Tag: education

Guest lecture at the University of the West of England

Posted on by lucy.haslam
Split image, with the UWE logo in red on the left hand side and a photo of the UWE campus on the right. The campus is a modern wood and glass building against a blue sky.

On 31st January, Katherin and Valentina were invited to give a guest lecture at the School of Education and Childhood of the University of the West of England in Bristol.

The lecture was delivered as part of the Policy and Contemporary Issues module offered to the students enrolled in Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for Early Years, Primary, and Secondary education.

The lecture – titled Inequalities and bias in schools: using big data to detect injustices – provided an overview over ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education, focusing especially on the role of teacher-student relationships and school and classroom environments.

BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias were presented, providing an example of how academic research making use of big data can be used to engage in conversations with educational practitioners and policy makers. Students were encouraged to be diagnostic in recognising the influence that big data has today on educational policy and critically evaluate its value, limitations, and complexity, especially when considering the topic of biases and inequalities in existing across schools in England today.

After the lecture, the students had the chance to engage in reflective and creative group activities in their seminar groups. Guided discussions encouraged PGCE students to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias in light of their own experiences and views and reflect on potential strategies and changes to fight such biases.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting both the interest in the topic and its relevance for their own professional development. Particularly, as the students had just finished their first 3-month placement in primary and secondary schools, they found the opportunity to relate their own first-hand placement experiences to the academic research and findings presented very useful and motivating.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Workshop for school staff in-service day at Edinburgh primary school

Posted on by lucy.haslam
A photo of Katherin Barg and Valentina Perinetti Casoni outside of Gracemount Primary School

On 8th January, Katherin and Valentina gave a workshop titled Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions at Gracemount Primary School in Edinburgh. The event was organised as part of the school January in-service day and involved more than 50 members of staff including teachers, nursery staff, Pupil Support Assistants, and office staff.

The workshop started with an overview of ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education, focusing particularly on the role of teacher-student relationships and on recent evidence on achievement gaps in Scotland and England.

Gracemount school staff was then guided through two main interactive, reflective, and creative group activities. The first activity focused on encouraging workshop participants to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias. Then to share their own experiences and views on potential mechanisms and explanations for misunderstandings and misperceptions between teachers and school staff on one side and pupils and their families on their other. The second activity gave the staff the opportunity to reflect on their own school and classroom practices and experiences in order to develop practical strategies to tackle bias and inequalities in the context of Gracemount school itself.

Initial feedback from participants was very positive, demonstrating a great deal of interest in the topic addressed by the workshop and its interactive activities. Participants said that, as a result, they felt encouraged to challenge themselves as teachers and education practitioners.

For example, one participant reported how the workshop might motivate themselves and other teachers to:

[…] become more aware of their biases[,] keep themselves accountable for how the children are perceived, [l]ook at our own behaviour and how it impacts our teaching[, and b]e honest with ourselves.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.

Workshop for teachers and education practitioners in Edinburgh

Posted on by lucy.haslam
Photo of the Edinburgh skyline at golden hour

On 17th November, Katherin and Valentina gave a workshop titled Inequalities and bias in schools: reasons, research and reactions at the University of Edinburgh. The event was organised by the Moray House – School of Education and Sport as a Professional learning seminar open to a wide variety of school and education practitioners from Edinburgh.

The interactive workshop gave an overview over ‘traditional’ and recent academic research on socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in education and the role of teacher-student relationships. Reflective, creative group activities guided the discussions, encouraging participants to critically discuss BIPE preliminary findings on teacher bias and share their own experiences and views, whilst giving them the opportunity to develop strategies for their classrooms and schools to tackle bias and inequalities.

Participant feedback was very positive highlighting the importance and impact of such activities. Participants said that the workshop empowered them not only to be more critical and perceptive of the biases and inequalities that occur in school, but also to be more confident in challenging such biases and inequalities. For example, one teacher highlighted how the workshop motivated themselves and other teachers to:

[…] reflect on their biases and work out why certain [student] behaviours are viewed as being more able or capable […and to] realise the system also has biases within it: work has to be done at an individual level at first but schools as institutions need to also reflect/change.

If you are interested in hearing more about our teacher workshops, further information can be found on our flyer.

Slides from the workshop can be found on our ‘Teaching materials’ page.