By Ms Patricia Brady and Ms Shauna Scanlon
Deele College in Raphoe has chosen seven members of their staff to travel to Finland and Cyprus on an Erasmus+ sustainability project in the new year of 2022.
Ms Patrice Gallagher, Ms Lorna Freeborn, Mr Con McFadden, Ms Marilyn O’Riordan (Erasmus+ Co-ordinator), Ms Shauna Scanlon, Mr Kevin McCauley and Ms Patricia Brady will embark on this journey as part of their whole school initiative.
What is Erasmus+?
The new 2021-2027 Erasmus+ is more inclusive, more digital and greener than before. Erasmus+ provides funding for educational institutions aided by the European commission through a national agency known as “Leargas”. The Erasmus+ project has played a major role throughout the lives of our Deele college community to date.
Erasmus provides educators with an opportunity to develop personally, professionally and academically through gaining new transferable skills. This total submergence into other cultures and methods are thought provoking and enriching and complement the working and running of our school.
Barcelona, Spain, 2020
In March 2020, teachers along with senior management from Deele college travelled to Barcelona, Spain. Four members of staff were in attendance, Mr Danny McFadden, Ms Patricia Brady, Mr Patrick Mc Ateer and Ms Marilyn O’Riordan. These members of staff were selected to take part in the training and research modules on emotional intelligence in which the main aims were tackling ways to harness and manage emotions in a working environment.
As an educational institution we believe that tapping into our emotional intelligence and that of others is paramount for many reasons such as to fuel motivation, to improve social skills, to encourage self-awareness, to improve self-regulation and finally to strengthen our ability to empathise with others. Since returning to Deele college many strategies have been embedded into our curriculum across the board and have raised awareness of emotional intelligence in the classroom.
Erasmus + An investment in the future for a progressive Deele College
Finland and Cyprus 2022
This year the Erasmus+ funding will provide staff with an opportunity to job shadow in a school in Finland.
These teachers from Deele will observe sustainability practices in “Kulosaari Secondary School” in Helsinki in the hope that we can infiltrate best practices throughout our whole school community. We also hope to get a look at some Finnish curriculum practices in general and develop links with our European counterparts in Finland.
When our team arrives in Cyprus they will attend a course on “Creating innovative leaders in the classroom”. By participating in this course they will gain the expertise and knowledge that it takes to empower our students for them to become leaders of their own learning and ambassadors for the many ongoing sustainability projects championed by Ms Patricia Brady at “d e e l E C O l l e g e”.
Ms Shauna Scanlon, Irish teacher at Deele had this to say about the Erasmus+ programme:
Tá lúcháir orainn a fhógairt go mbeidh múinteoirí ó Choláiste na Daoile ag glacadh páirte sa chlár Erasmus+. Tá an clár eagraithe ag Erasmus+ agus Léargas agus tugann sé deiseanna do mhúinteoirí a gcuid scileanna a fhorbhairt agus a bheith ag obair le daoine eile ó thíortha éagsúla ar fud na hEorpa.
An bhliain seo chugainn, beidh grúpaí ó Choláiste na Daoile ag dul go dtí an Fhionlann agus an Chipir. Beidh an bhéim ar inbhuanaitheacht agus conas ceannairí éifeachtacha a chrúthú i scoileanna. Beidh na múinteoirí ag plé agus ag roinnt a smaointí agus a modhanna teagaisc le múinteoirí eile agus ag tógáil smaointí nua ar ais chun iad a chuir i bhfeidhm ina scoil féin.
Is deis luachmhar é seo agus tá inbhuanaitheacht an-tábhachtach inár scoileanna sa lá atá ann inniu. Tá muid ag tnúth go mór leis an deis iontach seo.
We believe that Erasmus+ enriches lives and challenges the way our students think. Young people are shaping the future of education in Ireland and Europe and we at Deele college will remain committed to engaging with these projects due to the potential they hold for international collaboration, leaving the future of our students that little bit brighter.
