they do not use English as their first language. This will create a great community of welcoming for the child as it would do wonders for the child to hear their home language in school, a new place for them.
-A community day/international day for the parents and children to teach the other members of the school about their own country. Families can also be encouraged to bring in food from their own country and this will provide opportunities for all children to see and feel other cultures.
Hi Seán, the buddy system you mentioned is a great tool to use to help students feel welcome into a new school. If the child does not have English as their first language, matching them up with a child who speaks their home language will be a huge benefit to the new child.
The Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) is one that I feel is extremely important as a lack of food can have a snowball effect on a child’s life. In Ireland, active steps have been taken to help children that may have had a lack of food with the hot lunches initiative in primary schools. This has been a great help to all students but there have been some set backs from this initiative, the main one being the huge amount of food waste that is clear to see from the lunches in almost every school. It isn’t a perfect system but hopefully work is done to reduce the waste that’s left over.
I would encourage children in school to learn about staple foods of each countries through SESE. This could help them understand that famines still occur throughout the world and they would be able to link this to our own history, developing a sense of empathy in them.
Hi Enda, Quality education is a very important SBG. Education should be readily available for all children but sadly that’s not how it is, some children have easier and better access.
Gender stereotypes are extremely evident in young people, through things as small as their interactions during Aistear. I have seen countless times that girls will choose to play with the toys and act as the professions that are typically seen as ‘feminine’, whereas the boys tend to stick to the toys that are aimed for them.
This has severe consequences for them, especially for girls in primary school at the minute. It has shown that boys significantly outperform girls at the shape and space strand of the maths curriculum and this can be directly linked to the toys that children are given from a young age, with young boys being given more toys where building and construction are involved, which helps to deepen their understanding of shape and space from an early age.
Development education is a topic that is extremely important, especially in what’s going on in the world around us at the minute. Development education is something that necessary to touch on in primary schools as it can raise awareness amongst school children as to what is going on in their world and how life is different for all children, making it a very thought provoking topic to introduce to school children. It also promotes critical thinking, which is an essential skill.
I would introduce development education as part of circle time or through SESE lessons as these type of activities promote group discussion and honest sharing.