Aidan Gillespie – författare

Many of the problem’s children face in relation to their personal lives, educational experiences and attainment are caused by factors that exist outside schools. Yet despite this, all educational establishments and all school staff now have a clear ‘duty’ and ‘responsibility’ to respond to safeguarding and vulnerability concerns. All school staff are expected to be particularly alert to specific risks and the needs of children in particular groups or sets of circumstances children face in their daily living experiences. In policy documents and academic texts on safeguarding and vulnerability it is relatively easy to identify and define individuals, groups and sub-groups who are deemed to be more at risk. A key gap in the existing literature is that no consideration is given to explain and understand why children and young people find themselves in these positions of risk or vulnerability in the first place. This book fills this gap in the literature, building on current government publications, and collectively supports and compliments the endeavours of schools, universities, trainee teachers/ECTs and school support staff in relation to understanding and meeting the needs of pupils who may be at risk. This is achieved by bringing together subject area experts and academics (teaching and non-teaching) from a range of subject areas to explore three main areas: understanding the concepts of vulnerability, enhancing pupil engagement and teaching practices, and social problems, risk and resilience. This timely and accessible work will be vital reading for academic and professional teaching staff, trainee teachers and ECTs

Engaging with sensitive topics is crucial for students to develop classroom and workplace resilience. These should be taught in a way that supports the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and attributes, and that enables students to prepare for and thrive in their future professional life.Providing educators with a comprehensive understanding of the issues involved in teaching sensitive subjects and topics, this collected work invites them to consider their position and practice in the classroom, as well as the implications that this might for the learner and their learning experience. Presenting illustrative examples from the fields of public health, social care, psychology, social work, education, and criminology, contributors draw on the work of active academics and empirical researchers with extensive experience developing and designing relevant teaching activities. Recognising the range of sensitive concerns that staff may need to handle, chapters provide theoretical and practical guidance across a range of subjects, including cultural sensitivity, colonialism, faith and religion, homelessness, care experience, poverty, mental health, trauma, violence, and substance use.Rooted in actual practice, Developing and Implementing Teaching in Sensitive Subject and Topic Areas identifies the best methodology for creating learning environments that feel both safe and critically stimulating for all involved.

Where spirituality in the UK once existed as a shared experience of mutual religious and cultural norms, it has evolved to one where religion, faith and individualism challenges a ‘one-size fits all’ experience. Considering the dramatic implications this means for British education, Aidan Gillespie puts forward a new definition of spirituality which is unique to educationalists across all settings. With reference to how teachers themselves define and understand the expression of spirituality through their teaching practice, this book draws on narrative accounts from professionals, of faith and none, to illustrate the contested understanding of spirituality and its interaction with professional values and choices. As the author develops the concept of spirituality from a wholly religious tradition and towards one of a shared spiritual component present in each individual, regardless of faith or belief, he also showcases how this might challenge learning spaces with a distinctive religious character. By investigating where the personal conceptualization of spirituality might directly contest the assumed character of faith education, and place tensions on individual teachers with regards to their professional practice, Gillespie demonstrates the importance of this new understanding of spirituality in a culture which pays homage to a largely secular contemporary Britain. Providing enlightening accounts from professionals with wide-ranging experience, this book is appealing reading for teachers, researchers and students of education in the UK as well as internationally.