Are secondary schools preparing students for life? Or are they just preparing them for the Leaving Cert points race and ignoring the kind of skills they will really need?
Since 2016, it has been teaching in a more collaborative way, allowing students to choose topics relevant to them and basing subjects around them. Pupils are encouraged to research using technology and other sources outside the classroom. Students Clodagh Brennan, Cael Cheers and Joe Somers working on their project, “enlightning our future”, at Educate Together Secondary School, Griffith College, Wellington Road, Cork. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
Tuesday involved forming groups and deciding on roles and topic refinement; Wednesday was all about students gathering data. “My five years of experience in the European school system opened my eyes to the possibility of different learning and teaching models,” says O’Connor. “Our aim is to fully map the junior cycle curriculum and find links in both skills and content where possible.
“Misinformation is abundant online. People believe in cryptozoology [a pseudoscience suggesting that animals such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster or big cats in Ireland or the UK are real] without any proof.” “It directly challenges ‘silo subject’ thinking and practice, mundane forms of traditional teaching and learning approaches, and taken-for-granted power positions in the classroom.
Look how many folks are excited enough to respond to this article. Let's see interdisciplinary work take off in Ontario. I'm for it.