A Cambridge History of Irish Working-Class Writing

This 24-chapter edited collection will be the first major study of the history of Irish working-class writing.

Atlas of European Historiography: The Making of a Profession, 1800-2005 (Writing the Nation)

The collection of the data for this volume formed part of the work of the European Science Foundation project on Writing National Histories. I was a member of the Research Team (1) which produced the volume. I also wrote two contributions for the Atlas. I collected the data and wrote the section on academic historians in Ireland. I also wrote a synthesis of the data on academic women historians in Europe, 1815-2005.

Architecture as Pedagogy: Alive and Kicking

This workshop draws on an emerging collaborative body of research by Lovett, Morrow and McClean that aims to understand architecture and its processes as a form of pedagogical practice: a civic pedagogy.

Architectural education can be valued not only as a process that delivers architecture-specific skills and knowledges, but also as a process that transforms people into critically active contributors to society. We are keen to examine how and where those skills are developed in architectural education and trace their existence and/or application within practice. We intend to examine whether some architectural and spatial practices are intrinsically pedagogical in their nature and how the level of involvement of clients, users and communities can mimic the project-based learning of architectural education – in particularly in the context of ‘live project learning’

1. This workshop begins with a brief discussion paper from Morrow that sets out the arguments behind why and how architecture can be understood as pedagogy. It will do so by presenting firstly the relationship between architectural practice and pedagogy, drawing out both contemporary and historical examples of architecture and architects acting pedagogically. It will also consider some other forms of creative practice that explicitly frame themselves pedagogically, and focus on participatory approaches in architectural practice that overlap with inclusive and live pedagogies, concluding with a draft and tentative abstracted pedagogical framework for architectural practice.

2. Lovett will examine practices of architectural operation that have a pedagogical approach, or which recognise within themselves an educational subtext/current. He is most interested in a 'liveness' beyond the 'Architectural Education' of university institutions. The presentation will question the scope for both spatial empowerment / agency and a greater understanding and awareness of the value of good design when operating as architects with participant-clients younger than 18, older than 25 or across varied parts of society. Positing that the learning might be greatest when there are no prescribed 'Learning Outcomes' and that such work might depend on risk-taking and playfulness, the presentation will be a curated showcase drawing on his own ongoing work.

Both brief presentations will inform the basis of the workshop’s discussion which hopes to draw on participants views and expereinces to enrich the research process. The intention is that the overall workshop will lead to a call for contributors and respondents to a forthcoming publication on ‘Architecture as Pedagogy’.

Writing the History of the British Stage, 1660-1900

A monograph on British theatre historiography from its emergence in the Restoration to its foundation as an academic discipline in the early 20th century.

Illuminating pedagogy through experiential knowledge

This report illuminates the author’s approach, centring on working alongside service users and carers in helping students understand difficult and challenging topics such as the impact of political conflict, social work values and international social work and offers guidance to colleagues in their attempts to meaningfully engage with experiential knowledge.

Women of Letters: Gender, Writing and the Life of the Mind in Early Modern England

Women of letters writes a new history of English women's intellectual worlds using their private letters as evidence of hidden networks of creative exchange. The book argues that many women of this period engaged with a life of the mind and demonstrates the dynamic role letter-writing played in the development of ideas. Until now, it has been assumed that women's intellectual opportunities were curtailed by their confinement in the home. This book illuminates the household as a vibrant site of intellectual thought and expression. Amidst the catalogue of day-to-day news in women's letters are sections dedicated to the discussion of books, plays and ideas. Through these personal epistles, Women of letters offers a fresh interpretation of intellectual life in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, one that champions the ephemeral and the fleeting in order to rediscover women's lives and minds.

Integrated approach to teaching English in primary and preschool

O presente trabalho de investigação apresenta um estudo que procurou observar comportamentos de literacia emergente numa língua estrangeira (Inglês) em contexto da educação pré-escolar. Procedeu-se à conceção e implementação de uma abordagem integrada ao ensino da língua inglesa, através numa abordagem metodológica inspirada no paradigma investigação-ação, percecionada como oportunidade de inovação pedagógica e de formação de professores. O estudo foi desenvolvido em simultâneo no 1ºCEB, tendo como principal objetivo comparar os comportamentos e atitudes dos alunos de outra faixa etária relativamente aos comportamentos de literacia em língua estrangeira. Os dados foram recolhidos através da observação, gravação de aulas, posteriormente transcritas, diários do investigador, questionários, portfolios dos alunos e entrevistas semi-estruturadas a especialistas na área da pedagogia de línguas estrangeiras, analisados através da aplicação de técnicas de análise de conteúdo como procedimento de análise do corpus. Os resultados demonstram a relevância de abordagens integradas de cariz lúdico na promoção de comportamentos de leitura e escrita emergente, estimulando assim motivação intrínseca nas crianças pela aprendizagem da língua e cultura-alvo. Por conseguinte, os comportamentos observados de literacia emergente em língua estrangeira permitem estabelecer uma analogia com as crianças bilingues, na medida em que ao aprenderem uma outra língua desenvolvem em sincronia a sua flexibilidade mental e estratégias de auto-regulação em diversas áreas de conhecimento. Os resultados permitem ainda concluir que estratégias promotoras de motivação intrínseca como o lúdico e o storytelling são vitais na sensibilização à diversidade linguística e cultural, por oposição aos resultados evidenciados pela estratégia nacional para o ensino de línguas estrangeiras no 1.ºCEB. As principais implicações deste estudo sugerem a possibilidade de generalização da língua estrangeira na educação pré-escolar, sendo esta etapa compreendida como um período privilegiado na prevenção de insucesso na leitura e escrita na aprendizagem de uma língua estrangeira. Deste modo, a educação pré-escolar pode ser considerada como um tempo fundador do futuro linguístico das crianças, numa perspetiva de educação linguística ao longo da vida.

Feminist Genealogies in the Writing of the Self

Maria Tamboukou links Foucauldian ideas to feminism and education. Its central argument is that the Foucauldian notion of 'technologies of the self' needs to be gendered and contextualized. This argument is pursued through a genealogical analysis of auto/biographical narratives of women educators at the turn of the nineteenth century. This is a new theoretical approach, since Foucault's work has proved to be of great interest to feminist scholars, but as yet, his theroies have only intermittently been used in educational feminist work. The genealogical analysis of situated female sujectivities has highlighted the importance of space in the 'technologies of the female self' and has reconsidered the private/public couplet. It has acted as a continuous source of uncertainty, experimenting with Foucauldian questions of what we are, of how we have become what we are, but also and perhaps most importantly of how we can become other than what we are already.

‘Not like rose-tinted glasses… like taking a pair of dirty glasses off’: A pilot intervention using positive emotions in expressive writing

Studies conducted in various contexts and with varied populations have found expressive writing enhances physical and psychological wellbeing. This pilot intervention study countered the predominantly quantitative evidence by adopting a qualitative methodology, exploring the experience of using positive emotions in expressive writing. Participants (n = 10), who all had previous experience in expressive writing, were asked to select one of ten positive emotion cards (PECs) each day for three days. Participants were then asked to write expressively through the ‘lens’ of their chosen emotion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and experiences were evaluated using Thematic Analysis. The results identified two main themes that compared the experience of expressive writing both with and without the PECs. The first theme, Processing (without the PECs) contained three sub-themes: sense of relief, habitual perspective and reactive to experience. The second main theme, Progressing (with the PECs) contained three different sub-themes: sense of direction, changed perspective and interactive with experience. This study found that, for expressive writers, positive emotions may function in three ways: to relate to others or self-expand, to move past challenges cognitively or change unconstructive perspectives, and finally as a way to interactively link or ‘bridge’ from the written subject matter to constructive action, thus breaking cycles of reactive writing and rumination. Implications of the study on the practice of expressive writing and its potential as a positive psychology intervention (PPI) are discussed.

Consistent Feedback for a Constructivist Pedagogy : a Study of Feedback on written Assessments in Cegep English Courses.

In order to determine how consistent feedback is within the English Cégep system, this study explores three key aspects of feedback provided to students: the amount of feedback provided, the nature of the feedback according to the defined criteria, and the relative importance of the three categories. Twenty-three teachers in four English departments participated in the study. Data was collected from a detailed questionnaire to give some context in terms of teacher training, experience, and assessment practices. Respondents were then asked to provide written feedback on a sample student essay. Their comments werw analysed in terms of the nature of the feedback, how consistent that feedback was between teachers, and how closely the feedback reflected the stated instructional objectives.