Limerick adult learning initiatives honoured at awards event in Croke Park
The English Conversation Club delivered by Mary Immaculate College was a category winner
THREE Limerick adult learning initiatives were honoured at the 2024 AONTAS STAR Awards ceremony in Croke Park.
The STAR Awards - showcasing teamwork, awarding recognition —run by AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation of Ireland, recognise the most inspiring adult learning initiatives on the island of Ireland.
The Limerick initiatives that were recognised were EDNIP (embracing diversity & nurturing integration project) English Conversation Club, delivered by Mary Immaculate College, Seeing Without Sight, at The Hunt Museum and Community Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership and Lifeskills (CWELL) Diploma at the University of Limerick.
The English Conversation Club, delivered by Mary Immaculate College was the winner of the Social Inclusion category.
This programme supports migrant parents of children attending DEIS schools across Limerick city by offering a safe and welcoming environment for them to practise their English language skills. There are parents of children from 64 countries across the five DEIS schools involved in the initiative. A total of 99% of students are women and most are from Afghanistan.
Seeing Without Sight, at The Hunt Museum, Limerick was the runner-up in the Social Inclusion category.
Seeing Without Sight is a multi-sensory exhibition, funded through the Heritage Council, that was co-created between four visually impaired people and six Hunt Museum volunteers and staff.
The people with visual impairments selected 35 objects from the museum’s collection. Museum volunteers and staff then worked with them to produce written descriptions for each object. The co-creators then selected nine favourite objects and developed audio descriptions for each, as well as high-quality 3D-printed replicas, so that the objects could be explored by touch.
The third Limerick adult learning initiative at the awards was the Community Wellness, Empowerment, Leadership and Lifeskills (CWELL) diploma, in the University of Limerick, which was the runner-up in the Third Level Access and Engagement category.
This two-year, part-time academic diploma programme at the University of Limerick was designed with local communities in Limerick and empowers people to actively participate in community development as citizens. To date, 55 students have graduated from the programme, with a further 24 currently undertaking it. Most students are women and many have shared experiences of leaving school early, early parenthood, homelessness and recovery from addiction.
This year, the event was hosted by comedian PJ Gallagher.
To find out more about the AONTAS STAR Awards and opportunities in adult education, visit www.aontas.com.