Minister for Education Launches New 21st Century Folklore Project for Schools Nationwide
The Minister for Education, Norma Foley has announced the development of a folklore project for national schools across the country. This project will be completed with UCD Library and The National Folklore Collection. Open to all 4,000 primary, secondary and special education school across Ireland the project will be based on a similar venture which took place in 1937. The 1937 folklore collection consisted of tales, proverbs, riddles, games and many more pieces of information from students in schools nationwide.
The new folklore will aim to collect similar information from current students to develop a 21st century version of this project idea. The information gathered for the 21st century folklore collection will be in both written and digital format. Schools that wish to take part in the updated folklore collection will be contacted with further details in the new year.
Speaking about the new folklore project, the Minister for Education said:
“On my visits to schools across the country over the past four years as Minister for Education, I have been delighted to meet with so many students who are wonderful ambassadors for their local areas. I am looking forward to working with colleagues in UCD Library and the National Folklore Commission to begin a new folklore project which will showcase the voices of children today. The aim of the project will be to give children, the opportunity to play an active and leading role in capturing and preserving the rich stories, traditions and histories of their communities for generations to come. In so doing, they will follow in the footsteps of previous generations in building on the work of the ground-breaking Dúchas project undertaken by more than 50,000 children across the state in the 1930s.
“Following consultation with schools and teachers, it is intended that the project would see students in every part of the country gather stories and insights into local traditions from their areas for hosting in a national archive which will allow us as a society to continue sharing cultural values, knowledge and collective memory from one generation to another.”
