This year we were thrilled to work with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU and Youth Connect on a schools’ module entitled ‘Labour, Gender and class in the Struggle for Irish Independence 1917-1923’. 

‘This resource aims to promote open discussion and debate among students about how people lived a hundred years ago, how the trade union movement sought to advance their interests, not just in the workplace but in areas such as health, social welfare, childcare, women's rights, and in local and national politics.

The material provides students with study materials and records of the experience of working people who lived through events of the revolution, why and how they organised, and their influence on the course of the revolution.’

Source: ICTU Press Release https://www.ictu.ie/press/2019/11/08/school-resource-labour-gender-and-class-in-the-str/

As well as providing some resources for the module through our Digitisation team based in Eneclann, we also developed an accompanying workshop to teach students how to research and interpret social history using stories, objects and documentary evidence.

Whether their own family history, the lineage of a significant historical figure, or an historical event, students will be equipped with the knowledge of what primary sources and documents can teach us about society at that time - from living conditions to daily life - as well as how to find them.

With thanks to the partnership we were able to provide these workshops for free to interested schools, delivering the interactive sessions in Galway and Dublin, with further workshops coming up in the new year in Limerick, Kerry and Monaghan, as well as an additional day of workshops in Dublin.

To download the module pack for your classroom, simply visit this link. The pack is in PDF and comes with everything you need to get your class unpacking irish social history in a fascinating historical project.

If you are interested in hearing more about our upcoming free workshop slots for this module, please email [email protected]

We look forward to building on our new partnership in the coming year.

By Claire Murray.