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What is most children's experience of the school playground? How would it look if designed for their own creative play? What could be the impact on children's learning?
7th Annual National PLAYLINK/Portsmouth City Council Conference 10am - 4pm, Thursday 4th March 2004, The Guildhall, Portsmouth.
Roland is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, writer, publisher, broadcaster, and consultant/researcher on learning systems, past present and future. His work on 'The Next Learning System' has been translated into more than twelve languages. He is currently Director of Educational Heretics Press, Director of Education Now Publishing Co-operative Ltd, Director/Trustee of the Centre for Personalised Education Trust Ltd. He was formerly Special Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham and Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Birmingham. His books include: Natural Learning and the Natural Curriculum; Learning Unlimited; The Next Learning System: and why home-schoolers are trailblazers; John Holt: personalised education instead of 'uninvited teaching'; Flexischooling; Theory and Practice of Regressive Education; A Sociology of Educating. He is an acknowledged Educational Heretic for his view that mass compulsory schooling is an obsolete and counter-productive learning system which should be phased out as soon as possible and replaced with something more personalised and humane.
Presentation
Natural learning and the natural curriculum: teaching
tomorrow and the next learning system
Gunnell is a principal or headteacher (in Swedish a 'rektor') for a school district in Härnösand. which is on the east coast of central Sweden. In her area she is responsible for two schools from pre-school class to grade 9 and four pre-schools ( from 1 to 5 years) covering in all about 600 children and 120 staff.
Presentation
Lessons from Sweden
Alison has been a Research Officer at Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education since 1999. She has a teaching background in Primary Education. Her research interests include young children's participation and consultation, the role of the arts and artists in schools and participatory research methods. Recent projects include 'Listening to Young Children' funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and 'Young Children's participation: spaces to play', which has been carried out in collaboration with Learning through Landscapes. She combines her research with work as a practicing artist.
Presentation
Spaces to Play: gathering children's perspectives on
the outdoor environment
Hattie is an artist who designs playgrounds. She formed Snug & Outdoor to develop her innovative work in public art and playground design. It is a company of artists who design innovative play spaces which grow out of creative consultation with those who use them. Their projects often entail assembling teams of people with different skills such as sculptors, architects, horticulturalists, engineers, poets, dancers. Snug & Outdoor have an impressive track record for involving children and adults in highly successful projects. These include the ground-breaking Experimental Playground at Daubeney School in Hackney; a dynamic play landscape for a new city square; a sculptural multi-use teenage space in Brixton; an 8-ton floral sheep in Maidstone. We recently devised the Hackney Wick 'Artists and School Grounds' scheme and wrote the accompanying Good Practice Guide which was distributed to every school in Hackney Wick. Her clients include a number of London Boroughs, City Councils, housing associations, regeneration agencies and charities.
Presentation
The Experimental Playground
Zally joined the Education Child Protection Service for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough during the initial stage of its development and worked there for 10 years. In her role of Training Co-ordinator she helped to develop a course, 'Playing Games for Positive Behaviour'. Recognising the importance of play and how it affects children's perceptions and personal skills, she launched Playwell, which works to raise awareness, understanding and acceptance of changeso as to make a difference to children's opportunities for and experiences of informal play. She has worked with many schools around the country and spoken at conferences and meetings of head teachers, Healthy Schools representatives and parents. Current partnership projects include 'Grounds for Improvement' with Learning through Landscapes, 'Safer Play At All Times' with Laing Homes and 'The Play Partnership' with North Hertfordshire District Council.
Presentation
Playing Games for Positive Behaviour: a whole school approach
© 2004 PLAYLINK.