Tackling Transition in Psychology

School teachers, college tutors and university academics are coming together for a constructive event to discuss how they can help students to tackle the sometimes challenging leap from school or college to university.

The free evening workshop, ‘Tackling Transitions in Psychology’, will explore ways in which psychology teachers in schools, colleges and universities can work together to 'tackle transition' and provide ample networking opportunities with those working in psychology education system.

The event, hosted jointly by the School of Psychology at Bangor University, the Higher Education Academy, and the National Science Learning Centre is on 2 May at Bangor University and registration is via the webpage: www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2012/02-May-tackling-transition-psychology-Bangor.

Dr Fay Short, Psychology Lecturer at Bangor University, said:

“I think that this will be a fantastic opportunity for both academics and teachers to gain a unique insight into the alternative sectors of education beyond their own immediate teaching environment. This close collaboration between professionals will inevitably serve to enhance the student experience at both FE and HE levels in the future”.

Dr Julie Hulme from the Higher Education Academy, said:

“Some students find the transition from sixth form at school or college into university education challenging. We have evidence from good practice across the United Kingdom suggesting that collaboration between pre-tertiary and academic departments can be of benefit to students, and also has advantages for teachers in both sectors. This event aims to bring psychology teachers from schools and colleges together with university academics to share best practice.”

Leanne McLean-Jones, Ysgol Friars said:

“I’m really looking forward to working collaboratively with my HE colleagues on the issues that face both sectors of education. Preparing pupils for the transition remains problematic for various reasons, exam board requirements often require a prescriptive approach to teaching and planning of teaching often requires some element of superficial coverage, this often means that we lose sight of our goal which is to ensure our pupils are successful in an HE environment. Working in partnership on a solution focused approach to tackling transition should enable us to focus on making the changes at a grass roots level which will ultimately benefit the pupil.”

During the evening, participants will be invited to work with other professionals from across the two sectors, leaving with a definite plan for future collaboration. For example, university academics could work with school teachers to establish a collaborative research project or an innovative new teaching intervention.

The workshop will be led by a panel that will include Dr Janet De Wilde and Dr Julie Hulme from the Higher Education Academy; Dr Jeremy Airey from the National Science Learning Centre; Dr Fay Short and Dr Tracey Lloyd from Bangor University and Leanne McLean-Jones from Ysgol Friars secondary school.

Publication date: 2 April 2012