• Exploring postcolonial trauma in Nigeria as stimulus for creating new plays

  Agboaye, Isikhuemen (2018-06-01)

  This research is situated within the practice-led method, enabling me as a playwright to gain stimulus for creating trauma informed plays. The framework for creating such plays in this research is the centre-periphery concept (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin, 2013, 43) situated with the imagined nation as backdrops for understanding postcolonial trauma. In order to gain stimulus for playwriting in this research, I explored Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman to understanding postcolonial trauma in my part of Africa, being Nigeria. I also explored other sources for the purpose of gaining stimulus from embedded trauma motifs, useful for writing The Longest Snake, The Endless Walk and the Alternative plays. The Alternative plays draw meanings from the initial plays and are interventive and socio-dramatic; revealing how trauma may be understood from other perspectives. The originality of this research and contribution to knowledge may be perceived in the new plays which incorporate trauma notions; the role of the ‘circle’ in conceptualisation and the use of the ‘centre-periphery’ concepts as template for playwriting and analysis. The originality may also be inferred from the interventive relevance of the created plays, touching on how postcolonial trauma may be understood from the lens of the imagined nation, and events in the centre-periphery context. It is also important to mention how the collectives are traumatically affected by the negative effects of colonisation as mirrored in the textual sources explored. Equally relevant are my personal experiences and the African folklore and folktale milieu, which are relevant for understanding postcolonial trauma through praxis; reiterating Gray and Marlins’ (2016: 2) thoughts that ‘We learn most effectively by doing – by active experience, and reflection on that experience,’ which may be seen in the context of the practice-led approach I adopted in this research.
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  Minding the gap - From disparity to beyond

  Cureton, Debra; Cousins, Glynis (SRHE Annual Research Conference, 2013-12-11)

  The sector wide differences in the attainment of students categorised as Black Minority Ethnic (BME) and as white increases, despite the good degrees gained by students categorised as BME rising year on year (ECU, 2012). In this research staff and student perceptions of the attainment gap are explored and initiatives to reduce the gap are implemented. The research identified four areas that are crucial to student success and contribute to gap:  the quality of learning relationships  pedagogic factors: i.e. the clarity of assignment briefs  psychosocial barriers: i.e. student expectation, belongingness, aspiration raising and fear of stereotype threats  social capital: i.e. understanding the HE rules of engagement and degree classifications On conclusion of the programme the University saw a 2% decrease in its attainment gap. This work continues through the What Works Change Programme and considers how assessment practices can impact of student retention, progression, success and sense of belongingness.
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  Peer mentoring for staff development in a changing work environment

  Cureton, Debra; Green, P.; Meakin, L. (The International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 2010-06-30)

  This paper details the impact of a formalised staff mentoring scheme on people working in a University in the United Kingdom. It considers aspects of a changing political agenda on the working lives of employees and considers how mentoring can mediate its negative effects. Evaluation data indicates that the scheme provides developmental opportunities, contact with others, emotional support and the opportunity for reflection. It is suggested that these findings are transferable to other large, changing, organisational environments where a variety of occupational groups are employed.
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  Factors of success for formal mentoring in Higher Education: Exploration through autoethnography

  Cureton, Debra (EMCC, 2010-07-31)

  An auto-ethnographical methodology was used to collect field notes and reflective data over a three year period, which focused on the implementation of a formal staff mentoring scheme within a Higher Education setting. Through the analysis of collected data, observations about the implementation, process and outcomes have been made. Suggestions about the interactional nature of time invested into a mentoring relationship, the nature of the mentoring relationship, personal and organisational investment and the benefits of mentoring have also been proposed.
• Supporting students’ learning: The power of the student–teacher relationship

  Cureton, Debra; Gravestock, Phil (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018-07-06)

  The learning relationship between students and those who teach them is intrinsic to student success (Thomas, Building student engagement and belonging at a time of change in higher education. London: Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2012). Moreover, one of the factors that can lead to differential outcomes in student success is believed to stem from differences in the perceived and experienced learning relationships between students and their lecturers (Cousin and Cureton, Disparities in student attainment (DiSA). York: Higher Education Academy, 2012). This chapter considers the components of the student and teacher learning relationship that encourage students to be successful, and the multi-layered and multifaceted factors that can affect such relationships. The chapter will draw on the wider literature around learning relationships, whilst providing illustrative case studies from two research programmes: Disparities in Student Attainment (DiSA) and phase two of the What Works? project.

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