A Unique School Day: Staff from 10 Educate Together Schools Gather to Share Best Practice and Build Virtual Staffrooms Teachers, school leaders and SNA’s from 10 equality-based Educate Together secondary schools including Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School recently gathered in Dublin for a unique event in Irish education. The staff came together to pool their resources, skills, knowledge and practice with the ultimate goal of setting up virtual spaces to continue this valued networking online. It is envisaged that this sharing of best practice will enhance the learning experiences of students in Educate Together’s fast-growing network of second-level schools nationwide.
The event took place in Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School. Host Principal, Bernie Judge stated: “The staff and Board at Hansfield are delighted to welcome teachers, SNA’s, principals and Deputy Principals from across the Educate Together network to spend the day with us at Hansfield ETSS. We’re really excited about the learning being shared, including inputs on assessments and reports, Universal Design for Learning and supporting students with autism, as well as allowing space for teachers of specific subject areas to work together.”
Another unique aspect about the event is that SNA staff from many of the schools are also meeting to pool their learning and experience in parallel sessions. Sandra Irwin-Gowran, Education & Support Manager with Educate Together National Office commented: “We hope that out of the event we’ll build virtual communities of practice amongst the staff in our schools so that they can continue to support each other over the coming school year and beyond which will result in richer learning experiences for our students.”
