Citizenship and Identity: The role and identities of teachers of citizenship in a time of change

Five Nations Network Conference 2015 | Saturday 7 - Sunday 8 November | Cardiff, Wales​

Workshops/Seminars Choices Form

Participants at the upcoming conference will have the opportunity to participate in two of the following seminars/workshops, one on Saturday 7 November and one on Sunday 8 November. Please select which one you would like to attend on each day. The workshop/seminar descriptions are at the bottom of the page.

In order for us to be able to accommodate your preferences in advance of the conference, please complete this form by 9.00am Monday 2 November.

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Workshop/Seminar Descriptions:

1. Exploring Migration through portraiture [Workshop]
In this workshop Pippa and Gavin build on their collaborative article in the recent Autumn 2015 edition of 'Teaching Citizenship' (issue 42) to develop activities to facilitate discussions about Migration and Identity. Using examples from the Collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, participants will engage with ‘How to read a Portrait’, ‘Making Portraits Talk’,  ‘Migration, Image and Identity’, ‘Portraiture and the Celebration of Diversity’, and ‘Portraits for Active Citizenship’. These activities will be used to facilitate discussions about Migration and Power, Justice, Equalities, and the Media. Participants will be given the opportunity to relate these activities and discussions to their own teaching practices.

Workshop leaders: 
Pippa Couch, Schools Programmes Manager, National Portrait Gallery, England
Gavin Baldwin, Associate Professor in Education and Pathway Leader for PGCE Secondary Citizenship, Middlesex University, England

2. Hypocrite or Hero? Thinking about the relationship between being a citizen and teaching Citizenship. [Seminar]
Citizenship seeks to provide young people with a more optimistic sense that politics is both something they can do and a route to improving the world. But, there’s a problem, and that problem is us – the citizenship teachers. Critical pedagogy positions teachers as crucial to promoting social justice and yet the literature is replete with examples of teachers’ conservatism, their compliance in the face of authority and their prejudice, and schools routinely reproduce inequality and promote a narrow individualistic form of competition. In this context, are Citizenship teachers the hypocrites within the system, shouting for an alternative whilst carefully kow-towing to the managerialism which stifles democratic deliberation and action? In this seminar we will explore some of the international research literature to think about the relationship between teachers’ identities as citizens and as teachers of Citizenship in the search for some conceptual tools we might use to critically interrogate our own beliefs and actions.

​Seminar leader:
Dr Lee Jerome, ​Associate Professor in Education, Middlesex University, England

3. Teaching Controversial Issues in Challenging Times [Workshop]
Controversial issues can arise in any classroom or in any subject context and yet teachers and youth workers report feelings of unease about how to deal with them. It has long been argued that democracy requires an informed citizenry. This interactive workshop will consider the important role that teaching ‘controversial’ issues has in developing many of the skills young people require to become informed democratic global citizens.

Workshop leader:
Elaine Watts, Teaching Fellow, School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

4. Citizenship Across the Nations [Seminar] (Available on Saturday only)
This seminar will use the findings from a Five Nations funded project ‘Who am I, What does nationality mean?’ to explore the theme of  identity and citizenship. The project involved a collaboration between three schools from Northern Ireland, Wales and England. Teachers used web based media and creative workshops to explore the significance of a range of concepts including nationhood and nationality and to develop young people's vision of their ideal Citizenship curriculum.  Participants will be encouraged to reflect on the issues raised through the session for their own teaching practice.

Seminar leaders:
Rosamonde Birch, Consultant for Schools, Growing Sustainable Futures CIC, England
Natasha Jennings, Head of Welsh Baccalaureate, Bryn Hafren Comprehensive, Wales
Karl Sweeney, ​Education Adviser for Citizenship, Plymouth City Council, England

5. Against the Grain: Engaging citizenship in challenging circumstances. [Seminar] (Available on Sunday only)
Kevin will share his experiences as a middle school technology teacher in the United States and his attempts to engage pupils in critical investigations of culture, society, politics and more. Kevin will use vignettes to detail the successes and challenges the learners and he faced in schools where critical perspectives were not embraced. In his approach to teaching and learning, he sought to disrupt and challenge the 'official' school curriculum and reject the objectification of pupils as simple receivers of information. This was made possible by introducing pupils to basic concepts of critical theory and co-developing with them a distinctive approach to learning that featured critical investigations of personal interests and culminated in a "call to action" to implement what they've learned both at school and in their everyday lives. Participants will be invited to discuss how socially-just and critically oriented approaches to curriculum developing and teaching might be enacted in their own schools.

Seminar leader:
Kevin Smith, ​Research Associate, Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research Data & Methods, Cardiff University, Wales