Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum
Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum, a timely and ground-breaking new book by DCU IOE academics, was officially launched by Norma Foley T.D., Minister for Education, on June 21st. The book, edited by Dr Anne Marie Kavanagh, Prof Fionnuala Waldron and Dr Benjamin Mallon, supports student teachers and teachers to integrate education for social justice and sustainable development across a range of curricular subjects. Subject experts from three schools in IOE, Human Development, STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies and Arts Education and Movement contributed chapters to the book.
The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, wrote the foreword to the book and sent a message of congratulations to be recited at the book’s launch. In his message, President Higgins said that the book “will be a greatly significant tool in enabling our people to become citizens who engage with the world in ways that are ethical, creative and humane.”
He expressed the hope that the book would “inspire many young people to become truly participative citizens who will go out into the world equipped to question the status quo, to look beyond the barriers of perceived wisdom and to listen and reflect on alternative opinion”
Formally launching the book, Education Minister, Norma Foley described the book as
“a significant body of work [that] superbly explores how social justice and sustainable development pedagogies and principles can be seamlessly integrated into the primary school curriculum.”
Minister Foley commended the book’s authors for addressing “a range of current issues of debate in education, both in Ireland and internationally and will indeed prove to be an important resource for teachers, educational leaders and anyone interested in inspiring children to works towards creating a more just and more sustainable world.”
Both President Higgins and Minister Foley noted the book’s relevance to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The chair of the event, Prof Anne Looney, Executive Dean of IOE, also referred to the SDGs, noting that next semester, the IOE would host an exhibition of UNESCO’s Hard Rain Project, a collaboration between UNESCO and Bob Dylan, focussed on ESD and the UN SDGs.
Prof Daire Keogh, President of DCU, gave a keynote address at the launch. He noted that the book reflects DCU’s mission to “transform lives and education” and commended the authors “on a book that combines deep scholarship with practicality.” Both President Keogh and Prof. Looney expressed the hope that the book will influence the Department of Education’s thinking when it comes to the revised primary curriculum.
The final speaker at the launch was Co-editor, Dr Anne Marie Kavanagh, who initiated and led the project. Dr. Kavanagh is an Assistant Professor in Ethical and Intercultural Education in IOE’s School of Human Development. She addressed the importance of agency, and of providing age-appropriate ways for children to engage with the world around them, saying:
“Youth-led social movements, from the climate strikes to the Black Lives Matter protests, clearly demonstrate children and young people’s commitment to tackling social and environmental injustices and their capacities to take action to effect pro-social change.”
“Our book, which is practical and accessible, as well as being theoretical, supports teachers to create authentic and meaningful learning contexts which support children and young people to see themselves as agents of change, and to use their learning to challenge social and environmental injustice.”
Addressing the imperative of taking action to address social and environmental injustice, Dr Kavanagh said:
“Intersecting socio-ecological crises, like climate change and Covid-19, exacerbate social inequalities and threaten our very existence. Both underscore the absolute and indisputable necessity of teaching for social and environmental justice.”
Dr. Kavanagh described the daunting nature of the challenges facing the world, but emphasised the need for hope:
“While it is easy to feel overwhelmed, apathetic and powerless by the scale and complexity of these challenges, we believe that teaching for social justice and sustainability offers a hopeful alternative. Hope’s value should never be underestimated. It plays an important role in all struggles against injustice.”
“We see our book as a source of hope. The chapter contributors, who come from three schools in IOE, have brought the theories of social justice and sustainability to life through inspiring, accessible and innovative activities and exemplars.”
She emphasised the practical nature of the book, written primarily by teachers for teachers:
“The book takes a subject based approach which provides practical guidance and enables teachers to gradually incorporate social justice and sustainability principles and pedagogies into their teaching. Each teacher can begin their journey by selecting the subject or subjects that they feel confident in and enjoy teaching. Each chapter, will in turn, support them by providing pedagogical guidance and lesson exemplars which can be directly used in the classroom.”
Published by Routledge, Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum is edited by Dr Anne Marie Kavanagh (School of Human Development), Prof Fionnuala Waldron (School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies) and Dr Benjamin Mallon (School of STEM Education, Innovation and Global Studies).