Our sixth live expert session in the Gaelic Education Hub of the Centre for Teaching Excellence will be an opportunity to hear from Claire Dunne, Assistant Professor of Irish Language Teaching in the Institute of Education, Dublin City University.

This session will explore the experiences of Irish-medium education at primary level in Ireland. In particular, we will focus on findings from national research on the benefits of immersion education, the challenges that exist, and the supports needed in Irish-medium education. This session is based on the report Immersion Education at Primary Level in Ireland: Insights from National Research.

Language Assessment in Gaelic Education: Implications for Equity and Inclusion

(Delivered in Gaelic)

In our third live session in the Gaelic Education Hub of the Centre for Teaching Excellence we heard from Dr Sìleas L. MacLeod, linguist, lecturer in language and other subjects at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.  She discussed opportunities for development within Gaelic Medium Education (GME), particularly in relation to children’s language skills, although positions and opinions on GME were also be briefly touched upon. This data was collected and analysed from a sociolinguistic perspective, with the aim of identifying opportunities for development in terms of immersive learning and supporting teachers in implementing this on a day-to-day basis, among children at primary and secondary school levels. 

This was our first live session in the Gaelic Education Hub of the Centre for Teaching Excellence will be an opportunity to hear from Prof. Diane Tedick, an expert in immersion and second language education, who will discuss the pedagogical strategies that immersion teachers can use to scaffold comprehension in the minority language. This session provided guidance on how pupils’ language understanding can be supported when teaching curricular content and will be very useful professional learning for teachers in Gaelic medium education and Gaelic Learner education.

This session will be an opportunity to hear from Prof. Roy Lyster, an expert in immersion and second language education, who will discuss the pedagogical strategies that immersion teachers can use to scaffold production in the minority language. The session will provide guidance on how pupils’ language production can be supported when teaching curricular content and will be very useful professional learning for teachers in Gaelic medium education and Gaelic Learner education. The session will be delivered in English.