WorldWise Global schools have once again given John Scottus a major award for the school’s participation in Global Citizenship Education or GCE for short. This year students and teachers have highlighted many Global Issues relevant to students in Ireland but happening around the world. Here is a list of what we’ve done in 2020/2021
TRANSITION YEAR: We have an established level of GCE activity in 5 subjects in TY. Environmental Studies, Education for Life, Art, Philosophy & English are all involved in covering Global Justice issues. There is also a dedicated 16-week long module in TY too, which runs for 2 hours per week. The module looks at various different Global Justice issues e.g. Gender inequality in Ireland and in the Global South. In this module, during the lockdown, we explored the issue of Climate Justice, examined the story of Kiribati and looked at ways that we can take action now. In Art, Students have undertaken a Junk Kouture Module. In Environmental studies they looked at sustainability and have and maintained vegetables in the outdoor garden and have built an outdoor classroom, this all prior to lockdown. In Philosophy, students regularly discuss and develop action projects related to global justice issues. We recently explored Climate justice in the TY module and students followed this up in Environmental studies with informal discussions on Climate change and its link to food production and sustainable sourcing of timber.
GREEN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE: The Green Schools committee, comprising of students from across different year groups, organised a walk for water day where they invited students in 1st year to do a walk for water campaign to highlight the length of travel and weight of water which many children adults complete on a daily basis to ensure that they have an adequate water supply for their household
WHOLE SCHOOL PARTICIPATION: Almost all subjects in the Senior Cycle of the school are exploring GCE topics now. In Philosophy, students have considered the human family and the European refugee crisis this year. In Maths, students have explored the cost of equitable living in different places in the world and what it would mean to provide an average standard of living in poorer countries. As part of 6th year French, students explored food waste as part of a broader Environment Module and innovative ways of reducing food waste. In 6th year geography, students explored education in developing countries and the issue of water scarcity by looking at the impact of the disappearing Aral Sea. 6th year Biology students have explored pollution, waste management and the conservation of ecosystems.