A vignette of IATL, in the dark would (wood) 13th May 2015

Emma Parfitt — Wed, 13 May 2015 16:04:00 +0000

‘You remind me,’ said the woman on the other side, ‘of Alice in Wonderland.’

I had left my belongings back in the other world, including my shoes, and crawled through a tunnel of lights into an Aladdin’s cave of pedagogy. There were no giant, talking flowers but there were: mossy pillows to stand on, the smell of purple flowers and rosemary, the feel of marbles and chickpeas scattered in a box; a large hoop skirt to reimagine ones childhood; bubbles, Lego, Play Doh, costumes and more to explore.

I wrote a postcard, to my eight year old self,

Believe in your creativity and forge your own path.

I felt constrained by the Curriculum as it came into force in the late 1980s. They had asked us to think for ourselves then trained us how to act: realistic, practical, confined by opportunities we did not understand.

At home my existence was one of curiosity and imagination that wasn’t valid in the classroom where they recited, ‘learn this, say this, be this.’ The dark would brought back memories of those teachers, you know the ones. There was Mr Duffy who gave me insights on ecology, everything had a place in an invisible network of relationships. Mrs Richards and Mr Gartshaw encouraged that creative side in English as I experimented with shaping how I saw the world in words. Playing, exploring, poetry, botany, forming new symphonies of expression. An invaluable tool in research.

The experience ended too soon. Back to reality and ecopedagogy with Rachel King in the Ramphal Building. Ecopedagogy is:-

People

§ Space and Place (environment)

§ Pedagogy

Then we were walking, observing, acting, writing, and experiencing a sense of place.

I left thinking ‘I can’t wait to return to the would tomorrow.’

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Teachers’ Views on Returning Schools: ‘A trampoline to future opportunities’

Emma Parfitt — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:13:00 +0000

5th March, 4-6pm, Reinvention Centre at Westwood, Warwick Campus

[Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexreyes/]

Dr Analia Meo from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, came to discuss a short documentary called Teachers’ Views on Returning Schools. The Film looks at the experiences and views of teachers and young people at schools in Buenos Aires, which cater for kids who have been excluded from education.

In Buenos Aires (2002) a national education policy was created to keep young people in secondary school education. As a result all inclusive schools were set up in 2004. These were experimental. The idea being that they would transfer the knowledge gained back from the school system to shape educational policy. Ten years later their work is not acknowledged. These returning schools are invisible to the wider education system the hoped to influence.

During the film one phrase from a teacher struck me, she said, that their school was ‘an institution that keeps asking questions.’ These are schools that believe in the relationships between students and teachers. Social context and individual learning is their main focus rather than a National Curriculum. This is not without issues, but the students feel supported, and there is less ‘acting out’ say that UK films within exclusion units in the UK where pupils are placed who are felt unteachable, rather than trying to adjust and ask what can we do to get these students involved in their own education. It is a failing of the system rather than the student.

In the discussion that followed the film Dr Analía Meo said that rather than coming from a critical pedagogy perspective (see the work of Paulo Freire), teachers were more concerned with the right of every student to have a good education. The school was not a place to transform society, but one to provide young people with options into society. Education is viewed as ‘a trampoline to future opportunities’ said Dr Meo.

Dr Meo expressed the tensions that exist between research and creating a documentary. A film is not a critical paper. Sociologists have an ethical responsibility. So different choices are made in creating a film than what the research focus is. The role of the film is really a trigger for discussion and dialogue.

You can now view the film on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGyeSiYeT4g&feature=youtu.be This film was made possible through collaboration with many people volunteering their time.

Event organised by Dr Cath Lambert (Sociology, Warwick), and supported by the Department of Sociology’s Culture, Media and Creativity research cluster.

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A vignette of IATL, in the dark would (wood) 13th May 2015

Teachers’ Views on Returning Schools: ‘A trampoline to future opportunities’