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When I met with Jack Zipes in November 2013 to talk about my research into storytelling he kindly invited me to Minneapolis, US, to work with Neighbourhood Bridges, a charity for underprivileged youth advancement in literacy and communication skills. Neighbourhood Bridges is recognised by the US Government for as a national model for arts education. The catch of course being that I had to raise the money to go. I was advised and supported in my application to the departments IMPACT fund by my supervisor, Mick Carpenter, Anton Popov and Martin Prince ( MYPLACE ), and Nickie Charles. This Monday in a meeting with the head of the Sociology department Professor John Solomos I was awarded funding for my trip this coming September. Success! A big thank you for everyone who gave me advice and support. This month I also met with Professor Simon Williams , due to his interests in the Sociology of Emotions. He gave me a friendly grilling about my research questions and methodology,...

I attended and spoke at this fascinating conference in Leicester. The standard of speakers was very high. Here is a link to the presentation that I gave:- Emma's presentation The programme for the day was as follows:- Part 1: Education, Emotions and the Present Keynote: ‘Spatial Disparities in Emotional Responses to Education: Feelings of ‘Guilt’ Amongst Student-Parents’   (Rachel Brooks; University of Surrey) Detached Youth Work: Understanding (how to be with) Young People’s Emotions (Matej Blazek; Loughborough University) Emotions and Disaffection with School Mathematics   ( Gareth Lewis; University of Leicester) The Cry for Professional Intimacy (Fiona Birkbeck; University of Nottingham) Reflection, Emotions, Shock and Puzzlement in the Education Workplace ( Rajesh Patel; De Montfort University) Part 2: Education, Emotions and the Future Keynote: Education and the Construction of Hope   ( Darren Webb; University of Sheffield) Atmo...

This month I went to Cambridge to talk to Professor Jack Zipes about my PhD in storytelling and socialization. Here is a podcast about my visit. it begins with an introduction of my work followed by a summary from Professor Zipes of his unusual career path including how he believes storytelling can benefit young people : Click for Podcast After outlining the summer school widening participation project me and Paul Whitehouse ran at Warwick University this year and our hopes to form a permanent programme in schools Professor Zipes invited me to go to Minneapolis and observe the Neighbourhood Bridges Program that he co- founded Peter Brosius, artistic director of the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis in 1997. The Neighbourhood Bridges literacy program runs from September to May each year. There are about 15 to 20 sessions per every week in different schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul in the USA. For more information please follow this link: Neighbourhood Bridges ...

‘life should be until you die’ Stated Felicity (Parfitt 2013a line. 87).   [Photo by Null Value at Flickr.com]   From an initial analysis of my focus groups young people seem to be aware of conformist and nonconformist elements in the stories— such as the compulsion to accept social “norms” and values—along with other potentially influential narratives such as media, film, television, video games, books, the internet, and education . I found it interesting that in the all-girls school Group One related the content of the stories to crime and how to treat other people. In week one whilst talking about the story MacCodram (MacIntyre 2012) the group’s conversation revolved around crime before they even reached my focus group question about conformist and nonconformist elements that they recognised in the story (lines. 82-91),             Mary   I know this is getting off the subject a bit but if you m...

Young People’s Educational Identities in Challenging Times The title of my presentation was Climbing the Beanstalk: Self-worth and Education. It was a challenge for me to think about my research in a different light. That is, how it could be related to young people’s educational identities. I largely let the students’ words speak for themselves to demonstrate that one of the themes that seemed to emerge was that a large part of their identity at school. In particular the students had an awareness of the current economic crisis and its consequences for their future. They felt under pressure to achieve academically. While some students felt supported to meet educational goals, and were therefore more confident in their futures, others did not feel supported and tended to think negatively based on the experiences of their families. As a result these young people felt powerless and frustrated, with low self-worth despite their potential. The keynote speaker was Dr Sara Delamont....

The transformations summer school hosted by Warwick University, Milburn House, and planned by Paul Whitehouse and myself took place July 2013. This was a free, two-day non-residential drama and storytelling event supported by the widening participation team in the English Department, with an additional £1000 funding from PREP (Postgraduate Researcher Enterprise Programme) raised by myself. Twenty-four pupils attended from the following schools: Tile Hill Wood School (Coventry) George Elliot School (Nuneton) Stoke Park (Coventry) Myton School (Warwick) President Kennedy School (Coventry) Bluecoat C of E School (Coventry) Slough Grammar School (Slough) We’ve had some great parent feedback about the two day event which was designed to support current year nine and ten school pupils with interests in English Literature, Drama or Theatre to consider a future in Higher Education (HE). ‘Thank you to you and the whole team for putting on such a great course. The performances ...

On the 16 th June I went to a discussion about writing emotion with Katherine Angel as part of Warwick Book Festival. Katherine gave a reading that was beautiful and frank in terms of female sexuality. The book is fragmented in structure, the resulting narrative like poetry, true, unsettling, revealing…   Listening to her reading it felt like many threads of the way I had been feeling were being woven together. How to feel one’s sexuality and be a feminist, or at least a woman who believes in equality even if I can’t relate to the word ‘feminist’, regarded as extreme… as if one dislikes men. At least in my experiences it is so when walking streets outside of the academic community. For it seems to be a woman who wants equality and being a sexual being have conflicts. Katherine’s work drew out some of these conflicts. ‘stitched into myself’ was a phrase that resonated, expressing to me the difficulty women have explaining sexuality to men and one another. I have been pon...