Conference:
ECER 2005
Format:
Round Table
Session Information
Session 10, Network 6 roundtable
Roundtable
Time:
2005-09-10
09:00-10:30
Room:
Arts C108A
Chair:
Hilary Avery
Contribution
Cultural Diversity is a very real issue in the lives of people in Ireland. Political initiatives such as the Good Friday Agreement and the European Charter reflect a more tolerant and inclusive society which recognises a deep seated need for expression of cultural identity. Cultural Diversity is an important element of the school curriculum and there is now a demand for educational material to support learning about the various cultures which make up our community.The provision of materials about Ulster-Scots language, history and culture for use in Primary, Secondary and Adult Learning context has posed a tremendous challenge. This round table sets out to discuss how our Unit has addressed the problems and we hope that those attending will engage in debate on the outcomes of our work. The final presentation shows the reception our materials have had from a cross-section of the community during the trialling period. Presentation one This presentation outlines the remit of the Unit and the importance for its success of instigating and developing links and liaisons with academics, Ulster-Scots voluntary groups, storytellers, musicians, language educators and other models of good practice.It then acknowledges some of the challenges faced in developing language resources such as the strong oral tradition and resulting lack of standardization, the dialect variation and teachers' concerns regarding possible confusion in early Key Stage 1 with children's acquisition of English sight vocabulary. History and culture raise other issues of selection and progression.It will be shown that the production of flexible learning materials, emphasis on family participation and a strong element of performance greatly enhance learning. We also suggest that to be successful in promoting cultural diversity, materials have to be capable of integration into the skills and content of the teachers' existing school curriculum. Presentation twoRecent official recognition of an Ulster Scots language has revealed an appetite and enthusiasm for Ulster Scots culture in its broadest form across all sections of the community. We discuss the development of an Ulster Scots language programme for the post 16 education sector and highlight some of the difficulties associated with minority language learning in adult education. The objective of developing an integrated and culturally inclusive programme has significantly underpinned the development of this course. It contextualises language learning and offers insights into Ulster-Scots culture that separate myth from reality and encourage inclusivity.The motivational considerations of adult learners have had a significant impact upon the design and methodology of this programme and examples of materials used in these courses should provide a backdrop for discussion on what works best for adult learners.Presentation three addresses perceptions and reactions towards the introduction of Ulster Scots teaching and learning materials in the Primary School. It draws on the results of primary research data collected by quantitative and qualitative research methods. The research has generated some surprising and interesting results. We hope that it will prove to be significant in contributing to the understanding of perceptions and attitudes towards Ulster Scots.We present the perspectives of teachers and parents in Ulster Scots speaking areas in both Northern and Southern Ireland from various religious, social and cultural backgrounds. The results of this research are sure to challenge current thinking of cultural diversity in the North and South of Ireland. We expect to launch our materials in schools in 2005 (Primary) and 2006 (Secondary). The Adult Language Course will be trialled in 2006. We hope that our presentations will generate debate on the extent to which the experience of developing a Cultural Diversity model for Ulster-Scots has transferable value within Cultural Diversity education.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.