Congratulations to students and teachers from Irish primary and secondary schools whom were recognized as Champions of Open Schooling in Ireland and recognized in Dublin City University by Project Coordinator Professor Sofoklis Sotiriou, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Irish National Coordinator Associate Professor Eilish McLoughlin, CASTeL, Dublin City University and lead National Partner Associate Professor Padraig Murphy, Celsius, Dublin City University.
The concept of Open Schooling is introduced to primary and secondary schools in Ireland though the Horizon 2020 funded project Open Schools for Open Societies (OSOS), 2017-2020. https://castel.ie/openschools/The aim of this project is to support 1000 schools, both primary and post-primary, adopting an Open Schooling framework in 12 different countries across Europe –including Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands Portugal and Spain. The Open School Model provides school leaders with a powerful framework that can help them with transformation to an open school. This transformation can only take place if a school does not isolate itself, but opens up to other schools. Schools can form a hub together, in which schools help each other, collect good practices and share their experiences. Such an open and curious environment will support the development of innovative and creative educational activities. The model takes school settings into account and therefore ensures that school leaders can innovate in a way that is pleasant and suitable for schools. The model proposes a process and this process starts with the Change Agents who are becoming Inspiring Leaders of the school community. The OSOS support mechanism offers different solutions in the phases towards an open school. It supports school leaders to capture the needed steps for innovation, but it also supports them to decide a suitable strategy to spread the word throughout the school.
In Ireland, ten schools were recruited during 2018 to participate in the pilot phase of the OSOS project and this included two primary and eight post-primary schools. An OSOS Champion teacher was identified to lead the implementation of an open schooling approach in their school. Over the past year, each school has been working with both the Irish OSOS project team and other community partners to create innovative science projects, called OSOS Accelerators, that are serving the needs of their local communities. Examples of such Irish Accelerators include Greener Greens, Junior Pollinator, Story of Water, Bees need trees.
How can my school participate in the OSOS project?
OSOS in Ireland is recruiting 100 schools to participate in the OSOS project from 2018 to 2020. If your school is interested in finding out more, please visit register your details at https://goo.gl/forms/sFy5OCi7WlJV3Gin2
OSOS in Ireland: The collaboration with Irish schools participating in the OSOS project and the evaluation of the impact in schools across Europe is led by CASTeL and Celsius researchers at Dublin City University, Dr. Eilish McLoughlin, CASTeL and School of Physical Sciences, Dr. James Lovatt from CASTeL and School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies and Dr. Padraig Murphy from Celsius, School of Communications at Dublin City University
To find out more about OSOS in Ireland:
- Watch this video introducing OSOS from James and Caitriona, click here
- Follow us on Twitter @OpenSchoolsIE
- Contact Irish OSOS Project Officer: Dr. Theresa Tallon E: osos@dcu.ie