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Expressive Arts Days empower future teaching talent
Trainee teachers at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) learned about the value of creative arts in primary schools through a series of Expressive Arts Days. Led by Sarah Howe, Ruth Pearson and Mark Larrad, Seniors Lecturers in Primary at BGU, the aim of these carousel sessions was to show the trainees how art activities could support their teaching, even if they didn’t believe art was one of their skills. The activities included sessions on approaches to painting from still life, the value of 'small world' play across the primary curriculum, as well as the opportunity to design art around the theme of blossom trees on the BGU campus. Despite not always having a prominent focus in curriculum plans, creative arts offer a wealth of opportunities to encourage and support pupils, as Mark Larrad explained: “It is often stated that the arts are crowded out of the National Curriculum. As educators we have a duty to ensure the next generation of teachers is empowered to be able plan and teach purposeful and motivational expressive arts activities, knowing they are making a real difference to outcomes for children and their schools. All teachers should be able to teach art, not just those who considered themselves to be artists, and the sessions provided support for all those who realise their main challenge is to inspire the disposition to create in all the class, not just those children who have a special talent. Ultimately, whilst we know that art will always have a less prominent focus in school than the core subjects, like English, Maths or Science, we aimed to ensure trainees were empowered to be able to ensure that what little time they for expressive arts in school will really count, so maximum benefit is achieved; and the enthusiastic feedback we had suggests the trainees found all of these sessions really useful. We´re looking forward to repeating the carousel next year.” If you’d like more information on how to begin your adventure in the world of education, visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today to find out more about our range of PGCE and Primary Education courses. -
Student Votes Lead to a Night of Celebration for BGU at WhatUni Awards
It was a night to celebrate for Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) at the Whatuni 2019 Student Choice Awards with its Student Support services named 3rd best in the country and its Accommodation team securing 6th place in their category. The Whatuni Student Choice Awards are an annual celebration of the best universities and higher education institutions in the UK. Every single award has been voted for by students with over 41,000 from across the UK taking part this year. Students at BGU were keen to praise the support they receive, both academic and personal, whilst studying along with the quality of the University's accommodation. Phil Davis, Head of Student Support at BGU, expressed his pride at the range of support offered by teams across the university being recognised by students: “We are thrilled to have been recognised as one of the top three universities for student support services. This achievement is all the more important to us because the awards are driven by student opinions, it’s great that BGU’s students have made such positive remarks about the support available and that the services offered by our community are so highly valued” Rachel Crane, Accommodation Manager at BGU, was also delighted to have been recognised by students: “It is an honour to be in the WhatUni Accommodation Top 10, especially as this has come from our students sharing their positive experiences of BGU” The Accommodation Team’s inclusion in the Whatuni Top 10 continues a successful year for them following Student Crowd placing BGU’s accommodation amongst the top 20 best accommodations in the country. In a survey of over 17,000 students from across the UK carried out by the student review website Student Crowd, BGU’s “incredible accommodation” was praised for its cleanliness, social opportunities and ultimate high quality. If you’d like more information on how to experience our award winning student experience for yourself, visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today. -
42nd Implicit Religion Conference to Explore Human Rights, Punk Rock and UFOs
The 42nd Implicit Religion Conference will be held at BGU from 17th – 19th of May. Scholars will gather from around the world to discuss questions and ideas of what we mean when we talk about terms such as ‘religion’, ‘secular’, ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’. The theme of the conference for this year is “Religion and the Encounter” and through that we will be examining the ways that structural inequality in areas of race, gender, sexuality and non-human lifeforms are encountered, controlled, shaped and marginalised. The Edward Bailey lecture keynote address will take place on Friday 17th from 7:30 -9pm in the Hardy building. It is free to members of the public and will be delivered this year by Professor Tim Jenkins from Cambridge University, who will be speaking on "Encounters with Aliens: research into images of life elsewhere." This will be focused on his research into reports of flying saucers, and will draw some tentative conclusions about the nature of religion and what ‘implicit’ means in the contemporary period. In addition to the Edward Bailey lecture the conference will have papers on Human Rights, Human suffering, pain and death, Education policies, football, punk rock and the implicit religion of The Smurfs. The Edward Bailey Lecture is free to members of public and is held in the Hardy building from 7:30 -9pm on Friday the 17th May. There are also a small number of audience spaces available to interested members of the public in each of the panel sessions – Please feel free to email Dr Francis Stewart at BGU francis.stewart@bishopg.ac.uk If you’re interested in a future exploring and discussing religion then our Theology courses and RE teaching pathways could be for you. Visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today for more information. -
BGU Launches First Distance Learning Degree Programme
Academics from Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) School of Social Sciences have collaborated closely with the Centre for Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) to design the University’s first distance learning degree programme. -
Students reflect on “inspirational” Thailand trip
Students and staff from Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) visited the University’s partner institute in Thailand to undertake some teaching and learn about Thai language and culture. -
School of Teacher Development at the TEAN Conference
On the 9th and 10th of May, a group of academics and students from the School of Teacher Development represented BGU at the 10th annual Teacher Education Advancement Network conference, in Birmingham. The TEAN conference offers an opportunity for colleagues to spend time together to share great practice and ideas. The team thoroughly enjoyed the conference, which showcased research from across the UK, with a focus on initial teacher training. The conference is a brilliant opportunity to meet colleagues from institutions and schools who are involved with the training and support of teacher trainees. -
School of Teacher Development Primary Team undertake research in Copenhagen
Dr Emma Clarke, Aimee Quickfall and Shaun Thompson of the School of Teacher Development Primary Team have visited the University College of Copenhagen (UCC) this week as part of their ongoing research on the well-being of teacher trainees. The visit was organised with the help of Sabine Lam, the international coordinator at UCC and Erasmus funding. Aimee told us about the collaboration, "Working with colleagues at UCC has been a fantastic experience. We have been made very welcome on the Carlsberg Campus and everyone we have spoken with has given us new insights and ideas." Emma, Shaun and Aimee collected data from students, lecturers and newly graduated teachers who are now embarking on their first teaching job. Participants have been interviewed on their perceptions of well-being on their training programmes, as well as being asked to identify challenges and resources that impact on well-being. They have also engaged in drawing timelines of how their well-being, challenges, resources and other personal factors have changed over time. Emma commented on the findings so far, "It is exciting and illuminating working with international peers, students and teachers. Specific key themes are now emerging which we aim to use to develop a larger research bid to enable us to continue with this exciting project." The team are looking at examples of good practice in European teacher training, including Finnish, Swedish, Dutch and Danish contexts as a comparison with data collected in the UK. The aim is to inform ITE programme planning and delivery, as well as sharing findings with partnership schools and other colleagues engaged in training teachers. Shaun, regional partnership lead for Primary ITE commented, “Despite many similarities in the issues facing teachers and schools throughout these European countries, the research has provided us with valuable insight into some pertinent challenges and resources relating to well-being, and more importantly, how to maintain the balance. Hopefully, we can now draw upon some of these and consider them within our own ITE programmes, as well as supporting our school partners, to ensure that well-being remains a key priority within education.” If you would like to find about more about the teaching training courses that BGU offer please visit our postgraduate training courses. -
New Experiences and Unforgettable Memories: Life as an International Student
Iman Khan travelled over 3000 miles to join the student community at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU). Now reaching the end of her MA in Education with TESOL course, Iman has been reflecting on her experiences as an international student, and how BGU became a home she will never forget: -
Lecturer aims to bring lessons from the forest into the classroom
Paul Brenham-Foster, Senior Lecturer in Primary at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), has been presented with a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner Award following a year of training and delivering sessions with local schools. The training, which included an initial week introducing the ethos and theory behind forest school, sits alongside an online portfolio covering health and safety, ecology, delivery of sessions, theories of play, learning and development. Both of these were followed by a practical assessment week, out in the woods, which explored a number of aspects including camp fire cookery, safe use of tools and fire, planning for holistic development and nature study skills. The Forest School Association defines Forest School as: ‘an inspirational process, which offers all learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees. It is a specialised learning approach that sits within and complements the wider context of outdoor and woodland education.’ The ethos is shared by thousands of trained practitioners across the UK and beyond. Its roots reach back to early years pioneers in outdoor learning and overseas to Scandinavia. As part of the approach, all participants are viewed as: equal, unique and valuable competent to explore & discover entitled to experience appropriate risk and challenge entitled to choose, and to initiate and drive their own learning and development entitled to experience regular success entitled to develop positive relationships with themselves and other people entitled to develop a strong, positive relationship with their natural world Following his award, Paul discussed why he became involved in the initiative and what he hoped its impact could be on the students at BGU: “Having worked in the Foundation Stage for over 20 years, the importance of outdoor learning and the Forest School approach affirms my own personal philosophy on teaching and learning within Early Years.” “With the increased focus schools have on mental health and well-being, it is important our trainees have an awareness of approaches such as Forest School as they begin their careers.” “The aim is for all trainees across the Primary programmes to experience the sessions as a participant and to begin to understand some of the theory behind the approach and hopefully be inspired to train as a Forest School practitioner at some point in their career.” Paul is currently researching how the Forest School approach can be used within school’s to promote children’s mental health and well-being and the importance of risky play in children’s development. If you’d like to find out more about innovative and diverse primary education course visit our website, speak to a member of our Enquiries Team or join us on one of our Open Days. -
Staff and Students Reflect on Research with IMPact
Two tutors and two 2nd year students from the BA Primary Education course at Bishop Grosseteste University have had an article published in IMPact the University of Lincoln’s journal for Higher Education research. Dr Ashley Compton and Emma Rogers, both lecturers in Primary at BGU, co-authored the paper alongside students Christopher Johnstone and Dan Waite. The paper reflects on their learning about research through researching with children as part of the ‘Beginning to Research’ module of the Primary Education course. During this module the students learn about designing and undertaking research, including the ethics involved, and then have two days when children come on to campus to take part in the research projects. Staff at the University of Lincoln read about the research days on the BGU website and contacted Ashley and Emma asking for a write up of the experience for their journal. Following the publication Dr Compton discussed the unusual opportunities for reflection it offered: “The process of writing an article about practice makes you reflect quite deeply on what you're trying to achieve with that practice and what theory underpins it - things we don't always articulate when focusing on our research” “Both Emma and I felt it was important to incorporate staff and student perspectives and were delighted that Christopher and Dan were able to work with us, both have been excited about being published authors now” The paper has now been published and is available to read in the first anniversary edition of IMPact. If you’d like more information on how to begin your adventure in the world of education, visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today to find out more about our range of PGCE and Primary Education courses.
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