Student storytelling: critical reflections on gender and intergenerational practice at the National Centre for Children’s Books

ABSTRACT

In a collaboration with Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, university students and primary school children were brought together through methods of intergenerational practice (IGP). Across consecutive academic years, the project has seen 136 students embark on an exploration of geographies of gender and generation with 120 primary school children. By utilising creative learning in teaching the project addresses threshold concepts in understanding, in this case, IGP (methods of intentional age integration). The purpose of this paper is to analyse the promotion of IGP through emergent critical reflections. These reflections are situated within academic debate on the use of IGP in children’s and young people’s geographies.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergenerational practice
• gender
• children
• students
• storytelling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Vital North Partnership is a strategic partnership between Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and Newcastle University, funded by Arts Council England and Newcastle University.

2 In the second workshop, I had arranged for a visit from the MP for Newcastle Central, Chi Onwurah. In her role as Shadow Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – and as a former engineer – Chi spoke with the university students about the gendered workplace.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Geography, Politics and Sociology School Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Fund at Newcastle University.