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Tag: SCoTENS

Stran at SCoTENS 2024: research launched at all-Ireland teacher education conference

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

The 22nd Annual SCoTENS conference took place last Thursday and Friday at the Slieve Russell Hotel in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan, with Stranmillis well represented at this year’s event.

SCoTENS – short for the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South – was established in 2003 following the Good Friday Agreement to promote cross-border collaboration in teacher education on the island of Ireland. As part of this work, SCoTENs organises an annual conference, a student-teacher exchange programme, and provides seed funding for research projects.

Among the major reports launched at the event was the Cultural Responsivity in Teacher Education: Research in Action report – known as the CRiTERiA project – co-led by SUC’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Prof Patricia Eaton in conjunction with teams from Dublin City University, University of Galway, and Queen’s University Belfast.

Stranmillis staff were also represented across the two-day conference, including

  • Dr Jayne Moore, who presented with Dublin City University’s Dr Regina Murphy, on their report ‘Co-constructing understandings of inclusion and democracy through music education with student teachers in North and South’
  • Ms Catriona Rogers and Ms Paula Carlin, presenting with Dr Alison Moore from University College Cork, on their research ‘Facilitating Reflection and Dialogue Across Borders: Establishing a Community of Practice to enhance early years placement experience in Ireland’
  • Dr Gillian Beck, presenting her research ‘Promoting sensory pedagogy for all: a whole class teaching approach to sensory education provision’

Stranmillis University College’s Director of Research and Scholarship, a previous Chair and current member of of SCoTENS Committee, also chaired a panel discussion around a keynote address of the conference from Mr John Lonergan, ‘The challenges that still exist in our efforts to create a fair, just, equal, and inclusive society on the island of Ireland – why teachers play a vital role in helping us to achieve this dream’.

Find out more about SCoTENS on their website here: https://scotens.org/

Taoiseach announces research funding for Stranmillis-led ‘BUDDIES project’

Posted on by Andrew McAteer

An all-Ireland team led by Stranmillis University College’s Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement (CREU) have been successful in being awarded a significant funding award for research through the Irish government’s Shared Island initiative and SCoTENS. The development was announced today in a keynote address to the Shared Island Forum by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.

The BUDDIES Project will examine the role and potential of the Home-School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinator in terms of addressing educational disadvantage across the island of Ireland.

The research will be a collaborative project with University College Dublin (UCD) and Marino Institute of Education (MIE).

Led by Dr Glenda Walsh, Assistant Director of CREU and Head of Early Years Education, the Stranmillis research team includes Dr Jill Dunn, Dr Ken Gibson and Dr Karen Orr, working in conjunction with southern partners Dr Seaneen Sloan at UCD, and Dr Cliodhna Martin at MIE.

Professor Colleen McLaughlin, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Cambridge, will play a role as an expert advisor.

The HSCL works at the intersection between home and school, supporting children and families in the process, particularly in areas of high deprivation and those at risk of educational underachievement. It is all about enhancing partnerships with families so that they value and support their children’s education more fully.

The research aims to provide a fuller understanding of the role of HSCL coordinators across the full educational spectrum and to guide policy-makers and practitioners in their knowledge and appreciation of the value of HSCL coordinators, particularly for those facing disadvantage.

Welcoming the news, Dr Glenda Walsh said “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with University College Dublin and Marino Institute of Education on such a timely and significant project.  Positive home-school partnerships are hugely beneficial in terms of tackling educational underachievement so learning more about best practice in this field will no doubt prove beneficial across the educational spectrum.”

Director of CREU, Dr Noel Purdy, said “There is so much to be learnt from the sharing of experiences and expertise with our closest neighbours and so we are very grateful to SCoTENS and the Shared Island initiative for funding this north-south research.  I know that the findings will be keenly anticipated by school leaders, researchers and policy makers on both sides of the border.”

Five Staff at SCoTENS Conference

Posted on by stran-admin
From left: Dr William Kitchen, Dr Noel Purdy, Denise Elliott, Dr Benda McKay-Redmond, Dr Barbara McConnell

Five members of Stranmillis staff attended the 17th annual SCoTENS conference held on 17-18 October 2019 in the beautiful surroundings of the Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell, County Cavan.
This year’s theme was “Leadership Across Boundaries: Challenges for Educators and Teacher Educators”, a theme which resonated with delegates given the pressures and challenges resulting from the widening diversity of student needs, increasing accountability, performance management, reducing budgets and a prescriptive policy context.

Almost 100 delegates attended from all over the island of Ireland, and were welcomed by Dr Noel Purdy (Stranmillis University College – northern co-chair) and by Mr Ian McKenna, International Cooperation Section, Department of Education and Skills (funding department) who commended the outstanding work of SCoTENS.

There were two outstanding keynote addresses: by Professor Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools, Boston College; and by Professor Paul Miller, Head of the School of Education and Professor of Educational Leadership and Social Justice, University of Greenwich.

This year for the first time there were also research presentations following a ‘call for papers’. This attracted a wide range of insightful presentations by researchers from north and south of the border, leading to stimulating questions and discussions.

The conference also featured the third annual doctoral roundtable where ten doctoral students were given an opportunity to present their ongoing research work and receive informal feedback from their peers and SCoTENS committee members.

On Thursday evening Professor Cochran-Smith launched a newly published book on ‘Teacher Preparation in Northern Ireland: History, Policy and Future Directions’ authored by Dr Sean Farren (UU), Professor Linda Clarke (UU) and Dr Teresa O’Doherty (Marino Institute of Education). This was followed by the presentation of this year’s John Coolahan Award by Professor Miller to Lorraine Harbison (DCU) and Shauna McGill (UU) for their seed funded report on ‘Universal Design for Learning as a Context for Embedding technology in Primary School Mathematics’. At the close of the conference dinner, Mr Andy Pollak, founding Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, launched the 2018 SCoTENS Annual Report.

The final session of the conference was a Panel Discussion chaired by Dr Conor Galvin featuring both keynote speakers as well as invited guests: Sam Gallaher (Chief Executive of the GTCNI), Dr Margaret O’Donovan (UCC), Lady Rosemary Salisbury (Freelance Educational and Commercial Training Consultant) and Dr Joe Moynihan (UCC).

In his closing remarks, Dr Noel Purdy (northern co-chair) paid tribute to outgoing southern co-chair Prof Kathy Hall (UCC) and thanked her for her dedication, professionalism and commitment during her three years in office. He announced that the incoming southern co-chair would be Dr Maria Campbell, St Angela’s College, Sligo.

For further information about the conference including photos and recordings of the main sessions, please go to the SCoTENS website www.scotens.org
To read more about the removal of funding to SCoTENS by the northern government departments, please see the BBC news article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-50144561