M Ed in Education for Sustainability and Global Citizenship

This module explores the theories and practices related to outdoor learning, sustainability education and climate justice. It includes a series of lectures (face to face and online), workshops both indoors and outdoors enabling creative approaches to delivering sustainability and climate change content in the classroom. Theoretical and practical perspectives of Environmental Education, Education for Sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals are addressed. A global lens to explore issues such as climate change, recycling, food security and biodiversity is utilised.

Environmental practices in school are examined including an analysis of the Green Schools Programme. The module is grounded in use of the local environment. Students will conduct outdoor activities and complete fieldwork visits to sites such as the Burren, and the Eco Village in Cloughjordan. There will be a strong emphasis on proactive practical activities which can be adopted in schools through the framework of a pedagogy of hope.

This module will draw on the varied fields of education which are concerned with human rights and global justice, and in so doing aims to equip teachers and learners alike to respond to the rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world in which we live. To support the achievement of this aim, students will be introduced to, and given the opportunity to critically engage with key concepts within GCED such as citizenship, The Sustainable Development Goals, the role of non-governmental and governmental agencies in international development, Human Rights, and interdependence. Additionally, learners will have the opportunity to explore a variety of pedagogical approaches relevant to GCED and critique them from the perspective of their own educational settings.

This module will adopt a blended approach to learning and will combine a variety of learning experiences to support student engagement. Throughout this module GCED will be explored through a variety of participatory methodologies such as debates, simulation activities, group work and others.

This module presents geo-literacy as a strategy for teaching education for global citizenship. Three central aspects of geo-literacy will inform the theory and practice of this module namely: Interactions (How our world works); Interconnections (How the world is connected); Implications (How to make well-reasoned decisions). An emphasis on oral language is a central part of this module whereby students identify key words for each geo literacy lesson and strategies for supporting oral language in the classroom. This module will show case a range of artefacts including picture-books and children’s novels with geographical, development education and intercultural themes. Picture story books provide children with a range of windows through which they can view the world. Conversely, a range of different geographical perspectives can be filtered into the world of the child through the virtual lens of picture books.

This module provides theoretical and practical perspectives on local studies from a historical perspective. Students will have opportunities to engage in a variety of field trips in urban and rural settings, e.g. history trails of Limerick city, Currachase Park, Grange and Lough Gur, Co. Limerick. Other field trips will involve topic specific historical perspectives and opportunities e.g. visit to a monastic settlement and visits to local buildings. Students will actively engage in research and develop and refine their skills to work as Historians, as they investigate their local area. By the end of the module, the students will create a research project informed by citizenship, social justice and sustainability which will be a key resource for their classroom practice. In designing their research project the students will learn how to identify suitable research questions and how to utilize a range of research resources, e.g. maps, local libraries, census information, Google maps, interviews and photographs.

The syllabus will support the development of individuals with a critical understanding of the scholarly literature concerning philosophy with children as a tool of ethical reflection from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Specifically, ideas from Ethics, Political Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Social Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Ethical and Belief systems will be presented in a dialogical mode that encourages children to explore ethical dilemmas in areas such as climate change, international development, Human Rights, Belief systems and migration.

The teaching methodologies associated with the philosophy for children movement will be studied and utilised. The content fosters the capacity and confidence of the participants to integrate philosophical ethics into their teaching across all subject areas.

Identifying a research problem and developing a research proposal; identifying research rationale and personal investment; locating the research problem within contemporary education discourse; reviewing and mapping of relevant literature; planning and designing a research project; research paradigms; quantitative modes of inquiry; qualitative modes of inquiry; discourse analysis; phenomenology; case study; action research; biographical methods; ethnography; grounded theory; critical theory; ethical principles in research design; methods of data collection; document analysis, observation; interview; focus group; questionnaire; reflective diary; tests; ethical procedures in conducting research; data management and storage; timelines and task management; data analysis; qualitative inductive analysis and coding data; triangulation, reliability and validity.