Scoil Íosagáin is proud to be a Changemaker School and part of Dublin City University (DCU) Changemaker Schools Network.

The DCU Changemaker Schools Network (DCU CMSN), adopted by DCU in September 2020, is a professional learning community (PLC) of 28 schools. This community of progressive schools and stakeholders aims to reimagine, co-create and lead transformation in education by developing, amplifying, and sharing the skills of empathy, creativity, leadership, and teamwork. These skills are the defining pillars of a DCU Changemaker School (DCU CMS) and are taught, lived, and practiced within the DCU CMS.

DCU CMS are committed to the shaping of children’s identity as empowered learners and Changemakers. A Changemaker is someone with the skills and confidence to lead change in their home, school and community.

Over the course of one academic year, the DCU Changemaker Schools aim to:

  • Develop their students as Changemakers

  • Create a culture of distributed leadership

  • Provide teachers with the tools to develop empathy, creativity, leadership and teamwork

  • Engage in 21st Century Learning Skill development

  • Collaborate and share with the other schools in the network

The network also aims to support the gap between practice and theory.

The DCU Changemaker Schools Network is led by an innovative team.

The Programme Director is Dr. John White, a lecturer in education and an author. John is a former primary school principal (15 years) and school inspector (10 years). Publications: John White and John Gardner (Routledge, 2011) The Classroom X – Factor: The Power of Body Language and Nonverbal Communication in Teaching.

The Co Ordinator of the Network is Fiona Collins, seconded from her principalship of the Changemaker School Francis Street School to DCU. Fiona is a lecturer at the DCU Centre for Education Disadvantage and a PhD candidate. Fiona has been a primary school principal for 15 years and is also a TEDX speaker.