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Minister Foley launches new resources commemorating the Decade of Centenaries in the Junior Cycle History classroom

Minister for Education Norma Foley TD is delighted to announce the launch of the Junior Cycle Decade of Centenaries Research Collection, produced by the Department’s Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) initiative. This research collection was developed as part of the Decade of Centenaries programme. This research collection aims to support teachers in teaching research techniques and to act as a resource for teachers as they support students in completing their classroom-based assessments.

Minister Foley said:

I am delighted to be able to announce the launch of the Junior Cycle Decade of Centenaries Research Collection this evening and I wish to commend the work of the JCT in its development This resource will support teachers in teaching research techniques to our history students as well as bringing a renewed focus to the Decade of Centenaries Commemorations within our classrooms.

The collection is comprised of the following supports and resources for teachers: 

  1. Guide to support Researching the Decade of Centenaries in the Junior Cycle History Classroom. This is a hyperlinked guide with embedded online resources, for post-primary History teachers and their students, created to support their engagement in historical research on the period 1912- 1922.
  2. Directory to support Researching the Decade of Centenaries in the Junior Cycle History Classroom.  This is a hyperlinked directory of 21 repositories of historical evidence, collated together, for post-primary History teachers and their students to support their engagement in historical research on the period 1912- 1922.
  3. A collection of three History Teaching and Learning strategies to support Researching the Decade of Centenaries in the Junior Cycle History Classroom
  • Commemorating Bloody Sunday – a classroom discovery strategy
  • Commemorating Bloody Sunday – a classroom display strategy
  • Commemorating Bloody Sunday – a classroom investigation strategy

The strategies are accompanied by supporting graphic organisers and templates. 

In order to mark the launch of the Research Collection the Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT) History Team is holding an online History Hedge School exploring the commemoration of Bloody Sunday in the Junior Cycle History classroom at 7.30pm on Wednesday 21 October 2020. This will mark one month to the centenary of Bloody Sunday. The Hedge School will be hosted by Tommy Graham of History Ireland, who  will be joined by historians Donal Fallon, Liz Gillis, and John Gibney as well as JCT History advisor Angela Hanratty to discuss how to make this event relevant and rewarding in the History classroom.

Over 350 teachers have registered to attend the webinar and the JCT History team will be supporting a live question and answer session.

This event and the launch of the research collection is taking place as part of the first week of Junior Cycle for Teachers Autumn Festival of Learning running from Monday 19 October – Friday 23 October 2020. 

The Decade of Centenaries Programme is a cross-governmental initiative led by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and guided by the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations (EAG), to remember the significant historical events and themes that took place between 1912 and 1923.