We wanted to explore the different ways of enabling students to access the curriculum. We have a number of students with special needs and of a variety of multiple intelligences in the school and so we thought it was important they would be provided with the best possible educational experience. The expected impact we hoped to see from implementing this project was that teaching methods become more effective, which would allow students to understand and participate more in the classroom. The main indicator for this would be that teachers feel more confident in their own teaching skills, student engagement and participation increases and test scores increase. Through teacher and peer observations, group discussions, interviews and reflective journals before and after the project, we would find the data to support this achievement.
Scoil Fhursa has a reputation for being ‘the happiest school in Ireland’. We welcome everyone into our school with open arms and are always trying to learn new and innovative ways of teaching our students, to make their learning experiences ‘happy’ ones. We applied for this project so we could gain experience, knowledge and expertise in a variety of teaching methods and practices. With this new knowledge and expertise we would be able to share with colleagues the best ways to integrate Art with curricular subjects and teach through the medium of Art. As the school has a high number of students with special educational needs, engaging in a course that provides students with opportunities to gain confidence and creatively express themselves is paramount.