|
This conference was held in the College on Thursday
26th January 2006 and its theme was the opportunities and challenges
of teaching in diverse classrooms in Northern Ireland with a specific
focus on ethnic diversity and language issues. An outline of the
day is presented below.
Morning Sessions
Dr Margaret Reynolds welcomed students
and visitors to the conference. Growing numbers of children from
ethnic minorities are attending schools in Northern Ireland. Teachers
need to be prepared to meet their needs and maximize the benefits
of increased diversity in their classrooms.
Tom Stewart, principal of Stranmillis
Primary School, outlined his school’s diversity policy which
focuses on respect for the individual and human rights. Year 5
pupils from the school presented the work they had done on children’s
rights with the help of teacher Gillian Neill.
Susan Hampsey (principal) and Claire McGeary (teacher) from St
Patrick’s Primary School Dungannon then gave an account
of their experience. There has been a rapid increase in the number
of migrant families in the area especially from Eastern Europe.
The teachers outlined some of the challenges they faced.
Susan Goode from the South Eastern Education and Library Board
followed with an account of the SEELB’s provision for children
with English as an additional language.
Project Launch
During the morning break guests joined
the Acting Principal, Peter Finn, the Global Dimension Team and
many college staff for refreshments and photo opportunities to
mark the launch of the Global Dimension in Education project within
the College.
Peter Finn then addressed the conference outlining the importance
of the global dimension in education in today’s changing
global community. The three-year DfID project began in September
2005 and aims to enhance the provision for the global dimension
in teacher education through taught programmes, access to resources
and research.
Workshops
Six workshop sessions then
followed:
- Niall Moore and Eamon Keenan from NICCY the Northern Ireland
Commissioner for Children and Young People used the Power Line
activity to demonstrate prejudice and discrimination in society;
- Ronald Vellem from NICEM the Northern Ireland Council for
Ethnic Minorities looked at the importance of developing anti
racism practices;
- Nisha Tandon from the Indian Community Centre in Belfast led
a session;
- Jamal Iweida from the Belfast Islamic Centre dealt with the
issue of racism and the role of the media;
- Áine McMullan from the Belfast Education and Library
Board raised awareness of initiatives to promote international
development;
- Sean McMahon a teacher of English as an additional language
shared some ideas for working with EAL learners.
Student reporters were assigned to each
group to record each of the workshop sessions and prepare an evaluation
of the day.
Wendy Young from the Centre for Global Education joined the conference
and project launch.
Afternoon Sessions
The afternoon plenary session was led by
the student reporters who shared their workshop session and gave
some useful feedback on the day.
Closing remarks were given by Mrs Angela Miyanda, director of
Angels in Development, a Zambian organisation providing opportunities
for orphaned children. She spoke to staff and students at the
conference on the opportunities afforded by education. Mrs Miyanda
who had been visiting the College as part of the Global Dimension
International Exchange programme gave a number of presentations
about her work during the week.
Staff and students involved in Project Zambia are involved in
fundraising efforts to support related projects and will travel
to Zambia later this year to see how these projects develop.
Dr Margaret Reynolds concluded the day with a summary and thanks
to all involved.
Students were presented with certificates of attendance at the
end of the day.
 
 
 
 
 
 
|
