Every year, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office welcomes approximately 1,400 primary and post-primary students to children’s rights workshops in our specially designed education and participation spaces in the office.

Since Covid 19 this has been impossible to do. This is very disappointing for us as we really enjoy seeing children in the office and knowing that, when they leave, they have learned something more about their rights.

Because we are not able to have children in the office, we have developed remote workshops on children’s rights. We can deliver the workshops online through Zoom to help children learn about their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the work of the OCO in protecting and promoting those rights.

We have created a teachers information pack for the workshops which we send on prior to the workshops.

We have tailored the virtual workshops to the Politics and Society syllabus. This may be of particular interest to transition year class and 5th year classes who have just started to learn this subject.

The workshop consists of three parts to be completed over three classes/sessions.

  1. The first session is a presentation on the UNCRC and the work of the Ombudsman for Children’s Office. During this session we give students an opportunity to create a short project around children’s rights.
  2. After the first session, we ask the teacher to facilitate a project which involves a short presentation around children’s rights and the UNCRC. This can be a Power Point, a speech, a letter etc.
  3. Before we return in the third session .At the third session the students present their projects to us and the class and have a discussion about them. The teacher can also send us any pre-prepared questions the class has about their rights or the OCO.

To be able to host a virtual workshop in your class you will need the following:

  • at least one laptop or tablet between every two students or
  • a projector or interactive white board where a Zoom meeting can be set up.

If a workshop is not a suitable option we have also published materials online for students studying Politics and Society to explore issues relating to children’s rights which are available here.

These include a video presentation and accompanying teacher or self-learning notes:

  • Screencast presentation to be used either in the classroom or at home
  • Self-learning notes for Politics and Society to accompany screencast

 Download Senior Cycle screencast here

Download Self-learning notes for Politics and Society

We have a website with age-appropriate information about children’s rights for ages 4-17, as well as a game to test what they know about rights. https://www.oco.ie/itsyourright

There is also a podcast available which features Dr Niall Muldoon the Ombudsman for Children as one of the guests.

https://polsocpodcast.com/ep-10-childrens-rights-and-policies/

If you wish to book a workshop with us please email education@oco.ie stating what school you are from, what year you teach and how many children and potential dates that would work for you.

Kind Regards,

Ger Crowley

Participation & Rights Education Officer

Ombudsman for Children’s Office

www.oco.ie