| Module Title |
Transformative Leadership in SPHE/RSE Across Diverse Contexts |
| Module Code |
EDU1114 (ITS: HD531) |
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Faculty |
Human Development |
School |
DCU Institute of Education |
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NFQ level |
9 |
Credit Rating |
10 |
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Description
The aims of this module are threefold:
Firstly, to support the development of participants’ knowledge, dispositions and skills for transformative leadership in the field of SPHE/RSE, and their viewing of other educational stakeholders as partners-in-process. Building teachers’ capacity through connection enhances not only the wellbeing and empowerment of teachers themselves, but has a positive impact at wider systems levels (Hargreaves and O’Connor, 2018; Hargreaves and Shirley, 2018).
Secondly, the module aims to bring participants towards a critical social and cultural analysis of worldviews through reflection on diverse socio-cultural practices, expressions and norms. The module is grounded in a multi-disciplinary perspective, building on inter alia the insights of the Disciplines of Education (History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology) as they relate to the curricular area of SPHE/RSE and within its context of Wellbeing (cf. Freire, 1970, 1998; Giroux, 2020; hooks, 1994).
And thirdly, the module aims to broaden participants’ perspectives based on international research, best practice and positive solutions to challenges in the context of teaching and learning and/or of relationships with wider educational stakeholders, including inter alia their school’s culture/ethos, their students’ families, and wider communities.
The overall rationale for this module recognises that teaching and learning does not happen in isolation. It emphasises the value in relation to teacher wellbeing of participants’ building and sustaining relationships within their own educational contexts and with key educational stakeholders across the wider educational community. The module will explore with participants, their transformative potential as agents and leaders of change within their educational settings and wider communities, acknowledging the possibilities, the sensitivities and the challenges associated with such change leadership.
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Learning Outcomes
1. Explore and evaluate the influence of socio-historical and legal contexts on educational settings’ cultures/ethos and their evolution and experience across diverse educational settings.
2. Evaluate a range of theoretical approaches, scholarship and practices pertaining to SPHE/RSE and the contemporary influence of the Foundation Disciplines on the evolution of SPHE/RSE as a curriculum and apply their learning to their own professional contexts.
3. Explore the potential of dialogical and relational pedagogies and approaches and their application across diverse educational contexts with emphasis on contested spaces through the use of case-study/scenario-based approaches and creative, arts-based media such as online material and social media popular in youth culture.
4. Critically reflect on and analyse their educational setting’s culture/ethos, the socio-cultural contexts within which they engage and live out their relationships and on the wider societal values and norms and their application to SPHE/RSE.
5. Identify a range of internal and external stakeholders relevant to their educational setting and critically analyse the contributions, positive and negative, such stakeholders can make to their teaching of SPHE/RSE and to their wellbeing, more generally.
6. Critically reflect on the salience of fostering meaningful and collaborative relationships with students and their families, schools and wider communities and external stakeholders in education and health, recognising the particular rights and interests of parents/families as defined in the Irish Constitution.
7. Explore and model a range of dispositions and skills in addressing sensitivities and challenges in relation to transformative leadership within their educational settings, with families and across wider communities.
8. Demonstrate transformative leadership through identifying recommendations for change, with due consideration of their educational setting’s culture/context.
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| Workload | Full time hours per semester | | Type | Hours | Description |
|---|
| Lecture | 18 | In-person/online lectures 6 x 3 hours | | Workshop | 16 | 2 x 1 day workshops | | Workplace application | 16 | Group Facilitation Skills Development 2 x 1 day workshops | | Fieldwork | 100 | Structured Continuous Assessment-Related Activities - Reflective Practice and Journaling; Case Study Planning, Drafting and Completion - | | Independent Study | 100 | Independent Learning Activities |
| Total Workload: 250 |
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| Section Breakdown | | CRN | 10558 | Part of Term | Semester 1 | | Coursework | 0% | Examination Weight | 0% | | Grade Scale | 40PASS | Pass Both Elements | Y | | Resit Category | RC1 | Best Mark | N | | Module Co-ordinator | Jones Irwin | Module Teacher | Catherine Maunsell |
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| Assessment Breakdown |
| Type | Description | % of total | Assessment Date |
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| Reflective journal | Participants will be invited to critically reflect upon and journal their individual and collaborative responses to a number of SPHE/RSE-related case studies/scenarios presented across the module. | 40% | n/a | | Assignment | Case Study: 3000 word case-study exploring the historical and current influences on the practice of SPHE/RSE in the participant’s own educational setting and their recommendations for potential change to improve that practice. | 50% | n/a | | Presentation | 'Then and Now' Presentation on case-study recommendations to be shared as individual presentations at a capstone event at the end of the module. | 10% | n/a |
| Reassessment Requirement Type |
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
RC1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module.
RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment
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Pre-requisite |
None
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Co-requisite |
None |
| Compatibles |
None |
| Incompatibles |
None |
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Indicative Content/Syllabus
Indicative Content/Syllabus:
● Socio-historical and legal contextual landscapes for SPHE/RSE:
○ Relevant socio-historical aspects of the Irish education system that pertain to SPHE/RSE.
○ Relevant legal frameworks, their recent evolution and their application to the area of SPHE/RSE, recognising the particular rights and interests of parents/families as defined in the Irish Constitution.
● Theoretical frameworks, international scholarship and practices that pertain to SPHE/RSE:
○ emphasis on the contribution of the Disciplines of Education (History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology).
● Critical reflection and analysis of diverse educational contexts in which SPHE/RSE takes place:
○ Emphasis on contested spaces;
○ Through a range of SPHE/RSE-related case studies/scenarios and through creative, arts-based media such as film and television and other resources from popular (youth) culture
● Facilitation of participants’ skillset in participatory, collaborative dialogue
○ through Professional Learning Communities PLCs and
○ facilitation skills workshops
● Exploring supports and challenges to teacher wellbeing
○ through participants exploration of the salience of individual and structural supports and challenges to teacher wellbeing, at individual level and more broadly within the education system.
● Stakeholder network identification and critical analysis
○ Participants will be supported to identify a range of internal and external stakeholders relevant to their educational setting and critically analyse the contributions, positive and negative, building and/or maintaining connections with such stakeholders can make to their teaching of SPHE/RSE and their wellbeing, more generally.
● Exploration of the possibilities, sensitivities and challenges associated with transformative leadership in SPHE/RSE
○ through exploring transformative leadership models and in turn in PLCs modelling of a range of dispositions and skills pertaining to change leadership;
○ Scaffolding participants’ identification of recommendations for change, with due consideration of their educational setting’s culture/context.
Indicative Teaching and Learning Activities
Participants will further develop their understanding and skillset in relationship formation and facilitation, learning effective strategies to support themselves as teachers and the young people who are their students, in their making of connections and in exploring their own attitudes, ideas and values around personal, local and global issues.
Through collaborative group work in their PLCs, participants will critically discuss selected case studies, scenarios and current developments to deepen their knowledge and skillset in relation to international scholarship, best practice and positive solutions to addressing challenges in the context of teaching and learning and/or of relationships with stakeholders. Participants will be supported in person and online in relation to their engagement in a critical case-study activity which they will share at a capstone event at the end of the module/GDip SPHE/RSE programme in DCU.
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Indicative Reading List
Books:
- Freire, P.: 1970, Pedagogy of the oppressed., Herder & Herder.,
- Freire, P.: 1998, Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield., Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.,
- Giroux, H.: 2020, Critical Pedagogy ., London: Routledge.,
- Hargreaves, A & O’Connor, M T: 2018, Collaborative Professionalism: When Teaching Together Means Learning for All,, Thousand Oaks, CA.: Corwin Press,,
- Hargreaves, A & Shirley, D: 2018, Leading from the Middle: Spreading Learning, Wellbeing, and Identity Across Ontario,, Council of Ontario Directors of Education.,
- hooks, b.: 1994, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom., Routledge, London.,
- Hunter, A. & Irwin, J.: 2022, 'Knowing Your Neighbour: Educating in Multi-belief contexts in Northern and Southern Ireland'., SCOTENS Report,
- Kitching, K.: 2020, Childhood, Religion and School Injustice., Cork: Cork University Press.,
- Irwin, J. & Totaro, L.: 2022, Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education in Contemporary Context., Oxford and Geneva: Peter Lang.,
- O’Sullivan, C., Ryan, S., O’Sullivan, L.: 2021, Teacher Well-Being in Diverse School and Preschool Contexts. In: Murphy, T.R.N., Mannix-McNamara, P. (eds) International Perspectives on Teacher Well-Being and Diversity. Understanding Teaching-Learni,
- Thorburn, M.: 2018, Wellbeing, Education and Contemporary Schooling, Routledge,
- Rasmussen, M. L.: 2016, Progressive Sexuality Education: The Conceits of Secularism., New York: Routledge.,
- O’Brien, M and the Human Development Team: 2008, ‘Well-being and Post-Primary Schooling: A review of the literature and research’, Dublin: NCCA,
- Mayock, P., Kitching, K. and Morgan, M.: 2007, ‘Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in the Context of Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE): An Assessment of the Challenges to Full Implementation of the Programme in Post-Primary Sch, Dublin: DES and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency.,
Articles:
- 0: Nohilly, M., & Tynan, F. (2022). The Evolution of wellbeing in educational policy in Ireland: Towards an interdisciplinary approach. International Journal of Wellbeing, 12(1)., 512290, 2
- Henry, S. (2022) ‘Why? And how?’ Translating queer theologies of sex education, Sex Education, 22:1, 7-21, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2020.1860928: 512291, 2,
- 512292: 2, 0, Lodge, A., Duffy, M., & Feeney, M. (2022). ‘I think it depends on who you have, I was lucky I had a teacher who felt comfortable telling all this stuff’. Teacher comfortability: key to high-quality se,
- 2: 0, Rasmussen, M.L., Burke, K.J. & Greteman, A.J. (2022) Secularisms, sexualities and theology, Sex Education, 22:1, 1-6, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2021.1945334,
- 0: Kitching, K., Kiely, E., Ging, D. & Leane, M. (2021). Parents’ encounters with ‘the sexualisation of childhood’: paying attention differently? Gender and Education, 33(4), 483-498. https://doi.org/10., 512295, 2
- Huijboom, F., Van Meeuwen, P., Rusman, E. & Vermeulen, M. (2020). How to enhance teachers’ professional learning by stimulating the development of professional learning communities. Professional Devel: 512296, 2,
- 512297: 2, 0, Bialystok, L., & Wright, J. (2019). ‘Just say no’: Public dissent over sexuality education and the Canadian national imaginary. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 40(3), 343–357,
- 2: 0, Leahy, D., Wright, J. & Penney, D. (2017) Editorial: The political is critical: explorations of the contemporary politics of knowledge in health and physical education. Sport, Education and Society, ,
- 0: Leahy, D. (2014). Assembling a health[y] subject: Risky and shameful pedagogies in health education. Critical Public Health. Vol. 24 Issue 2, p171-181. 11p. DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2013.871504., 512300, 2
- Watson, C. (2014). Effective professional learning communities? The possibilities for teachers as agents of change in schools. Br. Educ. Res. J. 40, 18–29. doi: 10.1002/berj.3025:
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Other Resources
- 1: Report, Maunsell, C., Bourke, A., Costello, A, Cullen, C & Machowska-Kosciak, M (2021) TEACH-RSE Teacher Professional Development and Relationships and Sexuality Education RSE. DCU: Irish Research Council Coalesce Award 2019/147,
- 410150: 1, Report, O’Sullivan, C. (Ed.) (2019). Teacher Wellbeing and Diversity: A Manual for Teachers in Diverse Educational Settings. Supported by funding received from Erasmus+ Project number: 2016-1-NO01-KA-201-022081,
- 410151: 1, Report, O’Brien, M and O’Shea A. (2016). ‘Background Paper on a Human Development Framework for Orienting Education and Schools in the Space of Well-being’. Dublin: NCCA,
- 410152: 1, Website, SPHE Network - https://sphenetwork.ie/,
- 410153: 1, Website, SPHE Network - Conference Proceedings - https://sphenetwork.ie/previous-conferences/,
- 410154: 1, Conference Proceedings, O’Sullivan, C., Moynihan, S., Collins, B., Hayes, G. & Titley, A. (Eds.). (2014). The future of SPHE: problems & possibilities : Proceedings from SPHE Conference, 29th September, 2012 SPHE Network /DICE.,
- 410155: 1, Conference Proceedings - Chapter, O’Sullivan, C. (2014). Keynote Address - Beyond the Food Pyramid: Making the Case for the Social, Personal and Health Education SPHE Curriculum in Contemporary Irish Society. In O’Sullivan, C., Moynihan, S., Collins, B.,,
- 410156: 1, Conference Proceedings - Chapter, Moynihan, S and Mannix McNamara, P. (2014) ‘Challenges for Implementing Social Personal and Health Education in the Current Post-primary School System’. In C. O’Sullivan, S. Moynihan, B. Collins, G. Hayes and A. Titley (,
- 410157: 1, Conference Proceedings, Collins, B., Moynihan, S., Kavanagh, A. M., O’Beirne, A. & Keating, S. (Eds.). (2016). Understanding well-being in changing times : the role of SPHE : Proceedings from the 2nd SPHE Network Conference, St. Patrick’s Colle,
- 410158: 1, Conference Proceedings, Nohilly, M., Collins, B., Kavanagh, A. M., & Keating, S. (Eds). (2018). Citizenship education 100 years on : Proceedings from the 3rd SPHE Network Conference, Maynooth University, 12th November, 2016. SPHE Network.,
- 410159: 1, Conference Proceedings, Keating, S., Collins, B., Nohilly, M., O’Sullivan, C. and Morrissey, B. (Eds). (2021). Diversities: Interpretations through the Context of SPHE.,
- 410160: 1, Conference Proceedings - Chapter, O’Sullivan, C. (2021). Supporting the Needs of the Multicultural and Multilingual School: The Role of SPHE? In Keating, S., Collins, B., Nohilly, M., O’Sullivan, C. and Morrissey, B. (Eds). Diversities: Interpretations t,
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