Education Posts

Election by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free Have you ever seen a young baby explore the environment around them? Squeezing, tapping and tasting items that intrigue them. Exploring the world in this manner shows a young toddler’s level of interest in relating to and participating in the world. This form of exploration is also known as sensory… Continue reading Children as Active Citizens

This blog is written by the Museum’s Education Team member, Dr Rita Melia, to coincide with Children’s Workshops – Childhood Services Week 2024 – National Childhood Network (NCN). Encouraging Creativity – Igniting Joy. The blog considers what influences the educator’s image of the child as a learner. The theory of the looking glass self, first… Continue reading The Educator’s Image of the Child as a Learner

13th-17th May The picture book ‘Granny Makes Me Grumpy’ explores the perception of old age through the eyes of a child and how this perspective changes and matures with age. It’s a picture book that the Museum of Childhood Ireland Músaem Óige na hÉireann feels is for everyone. Karolina Olchowska felt it was important to… Continue reading Childhood Services Week Seachtain Seirbhísí Leanaí May 2024

Welcome to a trilingual blog about Flowerboards, by Cantonese in Ireland (www.cantoneseireland.ie). Flowerboards are an important feature of Hong Kong’s cultural heritage. Read on to understand what flowerboards are, why and how they are made, and see a few that featured in St Patrick’s Day parades! What are flowerboards? Flowerboards are used for ‘for celebrating… Continue reading Cantonese Flowerboards: From Hong Kong to Ireland

What happens when a young person just can’t go to school? One response is iScoil, a non-profit online learning service for early school leavers, aged 13-16. Educational Welfare Officers refer young people to iScoil. There, they encounter an online personalised learning plan, designed to bring out the best of the student’s abilities and to provide… Continue reading Reflections on … when school doesn’t seem to be an option

It started towards the end of Primary School. Fifth class had already been difficult and an ongoing family health crisis that had dropped a bomb into our life. By the last term of Fifth Class, Róisín* (name changed) had had enough. It was all just too much. “I can’t” said the previously fun, happy, smiley… Continue reading When school isn’t an option: A parent’s story

Hello, my name is Libby. I am a 15-year-old student of iScoil and this is my story. I started secondary school in September 2019 and I loved it. To be able to walk around school, have my own locker, go to buy lunch and eat with everyone. But when Covid hit, I was inside so… Continue reading When school isn’t an option: Libby’s story

I wonder if the idea of a museum of childhood is a contradiction in terms? A museum is a space for preservation after all, whereas childhood should be a space for unimpeded activities of playful exploring, discarding, abandoning, followed by more play. Yet, childhood makes an indelible mark on our mind’s eye, and, as science… Continue reading Reflections on … childhood adventures, play, risk and freedom

Ireland’s legacy of physical abuse in religious run schools Many Irish children had secure, happy school experiences. However a proportion of children who went to religious run schools experienced physical and emotional abuse.  I was a 12-year-old student when a punch from the clerical Headmaster at one of Ireland’s oldest Catholic secondary schools permanently damaged… Continue reading On the 40th anniversary of the ban on corporal punishment…

By Hadjer Taibi Updated Monday, July 10, 2023 Mohyiddin Abdul Qader (محي الدين عبد القادر) is the name of my very first school where I spent the first six years of my education. It is located in a small town called Kheir Eddine in Northwest Algeria, a close-knit community with only a few thousand residents.… Continue reading Reflections on … How my primary school shaped me

By Jolanta Burke Updated / Tuesday, 14 February 2023 09:06 Songs are not just songs – they are lines of words that repeat in our heads with a tune to accompany them. They are like thoughts, and it is sometimes hard to differentiate our thoughts from the songs that get stuck in our heads on… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Love Songs and Wellbeing

By Terry Gargan Updated / Thursday, 26 January 2023 10:26 I was about 11 years old when I first heard about the ghost in Petersville House. Anyone from around Moynalty in rural County Meath will be well familiar with what I’m referring to. It was one of the most written about folktales in the Schools’… Continue reading Reflections On . . . The Educational Value of Folklore and Local History

By Nora Corocran Updated / Monday, 12 December 2022 10:07 As a member of the Irish Traveller community and an academic, I am saddened that most of our children have no real concept of Traveller traditions in contemporary society. Our community is losing its traditions. To address this, I have started writing a series of… Continue reading Reflections On . . . The Need for Traveller Characters in Children’s Stories

攝影照片展覽︰我哋係粵語愛爾蘭人 Taispeántas grianghraife: Sinne Cantainisigh na hÉireann Cantonese immigrants come from Cantonese-speaking regions of the world. Cantonese is the second most-spoken Chinese language, with 80 million speakers worldwide. 粵語移民係一班以粵語為母語嘅人。佢哋嚟自世界唔同角落。粵語係第二大華語，全球有八千萬粵語使用者。 Is inimircigh iad inimircigh Cantainis as réigiúin dhifriúla den domhan a labhraíonn Cantainis. Is í Cantainis an dara teanga Síneach is mó a labhraí­tear, le 80… Continue reading Online Exhibition: We Are . . . Cantonese Irish

By Leah Russell Updated / Monday, 31 October 2022 10:14 For many young people who are seen as “different,” even the most familiar everyday settings can feel like unsafe places – schools, bus stops, cinemas, parks, supermarkets, online spaces. I recently watched my child, who identifies as non-binary and pansexual, scan the crowd at a… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Early Childhood Education and Care and LGBTQIA+ Families

By Keith Murphy Updated / Monday, 19 September 2022 10:43 Neurodiversity encompasses the concept that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits. The word neurodiversity refers to the diversity of all… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Studying with a Neurodiverse Difference

By Suzanne O’Keeffe Updated / Thursday, 24 August 2022 16:24 Teaching children about sexuality and relationships is a brave thing to do. These topics encompass, amongst other things, self-identity, morals, power, and values. When combined, one may consider sexuality to be an essentially private concern. Yet, sexuality and relationships continually feature in the public domain… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Teaching Children about Sexuality and Relationships

By Dave Lordan Updated / Wednesday, 27 July 2022 12:24 NOW YOU’VE RUN TO THE TOP OF THAT HILL, WHERE TO NEXT? It is hard to overstate the gulf between the cultural experience of teens of my generation – the 1980s and 90s – and those of the digital era. Instantaneity is at the heart… Continue reading Reflections On . . . 1980s Culture in the Digital Age

By James Groome Updated / Thursday, 26 June 2022 11:32 YOU share a room with two brothers and you’re all running and gambolling before bed because going to sleep seems so boring. Your overworked mother just wants to make sure you don’t wake up with bags under your eyes but you refuse to settle down.… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Playing With the Pen

By Paula Walshe Updated / Monday, 30 May 2022 09:38 Children love being creative, whether it is to express themselves or to just have fun. We are all familiar with poster paints and paint brushes, but there is so much more to the creative arts than painting and colouring. Isn’t it about time we spent… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Creative Arts in Early Childhood Education

Updated / Tuesday, 15 March 2022 11:29 Reflecting On . . . The Irish language and Social Media le Caoileann Ní Dhonnchadha Bhain mise le glúin Bebo. Láithreán líonraithe sóisialta a bhí i mBebo agus bhí mé thart ar cheithre bliana déag d’aois nuair a thosaigh mé á úsáid. Ní dhearna mé aon trácht i… Continue reading Ag Machnamh ar . . . an nGaeilge agus ar na Meáin Shóisialta

By Anonymous Contributors to Voices from Direct Provision, Book 2 Updated / Monday, 24 January 2022 13:03 “I was at one Direct Provision Centre before the outbreak of Covid-19. My 4 kids and I were tested and then moved to a different centre a month ago with a verbal notice of our results from the… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Being a Student in Direct Provision

By Sinéad Matson Updated / Friday, 17 December 2021 11:38 Over the Christmas break, it is very likely that you will eventually find yourself snuggled on the sofa, watching a Disney movie.  Like it or not, Disney is a force to be reckoned with on a global scale, especially in terms of how it influences… Continue reading Reflections On . . . What Disney is Teaching Our Children

By Trudy Meehan & Jolanta Burke Updated / Monday, 29 November 2021 11:49 What do people who are frustrated, demotivated, aggressive, or stressed have in common? The answer is often a lack of play in their lives. Many of us know that play serves an essential developmental purpose for our children. But it also acts… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Having a Playful Christmas

By Susan Andrews Updated / Thursday, 28 October 2021 14:11 Philosophy is often regarded as the archetypal ivory tower subject. Ironically, this conception of philosophy usually throws up the kinds of questions that philosophers are best placed to answer: what use is Philosophy? Or, as a student asked in the 2019 Philosophy by Postcard initiative,… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Teaching Philosophy in Secondary Schools

By Paula Walshe Updated / Monday, 27 September 2021 13:03 Since the onset of COVID-19, many of us have been thrust headlong into various digital environments to a level which could not have been anticipated prior to March 2020. As adults, we may actually remember a time when the internet did not occupy a place… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Technology and the Social Skills of “Digital Natives”

By the Leaving Cert Mandarin Chinese (LCMC) Concern Group Updated / Wednesday, 25 August 2021 10:04 Recently, the decision to include Mandarin Chinese on the Leaving Certificate in 2022 has received some media attention. Dr Isabella Jackson, for example, has appeared on The Pat Kenny Show (available here). RTÉ’s China Affairs correspondent, Yvonne Murray, has also… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Excluding Traditional Chinese from the Leaving Certificate

By Sinéad McCauley Lambe Updated / Wednesday, 28 July 2021 10:17 Since beginning my journey into early childhood education, I have learned that this sector appears to have its own “language.” And the more I think about how language is analysed and used in early childhood education, the more I think about Brian Friel’s Translations… Continue reading Reflections On . . . The Great Early Childhood Education Language War

By Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston Updated / Wednesday, 21 June 2021 12:39 When I deliver workshops for school staff on gender diversity and transgender inclusion in the classroom, I begin with an exercise I call “Unpacking the Gender Backpack.” I derived the premise for the exercise from an essay titled “My Genderqueer Backpack” by genderqueer activist,… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Supporting Transgender and Gender-Diverse Young People in the Classroom

By Mira Dobutowitsch Updated / Wednesday, 19 May 2021 09:54 During the weeks leading up to Christmas, my 5-year-old housemate and I had a ritual: after dinner, we would put on our coats, hats, scarves, wellies, and go in search of adventure. There was talk of ninja schools, monsters, goblins, fairies, and superheroes. There was… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Outdoor Activities and Activation Energy

By Jolanta Burke Updated / Wednesday, 07 April 2021 10:16 What if school wellbeing programmes were bad for children? I used to think that introducing any wellbeing programme in school was better than none at all. However, the more research I read, the more I wonder about the benefits of these once-off interventions. Wellbeing is… Continue reading Reflections On . . . How Not to Cause Harm to Children

Reflections On . . . the Irish Language and Education By Freya Feeney Updated / Wednesday, 17 March 2021 10:17 “Ní hí an teanga féin an fhadhb” a deirtear nuair a thagann an t-ábhar suas i gcomhrá, “ach an tslí a mhúintear ar scoil í.” Tá gach uile dalta Gaelscoile tar éis an ráitéis seo… Continue reading Ag Machnaimh Ar . . . An Ghaeilge agus Oideachas

By Gráinne Carr Updated / Friday, 12 February 2021 14:38 Consent Matters Ireland is committed to creating a consent culture in Ireland. When we talk about a “consent culture,” we mean an environment where children can learn, grow, and play without fear of bullying, abuse, or assault. We mean an environment where teens feel comfortable… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Consent and Boundaries – Let’s Focus on Both

By Alannah O’Sullivan Updated / Thursday, 14 January 2021 11:07 In the spring of 2020, I had just celebrated my 17th birthday with my parents and grandparents. This was one of the most stressful years of my life, but it was also a time when regular visits with my grandmother became a welcomed routine. We… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Being a Leaving Cert Student in 2020

By Cathleen McDonagh Clark Updated / Wednesday, 09 December 2020 14:35 As a child, I loved to learn. This has stayed with me, both as a blessing and a trial at times. Please don’t get me wrong, I have a passion for learning. But sometimes the education system does not meet with the expectations of… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Formal Education as a Member of the Traveller Community

By Cathleen McDonagh Clark Updated / Monday, 09 December 2020 13:27 As a child, I loved to learn. This has stayed with me, both as a blessing and a trial at times. Please don’t get me wrong, I have a passion for learning. But sometimes the education system does not meet with the expectations of… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Formal Education as a Member of the Traveller Community

By Seán Henry Updated / Monday, 02 November 2020 11:32 “Sir, are you gay?” Not the question a struggling substitute teacher, lacking in confidence and already considering packing it in, expects to hear one week into the job! And yet, this was precisely the question I faced in my budding days as a religion teacher.… Continue reading Reflections On . . . “Coming Out” (or “Bearing Witness”?) as a Teacher

By Pamela Purcell Updated / Monday, 05 October 2020 11:37 Do you think the Montessori Method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education is particularly good at heading off any tendencies for an individual child or group of children to dominate another child? If you think it is, perhaps it is because you feel the Montessori Method offers plenty of opportunities… Continue reading Reflections On . . . Anti-Bullying Strategies in Early Education

The Museum of Childhood Ireland’s Reflections On . . . blog invites people of all ages, ethnicities, communities, and backgrounds to address any topics regarding childhood and/or education in Ireland. Our objective is to stimulate important and timely conversations by creating a diverse and thought-provoking mosaic of the challenges and opportunities that face parents, guardians,… Continue reading Blog Archive: Reflections On . . .

The Museum of Childhood Ireland’s Let’s Talk About . . . seminars are designed to connect the present with the past while stimulating important and timely conversations. These online sessions typically take the form of Q&A sessions and roundtable discussions. They are free of charge, open to all, and recorded for those who cannot make… Continue reading Education Seminars: Let’s Talk About . . .

↓ ↓ ↓ Molly, Lee Gaels – Gleann na Laoi and Drispey GAA ↓ ↓ ↓ https://www.facebook.com/mag.leahy.79/videos/10158332135282945 ↑ ↑ ↑ Molly, Lee Gaels – Gleann na Laoi and Drispey GAA ↑ ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓  Conal Gillard, 6th Class ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ https://www.instagram.com/p/CLJuc_Jph5F/ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Conal Gillard, 6th Class… Continue reading Online Exhibition: I Love My Boots Because . . .