Education student wins national research prize
Fiona Dunne, a graduate of Southampton Education School, has been awarded a prestigious prize by the United Kingdom Literacy Association.
Fiona's dissertation, ‘Exploring complex issues through work in role: can primary pupils achieve the literacy drama objective through work on a Shakespeare play?’ won the prestigious UKLA Student Research Prize.
Fiona, a teacher at Shirley Junior School, achieved her MA (Ed) with Distinction in 2011, having previously also studied at Southampton for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education. She collected her award UKLA International Conference over the summer, with her dissertation supervisor Doreen Challen .
Doreen comments, "As a teacher with a passion for drama, and Shakespeare in particular, Fiona used a unit of learning based on Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' with a Year 5 class to explore the development of their thinking in relation to some of the 'complex issues' raised by the play. Through a meticulous analysis of pupils' talk during lessons, she demonstrated that such work could indeed contribute highly effectively to pupil learning."
Fiona is now applying to study for a PhD at Southampton.