Kilkenny Education Centre News

President Mary McAleese Visit to Kilkenny Education Centre

Friday, October 23 2009

President Mary McAleese Visit to Kilkenny Education Centre on 19th of May 2009 to Celebrate Students’ Work re Kilkenny 400

Kilkenny 400th. Anniversary: Free Schools Pack
As the 2009 celebrations to mark Kilkenny’s 400 year old City status begin to draw near, one group that is playing its part is Kilkenny Education Centre. For the past twelve months the group has been working on the development of resources, about Kilkenny’s history, for teachers and schools. Director of Kilkenny Education Centre, Paul Fields highlighted the work that the Centre has been engaged in. “We have developed resources for teachers that focus on Kilkenny’s rich historical streets. We hope that teachers will bring their students out of their classrooms at some point during 2009 and explore the historical buildings in the City”, said Mr. Fields.

Every primary teacher in the county will receive a resource pack aimed at bringing Kilkenny 400 into every primary classroom. The resource pack entitle, ‘Stepping into Kilkenny’s History’ has been written specifically for teachers.  It contains a DVD ROM, an illustrated poster size map, and a book. A website is currently under construction. In addition, each post primary school will also receive a set of the resources for its history department.

One of the difficulties for teachers in the past has been finding materials that can be used in classrooms to teach children about Kilkenny’s history. For the first time materials will be presented in a format that is clear, age appropriate, and that encourages teachers and students to explore various walking trails the City. When it comes to resources for local studies in history in the primary school, there is a chronic shortage of child-friendly and indeed teacher-friendly material. Presently, teachers depend mainly on local history books, geared towards adults, a limited range of material on the internet, and their own initiative regarding class visits to a particular historical site. This programme sets out to address the shortfall of local historical information that teachers are experiencing in Kilkenny.  It provides a substantial body of local resources for schools that the Department of Education and Science (DES) clearly points out is crucial to achieving the aims of the history programme. The material is designed with the teacher and pupil in mind, the various class levels within the primary school and the strands and strand units of the local studies section of the history curriculum.

Commenting on the pack, the Director of Kilkenny Education Centre noted some of the interesting facts that emerged during the gathering of the historical information. Some of the pieces of information that stood out during the research for the project are as follows:

• In the early 17th. Century, the local corporation banned, ‘howling and crying’ at any funeral that took place in St. Mary’s Church
• In 1658 the local corporation banned ‘swine running in the streets  and church yard of Kilkenny’. A fine of 12 pence was imposed on the owners of  any swine who were seen to break this rule.
• A soup kitchen was set up during the Famine, in Dunmore Co Kilkenny, by the owners of Kilkenny Castle
• Kilkenny hosted a visit from the King and Queen of England in 1904.
• Rothe House once housed a school and later a butchers shop

The Resource Pack, entitled, ‘Stepping into Kilkenny’s History’, provides a wide range of resources including a DVD, Book, and Walking Trails.  The Pack also includes a large, specially commissioned poster size map which outlines all of the places of historical interest in the City. The Resource Pack focuses on Churches, Castles, Historical Buildings, Bridges, and Roads. Each primary teacher in the County will receive a copy of the Resource Pack. In addition, all post primary schools will also receive a set of resources for their own use. The main authors of the Pack are two local teachers with a great interest in local history: Tony Patterson, a retired teacher from Castlecomer Boys NS, and Ann Murtagh a teacher in the Kilkenny School Project.

When is comes to resources for local studies in history in the primary school, there is a  shortage of child-friendly and indeed teacher-friendly material. Presently, teachers depend mainly on local history books, geared towards adults, a limited range of material on the internet, and their own initiative regarding class visits to a particular historical site. This programme sets out to address the shortfall that teachers are experiencing in Kilkenny.  It provides a substantial body of local resources for schools that the Department of Education and Science (DES) clearly points out is crucial to achieving the aims of the history programme. The material is designed with the teacher and pupil in mind, the various class levels within the primary school and the strands and strand units of the local studies section of the history curriculum. Paul Fields, Director of Kilkenny Education has been to the forefront of the development. His agency is responsible for the professional development of teachers in Kilkenny, Carlow and Thurles. He was anxious to emphasise the local dimension of the project. Quoting from the Department of Education and Science Teacher Guidelines on the history curriculum  he stated, ‘Teaching resources for national and international topics are generally much more readily available, but the inclusion of substantial local studies is essential if the aims of the history programme is to be achieved.’ Stepping into Kilkenny’s History addresses this difficulty and provides a significant resource for teachers on a local history dimension

Objectives for Teachers
• To familiarise teachers with the rich history of Kilkenny City.
• To provide a bank of resources, sources, ideas, lessons plans in relation to Kilkenny City, all linked to the strands and strand units of the History Curriculum.
• To encourage teachers to get out of the classroom and use the city environment for teaching local studies
• To make the resources accessible and teacher friendly
•  To inspire and  encourage teachers to use IT in the delivery of the local studies programme, especially useful in communicating the children’s interpretation of the past

Objectives for the Students
• To familiarise children with the rich history of Kilkenny City.
• To provide child-friendly material in local studies that is linked to the strands and strand units of the curriculum
• To provide the children with opportunities to practise some of the skills of the historian such as the use of evidence and an appreciation of change and continuity and cause and effect.

In addition to the primary aim of bringing the history of Kilkenny into the classrooms of Kilkenny and beyond, the resource is also of benefit to a variety of public groups. Speaking at a recent launch of the illustrated map, Paul Fields, Director of Kilkenny Education Centre, indicated that the resource will be of interest to Parents, the general public and tourists.

The project has been funded by the Heritage Council and Kilkenny Borough Council, in conjunction with Kilkenny Education Centre and the Department of Education and Science