Other Events

Summer workshops for Primary Schools for 5th and 6th classes 3rd – 20th June 2008

Bring the world into your classroom!

….. by bringing your class to take part in  the Summer Primary Schools programme in the new Irish Aid Volunteering and Information  Centre 
in O’Connell Street Dublin

Schools are invited to bring 5th and 6th class groups to  the Centre from 3rd – 20th June to participate in facilitated workshops on global issues.

Visits, which are free of charge, include:

• Activites to explore the links between our lives and the lives of people in other parts of the world
• Quiz and games
• Interactive multi-media exhibition on the work of Irish Aid around the world
• How protecting the environment can help to improve the lives of people in poor countries
• Music and crafts from Kenya

Places for class groups are limited so book early to avoid disappointment !

The Centre features a permanent multi-media exhibition on the work of Irish Aid in developing countries and offers a specially designed education programme for schools groups. (Between January and  May 2008 over 1,000 Transition Year students from all over the country will have participated .)

The Summer Primary Schools programme is specially designed for pupils aged 10 to 12 years and will be relevant for the Development and Aid Strand of the SESE, Geography curriculum.    It will be highly participative and is designed to be as enjoyable as possible

Primary School Visits will take 1 hour and 30 minutes and will take place at 10.00 and 12.00 each day from Monday to Friday, starting on June 3rd (Tuesday) and finishing on June 20th. Classes of 30 need to be accompanied by 2 adults, including one teacher.
To book your visit  send an email to liguori.cooney@dfa.ie with the following details:

Name of school:
Name of  teacher:                               Class:  
Number of pupils:                              Number of accompanying adults:
Preferred date and time:                     Mobile number of teacher:

For enquiries phone Barbara Wilson: 01-8546923

Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre, O’Connell St., Dublin

Cross Border Human Rights Conference

On the 13 December 2007 Educate Together sent a delegation to attend the Cross-Border Human Rights Education Conference hosted by Amnesty International, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) and Ulster Teacher’s Union (UTU). Our delegation expanded to 12 this year and included members of Esker ETNS, Newbridge ETNS, Bray School Project NS, Rathfarnham ETNS, Dalkey School Project NS, Castleknock ETNS, Lucan ETNS, Rush and Lusk ETNS, Griffith Barracks Multi-Denominational School and Castaheaney ETNS.

The conference heard from a number of distinguished speakers; Katherine Zappone, Commissioner for the Irish Human Rights Commission, Prof. John West, Senior Research Advisor from the National College for School Leadership in London, Tommy Fagan, Director of The North South Exchange Consortium and Ced Simpson, Director of the New Zealand’s Human Rights Communities in Education Initiative. Finally Alan Henry, the Commissioner for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, closed the conference remarking on how successful it had been.

The workshops gave wonderful examples of lesson plans that incorporated Human Rights. A number of teachers commented that the day had inspired them to revamp their own lessons.

Educate Together congratulates the organisers of this conference in highlighting the issue of human rights in the curriculum of Irish schools. We are continuing to incorporate this content in the “Learn Together” ethical education curriculum which is given discrete teaching time in Educate Together schools. We look forward to future opportunities to explore international practice and network with other practitioners.

If you would like to participate in Educate Together’s human rights education programmes, please contact us at mailto:education@educatetogether.ie.

For Amnesty International Human Rights Education resource guide go to http://www.amnesty.ie/amnesty/live/irish/education/default.asp?page=3372&rec=20&pos=1