EVENTS AT HOPE
Reflections on cultural education in a Primary School setting
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
, 1pm
FML 014 (Lecture Theatre)
By Dr Ruth Wills
Cultural education forms part of the wider Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education (SMSC) that is mandatory in all schools in England. In this talk, I will reflect on a series of sessions undertaken with children in an urban Primary School. The overall theme of the sessions was ‘Beauty.’ Noting the value of the cultural dimension explored in these sessions, I will also highlight how through art, drama and writing, the children engaged in learning that, beyond the remit of SMSC, evidenced an existential and transformative dimension to education. Drawing critically on the philosophies of Heidegger and Hegel, I will consider how such an existential perspective might be encouraged in schools, albeit in a mainly performative paradigm of schooling. I will also highlight how an engagement with beauty through SMSC might promote acts of goodness, so to inspire change on a personal, local and potentially global scale.
Biography:
Dr Ruth Wills is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood. She is a part-time Primary School teacher and a co-editor of the International Journal of Children’s Spirituality.
Location
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