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Climate change is a becoming a huge problem, not just in far off lands but also in our own country. In my own county which is on the west coast, we are already seeing the impact of coastal erosion which is having a detrimental effect on homes built on or near the coast. Some of these homes are at huge risk of collapsing into the ocean because of the erosion of the cliff edges. The local beach near me is suffering greatly when high tides come in. The road is being completely washed away meaning that the county council are having to repair the road in to the beach car park on an annual basis. Six years ago, my own local area was left devastated when heavy rains fell one Sunday evening in the month of May. The impact was so severe that homeowners have not been able to move back into their homes due to the flooding incurred from the local river. The town park was completely destroyed, though fortunately that involved a huge rebuilding effort which came to fruition two years ago.
Some of the actions that our pupils could take is to get them to educate their parents to reduce the amount of waste used in the homes; encourage parents to allow their children to walk and cycle to school daily; arrange for car-pooling for parents that live that little bit further from school; ensure that all families are aware that green, blue and brown bins are availed of to make sure everyone buys into it; encourage parents to use charity for both disposing of and buying items of clothing.
In our school, regarding SSE, we must continue (as staff) to promote the initiatives that we already do and add on more. We definitely could encourage more parents to walk their children to school. We recently bought a poly tunnel with the idea of growing our own vegetables and fruit. Another idea I have in mind is ‘rewilding’ some of our grass areas.
Hi Alison, you guys have some great initiatives in your school to help with sustainability. We also use the Green Schools to do our recycling of the class and staff room bins. It has gotten easier in the past year or two but pupils and staff need to be given constant reminders!!
In my opinion, schools should work closely with sporting organisations in the locality to welcome refugees into the area. I know in my own area, the local GAA and soccer clubs organised sports camps during the easter holidays and they gave out free passes to the families who has recently moved into the area.
We, as a school held a multi-cultural day in the school in April. The senior classes were split into groups and given a country to do a project on. They had to research this country and have a display table on the day with everything from food, clothing, traditions etc for the whole school to view. It was a great success and definitely one we will look at again.
This is linked to SSE in the school as it promotes integration among all pupils and gives a sense of belonging to the school for everyone no matter what your background.
What an uplifting story that is Orla. I’ve actually done the novel with my class called ‘Parvana’ which tells the story of the war in Afghanistan and the persecution they’ve had to suffer. It just shows you how much emphasis they put on their education in countries like this when it is not a given that they are granted the opportunity to avail of it.
One of the SDG that is definitely worth looking at and educating the class on is the topic of climate change. This can be looked at, at both global and national levels. Storm Eowyn was a prime example in recent times about how climate change has affected us in Ireland. I think the severity of that storm and how much destruction it brought to our own doorstep resonates very much with the Irish public. I think there was always this attitude in certain quarters that if climate disasters were happening in far off lands, it didn’t really endanger us. My own brother has lived in the USA since 1995 and listening to the stories he tells me of the various natural disasters they’ve had to contend with, and how they are becoming more frequent, is a huge wake up call.
Climate action can be cross-curricular and used through geography, history and science. The class could work in conjunction with the Green Schools Committee and identify ways in which we could reduce our carbon footprint. I would also try and link up with other schools abroad to see how they are reducing their carbon footprint.
Highlighting this through the use of powerpoint presentations would help get their point across to other classes.
Hi Colm, you very much highlighted the effects of climate change in our world today and the impacts that this is having on society as a whole. I couldn’t agree more, arguably the continent is nearly becoming unlivable during the summer months.
Hi Anna,
You have made very valid points here in terms of how children are exposed to stereo typical roles from such a young age. Often, when questions are asked of pupils of what they would like to be when they older the boys will always imagine themselves as ‘blue collar’ workers such as plumbers, electricians etc. The girls will always want to be the ‘white collar’ workers such as teachers, nurses, etc.
I think educating them from a young age will help them view things differently.
Gender stereotypes are very much present in our classrooms in everyday life. Obviously in the junior setting you will witness situations whereby the boys will gravitate towards the toy tractors and cars in the sandpit, whilst the girls will reach for the dolls. I also found a situation whereby the boys wanted to play football all the time during the PE lesson whilst the girls were more open to sampling a variety of other sports including basketball and rounders. In the school playground, instances of bad behaviour are nearly frowned upon more if girls are involved, whereas incidents with boys can be deemed ‘rough play’. I distinctly remember a situation that arose last Christmas when a relative of mine wanted to buy a kitchen for her son but was encouraged not to by her partner as it was suggested it was ‘too girly’!
I feel that development of education in the classroom would help educate the children in understanding different gender roles.
This is a great idea. Definitely availing of our Croke Park hours as planning to make staff aware of this would give schools a great platform into making sure that the importance of global development is shared throughout all the classes in the school.
I think developing education in the classroom nowadays is of huge importance to upskill our pupils into understanding the many global issues that we encompass in our society. Key issues such as poverty, climate change and human rights come to mind when I think of this. We have the opportunity, as teachers to make pupils aware that prejudice and injustice should not be tolerated in society and that every individual should be treated the same no matter what race or colour you are.
We can teach this in our classrooms through many different subjects including geography (climate change, migration); history (colonisation, resistance movements), languages (read stories from various cultures).
We can look at case studies of current events happening such as the war in Gaza. Debates and role plays could be used to develop their critical thinking.
I think developing education in the classroom nowadays is of huge importance to upskill our pupils into understanding the many global issues that we encompass in our society. Key issues such as poverty, climate change and human rights come to mind when I think of this. We have the opportunity, as teachers to make pupils aware that prejudice and injustice should not be tolerated in society and that every individual should be treated the same no matter what race or colour you are.
We can teach this in our classrooms through many different subjects including geography (climate change, migration); history (colonisation, resistance movements), languages (read stories from various cultures).
We can look at case studies of current events happening such as the war in Gaza. Debates and role plays could be used to develop their critical thinking.
