Category: Stranmillis News

In January, Stranmillis University College was delighted to host a team of play experts from Teacher Education colleges across Denmark, who are currently working on Playful Learning Research project funded by the LEGO foundation.

Led by Professor Helle Marie Skovbjerg of the LAB Design for Play at the Design School Kolding, the delegation also included Helle Hovegaard Jorgensen from University College Lillebaelt, Julie Borup Jensen from Aalborg University, Jeppe Bundsgaard from Aarhus University and Ditte Obenhauser Hoff.

The team travelled to Belfast to gain a greater understanding of the work on Playful Learning led by Head of PGCE Early Years Dr Glenda Walsh at Stranmillis University College, who curated a week-long programme for the team and local experts to share knowledge and insights on the topic.

One particular highlight was an event for external stakeholders and early years practitioners entitled ‘Danish Perspectives on Play’.

Following the week of events, Dr Walsh said “Getting the opportunity to talk about play with like-minded people and to learn from Danish experts in the field, particularly about their LEGO funded research project, was an absolute privilege. The conversations were rich and inspiring, the presentations shared were creative and thought-provoking, the lessons learnt were plentiful and powerful, while most of all the overall experience was most enjoyable and playful! A huge word of thanks to our Danish partners who have now become our Danish friends!”.

How to play the Danish way

Dr Glenda Walsh asked two of the early years practitioners, Jill Sommerville and Kierna Corr – both practicing nursery teachers – to share some of what they learned from the stakeholder event.

Jill said:

“Forced to reflect on my own practice and ideally how ‘creative’ or ‘fun’ I was during play with children. It was not something I had ever realised needed to be taught as I am naturally a playful person and within a nursery day it occurs throughout all aspects of our curriculum. It never occurred to me some staff might struggle with this aspect as I just assumed if they didn’t enjoy play they wouldn’t do the job.

My take home message was the fact that teachers now need to be taught how to play. I thought the concept of how to train teachers via Play Labs was fabulous and straightforward, but I was intrigued as to how society has evolved that now we are having to teach teachers to play. Despite, the clear cultural distinction between schooling systems, the same issues apply: teachers are finding it difficult to play with children.

I also thought the Danish Play Lab method would be a great tool to use with parents in early years settings to reignite the fun associated with play.

I would be interested to see how effective it would be for beginning teachers but I really think current teachers should take part too!!! This might help to show them how to play with their children in a more fun and imaginative way and help create a generation of self-starters with 21^st century skills.”

Kierna wrote:

“Professionalism is very high in the Danish early years sector and their use of the term pedagog certainly helps in this respect. We need to find a similar term or begin adopting this one for those who work in early years as we are not teachers, it is a very specific role.

“Play is highly valued and understood by all – staff and parents. Play is still emphasised when children begin more formal schooling whereas here it all becomes very academic very quickly. Our FS teachers should not merely be reporting on the academic skills that children cannot do but celebrating their play skills.”

“Despite having a wonderful play based start in Denmark, school still destroys this ability and the fact they have to teach training teachers & pedagogs to play says it all.”

Dr Anita Gracie reflects on our recent Learning to Forgive seminar.

Despite the snow and sub-zero temperatures, a pleasing number of teachers, educational partners, academic staff and invited guests attended a seminar on Forgiveness Education which was held in Stranmillis University College on 17^th January. The main speaker at the event, and the reason so many had braved the wintry weather, was Professor Robert Enright from the International Forgiveness Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In the past year, a research team from Stranmillis led by Jill Magennis has been involved in evaluating the impact of the P7 stage of the Forgiveness Education curriculum as part of an international comparative study. Eighteen schools across Northern Ireland taught their pupils the concepts, skills and attitudes necessary if they wanted to forgive someone. Some had already been treated unjustly in their lives and held unresolved anger against others, but even if they had not, there is no doubt that most of them will have that experience at some point in their lives. Professor Enright explained the detrimental psychological and physical impact which can be caused by people holding onto grief, anger and resentment and the freedom, healing and life-enhancing benefits of being able to forgive. Some of the teachers present at the seminars had been involved in the study and were aware of the impact the curriculum had already had on their pupils, their classrooms and the school community.

This seminar concentrated in particular on the potential for impact of Forgiveness Education beyond the confines of one group of children, or one classroom. Already, Mount St. Michael’s Primary School in Randalstown has decided to teach Forgiveness Education to every class in the school during the spring term and is planning to use some of the lessons as part of its Shared Education Programme with their partner school Randalstown Central Primary School. We are all excited at the thought of how powerful it will be in the future when a whole generation of children has learned to see the inherent worth of every person “no matter how………….” and not to forget or excuse the undeserved hurt done to them but to forgive. We are excited to see how a generation of children will share their learning with their families and then older generations, who are perhaps carrying unresolved resentment or inter-generational trauma themselves, might be taught to forgive.

We were so fortunate that Robert Enright was able to make the journey to Belfast, one that he has made many times over two decades, and we are very thankful for his continued support with implementing Forgiveness Education in N.Ireland.

An audio recording of the lecture is available to listen to below.

Are you passionate about outdoor learning in mathematics? Are you currently teaching in Key Stage 2 / Upper Primary?

A team led by Dr Pamela Moffett at Stranmillis University College and Dr Siún Nic Mhuirí from Dublin City University are keen to recruit interested teachers to join a Professional Learning Community (PLC) to develop and trial outdoor mathematical activities. Information below!

To express your interest in participating, please email e.symington@stran.ac.uk by Fri 27^th January 2023.

Outdoor Learning in Mathematics

This project, funded by the SCoTENS, aims to build teacher capacity for outdoor learning in mathematics through cross-border collaboration. We plan to develop an online resource for teachers to support their planning for teaching mathematics outdoors and to equip them with a variety of ideas for leading experiential mathematical activities in the outdoor environment.

In this phase of the project, we will be working with a Professional Learning Community (PLC) comprised of teachers from the North and South of Ireland to develop and trial activities.

Researchers

• Dr Pamela Moffett, Stranmillis University College, P.Moffett@stran.ac.uk
• Dr Siún Nic Mhuirí, Dublin City University, Siun.NicMhuiri@dcu.ie

Details of the project

We are inviting teachers to join the PLC and work with us to develop and trial outdoor mathematical activities for Key Stage 2 / Upper Primary.

Should you decide to participate in this project, you will meet online with the researchers and other members of the PLC approximately three times over the course of this year. You will be expected to contribute to discussions about teaching mathematics outdoors and to develop and trial outdoor mathematics activities with your class. You will also be expected to maintain a reflective diary throughout the duration of the project and to collect samples of children’s work and take photos and/or videos of children. These will be shared with the researchers and other members of the PLC during the online group meetings. Should we wish to use any of the samples of children’s work, photos or videos on the project website, we will seek the consent of the relevant parents/guardians and children before we do so. The online group meetings will be audio-recorded for research purposes.

Information and consent forms will be shared with children and parents/guardians prior to the project starting. We are happy to answer any questions that parents/guardians and/or children may have about this project. All participation is voluntary and there will be no penalty should you decide not to participate or if you decide to withdraw at any stage. Parents/guardians and children have the right to withdraw from the project at any time (without penalty) and can do so by contacting the researchers using the information above.

We would be happy to speak with you to answer any questions you may have. You may contact us directly using the information above.

Anticipated benefits

It is anticipated that the teachers participating in the PLC will benefit in a professional capacity from collaborating together to inform the development of the online resource. It is also expected that they will benefit from opportunities to develop their capacity to provide quality outdoor learning experiences in mathematics. Project outputs should help to raise awareness of how the outdoor environment can be used to support learning in mathematics across the broader teaching community. Ultimately, it is believed that the project will enhance children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in mathematics, their engagement in learning, and their health and wellbeing.

Ethical considerations

The research will be conducted to the highest standards with careful attention to rigour and integrity at each stage of the process and in line with the BERA ethical guidelines. The confidentiality of research participants will be ensured at all stages in the research, from data collection to analysis and publication, subject to legal limitations. All data will be held securely on a password protected webserver at Stranmillis University College and protected from external intrusion. Data will be destroyed no later than five years after completion of the project. All efforts will be made to protect the anonymity of participating teachers and children in reports and presentations associated with this project. Pseudonyms will be used for all participants in written reports. As this is a small-scale study it is not possible to guarantee complete anonymity. Participation in the project is entirely voluntary. Anyone who wishes to withdraw may do so, without penalty, at any point. He/she may inform the researchers via email. Anyone who wishes to withdraw will be consulted regarding the use of their data. If they are not happy for it to be used in the study, it will removed.