Summer course: Heritage Keepers trainers course
Using local place as a teaching resource
Through this course, Burrenbeo Trust aims to provide primary schoolteachers, other educators, and people with an interest in place-based learning with simple strategies and resources through which they can effectively integrate the learning resource of their local environment into the school curriculum. This course is based on 12+ years experience of place-based education in the Burren through which scores of teachers and over 1,500 schoolchildren have connected with their own locality as part of the highly interactive and experiential Aitbheo heritage programme, and recently with our newest education development, the Heritage Keepers programme.
The summer training course will cover strands of SESE history, geography and science subjects. Specific themes which will be explored in the field and classroom will include landscape, built heritage, cultural heritage, biodiversity and conservation. On completion of this course, teachers and heritage educators will have the skills and resources which will allow them to deliver an effective place-based educational programme to their students.
The course is approved by the Department of Education and fulfils the requirements for EPV days for National School teachers.
The course aims to:
- Equip teachers and others with the skills and resources to deliver a place-based educational programme;
- Explore skills on observing, questioning, predicting, investigating, designing and communicating around local natural, built and cultural heritage;
- Provide access to resources such as podcasts, workbooks and other resources that will assist in developing and delivering a place-based education programme;
- Improve understanding of how such a course can be fully integrated with the school curriculum and enhance literacy, numeracy and ICT skills;
- Help connect teachers and others with the magic of outdoor learning in a fun and interactive way.
Where:
Monday – Wednesday: ONLINE (Zoom) 10am-12noon as a full group session and 1pm-3pm personal learning time.
Thursday – Friday: BURREN (10am-2pm). Please note that this will include walks of up to 5km on rough terrain.
Costs and booking:
Ticket prices for the week are €45 (general admission) or €35 (Burrenbeo Trust Members and Heritage in Schools Specialists).
Places are limited and can be booked via this link.
For more information, please email Karen ([email protected]).
Who should attend the Heritage Keepers trainers course?
This course is open to all but is aimed at primary schoolteachers, other educators, and people with an interest in place-based learning. Previous participants have included teachers, parents, heritage specialists, outdoor educators, environmental educators, and ecotourism operators. The variety of individuals makes this an enriching experience where the learning is as much from each other as from the workshop leaders.
Teachers
Áine Bird holds a BSc (Hons) in Science, an MSc in Science Communications and an MEd where she focused her research on the Primary Teachers perspective on place-based learning. She is finishing an Irish Research Council funded employment-based PhD in partnership with the School of Geography at NUI Galway, where she looked to evaluate the role of place-based learning in community stewardship and share the learnings from Burrenbeo Trust’s work with others. The recently published book ‘Encountering Ideas of Place in Education’ (2024) contains a chapter ‘Place-based learning initiatives in the Burren’ by Áine.
Mary Dillon holds a degree and MSc in Archaeology (NUIG) and has worked in many different aspects of archaeology from excavations to archaeobotany. She manages the Heritage Keepers training programme for Burrenbeo Trust. Mary has a broad interest in both built and natural heritage and also has a PG Diploma in Environmental Protection from Sligo IT and a Certificate in Field Ecology from UCC.
Karen van Dorp holds an MSc (Hons) in Evolutionary Biology and Phylogenetics, an MSc (Hons) in Brazil Studies and Certificate in Nature Animation. She has background in curating natural history museum collections and a broad interest in natural and cultural heritage. Her outreach and education work at Burrenbeo Trust focuses on designing and delivering a primary school programme designed for core Burren schools and a variety of (educational) outreach programmes, workshops and fieldtrips based on all layers of the Burren landscape.
Feedback from past attendees
Trips out were amazing, informative. The lectures were all excellent speakers and thorough research was done.
As with all the modules there were lots of activities to do and very well presented. All modules were fantastic! All speakers were excellent. Very knowledgeable.
I loved being outdoors and exploring, what were for me, new places. I felt all the lecturers were very competent and the content were delivered superbly – with enthusiasm and expertise. We were never left to sit too long – great practical, hands-on activities. Great pace and planning of each day. Great structures to the week in terms of the contact, a very comprehensive intro.
The interaction and learning form the Burrenbeo Team who delivered a huge amount of information in an enjoyable manner. The outdoor trips were amazing and the short breaks in the garden reminded me of how important breaks are for pupils.
I enjoyed all of the field trips which really allowed us to engage with the landscape.