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Science, Faith and the Climate Crisis: BGU Staff and Students Support New Collaborative Project
Staff and a final year student have contributed to an international project exploring why science and faith must work together on climate crisis. -
Using Shared Reading to explore the ‘telling’ of death
Earlier this year, at the 2020 Death and Dying conference, attendees came together to discuss how shared reading could explore the ‘telling’ of death. One of the goals of the workshop was to use art to capture a ‘live’ response that included something of the personal and transitory nature of the event. Aimee Quickfall, Head of Programmes for Primary Education and Early Years at BGU, Dr Clare Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Development, and Dr John Rimmer, Senior Lecturer PGCE secondary (art and design), share their feedback on the unique and engaging experience. Using Shared Reading to explore the ‘telling’ of death Academic and Creative Responses to Death and Dying Conference, BGU 2020 Dr Clare Lawrence, Aimee Quickfall, Dr John Rimmer Shared Reading is an approach pioneered and developed by Jane Davis to use the read-aloud experience of literary texts to explore group participants’ reflections, thoughts and memories, where the text is presented as a live presence, not as something pre-read or an object of study. This Shared Reading workshop was part of a conference that had as its theme, How to tell the children, and as such used texts that explored the ‘telling’ of death, and the experience of parents’ death as understood by the (adult) child of those parents. The text chosen were Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act IV sc. v and Charles Causley’s poem Eden Rock. Throughout the workshop Aimee Quickfall took notes visually, sketching and drawing as the participants talked. These sketches sought to capture something of the perspectives and experiences of those who took part, less to create a factual record and more to produce a live response that included something of the personal and transitory nature of the event. This method builds on the work of Heath and Chapman (2018), who believe that ‘a sketch does something different to, say, a photograph or a written field note’ (Heath and Chapman, 2018 p. 715). Back and Puwar (2012) suggest that the nature of data that is generated through sketching is different from that generated through other methods, not least because of what drawing, of necessity, leaves out. The artist must choose what to record, so that the record is always synthesised and personalised in a way that a mechanical record is not. Midgley (2011) believes that this means that drawing can capture passions and tensions in a way that other means of recording do not. The discussions during the workshop were then further synthesised by John Rimmer, who worked what was discussed into a piece of highly abstract animated art, reflecting his interpretation of the themes that were explored. These academic and Creative responses to the workshop will be shared in due course through published output. If you’d like to explore a future as part of diverse learning community, speak to a member of our Enquiries Team, or book onto an Open Event to find out how to take your first steps. References: Back, L., & Puwar, N. (2012). A manifesto for live methods: provocations and capacities. The sociological review, 60, 6-17. Heath, S., Chapman, L., & Centre Sketchers, T. M. (2018). Observational sketching as method. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 21(6), 713-728. Midgley, J. (2011). Drawing Lives-Reportage at Work. Studies in Material Thinking, (4). Retrieved, 5. -
Putting Smiles at the Heart of Teaching: Children's (Un) Happiness explored in Senior Lecturer's new book
If you ask parents what they most want for their child, many will say something like this: ‘I just want my child to be happy’. Whilst most understand that they cannot ensure their children are permanently happy, they are often unprepared for seeing their children frequently or deeply sad. ‘Why are our children so unhappy?’ is a question that baffles parents worldwide but a new book edited by Dr Maria Efstratopoulou aims to provide an understanding of the factors that influence children’s emotions which it believes is essential for anyone interacting with young children. Differing from most books in the field, which focus on offering advice to professionals on how to manage children’s behaviour, Bring My Smile Back: Working with Unhappy Children in Education aims to explore the crucial link between emotions, well-being and learning and the wider social factors affecting children’s happiness. The authors, including several of Dr Efstratopoulou’s colleagues at BGU, draw from a range of experience, examples, case studies and educational approaches to engage with children’s’ wellbeing and emotions. With chapters covering areas such as ‘Can we define happiness?’, supporting children with communication problems and the ‘(Un)Happiness of Black and Ethnic Minority Children’ Bring My Smile Back focuses on children’s happiness rather than their academic achievements and positive behaviour, in essence putting children’s Smiles at the heart of teaching. Writing in the book’s forward Professor Scott Fleming, Deputy Vice-Chancellor in BGU, praised the publication’s accessible exploration as a “landmark contribution” to education: “Children’s wellbeing and happiness have become matters of global concern. This important and exciting collection brings together the work of an impressive team of International Social science scholars and practitioners to address these challenges. Its timing could hardly be better. The chapters have a very accessible structure and format, they are conceptually sophisticated and have an explicit applied professional practitioner emphasis. They should be read by students, researchers, policy-makers and those responsible for service delivery. If they are Bring my smile back: Working with unhappy children in education is likely to become a landmark contribution. I am delighted to endorse a book that features my colleagues from Bishop Grosseteste University. With a rich heritage in teacher education and training, this book is an embodiment of many of our traditional values as well as a firm commitment to health-related subject fields that form part of our portfolio of undergraduate and taught postgraduate awards” Also involved in the publication were Craig Bridge, Educational Psychologist and Lecturer, Dr. Hadiza Kere Abdulrahman, Lecturer of Inclusive Education and Dr.Tracy Jeffery, Lecturer in SENI all from BGU. If you are interested in exploring a future in education and psychology than visit our course pages or speak to a member of our Enquiries Team to find out how BGU could be the place for you. -
BGU Vice-Chancellor Elected Chair of Two National Higher Education Groups
The Vice-Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, has been elected chair of two national groups. The first of these groups is the Cathedrals Group of Universities which consists of 14 institutions in England and 1 in Wales, all of which are church foundation universities. The second group is the Teacher Education Advisory Group (TEAG) which is a sub-group of both Universities UK and GuildHE, the two main mission groups of universities. All universities which offer teacher education courses are members of this group. Speaking following the dual announcement Professor Neil commented: "It is a huge honour to be asked to lead both of these organisations as they are integral to the heritage and work of BGU. It is important for BGU to be active in national organisations as it both raises our profile and gives us access to expertise from across the sector." In addition to these new roles Professor Neil continues to hold the position of Convenor of the Europe Chapter of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) and serves as an international Trustee. -
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