Dr Marcelo Staricoff and other presenters at the 6th Global Empathy Conference in Prague

Lecturer in Primary Education and author of The Joy of Not Knowing, Dr Marcelo Staricoff, has just returned from Prague where he was a keynote speaker for the Virtual School Australia sponsored 6th Global Empathy Conference. The conference included a pre-recorded panel discussion between students from the School of Education & Social Work at the University of Sussex and students from the University of California at Santa Cruz - Silicon Valley extension.

Marcelo chaired the morning session and his subsequent keynote paid tribute to the life and work of John West-Burnham, teacher, education leadership consultant and author/co-author/editor of many books including Rethinking Educational Leadership and Understanding Leadership. Marcelo met John in the early stages of Marcelo’s career as a primary school teacher. John’s inspirational ideas led Marcelo to create classroom conditions which enabled every child to feel valued and thrive emotionally, socially and academically. Empathy was at the heart of every aspect of John’s philosophy of education, and it was this specifically which Marcelo transposed firstly into his role as a headteacher and subsequently into what became his ‘The Joy of Not Knowing’ philosophy of education and school leadership - a book which John wrote the Preface to.

Professor Robin Banerjee (PVC Global & Civic Engagement) delivered another keynote for which he shared research findings on the social and emotional development of children and young people at school, and how to consider the implications of this work in terms of empathy and kindness for promoting positive relationships, mental health and wellbeing across the whole school community.

Education Lecturer, Claire Watts, delivered a session which gave a teacher’s perspective on empathy.

Students from the School of Education and Social Work took part in a panel discussion with students from the University of California at Santa Cruz - Silicon Valley extension. The pre-recorded session was a discussion about the role that empathy plays - in the students’ current lives, in relation to their studies, and potentially in their futures. It is the first time that students from these institutions had met and collaborated in this way.

About his experience of the Conference, Marcelo said:

“It was such a wonderful honour and privilege to be part of this conference, which this year included such fabulous representation from colleagues and students from our university who provided such valuable insights into the role that empathy plays in education, in our lives and in helping us all to create a better world.”

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