Over the next six weeks we will be delivering a Development Education programme to all classes. This programme has been developed for and piloted in Educate Together schools by ChildFund Ireland, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs through Irish Aid. One of the ET schools involved in the project was Belmayne ETNS, who formally piloted the programme, targeting all levels from Junior Infants to Sixth Class students, and gave feedback. Lesson plans were developed in consultation with teachers and resources were included for each level. It was felt that the programme was a great success and that it feeds into all aspects of the Educate Together ethical education curriculum. The programme is now being rolled out, initially to a small number of primary schools, one of these being RETNS.
The programme itself is delivered initially through a short 20 minute workshop for teachers by ChildFund Ireland staff, giving a brief outline of the programme. ChildFund Ireland then conducts two brief sessions with the children – initially to establish their baseline knowledge and later to monitor learning. The programme is delivered by teachers themselves and is incorporated into a number of different subject areas. The programme has been designed at four different levels –JI/SI, 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, 5th/6th. Each level centres on an individual child of the appropriate age and describes different aspects of his/her life, family, school, play, chores etc. At each level various teaching resources are provided, primarily through the ChildFund website (including videos, lessons plans, articles, stories etc), including a box containing photos of the child’s life, games, toys and other artefacts, which is loaned for a number of weeks while the programme is being implemented in school. The programme aims to introduce global development and social justice issues to primary school children in an interesting but relevant way so the children will identify with the child in question.
An additional aspect of the programme is the information for parents on each of the countries being studied, which is available on the ChildFund website, http://www.childfund.ie/mylifemyworld/.
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