Prof. Niamh Stack reikt je met haar interactieve pre-conference workshop verdiepende inzichten aan om voor te leven hoe je de sterke kanten van jezelf én van je leerlingen beter kunt benutten. In haar keynote op 2 september laat Niamh zien hoe we betekenisvoller multidisciplinair kunnen samenwerken en beter gebruik kunnen maken van de inzichten vanuit psychologie, neurowetenschap en onderwijs.
Niamh Stack is the Head of Department at the Department of Psychology, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland. She is a Professor of Developmental Psychology with a particular interest in development, difference and diversity across the lifespan. She is the Chair of the Education and Training Board for the British Psychological Society. This board works to support the society in developing its strategy in delivering education and continuing professional development for psychologists. She has worked within the Scottish Network for Able Pupils for more than a decade, working in collaboration with the Scottish government, local education authorities, schools and teachers on provision for highly able learners. She actively researches and publishes in the area of high ability.
31 Augustus 9.30-12.30 – Pre-conference workshop ‘Navigating strengths and stresses: Supporting yourself in supporting highly able learners’
Teaching while a hugely rewarding profession has also been ranked as one of the most stressful occupations (Johnson et al., 2005; International Labour Office, 2016). This is arguably due to the daily emotional labour involved, the ever-increasing workloads and the competing demands placed on teachers today (Diliberti, Schwartz & Grant, 2021). There is an old saying ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’ but often as teachers, in our desire to do the best for each of the learners in our class, we forget to pay attention to our own reserves and risk amongst other things compassion fatigue and burn out, neither of which will help us be the best educator we might wish to be. Teaching highly able students brings its own particular rewards but also its own set of complexities and challenges. The levels of stress teachers experience in supporting learners with additional support needs has been argued to be directly related to how well equipped they feel in this task (Candeias, Galindo, Calisto, Borralho & Reschke, 2021). Others have asked the question if there are certain teacher dispositions that are better suited to teaching highly able learners (Stephens, 2019). Within this workshop, we will take the opportunity as educators to reflect on our strengths. Drawing on the literature, we will consider which of our strengths might best serve our highly able learners, how we can harness these strengths and what resources are available to keep filling up our cups!
2 September 13.00-14.00 – Keynote ‘More than a sum of its parts: Moving multidisciplinary provision from messy to meaningful’
There is a generally accepted symbiotic relationship between the disciplines of psychology and education when considering how we best support the development of children and young people and in this case the development of highly able individuals (Sutherland & Stack, 2018). There is also tacit agreement within the highly able field that we must look holistically at the individual considering not just academic strengths/needs but also social and emotional well-being. It is however argued that we may not have yet fully succeeded in these holistic aims (Worrell, Subotnik, Olszewski-Kubilius & Dixon, 2019). We know from examples within neuroscience that in spite of the very best of intentions, the application of theory to practice and the meeting of multidisciplinary perspectives can go astray (Howard-Jones, 2014). There are calls for better bridges of communication between psychology, neuroscience and education to make these discussions and their implications for provision more than a sum of their parts (cf. Wilcox, Morett, Hawes & Dommett, 2021). Within this session we will assess the current status of these discussions, where the opportunities and challenges lie, and what part we have each to play in making multidisciplinary provision for highly able individuals meaningful rather than messy.
Laat je ook inspireren door de bijdrage(n) van Niamh Stack! Meld je aan voor de pre-conference op 31 augustus, de ECHA2022 Conferentie en/of het Nederlandstalige Programma. Meer informatie vind je op de website van ECHA2022.
