This article is from page 22 of the 2011-12-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
CLARE schools are being encouraged to take part in an “innovative” new equality and diversity study, details of which were announced on Saturday.
University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College and the Clare Intercultural Network are collaborating on research that will examine the attitudes of students towards interculturalism and equality.
Coordinators are hoping to roll out the project in primary and post-primary schools around the county.
Dr Orla McCormack, lecturer in education at UL, explained, “The project is about trying to get the voice of young people and looking at their views on diversity and equality within their school and in the education system.
“We’re doing it at three levels – primary, post-primary and then with pre-service teachers at UL and Mary Immaculate College”.
She continued, “We’re going into schools and we’re conducting a number of workshops. It’s using quite innovative and participatory methods.
“ The young people are given cameras and they are given a set time to go around and get photos in their school of equality and diversity. It’s left quite and quite broad. It’s their interpretation. We’re not saying this is what it means.”
She said, “The next workshop after that they use their 15 images along with lyrics from songs and articles from newspapers to represent a scrapbook of their ideas of diversity and equality.”
The project was launched at a conference in Ennis on Saturday entitled – ‘I’m ok, you’re ok and that’s ok’.
It follows on from previous collaborations between Limerick’s universities and the Clare Intercultural Network. Dr McCormack explained that this is the first time that participatory research of this kind has been undertaken in the area of equality in Clare.
She said, “We’re hoping to start in January and hopefully have all that done in three months. The idea is that this time next year, at this conference again, we can present back the data. Based on findings from that, different directions for the project might evolve.
“We may continue using the same approach but another element may come along as well.”
Organisers are hoping for a good response from Clare schools. Dr McCormack said, “We organise everything and I suppose it’s ideal for transition-year students. It’s for workshops we could come in fully prepared and also, if teachers want to engage in it, it could be useful for teachers to gain experience.”
The research coordinators are Dr Orla McCormack, Lecturer Education (UL); Dr Eimear Enright, Lecturer Physical Education (UL); Deirdre O’Rourke, Lecturer Religious Education, Mary Immaculate College; and Maurice Harmon, Lecturer Religious Education, Mary Immaculate College.