Gifted Education Awareness Week Day 2

This flyer and leaflet were emailed out to all schools in Ireland today, for the attention of the Special Education Needs Coordinators, with the hope that they will be passed on to all interested staff and printed off for display on the staffroom noticeboard.

Gifted Education Awareness Week 2012 leaflet

Gifted Education Awareness Week 2012

Gifted Education Awareness Week 2012 (GEAW2012) kicks off today. 

The first event is a chat on Twitter at 8.30pm. Irish teachers who use twitter have been getting together every Monday evening at this time for  quite some time now to discuss all sorts of topics relevant to Irish education. We are very grateful to the host, Fred Boss of the National Council for Education in Technology (NCTE), for kindly devoting this week's topic to GEAW. 

Having watched some of these chats over the past few months, we have been so impressed by teachers enthusiasm and willingness to share and learn from each other. We are really looking forward to engaging with them as we discuss "Meeting the Needs of Gifted Children Inside and Outside the Classroom". If you would like to watch or join in, take a look at our Twitter Guide. It's a little out of date, but you'll get the idea. Otherwise, we'll post the transcript after the event.

Transcript of #edchatie

World's First Virtual Global Anti-Bullying March

The Big March 2012

Bullying is not a topic specific to giftedness, but it is one close to our hearts. Beatbullying is a UK anti-bullying charity and we are delighted to join them on the first virtual global march for children's right to be safe:  The Big March 2012.

On 1st March 2012, thousands of virtual marchers will cross the websites of the world biggest brands. Beatbullying is calling on individuals, celebrities, politicians, charities, businesses and communities to take part in the march which will culminate with the delivery of a petition to the United Nations Building in new York, asking the UN to explicitly enshrine "bullying" in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 

"The right of every child to be safe from bullying, violence and the fear of violence by their peers as well as abuse by adults".

This will help to protect children all over the world from the pain and distress of bullying and harassment. If successful, it will be the first time that the Convention has been updated in over 10 years.

Governments and world leaders who have ratified the Convention are bound to it by international law and are therefore obliged to introduce and implement measures and legislation which serve to protect children. The addition of 'bullying' to the UNCRC will give weight and legitimacy to the demands of children, families, schools, and communities who want to build a world where bullying is unacceptable.

Any individual or group can sign up to participate by visiting Big March 2012 where you can register, create an avatar for yourself and sign the petition. If you have a blog, website, or facebook account, you can download material from the toolkit to add to your site.

NB: The 31st January is mentioned in several places as the date of the march. This has been changed and the 1st March is the big day.