New bursary to support school collaboration
Four schools in Cork are among 27 around the country to receive funding under a new bursary scheme designed to support collaboration between schools and enhance teachers’ professional learning.
The Teaching Council announced on Monday that Ballymoney National School, Bishop McEgan College, Cork Educate Together Cork City, and East Cork Community Special School Carrigtwohill are set to receive funding under the Féilte Bursary Scheme. In total, the Teaching Council has awarded funding of €100,000 to schools across Ireland.
Ballymoney National School will receive €2,000 for their project. The school’s successful application, in partnership with Kilgarriffe National School, will focus on enhancing teachers’ professional learning to support autistic students.
It will also aim to support school culture through the introduction of Restorative Practice, a whole school approach to building, maintaining, and restoring positive relationships. The project aims to enhance learning experiences and outcomes for autistic students, increase teacher confidence and strengthen collaboration between teachers, students, and families.
Bishop McEgan College will receive €5,000 for their project. The school will work with three other schools in Cork on a project that focusses on the integration of AI into education.
A series of workshops will be designed to give teachers insights into how AI can be leveraged in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning outcomes promoting academic attainment and wellbeing. The school partnership aims to facilitate a shared learning experience for teachers to support long-term growth and development in the integration of AI across the schools, enhancing teaching and learning experiences.
Cork Educate Together’s successful application will receive €5,000. In collaboration with Dublin City University and multiple other schools, the project aims to further establish and support a collaborative network of primary and post-primary Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) teachers. The teachers will work together on a shared mission to co-design, deliver and showcase creative and arts-based whole school approaches to SPHE.
East Cork Community Special School will receive €2,000 for their project. East Cork Community Special School and collaborating school Rochestown Community Special School have a unique and shared context; they are both newly-formed special schools in Cork. Their project aims to foster productive and collaborative dialogue, problem-solving and knowledge sharing between groups of teachers from both schools. The project will focus on fostering professional learning and peer support among teachers around shared issues of practice, identifying current best practice approaches in the field of special education.
Congratulating the schools, Director of the Teaching Council, Dr Lynn Ramsey said: “Teachers at these schools, and across Ireland have shown significant creativity, innovation and commitment to professional learning through the Féilte Bursary Scheme. This underscores the high standards and quality of our teaching profession in Ireland.
“At the Teaching Council we are committed to promoting teaching as a profession and teachers’ ongoing professional development. The Féilte Bursary Scheme allows teachers to connect, share and learn from one another. I wish all the participants well with their projects and I look forward to the outcomes and learnings.”