After the successful ASPIRE Shared Education digital Launch in W5 in March 2025, in which 45 ASPIRE Primary and Post Primary school partnerships attended the first ASPIRE Professional Learning Launch on the theme of Digital Communication, teachers from nearly 100 schools took part in dedicated workshops throughout April and May in either Adobe Education, Dream Space or Just2Easy.
Adobe Education offered teachers a range of resources and software designed to enhance creative skills and digital literacy for students and educators, in both primary and post primary. It highlighted tools for creating various types of media, including graphics, images, videos, and more, with a focus on student-friendly and classroom-safe features.
Dream Space provided teachers an introduction to Minecraft Education. The facilitators delivered training on how to use Minecraft and the tools to utilise in classroom settings. The teachers will use this knowledge to go back to their ASPIRE Shared Education partnership classrooms and work with their pupils to design a new community centre.
Just2Easy facilitators provided teachers with an introduction to the Just2Easy toolkit and how to progress pupil learning from primary 1 through to primary 7. The session tailored activities to themes selected by school partnerships, including outdoor learning and ‘all about me’. The teachers will share these skills with their pupils and create, in collaboration with their Shared Education partner school/s, a shared journal based on their selected theme.
All educators will take their learning back into their partnership classrooms and deliver a mini-series of lessons with pupils, which will culminate in showcase events in June 2025.
PEACEPLUS ASPIRE (Advancing Shared Partnerships through Inclusive Relationships in Education) is a collaboration between Léargas, the Education Authority (lead partner), Early Years- the organisation for young children, National Childhood Network (NCN) and the Fermanagh Trust. The project is supported by PEACEPLUS, a programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). It aims to provide direct and sustained contact between children and young people from all backgrounds.
To learn more about PEACEPLUS ASPIRE, check out our website here.