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I like the sound of the Dreamspace project. The children seem to be very active in the surveys and research and it would promote independence. Definitely one to look into
Development education has never been more important to me as a teacher than this year. Teaching in a very small country school for a number of years now, I have to admit I was somewhat blinkered into the comfort of our safe, stereotypical Irish environment. The introduction of many nationalities in the last year and a half has changed this somewhat and it is for the better. As these cultures have 100% integrated with us and our traditions, it is only fair that we make an effort as a staff and a school community to acknowledge some of theirs. It was shocking for us to realise that our Irish children were not aware of the term ‘human rights’. Things that they take for granted every day are not enjoyed and granted to all children. They were empowered by knowing that they are entitled to these rights. They were also saddened by the fact that some of their classmates had been denied these rights. Palestine has also been top of the children’s curiosity. While they were somewhat shielded from the true horror, they were still affected by the fact that while we were at school working everyday, there were some children fighting for their lives and living in terror. Next year we hope to carry on these new themes and hopefully this course will help me to do just that with more information and resources.
Great idea to introduce inter-cultural days Seán. We started this on a small scale this year and we all learned so much. Some holidays and celebrations can be very important to some cultures and can be bypassed (not intentionally) at school and can mean so much when they are celebrated
I enjoyed that video too and liked the way that the language difference was presented. In some way this helps to have a deeper understanding of the issues circulating in the media at present regarding pronouns and the proper use of same.
We only need to look at the range of children’s clothing available in shops to see how deep rooted gender stereotypes are in our thinking. Dinosaurs/Farm theme for boys and unicorns/rainbows for girls. Any brand that deviates from this is seen to be innovative and breaking the mould. This year in particular has shown me how gender stereotypes can be very black and white in some households and not so much in others. With the trend of ‘skincare’ taking off among the other children in our school, the dynamic has been interesting to watch and the conversations at break time are fascinating. With two boys having a keen interest, it was shocking and appalling to some of the girls – at first. Over the year it was accepted that boys have skin too and might want to look after it! I feel we have progressed as a society in relation to colour – boys are very often seen in fluorescent pink jerseys and football boots now. Part of choosing this course, for me, was the opportunity to explore this further and this be able to support children through any future issues that may arise down the line.