Alumni magazine 2025/2026 bonus content
In this year’s magazine, we shortened three fantastic articles so that they’d fit the School of Education, Language and Psychology page. But, each article contained wonderful details we thought you’d enjoy. So, please enjoy this bonus content for the 2025/2026 magazine!
Initial Teacher Education – World Maths Day
Here at York St. John University our heritage is anchored in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Our York St. John University ITE Partnership mission statement ‘children and young people at the centre of our learning community since 1841’ is lived out daily. To celebrate World Mathematics Day, we worked in partnership with Tockwith CofE Primary Academy (York) welcoming over thirty Year 5 pupils and staff onto campus to work on a range of mathematical problem-solving tasks alongside eighteen of our undergraduate student teachers (currently studying on our 3-year BA Honours Degree in Primary Education).
World Maths Day Event
On World Maths Day the campus was buzzing with mathematical thinking. The focus was on mathematical skills such as pattern seeking and problem-solving and on fostering a ‘growth mindset’ and a ‘can do’ attitude fuelled by curiosity. The rich mathematical conversations that ensued encourage explanation, justification and generalisations.
A range of different mathematical problems were shared with the children that required resilience and reasoning skills. The student teachers facilitated the day promoting curiosity, patterns seeking and perseverance. The dominoes challenge (with both 6-spot and 9-spot dominoes) led to some incredible discoveries by these 10- and 11-year-olds. They could predict how many tiles and how many spots there would be in any dominoes set having spotted patterns and made connections to support their understanding of the structures. If you would like to have a go yourselves, head straight to NRich.
“The day provided a great opportunity to explore mathematical ideas and to nurture the children’s academic aspirations.”
Rachel Williamson: Mathematics Subject Lead – Tockwith CofE Primary Academy
Bringing maths to life
Taking mathematics outdoors to engage the children in team games brought a whole new level of energy to the Quad. For those of you familiar with our beautiful campus it will be of no surprise that the children excitedly likened the Quad to ‘Harry Potter’ and being at ‘Hogwarts’. The student teachers provided clues to different geometric shapes and the children had to race to collect the next clue – working as a team to identify the shape by process of deductive reasoning.
The campus tour gave the children real insight into life and study at university. As they explored our facilities, including the library, creative arts centre, lecture halls and canteen, key members of staff spoke to the children sharing key facts that would later be the focus of the final quiz. The children were struck by the university’s focus on sustainability and the fact that the university library holds over 720,000 eBooks.
“I enjoyed learning about the history of the university and seeing the different places learning what you do with them. Also doing the different games whilst learning.”
Nicky, Year 5 pupil
Opportunities and Reflections
Gaining insight into university life, exploring the learning spaces and being part of this wider community of educators served to foster a positive attitude towards lifelong learning and aspirations for the future.
“It was an absolute pleasure to return to York St John University and join the children from Tockwith during their maths investigation day. The students had planned excellent activities and seeing the engagement and enjoyment levels of the children was wonderful. The children were all saying how inspired they were to apply for university in the future! I also particularly enjoyed the tour of the campus and seeing all of the changes over the last 20 years.”
Laura Stubbs: Mathematics Link Governor -Tockwith CofE Primary Academy
The children enjoyed meeting and being challenged by the teachers ‘training to be real teachers’ – with these young mathematicians saying:
“I had an amazing time at York St John University and seeing different perspectives of maths was fun, educational and exciting. All the activities that they had planned made us think, show perseverance, creativity and friendship throughout the day. The teachers in training really helped us all. I’m sure that we’d all love to go back again someday.”
Ava, Year 5 pupil
“I loved my time at York St John University of fun mathematics games and brain wiring problems that really made me think. I also loved learning the interesting history of the building. Overall, it was an educational and enjoyable time that we spent there. I am sure the entire class would love to come back again.”
Amy, Year 5 pupil
Our student teachers experienced first-hand how the children showed curiosity and resilience – really challenging themselves to build on prior knowledge and understanding. It was clear to see how the student teachers’ confidence grew throughout the day to allow them to really engage with the children’s mathematical thinking. Seeing the positive attitudes that can be fostered within mathematics and valuing the range of approaches children take in problem solving will shape the student teachers’ own teaching philosophy within future school placements on their journey to achieve Qualified Teacher Status.
“It was an utter pleasure to be a part of the maths day on campus with Tockwith Primary School’s year 5 children. Every child showed their enthusiasm and passion for maths throughout the day. Even when the activities seemed tricky, they supported each other and were excited to learn throughout the day. It was a wonderful day for all involved!”
Emily Hilton: Student Teacher
“The maths day was a perfect opportunity to gain valuable experience working with primary school children while also appreciating the versatile nature of mathematics. Through the carousel activity, we saw just how broad and engaging the subject can be.”
Polly Hughes: Student Teacher
“It was a great opportunity to gain some more experience with children in a classroom environment. It was also a pleasure to help out with the maths day and meet some of the children and teachers in the local area.”
Josh Cartmell: Student Teacher
Looking to the future
At York St John University we aim to inspire student and early career teachers to have the confidence and competence to excel at teaching mathematical concepts, skills, and processes; to be champions for the subject; and to become future STEM ambassadors and leaders. Partnership events such as this set firm foundations and help ignite this passion and belief in a positive and dynamic mathematics education for all children.
Our thanks go to everyone who supported the event on the day.
What have I done? Adapting to work and study in Japan and Korea.
Leesa Clarke, Associate Head of Language and Linguistics reflects on the study abroad experience students on our Japanese and Korean programmes embark on in their third year of study, and what it can lead to.
As part of York St John’s Japanese and Korean BA degree programmes, students spend one year studying at a Japanese or South Korean partner University. I find that many students return to York St John as very different people when they rejoin us for final year. The study abroad year helps our students to develop many key life skills and tests their adaptability and resilience like never before. It doesn’t matter how hard we work to prepare students, I’m sure that nothing compares to that feeling of waking up that first morning in their student accommodation in Japan or Korea with that sense of “What have I done?”
Students on Japanese and Korean will have 2 years of successful language study behind them which is vital to being equipped to manage when they finally arrive in their chosen country. For many, embarking on the study abroad year is the culmination of years of passionate interest in Japanese or Korean language, music and culture, where they finally get the chance to fully immerse themselves in a very different way of life.
Living abroad
The first few weeks settling in can of course be some of the most turbulent times for anyone moving to a new country, especially where the culture and language are so different. Simple homesickness and culture shock can be a problem in the first few weeks. For some with less adventurous palates food can be a minefield, there’s navigating different transport systems, learning where to shop, and also getting to grips with local etiquette. I was surprised to learn, that student accommodation in South Korea comes with curfews, so not the laissez-faire system that students will be used to in the UK! For a significant proportion of YSJ students, travel is not something that they have done extensively (if at all) so to say the study abroad year throws them in at the deep end might be an understatement! Happily, most of our students embrace the chaos and find the year abroad one of the best experiences of their lives so far.
While our students are studying abroad they are also expected to complete a short work placement – many opt to teach English for their work experience, and some can use the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) skills that they have acquired on their degree programmes so far. For some students that experience of working in Japan or Korea is what cements their desire to travel, live and work abroad, and shows them how skills and knowledge in TESOL can open doors to global opportunities.
Life after studying abroad
Following on from their study abroad experience some go on to develop their career in that direction, and we have ex-students living and working across the globe, in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Poland and Denmark to name a few. Some opt to stay closer to home, teaching English to speakers of other language in the UK. Yet others want to learn more about Teaching English and stay with us for an additional year studying on our MA TESOL programme before taking flight. Whatever students decide, the growth, change and development they undergo through the study abroad experience is second to none.
TESOL training and experience opens doors all over the world – the demand for English teaching never wanes, and with our MA TESOL programme, applicants don’t need to have studied with us previously or have a Language or Linguistics degree. We welcome students on that programme with no prior TESOL experience and hopefully prepare our students for a career where they can travel the world!
You can find out more about our MA TESOL programmes by contacting Dr Indu Meddegama – i.meddegama@yorksj.ac.uk
Testing student resilience
York St John’s BSL, Deaf Studies and Linguistics degree programme will be celebrating its fourth graduating cohort this year. In this article Dai O’Brien, Associate Professor and one of the architects of the programme alongside Associate Professor Amanda Smith, reflects on the experience of the last few years, and what he hopes for the future.
The process of setting up any new degree is one which is both exciting and slightly scary at the same time, particularly one as unique as this. Making sure the curriculum provided is one which is coherent, aligned to all the appropriate standards, useful to prospective students’ career prospects and fun and engaging to study is a challenge at the best of times! But the process of putting together the BSL, Deaf Studies and Linguistics degree was a positive one. It allowed us to re-align our longstanding BSL provision (established almost 20 years ago by Amanda) with the most up to date professional qualifications, to create several module’s worth of new material, and to collaborate with linguistics colleagues in the School of Education, Languages and Psychology. The resulting degree, with its equal weighting of BSL, Deaf Studies, and Linguistics modules, is the only one of its kind in the UK.
Our wonderful students
We have been consistently humbled each year by the enthusiasm and joy that each cohort has brought to the degree. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with the programme launching the year before the covid pandemic caused national lockdowns in the UK. This particularly impacted our BSL lessons, BSL is a 3D visual spatial language, and converting this to a 2D experience over online teaching was particularly challenging. But all the students on the programme responded with incredible strength and emotional maturity, including those who had to make the difficult decisions to step back from their studies to support families who were going through particularly challenging times.
But the experience of teaching each cohort has more often been one of great joy and intellectual discovery. This shows in the number of nominations for York St John Student Union Awards both Amanda and I have received over the years. Whether we won the award or not is not important – it’s the fact that the students thought enough of us to nominate us in the first place which really warms our hearts.
Our community
Graduates from the degree have entered many different fields. Some have gone on to study for post-graduate degrees, both in York St John and in other institutions around the UK. Others have become teachers. Some work with deaf people in different contexts, including in charities, in various roles within the education system, or as communication support workers in the professional sphere. Whatever they are doing, we’re very proud to have taught them all, and are looking forward to teaching many more!
Our modest aim when writing the degree was to create something which would help our graduates to go and change the world for the better. We’re proud to say that each and every one of them, in innumerable ways, are doing just that.
With thanks to Dr Linda Mason, Dr Ian Wilson, Dr Leesa Clarke, Dr Keither Parker, Dr Dai O’Brien and the School of Education, Language and Psychology team for these articles.
