Symposium - Open Communication, a meaningful concept or flowery talk?

sligo | education | event notice Monday March 17, 2014 19:54 by robert - sligo school project

5th annual symposium @ Sligo School Project

Depth of investigation combined with the atmosphere of an informal meeting. More enjoyable than academic conferences - more productive than aimless small-talk.

Open communication in school:
If communication happens between members of different status groups: how does their position impinge on the communication?
How do hierarchies, formal and informal, influence communication?
How does the institutionalisation of education influence the communication that goes on in schools?
How does the professionalisation of education in schools influence communication?
How do different cultural backgrounds influence communication in schools?
What does all that mean for a concept of open communication?

The topic of our annual symposium this year is the concept of:

OPEN COMMUNICATION

The symposium will follow the same format as in earlier years. Based on the call for contributions that went out in October last year there are three sessions planned:

12.00 h Leo Casey (National College of Ireland, Dublin); working title: “Communication as an element of learning as inquiry”

14.00 h Ian Bishop and Hannah Reinhard (Free School Frankfurt); working title: “Relationships and communication in an environment of collective responsibility – viewed from teachers’ perspective”

16.00 h SSP Memory-work group (Sligo School Project); working title: “Communication in schools – viewed from parents’ perspective”

For information on the contributors please click on their names and follow the respective link. At present the contributions are still in a planning stage. From the working titles you can see already that we try to address different levels of relationships in schools, and also look at them from different perspectives. We will add more on the content of the sessions closer to the date.

For each session a period of 90 minutes is scheduled. At the beginning of the sessions there will be a presentation of approx. 20 minutes followed by an open discussion. Between the sessions there are breaks of half an hour. Refreshments are available. Childminding will be available on request.

Organisational details:

The symposium is open to all people who are interested in the topics presented. There is no participation fee (although donations are always welcome, schools are much underfunded at present …).

It is possible to attend one, two or all three sessions depending on your own interest.

There will be light refreshments available during breaks (tea, coffee, sandwiches … last year we also had a fabulous leek-potatoe-soup made by Carmel and loads of cakes; if the content of the sessions was not worth coming the food would be an argument in its own right). We ask for a small financial contribution for consumption.

Childminding is available on request only. We cannot guarantee childminding for children who are not registered. Therefore, if you intend to bring your child with you on the day, you need to contact us latest by Monday, 31st of March, to register your child. For this purpose please ring 071 – 9150428. We ask for a contribution of € 5 for each child towards childminding.

There is no registration fee for participation. The symposium is financed solely on the basis of donations.

No formal registration is necessary. We would however appreciate if you send us a short note in advance to let us know that you intend to participate in the symposium (e-mail to [email protected]). We have a fair enough idea about participation from within our own circles, however if numbers are rising due to outside participants we would like to know so that we can prepare rooms appropriately for the sessions and also make sure that tea and coffee won’t run out on the day.