Voices of Change: Ireland and the Wider World · 6th Year

Active learning ideas

Women in the War of Independence

Active learning helps students move beyond textbook summaries by engaging directly with the evidence of women’s roles in the War of Independence. Hands-on tasks like analyzing documents, debating perspectives, and role-playing missions reveal the complexity of their contributions and the barriers they faced.

• NCCA Curriculum Specifications
• NCCA: Primary - Social, cultural and aspects of everyday life
• NCCA: Primary - Story

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Jigsaw
• 50 min · Small Groups

Source Stations: Cumann na mBan Roles

Prepare five stations with primary sources like letters, photos, and newspapers on roles such as spying and fundraising. Small groups rotate every 10 minutes, extract key evidence, and record contributions. Groups present one role to the class.

Analyze the contributions of women beyond traditional roles during the war.

Facilitation Tip

For Source Stations: Cumann na mBan Roles, rotate groups every 7 minutes to keep energy high and ensure all students interact with multiple sources.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Were the contributions of women during the War of Independence adequately recognized in the years that followed?' Facilitate a class debate, asking students to cite specific examples from their research to support their arguments about recognition and legacy.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Jigsaw
• 35 min · Pairs

Debate Pairs: Challenges Compared

Assign pairs one side: women activists or male combatants. Provide evidence cards on risks like arrest or stigma. Pairs prepare 3-minute arguments, then switch sides for rebuttals. Conclude with whole-class vote on greatest challenges.

Compare the challenges faced by women activists with those of male combatants.

Facilitation Tip

For Debate Pairs: Challenges Compared, assign roles in advance so students prepare evidence-based arguments before pairing up.

What to look for

Ask students to write down two distinct roles women played during the War of Independence, one that went beyond traditional support, and one challenge they likely faced that male combatants might not have. Collect these as students leave.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Jigsaw
• 45 min · Small Groups

Timeline Build: Post-Independence Recognition

In small groups, students research and plot events like the 1922 Constitution and 1922 suffrage on timelines. Add quotes from women leaders. Groups explain one milestone and its impact on recognition.

Evaluate the extent to which women's roles were recognized after independence.

Facilitation Tip

For Timeline Build: Post-Independence Recognition, provide large paper strips for events to allow physical manipulation and collaborative sequencing.

What to look for

Present students with short primary source excerpts (e.g., a letter, a diary entry, a newspaper clipping) related to women's activities. Ask them to identify the role being described and one potential risk associated with it.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Role Play
• 40 min · Small Groups

Role Play: Key Missions

Divide class into groups to reenact missions like arms smuggling. Provide scripts based on real accounts. Perform for peers, followed by feedback on historical accuracy.

Analyze the contributions of women beyond traditional roles during the war.

Facilitation Tip

For Role Play Skits: Key Missions, assign roles with clear objectives so students focus on historical accuracy rather than improvisation.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Were the contributions of women during the War of Independence adequately recognized in the years that followed?' Facilitate a class debate, asking students to cite specific examples from their research to support their arguments about recognition and legacy.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Social Awareness
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should prioritize primary sources and student-led inquiry to challenge simplified narratives. Avoid framing women’s roles as merely supportive, and instead highlight their strategic agency in logistics, espionage, and public morale. Research shows that role-play and debate deepen empathy and critical thinking, especially when paired with concrete evidence.

Students will demonstrate understanding by connecting specific actions to broader themes, such as intelligence gathering or gender discrimination, and by articulating how these roles challenged or reinforced traditional narratives of the period.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Source Stations: Cumann na mBan Roles, some students may assume women only cooked and sewed uniforms for the IRA.

  As students rotate through stations, have them annotate documents with evidence of intelligence gathering, arms smuggling, and propaganda distribution, then share findings in small groups to correct assumptions through peer discussion.

• During Debate Pairs: Challenges Compared, students might claim women faced the same dangers as men with no extra barriers.

  Provide debate pairs with evidence cards highlighting gender-specific risks, such as social stigma or family pressure, and require students to cite at least two examples in their arguments.

• During Timeline Build: Post-Independence Recognition, students may believe independence brought full equality for women's war efforts.

  Guide students to map delays in recognition on their timelines, using prompts like 'What gaps do you see between 1921 and later decades?' to push critical analysis.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Jigsaw
• Role Play