Local schools attend Ireland’s biggest-ever educational event
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A NUMBER of local schools and education centres were selected to showcase projects at Ireland’s largest annual educational event, the Teaching Council’s FÉILTE (Festival of Education in Learning and Teaching Excellence), in Galway last month.
The local schools were among 50 nationwide who were shortlisted to present educational projects at the event, which was set up to demonstrate the innovation and creativity that is taking place in schools across Ireland today.
Dublin West Education Centre; Colette Henry, Margo McGann, Tara Shine, Eamonn Shaughnessy (Teaching Council), Maeve McCafferty and Majella Basquill
Old Bawn Community School showcased a project titled ‘OBCS Numeracy Deep Dive – A Cross Curricular Approach to Graphing’, which was presented by Patricia Nunan, Cathal Molly, Enda Carr, Brendan Dohany, Bernard de Souza and Robert Leonard.
The Dublin West Education Centre, which is located on the Old Blessington Road, presented a project titled ‘Droichead: The Integrated Professional Induction Framework’, which focuses on the induction framework for newly qualified teachers.
The Droichead framework was presented by Colette Henry, Margo McGann, Tara Shine, Maeve McCafferty and Majella Basquill.
The Firhouse Community and Leisure Centre’s project focused on energy healing for young children, under the heading of ‘PranaMinds: Seven-Week Children’s Mental Development Program (Pranic Healing within the Classroom)’ presented by Elaine Tobin and Katherine McKenna.
Firhouse Community & Leisure Centre; Elaine Tobin, Máire Lineen (Teaching Council) and Katherine McKenna
Julie Potter, who has taken a career break from being an art teacher at Greenhills College to focus on creating inviting spaces for learning, presented a project on behalf of the school about her business ‘Julie the Genie’, where she enhances school designs with creative interior artwork and design, and she calls the learning environment “the third teacher”.
Rathfarnham’s Coláiste Éanna presented a project titled ‘Child-Directed Differentiation Using Universal Design and Multiple Intelligences’, which was showcased by Denis Daly and Michael Daly.
Coláiste Éanna; Denis Daly, Máire Lineen (Teaching Council) and Michael Daly
Attendees of the FÉILTE got the chance to network with colleagues from around the country and share innovative teaching and learning ideas at the event, which this year was in its 8th year.
