Newsletter –September 7th 2015
A very warm welcome to this new session and an especially warm welcome to all
new members of staff and students
I realise for many of you teaching on and supporting the PGDE programmes, this is
now Week 4….my apologies for the belated welcome.
Before we move into various catch up news, I would like to say how delighted I was
at our NSS outcome – our best result in 5 years. My heartfelt thanks to all who have
contributed…there are too many to mention but I need to say a HUGE thank you and
special appreciation to Shereen Benjamin, Neil Houston, Lesley Reid, Michelle
Melrose, UG programme directors, course organisers, all teaching staff and
undergraduate school staff, the Student Support Office staff and others who held
key roles in making this possible. If I have missed anyone or any grouping out,
please excuse me but do accept my sincere thanks.
PARTY TIME… The School Executive suggested we should have a party to
acknowledge the efforts of our colleagues who contributed to achieving a better NSS
result for the school. You are all warmly invited to the party on Tuesday September
22nd following the School Meeting. The School Meeting starts at 2pm but will end
with cutting the THANK YOU Cake, fancies, savouries, Prosecco and soft drinks. If
you cannot make the School Meeting, the party should begin around 4pm. Please do
come to both but you are most welcome to make it for the social only.
RSVP to Colin Campbell please if you wish to attend – [email protected]
School Meeting 22nd September PL1:18
The School Meeting will start at 2pm and end around 3.45pm for the NSS Party. I
would like to discuss Estates matters at the School Meeting. If there are other issues
you would like raised for discussion, please email Colin or myself by Friday 18th
September.
Inaugural Moray House School of Education Annual Education lecture
June 1st 2016
I am delighted to be able to say that at last … we will launch the Moray House School
of Education Annual Education Lecture. Professor Nancy Fraser is a philosopher
and a critical theorist. She is currently the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of
Political and Social Sciences and is based at The New School in New York City. I have
used Nancy Fraser’s work with undergraduate, masters and doctoral students for
nearly 10 years. I was delighted recently to find out that there was a Nancy Fraser
reading group within the School – I believe set up by Lena Bahou. I mentioned this
to Prof. Fraser and I am convinced that this was a key reason for her accepting the
invitation. I expect this to generate a great deal of interest across the University and
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beyond and there will no doubt be a demand on tickets. So keep the date in your
diary. I am now looking to set up invitations for 2017 and 2018… so any
suggestions, do email me.
Honorary Graduation of Prof. Amy B M Tsui - 3rd of June 2015
In June the School the University conferred an honorary doctorate to Prof. Amy
Tsui. Prof Tsui was nominated by the School of Education.
As Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) within the
faculty of Education at the University of Hon Kong, Prof. Tsui was honored by the
University of Edinburgh for her contribution to the field of learning and teaching. In
particular she has been recognised for her pivotal leadership during a major
restructuring of Hong Kong’s degree structures from 3 year to 4 year degrees. I
would like to thank Dai Hounsell for delivering the laureation address and for
supporting the School in its sponsorship and hosting of Prof Tsui. The School looks
forward to fostering greater links with the University of Hong Kong as a result of
this connection.
[Prof Amy Tsui and husband CJ, John Ravenscroft and myself]
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Another honour… Professor Nanette
Mutrie MBE
Warm congratulations to Prof.
Nannette Mutrie who in early June
attended the Queen’s garden party at
Holyrood and was awarded with an
MBE. I had the pleasure together with
other colleagues to attend an informal
drinks celebration on the day and to
support her celebration. Thank you to
all colleagues, particularly PARC
colleagues for organising the event.
[Nanette Mutrie and colleagues at MBE award celebrations in Saint Leonard’s Land]
Interweaving Conference 2nd September
2015 – another successful event!
The feedback was tremendous. Thanks to the
doctoral student reps for organizing this in
partnership with the Graduate School. The poster
competition was won by Sue Chapman and the
photo competition was won by Nick Hood.
Thanks also to Pauline Sangster and Lorraine
Denholm who worked tirelessly in the
background to ensure a highly successful day.
Thank you also to Lani Florian and Sheila
Riddell for their keynotes and to Principal
Tim’O’Shea for opening the event … .
Thanks are also due to Barrie Barreto, Martin Johnston and team for capturing
the conference and setting up the conference website. Thanks to Colin Campbell for
background assistance – to assist with double room booking matters on the
morning.
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Teaching Scotland’s Future –
5th September
Over 70 teachers, local
authority and Moray House
academics attended a fantastic
morning of exchange and
dialogue on Saturday 5th
September.
No doubt attracted by keynote Prof. Graham Donaldson who gave a tour de force
presentation of Teaching Scotland’s Future, but then went on to challenge the
audience to go beyond the superficial and to really interrogate what the four
capacities of the Curriculum of Excellence might mean. He also reminded us to focus
on strategic implementation rather than
engaging in process implementation. Ever the
diplomat and realist, he recognised the
pervasive tension between the desire for
immediate impact and long term sustainable
growth. He concluded by asking all to be clear
about purpose, to generate a culture of
enquiry, critical thinking and collaboration but
also to have a relentless focus on capacity
building of teachers/academic staff and to
engage in talent spotting and coaching for the educators, leaders and managers of
tomorrow.
The event was closed by Fife Council Head of Education and Children’s Services and
co-convenor of the UoE Teacher Education Partnership Peter McNaughton. It was an
uplifting morning. For those of you who missed it, Prof Donaldson’s powerpoint will
be on the TEP website shortly.
Thank you to those who pulled this event together – Fiona Giles, Rosa Murray,
Mary Andrew, Dee Torrance, Gillian Robinson, Andrew Horrell , Ann Rae and
Yvonne Cairney (for helping with administration).
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(even more) Conferences
During June and July the School played host to a number of significant conference
events which included:
11th BAAL Language Learning & Teaching SIG Annual Conference
2nd-3rd July 2015
This conference, with the theme, “The Languages of Language Learning” ran
successfully in early July. Opened by myself, the conference had four plenaries
focusing on diverse aspects of second language learning and teaching, delivered by
Professor Anna Mauranen (University of Helsinki); Professor Paul Meara (Cardiff
University); Professor Paul Seedhouse (Newcastle University); and Dr Naoko
Taguchi (Carnegie Mellon University).
The conference attracted over 90 delegates from the UK and further afield, including
Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Turkey, Hong Kong,
Italy, the USA, Austria, Indonesia and Spain. It is one of a few conferences which
bring together researchers and practitioners in TESOL and Modern Foreign
Languages.
The conference was organised by Kenneth Fordyce, Joan Cutting, Charlotte
Kemp, Claudia Rosenhan and Evangelina Soulioti, with fantastic administrative
and technical support provided by Valerie Clark, Marion Linden, Barrie Barreto
and Martin Johnston. Thanks are also due to four postgraduate TESOL student
volunteers who ensured the smooth running of the conference.
An edited collection of papers from the conference will be published in The
Language Learning Journal with Kenneth Fordyce, Angela Gayton and Charlotte
Kemp as guest editors.
50th anniversary conference of the international Community Development
Journal 1- 3rd July 2015
In early July the School also played host to professional colleagues from across the
world who gathered to participate in the 50th anniversary conference of the
international Community Development Journal, which ran from 1-3 July. Thanks
to Mae Shaw and Jim Crowther who led on this.
CERES International Conference 26th – 28th June 2015
The Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES) held its second
international conference at the end of June (26-28th June) attracting delegates from
over 17 countries across the world. The keynotes were Professor Gloria LadsonBillings from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Constant Leung, Kings
College and Professor Ninetta Santoro, University of Strathclyde. The conference
theme was ‘The stubborn persistence of racism – confronting racial inequality
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through education and action.’ Thanks are due to all in the CERES directors group
for pulling this together – particular thanks to Yvonne Foley, Mike Orr, Fiona
O’Hanlon, Maria Dasli, Akwugo Emejulu, Andy Hancock, Kristina Konstantoni
and also to Jo Law, Jonathan Hancock, Barrie Barreto, Martin Johnston and
Derek Rennie for filming and technical back up.
School Roles
The following people have stepped up to take on the following roles. Some of you
have been doing this for a few months so this is a belated thank you to you. I am
immensely grateful to each of you for doing so.
Simon Beames – Director of Quality Assurance
Claudia Rosenhan - Programme Director for MSc TESOL
Debi Fry and Jingi Li- Co -Programme Director for MSc Education
Ellen Boeren – Programme Director for MSc Educational Research
Stuart Moir - Programme Director for BA(Hons)Community Education
John Kelly - Programme Director for BSc Sport and Recreation Management
John Telford - Programme Director for the MSc Outdoor Environmental and
Sustainable Education (OESE) and also MSc Outdoor Education
Rachel O’Neill – Programme Director for the Additional Support for Learning (ASL)
Christine Sinclair - Programme Director of MSc Digital Education
Stelios Psycharakis- Deputy Director PGR, Graduate School
I also would also like to take the opportunity to thank colleagues who are demitting
roles.
Thank you for your leadership in these various areas. Thank you to Shereen
Benjamin (QA), Ken Fordyce (MSc TESOL), Lorna Hamilton (MSc Education),
Cristina Iannelli (MSc Educational Research), Ian Fyfe (BA (Hons) Community
Education), Sharon Clough (BSc Sport and Recreation Management), Jen Ross,
(MSc Digital Education), Kevin Wright (MSc ASL), Pauline Sangster (Director of
Doctoral Programme) and Simon Beames (Programme Director of MSc OESE and
MSc Outdoor Education)
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Starters and Leavers in MHSE (up until 1st Sept 2015)
A warm (and in some cases belated) welcome to the following new colleagues:
Name
Tabitha Casey
Siobhan Byron
Sarah Nicholson
Meredith Corey
Ritchie Hannah
Sharron Black
Andy Johnstone
Shirley Lawson
Nick Herd
Zayba Ghazali
Nicola Carse
Gitit Kadar-Satat
Maggi Litwinska
Cameron Douglas
Victoria Lindstrom
Jo Laing
Katherine Forrest
Post
Project Manager
Engagement
Assistant/Receptionist
Research Assistant
Online Learning Educator
(Education + GeoSci)
Online Learning Educator
(Education + GeoSci)
Teaching Fellow in Art Specialist
(Secondment)
Teaching Fellow in Geography
(Secondment)
Development Officer - Assistive
Technology & Additional Support
Needs
Teaching Secretary
Teaching Fellow in
Developmental Psychology
Lectuer in Primary Education
UG Administrative Assistant
Campus Estate & Facilities
Assistnt
Teaching Secretary
Placement Secretary
Placement Secretary
Unit
ECS
School
SPEHS
ETL
ETL
ETL
ETL
CALL,
ETL
UG
ECS
ETL
ECS
UG
School
UG
UG
UG
We wish the following colleagues all the best for the future and THANK YOU!
Evelyn McGregor
Jenni Benyon
Caira McDermott
Lorna Dunbar
Mairi Cameron
Fiona Lennox
Sheena McPherson
Lecturer and former PG
Director
Research Administrator
Art Technician
Placement Assistant
Engagement
Assistant/Receptionist
Institute Administrator
Associate Tutor
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ECS
ETL
School
UG
School
ECS
ETL
Nancy Marshall
Rugile
Skvarnaviciute,
Shona Morse
Jamie Mann
Louise McGregor
Karen Smith
Shirley Lee
Julie Taylor
Christine Jones
Keith Berkley
Moira Leslie
Associate Tutor
ETL
School Support Assistant
Senior Tutor in Community
Education
Research Fellow
Adapted Physical Activity Intern
Associate Tutor
School Secretary
Centre Director CPRC
Researcher, CPRC
Associate Tutor
Lecturer
School
ECS
ECS
SPEHS
ETL
School
ECS
ECS
ETL
ETL
On the 25th of August, I was very pleased to have the opportunity to attend the
leaving event held for a much respected colleague Moira Leslie . The day was event
was made special when Pamela Munn and Don Skinner came back to add their
contributions. It was a huge turnout of staff and Moira will be missed very much by
her colleagues. I want to thank Mary Andrew and the ETL Admin team for doing
much of the planning and ensuring a good send off for Moira).
[From L-R Pamela Munn, Robbie Nicol, John Ravenscroft, Moira Leslie, Mary
Andrew, Don Skinner and myself – with thanks to Valerie Clarke for the picture]
If I have missed anyone out, please let me know and we will ensure names are
included for the next newsletter. There will be other leaving events in October and I
hope colleagues will send pictures in for those.
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New look for School website
Many of you will no doubt have noticed that the School website has been given a
fresh new look this summer. See: www.ed.ac.uk/education
It’s a lot brighter and easier to navigate around.
As a matter of good housekeeping, if anyone who normally gives Margaret
MacPherson or Martin Johnston updates could please have a quick check over the
pages they supply for accuracy and continuity, that would be helpful Can I also
remind Heads of Institute teams and admin teams to please check your Institute's
site, Programme Directors please check your programme’s site), this would be very
much appreciated. Thanks very much to everyone who has done this already.
Upcoming Events …
50 Years of Scottish Comprehensive Schooling – 27th of October
This October will be the 50th anniversary of the introduction of comprehensive
schooling in Scotland. Government Circular 600 issued on 27th October 1965
required all Scottish local authorities to abolish selection and reorganize secondary
education provision along comprehensive lines. This change has had a significant
impact on the development of Scottish society in the fifty years since. The principles
of comprehensive education continue to be highly relevant to education today in the
context of Curriculum for Excellence, the Wood Commission’s recommendations
and efforts to close the attainment gap.
To mark the occasion, Moray House School of Education at the University of
Edinburgh is hosting a conference on the morning of 27th October where Alasdair
Allan MSP, Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages will open the
conference.
The conference is based on the book ‘Everyone’s Future: lessons from fifty years of
Scottish comprehensive schooling’ (co-edited by Danny Murphy, Linda Croxford
and Cathy Howieson) that was published in June. The book outlines the
achievements of these fifty years before considering the challenges that continue to
face Scottish education in achieving a truly comprehensive system1. The book builds
on the outstanding work of the Centre for Educational Sociology, which has been
investigating and reporting on Scottish education and society since the early 1970s.
The conference will also pay honor to our late colleague Prof David Raffe who sadly
passed away earlier this year.
To book go to:
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http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-have-we-learned-from-fifty-years-of-scottishcomprehensive-schooling-registration-18259940975
The Future for Sport, Cultural Relations and International Development
- 8th Sept 2015
On the 8th of September the Academy of Sport, jointly with the Centre for Cultural
Relations (CCR) and the Scottish Government, will be holding an event to consider
how sport can enable Scottish and German cultural relations. The event will be held
at The Scottish National Football Museum at Hampden Park on the morning after
the Scotland v Germany football match and is kindly hosted by the Scottish National
Football Museum. It affords the opportunity to explore with Scottish and Germany
ministers, officials, academics and practitioners, the role of sport in Scottish and
German cultural relations through a focus on sport’s role in international
development. This is the first in a series organised by the CCR, which will explore
the unique German approach to international cultural relations over the course of
this autumn and winter.
Scotland Lego League to come to Moray House – January 9th 2016
On January 9th the School will be hosting the Scottish Lego League that will involve
wide School participation. More importantly it will bring young people, parents,
teachers, community members and academics all together and into the School.
I am hoping our ITE students will act as volunteers and which will run in Paterson’s
Land. The event is organized not by Lego but by a group of parents and educators
under the umbrella of Lambdajam. See: http://lambdajam.org/about-us/main/
Thank you to Gale MacLeod and Andrew Manches for their roles in arranging for
this event.
School Christmas Dinner and Party – 10th December, John MacIntyre Centre
After a very successful dinner, celidh and dance evening, we are going ahead with
organising a similar event this year. The date is Thursday 10th December and the
venue will be the John MacIntyre Suite. We hope to keep costs as modest as we can.
More details will follow in the next newsletter but we hope you will save the date.
Go Wendy Go
Colleagues will be pleased to know that Wendy Timmons has been shortlisted for
potential award at the CHSS staff recognition awards that will take place on the 2nd
of October. We all wish Wendy the very best of luck. I think being nominated is the
winning ... anything else is just doubly sweet. I will be attending with a contingent
from Moray House and I am looking forward to the event.
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EUSA Teaching Awards
Continuing on from the change last Summer, EUSA have again invited nominations
from students for Summer teaching awards and we are aware of the following
nominations have been made.
Kenneth Fordyce
Charles Anderson
Clara O’Shea
Jim Crowther
Peter Evans
There are new nominations letters coming in all the time, so do please let us know if
we have not captured your name and congratulations to all those that have received
a nomination thus far.
Well done to Tony Turner and Amanda Martindale who gave a very successful
seminar to analysts from the Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services
about Human Performance Science and applying performance sports research with
other performers, including some detailed examples from Amanda’s work with
crime scene examiners. Great example of impact and I believe they will be invited
back to provide similar presentations to wider groups of civil servants.
Congratulations to PGDE graduate, David Hunter. The University news pages ran a
recent story about David and his fledgling golf gadget via the following pages:
See Link: http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2015/golf-start-up-200715
TESOL Short Courses- 2015-16
Well done to the team at TESOL who were busy in the period leading into Summer
with the development of short course offerings.
Joan Cutting, Nicola Galloway and Angela Gayton, with the support of Graham
Thomson, have designed a TESOL Short Courses provision, to meet the CPD needs
of English major graduates and language teachers, potential PhD students and
business professionals, who wish to expand their knowledge of TESOL and Applied
Linguistics research and pedagogy, applying it to their teaching contexts.
There are four formats of non-credit-bearing courses:

Tailor-Made in Edinburgh for Institutions: A four-week in-house course in
Edinburgh for one institution. The institution chooses the focus and balance
of the course, guided by the list of topics on offer. The course runs late June
to mid-July.
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


Electives in Edinburgh for Individuals: A two-week in-house course in
Edinburgh for individuals from any institution in any country. It uses
material from MSc TESOL core and option courses. The course runs in the
first two weeks of July.
Tailor-made on-site for Institutions: A two- to four-week on-site course in
the participants’ own institution (or country for a group of institutions). The
institution chooses the focus and balance of the course, guided by the list of
topics on offer. The course runs late June to mid-July.
Consultancy on-site for Institutions: A one- to seven-day consultancy
service in the participants’ own institution, at any time of year.
The team now have a request from Beijing Foreign Studies University, the top
foreign studies university in China, for format A. Tailor-Made in Edinburgh for
Institutions, for two weeks in July or August 2016. The students will be 30
university teachers of general English for non-majors. BFSU wishes to develop their
knowledge of language skills teaching methodology, cross-cultural communication,
critical thinking skills, teacher development, language assessment, American
culture.
Well done to Will O’Sullivan who completed an internship this year in the School of
Education's Graduate Office. On the 15th of August, Will ran a half-marathon in
Nairn, just north of the Cairngorms. This was an effort to raise money for a primary
school near his home in Nairobi, Kenya. The school's 120 students are largely
orphans and homeless children, and the school depends heavily on donations. It’s
not too late for colleagues to make contributions, as the money will go directly
towards getting the school registered, purchasing stationary and developing
classrooms. Donations accepted till September 15th.
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/halfmarathonsalamagachie"
School Committee and Meeting Dates 2015/16
School Committee dates for the coming session have now been finalised across the
School and details can be viewed in the attached PDF document. Dates are also
being entered onto the School calendar which is available via the School intranet.
Twitter
Please remember that I am always open to receiving headline news and suggestions
that I can tweet. Thank you to those of you who are sending in statements for
tweeting – it helps and they are very often re-tweeted quite widely. See:
https://twitter.com/MorayHouseHoS
Next Newsletter: October2015
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