28/08/2026
Culture, Class and Belonging: Teaching the Diverse Irish Classroom
📆Wednesday 11th November
🕖7-8pm
📍Online Webinar
Irish classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse, but diversity extends beyond nationality and ethnicity. Culture, socioeconomic background, language and previous educational experience can all shape how students and families understand school.
Drawing on more than 25 years of teaching and leadership in international education in Japan, Dr James M. Hatch will explore how cultural expectations, cultural capital and the often-unspoken “rules” of schooling can influence participation, achievement and belonging.
The webinar will combine accessible theory with practical classroom and school-based examples, including approaches to curriculum representation, student belonging, teacher expectations and communication with families from different educational cultures.
By the end of the session, participants should be able to:
1. Recognise how culture, socioeconomic background and prior educational experience can shape students’ and families’ expectations of schooling.
2. Identify hidden assumptions, norms and forms of cultural capital that may unintentionally advantage or exclude students within classrooms and schools.
3. Apply practical strategies that strengthen belonging, representation and communication while maintaining high expectations for all students.
Early Registration Advised
www.tinyurl.com/diverseclassroom11nov
