Articles
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Abstract or Description This article enumerates four ways that education can make the world more socially just, drawing upon the expertise of the educationalist in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths. Reference: Gilbert, Francis. 2024. Four ways education can make the world more socially just. Educational Studies blog, [Article] TextSocial Justice Feb 2024.pdf – Accepted VersionAvailable […]
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Abstract or Description This chapter focuses on the nuances and affordances of The Newbolt Report, looking in particular its recommendations for the teaching of creative writing. Newbolt, perhaps surprisingly, strongly advocates imaginative ways of teaching writing but warns against ‘artificial’ learning activities, offering an emancipatory vision of the teaching of writing, championing self-expression above rote-learning. […]
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Abstract or Description Many teachers of creative writing find teaching the 9-13-year-old age group tricky for a few reasons. These children are usually in a time of radical transition: getting ready to move into a new school, or starting in a new one. They are still, in my experience as a teacher and parent, children […]
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Abstract or Description Within a wider neoliberal education system, time and space for redrafting creative writing are marginalised, with focus on the written product rather than the writing process. This precludes the development of young writers. As academics and creative writers working in university Schools of Education, we use inductive autoethnography to explore our memories […]
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What do primary school children in Lambeth want for their local parks? February 2024. It’s a cold, rainy morning outside Hillmead Primary School, but inside their assembly hall, the Year 3/4 (8-9 year olds) pupils are happy and engaged. Some of their classmates are delivering speeches about what they want from their local parks to […]
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Abstract or Description This article explores a case study of a mindfulness teacher, Beth, and her experiences of teaching mindfulness to 11- to 16-year-olds in several English schools. It shows why Beth was drawn to teaching mindfulness, which was both to alleviate the stress amongst her pupils and improve her own mental health. It illustrates […]
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I appeared on Vanessa Feltz’s Talk TV on 15th April 2024 talking about this issue, because a recent report shows that children who are excluded at primary school are more likely to achieve badly in their GCSEs than their peers. To sum up what I said, I believe there are four main reasons why children […]
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Abstract or Description A review of Lorna Smith’s ‘Creativity in the English Curriculum: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions’. Reference: Gilbert, Francis. 2023. Review of Creativity in the English Curriculum: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions by Lorna Smith. Changing English, 30(4), pp. 425-427. ISSN 1358-684X [Article]No full text available TextCreativityinEnglishCurriculumFGilbert.pdf – Accepted VersionPermissions: Administrator Access Only until 24 […]
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Abstract or Description An blog exploring the life and work of the psycho-analyst, Angela Kreeger. Introduction It is a cold January Sunday afternoon in 2022, but Angela Kreeger’s living room feels gorgeous. I am surrounded by walls covered beautifully with art, and I’m eating far too many slices of a delicious almond cake Angela has […]
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Abstract or Description A review of ‘Out of Time: Poetry From the Climate Emergency’
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Abstract or Description Our parks have a problem with young people. While our parks cater for children aged 0-8 years with playgrounds, they too frequently make older children feel unwelcome and unwanted, particularly young people from poorer backgrounds. This is because young people struggle to find their own spaces and activities in them, and often […]
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Abstract or Description Review of Real-World Writers: A Handbook for Teaching Writing with 7-11 Year Olds by Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson Reference: Gilbert, Francis. 2022. Review of Real-World Writers: A Handbook for Teaching Writing with 7-11 Year Olds by Ross Young and Felicity Ferguson. Teaching English, 28(Spring), p. 86. ISSN 2051-7971 [Article] TextEDU_Gilbert_2022_b.pdf – Submitted VersionAvailable […]
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Abstract or Description This research illustrates how teacher-writers can improve their craft and pedagogy by writing for a specific audience, namely school children. It also illustrates why they might do so. It interrogates what was learnt from an innovative collaboration between a university teacher-education department, an inner-city secondary school and the United Kingdom’s National Maritime […]
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Abstract or Description This article explains what is meant by the neologism, coined by the author, ‘diagrarting’. It shows how diagrarting could be a new form of writing and drawing which is useful for writers, teachers and learners. In brief, the phrase diagrarting combines the words diagrams, dialogue and art. Diagrarting involves adopting an artistic […]
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Abstract or Description In her ethnographic study, Factories for learning: Making race, class and inequality in the neoliberal academy (2017), Christine Kulz depicts an oppressive system in a United Kingdom secondary school, Dreamfields. Kulz illustrates how many children and teachers are stripped of their autonomy, rights and dignity. In this article, Northfields, a school like […]
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Abstract or Description The need to provide solutions to pandemic deterritorialized teaching took effect almost overnight in early spring 2020. There was an immediate amplification of digital literacy requirements. The need for multi-modal fluency and connectivity intensified throughout the pandemic and its effects were felt nowhere near as profoundly as in education. Overnight new learning […]
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Abstract or Description Online learning can be an alienating experience; students can feel their emotions are disregarded, marginalized or even viewed as hindrances as they try to motivate themselves to learn, staring at the dancing pixels of their illuminated screens. They feel at a remove from other students, trapped in other rooms, far away from […]
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Abstract or Description This article explores what ecoliteracies are; showing that they are more than being aware about the enivronment. It argues that ecoliteracies are about people developing an organic, ecological view of language. It suggests through some empirical evidence that creative writing can be used to nurture ecoliteracies. Reference: Gilbert, Francis. 2021. What’s Next? […]
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Abstract or Description This article is a short summary of a conference presentation given online for the NAWE Conference, Spring 2021. It suggests some different ways of teaching creative writing online, using puppets, stories, drawings and metacognition. Gilbert, Francis. 2021. Teaching Creative Writing Online: Research-Informed Strategies. Writing in Education, 83, pp. 89-91. ISSN 1361-8539 [Article] Reference: […]
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Abstract or Description This article argues that we need to ‘descend into the crypt’ of creative writing, and use rigorous, academic research methods and methodologies to examine it. The communities that writing arises from, processes of writing, the unique psychologies of writers, the ways in which writing is used in different settings and eras all […]