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A new initiative from Mary Immaculate College (MIC) aims to support and share knowledge with educators to encourage opportunities to support an ethos and practice of diversity, inclusion and integration in learning settings. The MIC Teaching for Inclusion Seminar Series commences this month (September) and is free and open to the primary teaching community. The series will be delivered online meaning it will be available to teachers nationwide.

New research into the relationship between Irish adolescent students and religion suggests that religion has the potential to positively or negatively influence students’ mental wellbeing, depending on how it is used by the adolescent. The new findings come from Mary Immaculate College (MIC) Lecturer and Educational and Child Psychologist, Dr Lydia Mannion, who has conducted research with over a hundred students in Transition Year, Fifth Year and Leaving Certificate classes across ten post-primary schools in Ireland.

A new set of educational guidelines for learners with Williams syndrome (WS), a rare genetic condition that occurs randomly and affects roughly one in 20,000 people, has been developed by MIC lecturer Dr Fionnuala Tynan. My Own Williams Learning, co-written by Dr Fionnuala Tynan and Dr Jo Van Herwegen (University College London), is the product of a collaboration with learners with Williams syndrome and is supported and funded by the Williams Syndrome Foundation, based in the UK. The book is based on research from focus-group discussions and interviews with learners with WS aged 5 to 16 years, whose stories formed the basis for the educational guidelines.

A new study from Mary Immaculate College (MIC) has found that current classes of junior infants may not be faring as well as children born before the pandemic, according to their teachers. The research, ‘Infants of the Pandemic: Teacher Perspectives on the Early Development and School Readiness of Children Starting School in September 2024’, conducted by MIC academics, Dr Suzanne Egan and Dr Jennifer Pope, revealed that the 81% of teachers surveyed said they have more pupils now with emotional and behavioural issues compared to pre-pandemic times. The online survey was completed by 107 junior infant class teachers from around Ireland (teaching over 2,000 pupils overall) during December 2024. The survey aimed to find out if experiencing the pandemic during infancy might have influenced later development when starting school. The teachers were asked questions how their current class of junior infants (aged 4-6 years) were faring, and how they compared with previous classes they taught before the pandemic. These children spent the early months of their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the resulting lockdowns and social restrictions.

A celebratory event was held in Mary Immaculate College on 5 November to celebrate the 28 teachers from public schools in Brazil who travelled to Ireland to complete a Certificate in Advanced English for Academic Purposes. One hundred and twenty educators had previously participated in a selection process, of which 28 were chosen to undertake an intensive eight-week online Certificate in English for Academic Purposes earlier this year, run by the Department of English Language and Literature, funded by CAPES federal funding agency in Brazil, and coordinated by Ilona Costelloe, English Language Projects Coordinator, and Giana Hennigan, Departmental Online Development Coordinator. Professor Eugene O’Brien, Head of the Department of English Language & Literature, presented the awards and highlighted the levels of progress made and the enthusiasm of the students. He pointed out that the programme was part of a new suite of language programmes run by his Department: “We feel there is great scope for English language programmes here and Ilona and Giana are at the forefront of developing these and teaching them. It was lovely working with these Brazilian teachers and helping them achieve some of their career goals”. Professor Lorraine McIllrath, Director of Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Interculturalism at MIC, provided funding for the Certificate in English for Academic Purposes for migrants. The rollout of English language programmes for migrants across the academic year was a joint effort between MIC EDII, Mary Cantwell (Limerick and Clare ETB) and Coordinator, Ilona Costelloe.

Explore the latest news and events from Mary Immaculate College, including the MIC Limerick and MIC Thurles campuses.

Explore Newspapers at MIC library. Online Newspapers - Ireland. The Irish Newspaper Archive is a database that holds digitised archived regional and national Irish newspapers. The views of the newspapers are as they would have appeared in their print version. This is a work in progress and coverage is not always complete.