[Lorna Costello]

Hi Chloe,

I really like your overall SSE point about responsible citizenship becoming embedded in the every day of school life. It was a really nice way to put it.

I also like that you drew my attention back to the water cycle – this is something I teach every year but I can see how important it can also be to link to development education. This is something I will do going forward.

[Lorna Costello]

Hi Louise,

I work in a mixed DEIS Band 1 Junior school but have had similar experiences with the boys in my class. Participation and fear of looking silly or ‘girly’ often hold boys back from participating in anything performance related.

There have also been issues with boys becoming embarrassed when overwhelmed and they become really afraid that they might cry in front of their peers. This then manifests in anger and they often argue and take it out on each other, both verbally and physically.

I think using role models would be a great idea to encourage boys to process their emotions and to engage in activities that they deem ‘girly’. I’ll definitely do more research on this to see if there is a local sports person who could come in and chat about wellbeing.

[Lorna Costello]

Climate change has affected my local area with more severe weather with each passing year. Storms and rain have impacted peoples homes with flooding and damage to houses and buildings. Extreme cold weather has stopped children from coming to school. There has also been a reduction in air quality over the last few years due to the busy roads.

I would (with my class) research Dublin City Council’s initiatives to combat the effects of climate change, such as planting more trees, encouraging green transport, and improving energy efficiency. I would then have my class brainstorm in small groups ways in which we could make our own school initiatives to combat these issues e.g. plant a school garden, have energy monitors, create a walk/bike to school scheme.
We would then as a class decide on an initiative to focus on and again, brainstorm the rollout of the initiative.

Regarding SSE – I would continue this level of collaboration and reflective practice with the pupils, as well as staff and parents. I think a long-term project like this would provide insightful information and feedback into how to approach Development Education in the school going forward.

[Lorna Costello]

Hi Eimear,

Thanks so much for drawing my attention to Doras – I had not heard of the organisation before but after looking at their website I can see the variety of ways in which they can provide support to migrants in Ireland. If I ever had a parent who I felt was in need of any of these supports, I would definitely encourage them to contact Doras.

My school also holds multicultural events – including an international festival in the hall where food, clothing and other customs are celebrated from the vast majority of nationalities of our school’s pupils.

[Lorna Costello]

The Irish Refugee Council aim to “provide support and promote the rights of refugees and people seeking protection in Ireland”. The support refugees in gaining access to education through advocacy, lobbying, and developing Sanctuary Scholarships with Universities and ITs across Ireland.

The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland is a “national organisation working to advance the rights of migrant workers and their families at risk of exploitation, social exclusion and discrimination”. The centre supports those who are experiencing labour exploitation, runs a family reunification campaign and advocates for justice for the undocumented.

If I had an older class, I would share stories published from the Irish Refugee Council’s website. I would use these stories to prompt a class discussion. I would choose a specific topic (such as access to Education) that refers back to the sustainable development goals so that children can see in context how migrants and refugees are affected in their own community.

Regarding SSE – I would consider a combination of surveys among children, parents and staff, with particular sensitivity.

[Lorna Costello]

Hi Triona, I found your reply has so cleverly woven together every prompt in the Module assignment, and I like that you focused on Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. I too am seeing a lot of food waste in my school as a result of the hot lunches.

We have a collection basket in our classrooms and make sure to send home all spare snacks, fruits, yoghurts and milks at the end of each day – I think an audit of these snacks is a very clever idea.

[Lorna Costello]

On a local level, children will be affected by Goals 4:Quality Education and 5: Gender Equality, by girls not attending school while their male counterparts do.

In turn, a global level, children will be affected by 8:Decent work and Economic Growth, having not had access to quality education, thus excluding them from opportunities for well-paying work.

I would encourage my students to take action by first having them engage with the activities outlined in the PLAN lessons in order to deepen their understanding of systemic inequality and human rights. I would then adapt the extension activities, making them suitable for my students. I work in a DEIS Band 1 context where some children are living in emergency accommodation – so I would need to approach activities about homes, for example, with extreme sensitivity.

As an example of a direct an activity in support of ESD to 2030, I would organise a project of posters that would be displayed on a public facing wall of the school for people to stop and read. Each poster would represent a country with a different economic profile (e.g. South Sudan, Luxembourg, Australia, Columbia), and provide statistics of education levels in that country, and where possible – stories from children in those countries. This project would aim to raise awareness of the discrepancy in quality and access of education around the globe.

[Lorna Costello]

I work in a Junior DEIS Band 1 setting. I have had children refuse to sing, refuse to use the colour pink, refuse to sit beside someone because of their gender, not let another child play because of their gender, and the list goes on. I fully plan to implement explicit lessons around gender, such as the ones shown in this module. We already have a lot of conversations around gender and fairness in the classroom, and I have found the most successful tool to be modelling. I’ll say things such as “I need to use blue next. Some people think it’s just a colour for boys, but I love it and I love how it makes my picture look”.

One thing I find particularly difficult in my setting is that I have encounters a number of young boys who do not have a father or adult male permanently present in the home. With me (a female) as their teacher, they often see adult females as the main authority figures in their lives and from here, contention begins to build. Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure how to apply development education to best combat this dynamic, but hopefully will find more research in my offline time. Any replies with advice or insight on this are welcome!

[Lorna Costello]

Hi Christine, I really found your post insightful and enjoyed reading about the ways in which  the Educate Together school context supports the celebration of diversity and global citizenship education. I appreciate that it is embedded in the Learn Together Curriculum, and that the Sustainable Development Goals are a major reference point.

I also have Senior Infants for the first time in September so I will definitely be trying out The Messy Magpie!

[Lorna Costello]

“Regressive political populism feeds on the lack of awareness”.

I found this piece of the passage to be brutally true, and can currently see the effects of this in my own school setting; particularly on the subject of race and immigration. One effective way in which my school currently targets this is with Multicultural Week; wherein all the nationalities of the school are celebrated and parents and children are invited to a big festival in the hall to explore each other’s cultures.

However, I would like to add to this.

The author encourages the reader to enable young people to recognise themselves as global citizens; which I found connected perfectly to the series of lesson plans in the Module. Particularly; Lesson 4 and the subject of rights. This is something I would never have thought to explicitly teach to a junior class, but the examples of artwork showed a depth of understanding and celebration of the rights of the child that was so exciting to see, especially as I come from a junior DEIS background.

I think my school could greatly benefit from Lessons such as these being integrated into the school’s yearly plans, ensuring that there is open dialogue around rights, fairness, justice and equality. While these matters do arise in an informal setting, I think it is vital that they are backed up with explicit teaching and learning.

***I’ve just realised I’m referring to the Lessons in Module 2, but will keep this point here as I think it still has relevance!

Regarding SSE, I would take a Human Development questionnaire to a Staff Meeting in order to collect data on what the staff think is currently working in the school regarding Development Eductaion (e.g. Multicultural Week) and seek out suggestions to how we could build upon (e.g. integrating explicit Development Education Lessons).

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