DCU Changemaker Schools' Network

DCU Changemaker Schools Network is a network of 28 schools in the North and South of Ireland who were identified and selected as schools who are creating systemic change in education. Central to the work of DCU Changemaker Schools is their own commitment to social change and the development of the identity of their children in their schools as change agents or Changemakers. The schools foreground their work in pedagogies for and of social justice, with a focus on context responsive practices by emphasising the pillars of empathy, creativity, leadership and teamwork.

Sharing insights and practice 

As part of the DCU community, the schools regularly share their insights and practices in lectures and workshops with the students of the DCU IoE. One such workshop pertaining to Gender Justice saw two principals from DCU Changemaker Schools, Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S and St. Patricks BNS in Ringsend engage in discussions with the students. The school principals worked with the students as they critically reflected on gender in schools as well as supported them in the development of their research questions, as they embarked on their self-study action research project.

Engaging in gender justice in the primary school 

Both Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S and St. Patricks BNS are DEIS Band 1, all-boys, Catholic schools located in Dublin city. Challenged and concerned by heteropatriarchal norms they were witnessing as well as their interest in the multiplicity of masculinities constructed in their schools, both schools developed gender just practices to support the children and the staff. While they worked to advance their school cultures to challenge gender stereotypes, norms and biases they also implemented ground breaking initiatives such as ‘Boys in the Making’ in Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S and ‘Healthy Relationships’ in St. Patricks BNS. Both schools have addressed contentious issues in their schools such as the rise in of toxic masculinity and male influencers, and in particular the challenges which are arising with social media with children as young as nine years old.

DCU students benefit from schools’ knowledge and expertise 

The students in the DCU IoE are researching and exploring creating classrooms which are more gender just. This exploration requires one to ‘first know oneself’ as such the workshops began with questions such as ‘what is it like being a girl/boy for me’. The work then evolved within the parameters of the research project and the principals in the DCU Changemaker Schools support the students in their research question development but also explore barriers to gender equality in society, in educational leadership and the intersectionality of gender with sexuality, poverty and ethnicity. The students explored topics such as gender questioning children in our schools, barriers for women in leadership and most importantly explored with the two principals from DCU Changemaker Schools, practical suggestions as to how to make their classrooms more gender just. This transformative workshop sought to engage students critically with gender, by exploring both the theory that underpins gender equality and the lived realities in our classrooms with the view to enabling social justice and in particular gender justice to become embedded in practice.