Tipp Educators Invited to Conference on Empathy and Bridging Divides

“Educators, youth workers and community leaders are being encouraged to attend a ground-breaking conference in Limerick next week.” The ‘Transformative Narratives’ conference will cover “the profound impact of story exchange, restorative practice, and empathy building pedagogies in educational settings.” This conference will take place from 9:30am to 4pm on the 7th of June in the Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick.

Lee Keylock - keynote speaker - Transformative Narratives Conference

Keynote speaker on the day will be Lee Keylock (above), the Connecticut based Director of Global Programs with non-profit organisation Narrative 4, who became a “leading international voice on the power of storytelling to foster empathy and bridge divides” following the mass shooting of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School which was “just up the street” from “Newtown Elementary School” where he was working as “a secondary school English teacher” at the time. 

 Dr Dan O Sullivan - Conference organiser

“Conference organiser Dr Dan O’Sullivan (above) from the School of Education at the University of Limerick says the conference provides an important forum for educators, researchers, and practitioners to come together, share ideas, and explore new approaches.”

Dr O Sullivan believes it is “vital to explore how education can best meet the needs of students and society. We know that to reach students and to inspire and engage them, we need to build trust and rapport with them.”

 The aim of the conference is to provide information about the practices of story exchange, restorative practice and empathy building to find “ways to empathise with where young people are at, to understand their lives, and to ensure they feel heard and supported.” He references the rapidly evolving world and says that this is “why we must come together to showcase different approaches, to share ideas and resources, and explore how we can respond to shared challenges”.

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