Our schools engagement with Development Education is based on the belief that education for human rights and sustainable development are central concerns for our school curriculum. We must afford our staff and students the opportunity to consider the world through the eyes and ears of the victims of global injustice.
The perspective fostered through Development Education is one that sees students as active agents in their own learning, favouring a critical questioning approach over one which might tell them what to think. Student’s enquiry into life’s bigger questions through social innovation and development education promotes concern, empathy and a sense of responsibility towards others. This approach to teaching and learning quite clearly connects with Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and meets our schools Mission Statement.
For over a decade, Coláiste Bhride has engaged in a myriad of Development Education initiatives. Development Education has acted as a catalyst in our school community helping us realise our own social and moral purpose and identifying our schools position within a global context. Engagements include volunteering, debating, Young Social Innovators, Science for Development projects, partnership with NUI Maynooth, Work Experience Placements, establishing school networks and travelling on schools visits to countries in Sub Saharan Africa.
Our schools publication, ‘Twenty Fifteen’, went on to become an award winning series of books on the Millennium Development Goals which provided a highly visible and interesting way for Coláiste Bhride to give expression to its commitment to social justice.
Our engagement with Development Education is now part of our school culture and has had a transformational effect on our school community. Our students and staff continue to learn, discover and develop in a personal and professional capacity. For many, engaging with Development Education is the beginning of a lifelong learning process that will ‘light the fire’ to actively engage: for others it will affect their day to day civic, social and political choices.
As an educator, the way I see it is that we have a responsibility to our students and staff to fulfil our commitment to social justice now that Development Education is securely embedded into our school curriculum and part of our school ethos.
Colaiste Bhride is going places..
Our school has been awarded a special Global Passport.
Irish Aid and Global World Wide Schools award three different levels of passport awards. Coláiste Bhríde has been awarded the top passport along with two other schools, and are the only schools to have achieved this level in Ireland. Our school is now recognised as a Dev Ed school.
So what is a Dev Ed school? Development Education is an educational process, which aims to increase awareness and understanding of the world we live in. It challenges perceptions and aims to create a just world. Our school is now a partof this process.
You may still be wondering why they call it a passport. Well the answer is simple. We have reached one of this years many aims but our journey is not over. We don’t get a passport just to leave it on the shelf, we get it so we can go places. This achievement really highlights Coláiste Bhríde as a school that is going places. The passport is just another step on our Development Education journey. There are so many ways we can add the metaphorical stamps to this passport to show
what we have achieved. The possibilities for our school are now endless. There’s a lovely quote from Anne Frank “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” We have already conquered the most difficult task, now we must merely keep going. The Dev Ed team would like you to continue with us on our journey in changing the world one step at a time
Ann Marie Doyle TY