Your Local Actions
for Global Change
The Changemakers Programme helped me explain the Sustainable Development Goals and the concept of Global Citizenship in a child friendly and accessible way to my students.
Primary School Teacher participant, Dublin (2020)
About Changemakers
Welcome to the Changemakers 2021 programme! Creative, curriculum-linked lesson plans and audio-visuals help primary school teachers explore Global Citizenship with their 1st - 6th class students and inspire action for a sustainable and fair world.
Classroom Resources
Changemakers programme resources have been carefully developed in line with the Department of Education and Skills’ Covid-19 response. All materials are implementable with the Covid-19 classroom restrictions and fully adaptable for remote learning. We are currently offering several supports including information sessions for teachers via zoom and remote workshops for 1st - 6th classes.
Every class that takes part will receive a beautiful World Map for their classroom and a certificate of recognition for taking part in the Changemakers journey.
Irish language Resources
Múinteoirí! Our new resources are also available through Irish.
Tá ár n-acmhainn nua ar fáil go hiomlán trí Gaeilge.
Tabhair cuairt ar ár leathanach acmhainní chun na bhfísean agus na h-ábhair acmhainne ar fad as Gaeilge a fháil.
The 17 Global Goals
People all around the world are currently living through a global health crisis. Future generations face additional major challenges including climate change, poverty and global injustice in the decades to come. This can all be very overwhelming for children.
We have to ensure that children are resilient and active actors in the shaping of their future. It is heartening that this generation of incredibly conscientious and active young people and educators are taking so many actions to bring about a fair and sustainable world.
With the GOAL Changemakers programme we are inviting children to learn about the 17 UN Global Goals. These Goals have been agreed by UN world leaders and have the power to end poverty, fight inequality, stop climate change and protect our oceans, flora and fauna by 2030. The UN's global call to 'Leave No One Behind' is now more relevant than ever. Join us and take part in these fun, interactive lessons during which children work creatively as Global Citizens.
Changemaker Participants
Our Changemakers Programme is easy to use, and you can get involved in all sorts of ways:
Changemakers Lessons: Curriculum-linked, classroom-ready resources are available for 1st – 6th classes. You and your pupils will be guided through our Changemakers programme with creative activities and interactive audio-visual material, in classroom-ready PowerPoint format. These resources will help pupils to explore Global Citizenship and take action for a sustainable and fair world.
OR
Stand-alone exercises: Don’t have time to complete all the Changemaker activities, but still want to introduce your class to Global Citizenship? We have some ‘lighter touch’ options for you:
Changemakers Video: Check out our five-minute Changemakers video above. Young Changemakers talk about their own experiences of undertaking actions in their communities and their personal journeys to become Changemakers. The video also includes some classes who have previously taken part in GOAL’s Changemakers programme talking about what they learned from this experience!
Teacher Support: We can’t visit your class in person, but we can support you while you explore our Changemakers programme with your class. Our step-by-step webinars will answer all your questions about this creative, classroom-ready interactive resource to use in the virtual classroom or in person. To book your webinar, or for any other support questions in relation to using the Changemakers resource materials. To find out more, contact our team at globalc@goal.ie.
Stories from 2019 GOAL Changemakers
Our Lady Queen of the Apostles N.S. 3rd Class
Change is in Our Hands!
Our Lady Queen of the Apostles N.S. 3rd class set out on their changemaker journey by studying the words and work of global changemakers to learn about global issues and get inspiration on how to effect change. They identified two major issues in their school community that they wanted to act on: food waste and over-packaging. They decided to campaign for less food waste in their school and lobbied their school food suppliers for reusable utensils and biodegradable wrapping.
Watch their inspiring campaign songs and see their art work here!
St. Patrick's Loreto Primary School Bray 3rd Class
Working Together to Make the World Better by 2030
St. Patrick's 3rd class decided to focus on raising awareness about two things - responsible consumption and production around Christmas and the Global Goals. To reduce waste around Christmas they piloted sustainable DIY wrapping paper decorated with pictures of the Global Goals. They made Christmas cards and bauble shaped notes with information on the Global Goals to put in Christmas presents ensuring that people would learn about the Global Goals on opening gifts. The class also decorated a donation box with the Global Goals to collect toys for a local children's charity.
Castleplunkett N.S.
3rd and 4th Class
A Sign Campaign Against Fossil Fuels
The 3rd and 4th classes at Castleplunkett N.S. noticed a local problem that is contributing to global issues - the over reliance of their community on fossil fuels. The classes felt empowered to be part of the solution and developed a public engagement campaign to highlight the negative effects of fossil fuels and to encourage the use of alternative sources of energy. They created colourful, rain-proof and thought-provoking posters and displayed them around the village. After one month the class helped to remove the posters to ensure their campaign did not cause any litter.
Have a look at their picture book here:
2019 Changemaker Project Ideas
Burrow N.S.
3rd Class
Save Our World
The Burrow N.S. 3rd class students have been very busy changemakers! They have set up a Picker Pals programme to clean their yard of rubbish, set up a Gardening Club where they have grown and ate their own food, campaigned to increase recycling in school and visited to see what was involved in the local campaign to ''Save Baltray Park!''
Donabate Portrane ETNS 5th Class
Education in Cambodia
DPETNS are working hard to raise awareness about the education system in Cambodia. They believe that everyone has a right to quality education and unfortunately, education in Cambodia is trailing behind. Therefore, DPETNS have partnered with an organisation in Cambodia to engage in skill sharing and exchange with Cambodian teachers. This is done in an effort to educate the local Irish community about Cambodia and to raise awareness about the Global Goals.
Kildare Place School 4th Class
How to Create Sustainable Cities and Communities
The 4th class students in Kildare Place are fascinated by politics. They wanted to learn about democracy and how they can contribute to and provide sustainable communities for everyone. They ran a mock election and went on a trip to the Dáil. The most common issue that came up during their mock election was climate change. The class felt inspired to set up a Green Schools Committee as a result and are now working towards their first Green Flag - Litter and Waste!
St. Mary's N.S.
3rd/4th Class
Stop and Wash
The 3rd and 4th class students in St. Mary's N.S. were noticing a lot of absences in school, they surveyed every class and compiled the data into a bar chart to show how many people were absent as a result of colds and tummy bugs. They knew that they were very fortunate to have running water in school and they might reduce the incidence of illness if people washed their hands properly. They designed posters for the bathrooms to demonstrate how to wash your hands properly and took it upon themselves to conduct workshops with younger classes to teach them how to wash their hands properly.
St. Matthew's N.S.
6th Class
Shape the Future!
The 6th class pupils wanted to use their creativity to develop new products and/or innovate existing products to promote sustainability and improve the world. They were particularly concerned that everyone, no matter where they live, should have access to clean water. One of their pupils won an award for his innovative design for a drinking cup that would filter impurities out of dirty water. The whole class are now much more conscious of their own water consumption.
St. Molaga's S.N.S
6th Class
The Golden Lunchbox
The 6th class students in St. Molaga's wanted to reduce the amount of plastic packaging that is used in lunches in their school. They came up with the idea of a 'Golden Lunchbox' award to complement their 'Golden Bottle', 'Golden Bike' and 'Golden Boot' awards. The class created a trophy by spray painting a lunchbox gold and mounting it on a wooden plaque. The trophy is awarded weekly to the class with the most plastic-free lunches.
