Ethos
All City of Dublin ETB Schools are implementing Education and Training Board Ireland’s (ETBI) ethos across its schools and colleges. This is part of a broader national initiative involving all ETBs.
The process of identifying core values and ethos has been evolving over the past decade. All ETB schools are State, Co-Educational, and Multi-Denominational. ETB ethos is underpinned by the core values of Excellence in Education, Care, Respect, Equality and Community. In Autumn 2021, schools are putting in place measures to examine their own policies and practices and ensure that these are aligned with ETBI core values.
What is ethos?
Put simply, ethos is how we live, work, and relate to each other in our school community. While it encompasses the curriculum and how it is taught, ethos is broader than this. It also relates to shared core values, to the hidden curriculum, to decision making processes and to the relationships that underpin the daily life of school. While individual ETB schools have always lived largely by the core values of care, respect, and equality there wasn’t a coherent approach by schools. Now all ETB schools can confidently speak about who they are and what they stand for.
We in Coláiste Eoin, Finglas, are still free to express our uniqueness through our mission and vision statements.
A Professional Learning Network for Ethos has been set up by City of Dublin ETB, a member of our teaching staff attends this group. They meet regularly with the City of Dublin ETB Ethos Coordinator to share best practice. Additionally, we as school have appointed an Ethos Leadership Team to manage the rollout locally. The initial focus was on raising awareness and understanding of ETB ethos with all members of the school community. ETBI has consulted widely across the sector and produced a Framework for Ethos. The document below outlines ETB ethos and specifies the standards that all ETB schools should strive for. A patron’s short course on ethos is currently in the trial phase in some ETB schools.
