WorldWise News 2011
WorldWise Teachers' Conference 2011
Our teachers' conference this year was held in the Ashling Hotel in Dublin, and was attended by close to 60 teachers, including 10 partner teachers from Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa and Zambia.
The day got off to a good start with three teachers presenting on the WorldWise projects in their schools, each of them at a different stage. Our thanks to Paula Goggin from Ursuline Secondary School, Cork; Iain Hatton from Moate Community School, Westmeath; and Mags Territ from Presentation Secondary School, Carlow, each of whom gave insights into their projects and how they're developing over time.
The teachers were followed by our keynote speaker, Dr Niamh Gaynor of the School of Law and Government at DCU, who gave a challenging and thought-provoking talk on "From Aid to Understanding: Partnerships in Development Education".
The teachers then split into three groups who attended parallel workshops on:
- Measuring Linking from Learning -- Susan Gallwey, Waterford One World Centre
- Tacking Controversial Issues in the Classroom - Nessa Ní Chasaide, Debt and Development Coalition
- Teaching Critical Media Skills through Film - Baz Al-Rawi and Alicia McGivern
After a hasty lunch, teachers had the opportunity to find out about different options for continuing the work that has started with their WorldWise projects, with a carousel of round-table discussions (described as a sort of dev ed "speed dating") where every 10 minutes, teachers moved from one table to the next to hear from different NGOs about the work they're doing here in Ireland and abroad.
Fionnuala Broughan of WorldWise gave a brief overview of the results of the recent WorldWise evaluation and a question and comments session, chaired by Susan Gallwey followed. Eva Creeley of WorldWise closed the day with a review of activities and plans for the remaining months of this WorldWise year.
Our thanks to all our speakers, facilitators and of course all the participating teachers themselves, all of whom made the day a great success.
