Don’t miss closing date 18 April! Sharpen your quills for the 2017/18 Raymond Wilson Poetry Prize

UoR students are invited to explore their creativity by entering the Raymond Wilson Poetry Competition. Held in memory of the late Emeritus Professor of Education at Reading, the prize awards £200 for the winning poem.

Competition organiser, Stephanie Sharp of the Institute of Education, said:

“The competition will be judged by children in a local school and their vote carries equal weighting with that of a published children’s poet and with mine as an academic. This brings the perspectives of teacher, writer and young reader to bear on the judging.”

The children on the panel responded happily to last year’s winning poem by Judy Riddel, with its lively play on rhyming fun to support number learning, saying:

“It flows and has rhythm”                    

“We liked the inspirational message – be positive and counting and relying on others”

“It was happy and exciting”

“It helps younger children to learn their numbers by remembering the rhyme”

Raymond Wilson was an exceptional educationalist, as well as an inspired educational editor who introduced new editions of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry and Jane Austen’s novels. Wilson was also well-known as an intuitive, sensitive critic and a prolific anthologist.

This year, the closing date for entries will be 19 April 2018, with the winner being announced on 14 May 2018.

Conditions of entry are as follows:

 

  • Poems should be written for children.
  • You may submit up to 3 poems with a maximum length of 40 lines for each poem.
  • Poems must be the original work of the entrant.
  • Poems should be word processed.
  • Poems are regarded as copies and cannot be returned.
  • Your name should not be included with your poem(s). The poem(s) should be submitted in an envelope accompanied by a separate sealed envelope giving your name, connection with the University, contact address and either the title or first line of your poem(s).

 

Entries to the Raymond Wilson Poetry Prize, may be sent to the competition administrator: Chris Tibbenham, Institute of Education, University of Reading, London Road Campus, RG1 5EX.

Queries about any aspect of the competition can be addressed to Stephanie Sharp: s.sharp@reading.ac.uk

 

IoE partner schools can now advertise their NQT vacancies directly to our trainees

We are aware that effective recruitment is an area of importance for all schools working in Partnership with us at the Institute of Education. Our Careers Centre here at the University has been working hard to develop a more streamlined and coordinated system for processing the vacancies that come to us here at the IoE. These vacancies will now be uploaded onto the Careers Portal ‘My Jobs Online’ and thus be visible to all our trainees on Primary ITT programmes. Partner schools may access My Jobs Online directly to advertise their vacancies.  

This free online advertising service encompasses a variety of vacancies, including:

  • Immediate and future vacancies for graduates
  • Part-time work for students during term time
  • Undergraduate placements
  • Vacation work
  • Volunteer opportunities

To use the new system, you just need to register for our jobs board, My Jobs Online, and upload your vacancies using a simple online form. This is available via www.reading.ac.uk/careers/employer/submit.asp, along with our terms and conditions and other useful information. Once registered, a password will be sent to you via email and you will not need to provide your details again.

Please post a summary of your vacancy, ideally with a link to your website (where possible) so that candidates can view further details such as the job description and person specification. 

Before submitting a vacancy, please ensure that you have read and are happy to accept our terms and conditions – www.reading.ac.uk/careers/employer/vacterms.asp

Once approved by a member of the Careers team, the vacancy will appear live on the website free of charge.  Any student or graduate who has registered an interest in that sector will also receive an automatic email alerting them to the vacancy.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Careers Centre on 0118 378 8359 or email careers@reading.ac.uk if you require further assistance.

Researchers at the Institute of Education are proud to be part of two large collaborative projects that will promote the importance of Modern Foreign Languages

Professor Suzanne Graham, IoE Director of Research

In a new series of monthly blogs highlighting key research areas of activity at the IoE, Professor Suzanne Graham, Director of Research for the Institution, looks at two large collaborative projects that will promote the importance of Modern Foreign Languages as well as researching learners’ development and motivation in language learning.

The first, The Language Magician, is an EU-funded project led by the Goethe Institute in which Dr Louise Courtney and Suzanne Graham are building on their earlier research into primary modern languages.

Dr Louise Courtney

Their expertise is contributing to the creation of a computer game to assess language learning for young learners, which will be rolled out across several countries in 2018.  They are also exploring the development of learners’ motivation for language learning. Louise and Suzanne have just returned from Leipzig where they worked with project partners on the game. Louise also presented at the mid-project conference on January 27, giving two papers on the value of the game for primary school teachers across Europe and beyond and what piloting of the game reveals about learners’ motivation in different European countries.

Suzanne is Strand Lead for the second project, Linguistic Creativity in Language Learning, which is part of a large AHRC funded project led by Katrin Kohl at the University of Oxford, Creative Multilingualism. The strand is exploring the impact of literary and non-literary texts on the linguistic and motivational development of learners of French and German at secondary school.  Suzanne was part of the project’s launch event, Linguamania, at the Ashmolean Museum on January 27, and gave a presentation at the launch conference.

Artist-In- Residencies Spring Exhibition 2017

This contemporary exhibition not only provides an insight into the eclectic and dynamic art produced by the artists themselves but will also include a variety of work produced by undergraduate BA Ed Art students, Fine Art students, tutors and visiting children from local schools, all of whom have been introduced to practices by the artists during workshops over the academic year.

The event, which will be based at the University of Reading’s London Road Campus’ Art Studios at the Institute of Education, will display an inspiring spring exhibition of the exciting and innovative work of our current artists-in-residencies;

Artwork by Emily Gillmor, Printer-in-resident

Emily Gillmor, Printer-in-resident

Mei Ting Sze, Ceramicist-in-resident

Andrew Hood, Sculptor-in-resident

David Fairservice, Painter-in-resident

 

Location: University of Reading, London Road Campus, 4 Redlands Road, Reading, RG1 5EX.

London Road Art Studios, L04, Institute of Education

Dates: Tuesday 14th March – Friday 23rd March 2017

Times: Open from 9 – 5 every day (excluding the weekend)

Launch of exhibition: Thursday 16th March 2017, 3.30 – 4.30pm

Contact: Suzy Tutchell 

Important Update: amend to entry requirement for Foundation Degree in Children’s Development and Learning

Teresa Wilson, Programme Director

Our Early Years team has confirmed that any candidate who does not fully meet the entry criteria (eg who does not have Maths GCSE or the specified amount of full-time work experience, but may have part-time and/or volunteering experience) is invited to submit their application, which will be considered on a case by case basis.

Further enquiries: Ms Teresa Wilson, Programme Director, Foundation Degree in CDL. +44 (0)118 378 2641