Andrew Maloney, Deputy Principal, Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School
Last October our school had a very special visit from a France 2 TV crew. They were eager to learn about our initiatives on empathy and gender equality, so we invited them to check out the fantastic efforts of our 1st Year Cranberries as part of their Ethical Education lessons. Students from our school spearheaded a project on Women’s Safety last year, which won them a Young Social Innovators of the Year Bronze Award. Women’s safety was the anchor for the lesson and the students discussed the idea of privilege associated with gender in society.
The film crew were very interested in the concept of Ethical Education as a subject in school and were eager to film the students interacting and partaking in the subject. To dive into the theme of gender equality, the students initially played a game. They each picked a card from a bag, and depending on the card they randomly got, this determined whether they got privileges or not. Once the students had engaged in this empathy building game, we moved the conversation to how gender can also predetermine privileges in our society today. The film crew were very impressed with the maturity of the students and their contributions on the day.
The recording in Firhouse ETSS formed only a part of the overall documentary done on gender in Ireland and the full documentary is well worth a watch. It may be of particular use to French teachers at senior cycle as it is ideal for cross-curricular links.
Firhouse ETSS students who participated in the filiming.
