communityvoice.ie
A successful year for the Homework Club
One
of the educational success stories of recent years in Dublin 15 has
been the locally based Homework Club founded and run on Blanchardstown’s
Main Street by Dr. Naoise O’Reilly.
The Homework Club offers a different perspective on the teaching of
young people, especially those who might feel they have been underachieving
in mainstream education.
With an awareness from her own personal experience of dyslexia, Naoise
set up the Homework Club with the aim of facilitating students who want
to receive extra tuition in an environment where the teaching approach
differs and numbers are smaller.
“The main key thing to teaching and learning is the element of
communication and that is the single most important aspect as far as
we are concerned,” she said emphasising that classes are provided
in a “warm friendly atmosphere” with a good variety of subjects
such as Irish, Maths, English, French, German and all the Sciences available.
With that in mind she said that the teachers at the club, which operates
in the evening time, are “communication experts”, many with
backgrounds in areas such as theatre. She said that the Homework Club
identifies teachers with the key skills and they are trained in the
school ethos. “It is a collaborative effort and our teachers work
in groups and share ideas. They see themselves as facilitating learning”
she added.
This innovative approach has also been well recognised in the past year.
In October the Homework Club received an award fop Best start-up / new
business in the area from the D15 Chamber at its annual business awards
and more recently they were among a small elite group of businesses
countrywide short-listed for the O2 Ability Awards.
The Homework Club recently published a remarkable book setting out the
experiences and methods which have achieved this success. The book dedicated
to “all the inspiring educationalists and students we have met
along the way…” gives a clear and readily understandable
outline of the teaching systems employed, coupled with a series of sample
lessons and exercises.
One unique aspect of the Homework Club is its emphasis on being “student-led”
According to Naoise, “we encourage students to speak up, ask questions
and express their opinions…this encourages students to take ownership
of their own work. They are in control and can effect their own learning
outcomes.”
Further information on the Homework Club is available online at www.homeworkclub.ie
or from Dr. Naoise O’Reilly (tel. 085 112 9660).