Vera Shanahan, Primary Education Officer, Educate Together
Writing articles for this newsletter can often be a daunting challenge but writing an article on why teachers should go back to College and sacrifice their precious evenings off is a tougher ask than usual! I recently did just that, and chose to complete the Post-Graduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education with Hibernia College and ICEP.
After completing a Masters in 2020, I swore I would never study again. Too many late evenings, too many assignments and too much chocolate! That was until I saw this course. The flexible nature really appealed to me as lectures are online and recorded in case you ever have another commitment. I had spent many years working in an Educate Together school with children with additional needs but had no ‘theoretical knowledge’ or understanding of why certain approaches worked and why others didn’t. This course enabled me to delve deeper into an area I’m passionate about and enabled me to select areas of study that were of interest to me. Having never worked in an autism class, it was also a fantastic opportunity to learn more about best practice in autism education and general learning disabilities as I would like to be prepared to work in this setting in the future.
This course provides a contemporary outlook on inclusive education and aligns very closely with the Educate Together ethos and guidance on Additional Needs Education. It was refreshing to complete a course that espoused a positive perspective of additional needs and additional needs education, rather than promoting a medicalised view of differing abilities. Content is delivered by experts in their fields and there are a range of modules to choose from, so you can design the course to suit your needs and interests. Modules can be taken one at a time, so the course is well-paced and easy to fit into even the busiest of schedules.
ICEP Europe and Hibernia College are running a webinar about the programme at the end of the month, which will give you a good overview and an opportunity to have your questions answered. You can register here.
You are also welcome to contact me at vera.shanahan@educatetogether.ie if you have any queries about the course. If I haven’t convinced you already, remember you’ll get your student discount back and a day off for the graduation!
