Guest Speakers

CHRIS CHAPMAN
Burren College of Art

Keynote: The Potential for the Inner Development Goals to stimulate and develop curriculum.

Presentation link

Chris has designed and led initiatives at the Burren College of Art to encourage a more creative, collaborative and inclusive education system. These have led directly to
the Irish Citizens Assembly on the Future of Education scheduled for later in 2023 and also an OECD sponsored project to narrow the gap between day-to-day school realities and policy making processes.
​
Chris is a member of the global outreach team for the Inner Development Goals (IDG's).  The IDGs have been developed to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and are being used in many places as a support for curriculum development initiatives.

DR LEE JEROME
Middlesex University

Session Title:
Impactful Citizenship Education

Presentation link

As Associate Professor of Education at Middlesex University, Lee works with colleagues to build research capacity and is the course leader for the MA Childhood and Education in Diverse Societies.

​He has worked in schools, charities and higher education for the past twenty years, starting as a teacher of history and sociology in London secondary schools. He become Education Director at the Institute for Citizenship, and then moved into the university sector where he has taught on a variety of undergraduate, post graduate and professional courses in traditional face to face classrooms and on-line environments.

He is the Research Director for the Association for Citizenship (ACT) Active Citizenship in School Programme, a member of the ACT Council and is a Five Nations Country Lead for England.

---

Workshops

Workshop #1
RYAN MASON
Addey & Stanhope School

Session title: Curriculum Design for Citizenship Education in Context. A Case Study from an  Inner London Comprehensive School
IDG: Thinking
Presentation Link
Ryan is Curriculum Leader for Humanities at Addey and Stanhope School. He is a trained Citizenship teacher and has been leading the subject and teaching Citizenship explicitly in the curriculum for over ten years. Ryan has been involved in working with ACT and contributed to national curriculum development projects. Ryan’s approach to teaching the subject has been positively recognised by Ofsted.

Session Details: The workshop aims to explore the approach of an inner London comprehensive school’s curriculum design for Citizenship education. There will be a focus on how political literacy and critical thinking is built in and key examples of student work. The workshop will discuss how the curriculum responds to the school’s context to engage the students in relevant learning. Participants will be able to reflect on their own school provision and share practical tips on how to enhance their own curriculum design for Citizenship education. The focus will be on how good curriculum design responds to specific school and community contextual factors.

Workshop #2
​LESLEY EMERSON
Queen's University Belfast

Session title: Strategies for using personal narratives to develop empathy in the citizenship classroom

IDG: Relating
Presentation Link
Lesley is a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast. Her research interests seek to make a difference in children and young people's lives, particularly in the contexts of school and community. She has particular interest in: Political education (including citizenship education and human rights education) – with a particular focus on critical pedagogical and deliberative approaches to teaching controversial issues; and Children’s rights - with a focus on children’s participation rights, children's civil and political rights, children's wellbeing and participatory approaches to research with children. Lesley also teaches PGCE Subject Studies: Methods for Teaching and Learning for Social Sciences and Religious Education; Citizenship Education.  Lesley is a Five Nations Country Lead for Northern Ireland.

Session Details: This workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to engage with a range of strategies for exploring personal narratives in general, with a particular focus on the accounts of those affected by conflict. As such the workshop will connect Sustainable Development Goal 16 (promoting peaceful and inclusive societies) with the Inner Development Goal of Relating (...ability to relate to others... with kindness, empathy and compassion). Participants will explore ways of using video interviews, narrative text and 'soundscapes' to engage young people with both the personal and the political in the stories of others.

Workshop #3
Session Title: Collaborating for culture competence and an inclusive mindset
IDG: Collaborating
Presentation Link

MÉLINA VALDELIÈVRE & RACHEL CLARKE
​Education Scotland / Apex Educate

Mélina Valdelièvre started her career as an English teacher in Scotland and she was granted a US scholarship to research racial dialogue in education. Mélina co-founded The Anti-Racist Educator collective before joining Education Scotland as the Programme Lead for the anti-racist professional learning programme, Building Racial Literacy. As an active member of the Scottish Government's Anti-Racism in Education Programme, Mélina enjoys collaborating with a range of stakeholders who share the same goals of social justice.

As a Deputy Headteacher, a senior lecturer, the grand daughter of the first Black Headteacher in Wales (Betty Campbell) and the daughter of a Headteacher in London, Rachel has an inherent understanding of education. She has developed anti-racist strategies and programmes that have been used across Wales and the rest of the UK that have ensured racial equity is prioritised throughout organisations, both educational and across the public sector. Working with many leaders to improve schools and wider organisations, Rachel is a "passionate, dedicated and inspirational educator, who strives for success with students, educators and others". She is motivated and driven by her refusal to leave the world in the same way she found it.

Session Details:

Racial literacy is essential to effective teaching of citizenship. Educators require racial literacy to help learners make sense of racism, its roots and its consequences in an age and stage appropriate way. The theme of this session is collaboration because collaboration is required for citizenship education; collaboration promotes diversity of perspectives, supports greater racial literacy and enables anti-racism. In this session, two anti-racist educators of colour will share the importance of collaboration and racial literacy for anti-racist education through their personal and professional journeys, supporting Diversity and Anti-Racist Professional Learning (DARPL) in Wales and Building Racial Literacy (BRL) in Scotland. Participants will be invited to reflect on their own experiences of collaboration, develop a better understanding of the need for racial literacy and leave with access to a range of resources and opportunities to support them on their journey.

Workshop #4
Session Title: Collaborating for culture competence and an inclusive mindset
IDG: Acting
Presentation Link
Journal article resource

FIRHOUSE EDUCATE TOGETHER
​SECONDARY SCHOOL

Yanina is a teacher at Fir House School. Yanina believes education is to empower and encourage each student to reach their unique potential. She works to enable and equip students to become critical thinkers and to recognise social inequalities and global risks in society. She provides holistic support for all students through a welcoming and positive classroom environment and creates the classroom conditions that allow learning and active citizenship to flourish.

HELEN BLACHFORD
(PRIORY SCHOOL)

Helen is currently Director of Personal Development and Citizenship at Priory School, a large secondary school in Southsea, Hampshire. In addition she has responsibility for Pupil Voice and Pupil Leadership. Helen initially trained as a secondary teacher in Business Education but has been involved in Citizenship education for over 20 years. She has been a committed member of Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) Council since 2012 and has helped to plan the ACT national conference, written articles for the journal and worked on curriculum briefings to support teachers and Citizenship professionals with the new National Curriculum.  Helen become Chair of ACT Council in 2015 and a Trustee for ACT in 2020. In 2022, Helen was awarded the David Blunkett Outstanding Contribution to Citizenship Award at the inaugural ACT Teaching Awards.

Session Details

​In this workshop we will focus on the educational possibilities arising from students’ everyday experiences of citizenship. Young people experience a whole host of issues that engage them emotionally, from small niggles and annoyances in school, to global environmental concerns, and significant events in their local communities. We’ll discuss the ways in which teachers can use pedagogies for active citizenship to build on these emotional starting points. The main case study will be about a project undertaken by students in Firhouse Educate Together Secondary School in Ireland. A group of Transition Year students and their school Principal will present their Young Social Innovators (YSI) Project on tackling violence against women, which started in response to the murder of a young primary teacher, Ashling Murphy, in January 2022. The session will be hosted by a teacher colleague who will also reflect on some of the everyday
starting points for action for change.