On Saturday, November 23rd last, Mary Griffin and myself set off into town to attend the annual Educate Together Ethos Conference. As we gathered in the foyer of the National College of Ireland for pre-conference coffee we had a chance to meet some old friends and become acquainted with many new faces. Over 90 people attended the conference this year, which the organiser, Fionnuala Ward, said was “a real testament to the Educate Together model and to the importance placed on ethos within the sector.”
The opening address of the conference was given by Frieda McGovern, former Principal of North Bay Educate Together and co-author of the Learn Together programme. Frieda presented the findings of her doctoral research on experiences of minority ethnicity children in Irish schools. Frieda pointed out that most schools have anti-racism policies and would aim to be inclusive but there is a need to interrogate attitudes and create proactive initiatives. She emphasised the need to create a critical Intercultural curriculum and to be aware of the centrality of the children’s voices. She gave some practical suggestions which we took back to school and will consider as a staff.
Frieda’s address aroused some interesting discussion from the floor. One participant, who identified herself as being Pakistani/Irish, talked of the importance of the language we use, particularly the use of the term “non-national” as a blanket term when referring to those of a minority ethnicity.
After Frieda’s address there was a brief discussion on review of the Learn Together curriculum and a proposal that there may be a change of language regarding the core principles. In order to get the best possible feedback from the whole Educate Together community on these issues a preliminary meeting is to be held in February with a view to formulating motions to bring to the AGM. ET would like representatives from each school community to attend, and we would hope to have a good contingent from RETNS at the meeting. With the announcement of Educate Together second level schools there will also be a need for widespread consultation and discussion throughout the ET community as to what the second level ethical curriculum will entail.
The conference catered for all partners in the education process and there were different sessions and workshops for teachers, boards of management and parents. A call had been sent out prior to the conference for discussion topics for the teachers’ workshop and a number of very interesting and topical subjects came back in, which gave rise to much sharing of practice among different schools. This workshop provided a great opportunity to hear how other schools have dealt with certain issues, was helpful for emerging ET schools to “pick the brains” of more established schools and gave everyone a chance to pick up new ideas to try out.
After our participation in many different workshops and our “networking” opportunities over lunch, Mary and I definitely came home from the conference with some food for thought for RETNS!
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