Welcome to the DCU Changemaker Schools Network

A warm welcome to the DCU CSN, DCU’s network of partnership schools. The DCU CSN is a highly valued part of the DCU community and supports the schools in the Network as well as the students of the DCU Institute of Education. 

Our aim is to develop an all-island school-university partnership to enrich the education of teachers and children in our schools, as well as the students in the DCU Institute of Education 

Crucially, the network supports  research and learning in the DCU Institute of Education.

The DCU CSN Team

We are a very busy Network with many different domains. The DCU CSN team works to achieve the following:

• Grow and scale the Network- are  currently bringing 22 new schools into the Network,
• Working with our schools and DCU Changemaker Fellows. We work with our 28 schools to support them individually, with their DCU CSN plans, with their children and with their Change Teams. Our schools are provided with tailored support to develop on their journey as DCU Changemaker Schools, resources and one-to-one support and advice. We have many DCU CSN fellows, and we work closely with them to support our schools and research,
• We host onsite CPD with our schools in DCU and in the schools themselves, this proves to be a very beneficial day for all as we see DCU Changemaker Schools in action,
• Leveraging the work of the DCU CSN with national stakeholders, the students and other academics within the DCUIoE. The often requires teaching responsibilities and engagement both internally and externally to the DCU IoE,
• We are supported by many different organisations - this requires reporting, presentations, and events,
• We have a significant research brief and are continuously researching our schools, writing papers, articles and reports,
• We support our schools as research hubs, teachers as reserachers and PhD students

• The schools are povided with comms support including flags, posters and other materials.

   

  In numbers we work with the following:

   

• We currently have 28 schools and will have  50 by 2025
• We work with the 28 schools’ principals in each school and 28 Change Leaders
• Some schools have Change Teams.
• In total we work with 80 staff members in our schools.
• Between them our schools have over 8,000 children

Schools and Change

Every school has the potential to change the lives of their students, their staff, and their communities. The DCU CSN is here to help develop that potential.

Within our network the empowerment and agency of students is key, using the identity formation of students as Changemakers. We support our schools, to create cultures in which children's identities as competent learners and citizens are fostered.

We believe that the dispositions which children hold of themselves as learners is pivotal to how they engage with learning, both within and beyond their school. Central to such beliefs is the development of children’s agency and the development of children’s self-perception as changemakers. Our schools are active in promoting rich and enjoyable learning experiences, where change, when necessary, is envisioned as an exciting opportunity. Such change is undertaken with reference to the four pillars of the network, namely creativity, teamwork, leadership, and empathy.  

The creation of school cultures for social justice and inclusion to develop and maintain that possibility is central to our work. These are school cultures which foreground children's citizenship but also are schools wherein inequalities which pertain to class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and race are challenged and addressed with the view to creating an inclusive environment for all.

We also consider that children have the right to an education that is not only just and meaningful, but one that empowers and offers the greatest possibilities for them.