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Category: Stranmillis News

Stranmillis congratulates educators recognised in King’s Birthday Honours List

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

The recently announced King’s Birthday Honours List recognises those who have made a very significant contribution to society. In Northern Ireland this year, the list includes many honoured for their services to Education.

Commenting on the announcement of the list, Prof. Jonathan Heggarty, MBE, Principal and CEO of Stranmillis University College said.

“On behalf of Stranmillis University College, I would like to congratulate all those whose dedicated service to education has been recognized this year. Education touches everyone in Northern Ireland and plays a key role in building better futures for all. The number of honourees for their services to education reflects the vital role played by teachers, leaders, officials and all others involved in education.”

“Our special congratulations go to Queen’s University Belfast Vice Chancellor Professor Ian Greer DL, who was Knighted in the Honours List. A world-renowned academic and leader who has lead Queen’s University since 2018, Professor Greer has made a significant impact on Queen’s University, the wider education landscape and the reputation of Northern Ireland, nationally and internationally.”

“We are also particularly delighted that one of our Board of Governors, Mrs Heather Miller has been awarded a MBE for her services to education.”

“Our sincere congratulations also go to:

  • Professor Vincent Fusco, Queen’s University Belfast, awarded the CBE; Shirley Jones, Department of Education; Roisin Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education; Fiona McDonald, Principal, Drumnamoe Nursery School and Sharon Tennant, lately Principal of Sandelford Special School, who were all awarded the OBE
  • Professor Ruth Fee, Ulster University; Catherine Humphrey, Principal, Groggan Primary School; Sean Dillon, Principal, Primate Dixon Primary School; and Wilson McCluggage, Queen’s University Belfast, who were all awarded the MBE
  • Gillian Gough, for services to education in Co. Armagh, Veronica Hammersley, School Crossing Patrol Officer, Patrick McCullough, Queen’s University Belfast and Dorothy Moore, Crumlin Integrated Primary School, who were all awarded the BEM.”

Transfer Talk! Share your experiences of school transfer without tests

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

Would you like to share your experiences of school transfer without tests in 2021?

Stranmillis University College and the Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement (CREU) would like to hear about the experiences of school pupils and parents of school pupils who were in P7  when transfer tests were cancelled due to Covid-19.

This research project is entitled Transfer Talk: Exploring the lived experiences of NI school transfer without tests in 2021, and has been funded by the Office of the Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland, a follow up to our recent Nuffield-funded project entitled “Testing Times”.

To gather your views, we have created two online surveys.

If you are the parent of a pupil who was P7 in 2020/2021, please click here.

If you are a pupil who was P7 in 2020/2021 please click here to access the survey for you

When you enter the survey you will find more information on the research.

Surveys close at midnight on Friday 30th June 2023.

If you have any questions, you can email the lead researcher Prof Noel Purdy (n.purdy@stran.ac.uk).

Past Presidents’ Dinner

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

Past Presidents’ Dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of our Centenary celebrations, the College was delighted to welcome back over 30 former Students’ Union Presidents for a special celebratory dinner. A hugely enjoyable evening of reconnecting and reminiscing, one of the highlights was a highly entertaining “On the Couch” interview session with Past Presidents Ronnie Barron (1953), Heather Lyle (nee Brown, 1988), Sara Stewart (nee Lindsay, 2009) and Chris P0llock (2019).

 

 

Stranmillis celebrates World Daily Mile Day with Fane Street PS at Windsor Park

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

A special Daily Mile took place at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park today to join global celebrations of World Daily Mile Day and all the positive benefits that daily activity has on the physical and mental health of children.

Children from Fane Street Primary School joined Northern Ireland International Niall McGinn, Irish FA Foundation Director James Thompson, Daily Mile Northern Ireland Co-Chairs Dr Barbara McConnell and Dr Brenda McKay-Redmond, Stranmillis University Vice-Principal Professor Ken Gibson and final year Early Childhood Studies students to celebrate World Daily Mile Day with a Daily Mile around the famous pitch at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park.

Irish FA Foundation Director James Thompson said, “The Irish FA Foundation coaches inspire a lifelong love for physical activity amongst young people in schools and communities across Northern Ireland. We are delighted to host this special World Daily Mile Day celebration and to promote the benefits of Daily Mile activity for all children and young people.
Daily Mile Northern Ireland Co-Chairs and Stranmillis lecturers Dr Barbara McConnell and Dr Brenda McKay-Redmond said, “This is such a historic occasion to be celebrating World Daily Mile day with the children of Fane Street Primary School who have a diversity of 44 different world languages in their school and in such a National Football stadium such as Windsor Park. The ethos of The Daily Mile is for physical activity to be social, non-competitive and fun. It encourages children to be aware of their health and make connections with their peers and teachers. Perhaps, this inspirational venue and with these role model players some of these boys and girls could be the future footballers of NI!”.

Grammar vs Non-Grammar in NI: new report highlights consistently stark social differences in pupil intake

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

Testing Times – Northern Ireland Post-Primary School Transfer without Tests in 2021, a new research report from Stranmillis University College’s Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement (CREU), examines some of the lessons from the ‘non-testing’ year of post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland, when AQE and GL tests were postponed and eventually cancelled as a result of Covid-19 public health concerns.

The issue of post-primary transfer by means of academic selection has been the focus of a highly polarised policy debate in Northern Ireland (as in other jurisdictions) for many years.  With the cancellation of transfer tests for P7 pupils in 2020-21, grammar schools were forced to develop a range of alternative admissions criteria, quite different from previous years.

This timely research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, seeks to capture the learning from this unique year, by examining the range of admissions criteria adopted by grammar schools, assessing the impact of these on the social and demographic background of pupils accepted into grammar and non-grammar schools, and evaluating the impact on the distance for pupils to travel, in comparison with previous years.

The study found that:

  • Grammar schools exercised their freedom to set their own admissions criteria in the non-testing year, prioritising having an older sibling already at the school; having already registered for the AQE/GL tests in that year; being the eldest/first/only child in the family; having a sibling who was previously enrolled at the school; and attending a listed feeder primary school.
  • Additional information provided to parents alongside the admissions criteria frequently highlighted grammar schools’ commitment to academic selection as the principal method of entry to their school, and their intention to revert to academic selection in subsequent years. A majority also referred to fees payable.
  • Analysis of the (non-testing) 2021-22 year 8 grammar and non-grammar school cohorts compared to the previous year 2020-21 showed very minimal differences in terms of gender, newcomer children, level of deprivation, distance travelled to school, and the percentage of the cohort with Free School Meal Entitlement and Special Educational Needs (including with statements). Figures for ethnicity and children in care were too low to allow a comparison to be made.  System-level attainment data for the cohort were not available.
  • While there was little change in the demographic composition of the year 8 cohort transferring to post-primary schools in 2021-22, the data reveal very stark differences (consistent over the past four years, including the non-testing year) in the pupil cohorts entering year 8 in grammar schools when compared to non-grammar schools. Using the 2021-22 year 8 cohort by way of example, these differences relate to:
    • Free School Meals (grammar: 15.8% vs non-grammar: 39%)
    • Special Educational Needs (grammar: 5.6% vs non-grammar: 25.2%)
    • Newcomer children (grammar: 1.1% vs non-grammar: 5.8%).
    • Level of Deprivation (grammar school intakes are skewed towards the higher (less deprived) MDM deciles and non-grammar school intakes are skewed towards the lower (more deprived) MDM deciles, though important differences were noted by school management type).

Speaking about the report, Director of CREU and Principal Investigator of the research, Prof Noel Purdy, said “We hope that the findings presented in this report will help unlock the current policy paralysis around academic selection in Northern Ireland, and encourage fresh evidence-based discussion among all interested parties (politicians, policy-makers, school leaders, parents and children) around the future of post-primary transfer in Northern Ireland.”

The full report, including executive summary, can be downloaded here.

An online event launching the report will take place 2.00-3.30pm GMT on 25th April 2023. You can register for this free event here.

NOTES

  • The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare, and Justice. It also funds student programmes that provide opportunities for young people to develop skills in quantitative and scientific methods. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. The Foundation has funded this project, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the Foundation. Visit nuffieldfoundation.org
  • About CREU: The Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement (CREU) was launched in 2018 with the core aim of engaging in a focused portfolio of innovative interdisciplinary research into educational underachievement in Northern Ireland. See: https://www.stran.ac.uk/research/creu/
  • Previous Covid-19 / education research reports by the Stranmillis CREU team can be found here: https://www.stran.ac.uk/research/creu/creu-news-and-blogs/
  • Contact details: for further information, contact: Prof Noel Purdy Email: n.purdy@stran.ac.uk

Stranmillis welcomes Danish experts in Playful Learning

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

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 21st 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.”