CAPE Clear Island will host its first-ever education for sustainable development course next week.
The fully accredited course, hosted by Cabairí Chléire, has recently been added to the primary school curriculum, so it is ideal for primary school teachers.
But anyone can sign up for the five-day course which has been approved by the department of education and is being facilitated by the West Cork Education Centre.
Cabairí Chléire was formed by two former teachers, islanders Mary O’Driscoll and Paula Ní Ríogáin, as well as Dr Dorothee Uí Cheallaigh, a linguist who also lives on the island.
The course, which will run from Monday, July 1st to Friday, July 5th, will be delivered through the medium of Gaeilge.
According to Mary O’Driscoll, the course will take an innovative approach and include vocabulary development, watersports and beach ecology, as well as music and song.
It will enable teachers to return to their working environment in September and put into action the ideas developed on the island.
As the course is the first of its kind on the island, it will also offer practical experiences such as kayaking, snorkelling, and rocky shore ecology – all of which are central to the learning process.
‘Cape Clear is, of course, a very special area of conservation and an ideal location to have the teachers absorb the culture, biodiversity, and language of Oileán Chléire,’ said Mary.
In order to facilitate attendees, the course will commence at 12 noon to match ferry times, and it will be located in Ciaran Danny Mike’s meeting rooms and garden
room.
As well as covering the curriculum, the participants will be welcome to attend afternoon and evening sessions that cover lots of other aspects of Cape’s history and heritage.
The attendees will also be welcome to join in the extracurricular activities on offer, such as a walk with historian and storyteller Diarmaid Ó Drisceoil, a talk by historian William Casey on Rev Spring and other historical facts about Cape Clear, a seisiún cheoil, and a scoraíocht to hear some local ‘scéalta agus rannta’.
For more information email [email protected] or phone 085 2029094.
