Teaching Matters: I'm often amazed by the number of times I hear it said in relation to the make-up of our population that Ireland is changing. Wherever these highly observant individuals have been for the last decade they certainly haven't been in our primary schools.
In schools up and down the country for the last decade or more, newcomer children have been learning in our classrooms, playing in our schoolyards and taking part in the same school activities as every other child. A mark of how long they have been a part of our lives in schools is the fact that these children are now on at least their fourth group name. First they were "migrant children", then became "non-nationals", then they were called "international" children before getting the latest tag of "newcomer" children. They will probably have another name before too long.
The vast majority of our schools stand in marked contrast to other areas of Irish life where different groups often tend to live apart and not come into contact with one another. This is simply not an option in schools.
In segregated settings, difference is sometimes tolerated passively but not accepted or valued. In our classrooms, difference is celebrated by teachers, pupils and parents moving beyond giving children information on other cultures towards a real encountering of cultures.
On a practical level, the education system has responded well to change and credit must go to the Department of Education and Science. Recognising that language is crucial to integration, education and future employment, the department responded quickly with the appointment of additional teachers of English. Some grant aid was provided for learning materials and documentation on the system was made available.
This was not the only positive response. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment produced curriculum guidelines to help teachers in their classrooms. My own union, the INTO, made resources available to all schools, produced detailed reports and organised conferences on the issue.
One of these conferences was held last week in Belfast in conjunction with Amnesty International and the Ulster Teachers' Union. The well-attended conference dealt with the topic of human rights in schools. One innovative aspect saw pupils from schools in Belfast and Dublin telling teachers, policy-makers and decision-makers from both Northern Ireland and the Republic how to put human rights into practice in our schools. How often do we in society ever approach the newcomer community to get their perspectives on living in Ireland?
Experience shows that listening to children has an extremely positive impact on the entire school community. There is an increasing volume of research from the UK and the US that shows that allowing children a real input into decision-making in their school community has a tangible impact on children's self-esteem, behaviour, levels of achievement and appreciation for diversity.
One of the schools involved conducted its own human rights audit. The school asked all the members of its community a range of questions in order to assess whether they felt their voice was heard and whether they felt valued and safe as part of the school community.
While the staff, the board and the parents were congratulating themselves on the good job they were doing, the children were having second thoughts. They wanted to know why the composition of the staff did not reflect the rich cultural diversity that was evident in the student population.
The staff decided something could be done, and within two days a letter was sent to all parents telling them of the children's concerns and inviting them to take a more active role in the school, in order to remedy this.
This shows how institutional racism in schools, albeit unintentional, can be identified and tackled. It makes sense that the ethnic make-up of the teaching population also has to change to reflect our changing population. Although some progress has been made in this area, more could be done to assist teachers who do not have the necessary Irish language skills so that the diversity of the classroom can be reflected in the teaching staff. This would be an important next step in building on the positive work done to date.
Another would be to recognise that children coming into our schools have more than language needs. Some have serious emotional and behavioural difficulties that require more than a teaching response. There is a provision in schools for the appointment of classroom assistants, but there are huge barriers to newcomer children accessing them. Reports from psychologists, doctors or psychiatrists, prerequisites for this type of support, are often not available or impossible to get because of language barriers between adults.
If such difficulties are not tackled with the same can-do attitude previously displayed by the department, much of the good work done to date could count for nothing. Children whose emotional and behavioural needs are not met will not settle in school, will not benefit from education and are likely to disrupt others' learning.
While we have made great strides in our schools, this is no time to rest on laurels. These are modest proposals which, if implemented, could have a significant impact on present and future levels of racism and intolerance in Ireland.
Valerie Monaghan is principal of Scoil Chiaráin, Glasnevin, Dublin
