Global Passport


Stamp 2, Extra Curricular: Part 4.

Justice & Rights Based School Groups

Justice & Rights based groups are a great opportunity for students to get involved and take leadership on raising awareness of DE issues in your school. Ideally the group would include a number of students from different school years and engage a number of teachers.

Below are some resources and practical school examples to guide you through implementing this stamp category:



Resources:



Students Councils: A Voice for Students

A resource by the Department of Education and Skills that provides a background and support for setting up a student council. It offers an outline for the council structure, how to establish it, practical guidelines for students and a range of support materials and templates to use. This can offer a starting point and guide for the establishment of a justice and rights based school group.


Students Councils: A Voice for Students

CASE STUDY – Loreto High School Beaufort, Dublin.

Loreto High School Beaufort provides an excellent example for how you can create a Justice and Rights based school group. This case study provides an overview of what the group arranged last year providing ideas for other schools and offering reflections on their experience.


CASE STUDY – Loreto High School

CASE STUDY — Millstreet Community School, Cork

Millstreet C.S. have a Development Education Student Committee in their school. The group’s mandate is:

  • To be a voice for global citizenship in their school community;
  • Run action projects;
  • Raise awareness and run events on development issues;
  • Organise facilitators and guest speakers to come into the school;
  • Act as peer educators amongst fellow students;
  • Ensure a development education space is maintained in the school e.g. a notice board.

Year planning tool for the DE committee

Practical School Examples:


Here are some examples from the applications of Global Passport Awardees. These provide some great examples for what your school can do in this school category:

Killina Presentation Secondary School, Offaly

“This is the first year we have a Dev. Ed committee. It consists of 10 students and 2 teachers. This year they aim to get whole school involved in a couple of calendar days not previously campaigned by our school. They also plan to work with CSPE & TY classes around Fair trade fortnight activities.  They will be meeting approx. once a month”. Diplomatic Global Passport Award Winner 2017

Presentation College Athenry Galway

“We have a student council group, which is headed up by 2 staff members who are very active in the school and highlight the rights of students as well as those outside the school who are often denied their rights.  They do this by regular class meetings and PA announcements”.  Diplomatic Global Passport Award Winner 2016

St. Louis Community School, Mayo

“Our Justice and Rights group is called the “Dev Squad” and comprises of students across all year groups and six members of staff.  We hold regular meetings and are very active within the school.”  Diplomatic Global Passport Award Winner 2016

Loreto Secondary School Fermoy

“Loreto Fermoy set up a peace and justice lunchtime group and has named themselves YES (Youth Empowering Society). They have decided to organise and run a justice week in March. The group will have responsibility for justice displays in school social area and support all Development Education activities throughout the year”. Diplomatic Global Passport Award Winner 2016