Programme

Conference live

Welcome to the conference! We are delighted that you are joining us for this important conference.
On this page you will find the detailed programme for all 3 days. This page will be updated with any unavoidable amendments to the programme.

On this website you can also find out more about:

The venue - including parking, campus map, accessibility
Food and drink options
Things to do
Transport links

Follow the links in the programme below to access the abstracts for each optional session as well as keynote details. Or you can download all the abstracts as a pdf here:

Download abstracts

Day 1: Thursday 7th September 2023

12.00 – 13.00: Lunch (provided) and Registration in The Alan Walters Building

13.00 – 13.10: Welcome address - Room G03

13.10 – 14.00

Keynote: Professor Carmel Cefai Room G03
Reimagining post-covid education: a whole school approach to mental

14.00 – 14.10: Movement break

14.10 – 15.30

Option 1 (Click here for abstracts) Room G03

Professor Helen Cowie & Dr Carrie-Anne Myers: Cyberbullying and online harms: the impact on the emotional health and well-being of young people.
Grace Quantock: Trauma Toggle: Exploring trauma-informed news design for increased agency and titration in media consumption.

Option 2 (Click here for abstracts)Room 111

Dr Sonya Woodward: Educational needs of refugees in Wales.
Dr Donna Gaywood: Pedagogy of welcome: ways to support refugee children in Early Childhood Education and Care.
Dahab Jihar: School Attendance in Secondary Schools. Policy, practice, and implications for whole school approaches.

Option 3 (Click here for abstract) Room 103

Claire Houghton and Joe Lucas: A Circle of Understanding. (Workshop)

15.30 – 15.50: Mid-afternoon Refreshments provided, networking, exhibitions

15.50 – 17.10

Option 4 (Click here for abstracts) Room 103

Dr Anne Southall, Professor Sally Pearce: Forging connections for trauma-informed education: A partnership between Sheffield Hallam University UK and La Trobe University Australia.
Prof. Dr. Terje Ogden: Evaluation of the School-Wide Positive Behavior Support model (SWPBS) in Norwegian primary schools.
Dr Julie Greer: Putting the ‘y’ into ‘unit’: reimagining resourced provisions. Ways to lead the whole school in meeting the needs of children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Option 5 (Click here for abstracts) Room 112

Adriana Frazão: Preliminary results of “Psicomotricidade IE”: a psychomotor intervention program for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder.
Professor Tania Hart: Reporting the findings from the STaRS (Siblings Together are Really Stronger) research project, which explored how the wellbeing of siblings of children with life-limiting conditions can be promoted.
Marcia White: The Discourse of Permanent Exclusion: Through the Lens of an Early Career Researcher (ECR).

Option 6 (Click here for abstract) Room 111 - or outside

Rupert Loch: Learning outside the classroom – A practical workshop: Alternative approaches for students with SEMH. (Workshop)

17.10- 17.20: Movement break

17.20 – 18.00

Keynote: Professor Karen Guldberg Room G03
Implementing the principles of good autism practice in education: Inclusion in international contexts.

18.00 Closing remarks

Day 2: Friday 8th September 2023

9.00 -9.30: Registration for Friday or Friday/Saturday delegates

9.30 – 9.40: Welcome and introduction to Day 2 - Room G03

9.40 -10.10

UNICEF Room G03
David Bradley and Amy Ashlee: Early Childhood Education & Care for refugee families in the UK

10.15 -11.05

Keynote: Professor Harry Daniels & Associate Professor Ian Thompson Room G03
Excluded Lives: Understanding marginalisation from multiple perspectives.

11.05- 11.25: Mid-morning refreshments provided, networking, exhibitions

11.25 - 12.45

Option 7 (Click here for abstracts) - Room 103

Lucy Cavell: Hope on the frontline: Exploring practitioner perspectives of childhood trauma recovery.
Stefanie Pearce: Insights into school belonging in a trauma-informed school. “It’s like they just want us to be happy.”
Dr Carmel Conn: Learner experiences of lower sets in the Welsh context: tensions in a rights-based approach to education.

Option 8 (Click here for abstracts) Room G03

Andrew Caress: The Child’s Champion - an exploratory study investigating the role of chaperones in supporting the mental wellbeing of child performers in professional UK theatre productions.
Rebecca Haycock: ‘Our brains put together can work magic’: Participation as social justice and the creation of space for three-way learning.
Tambay Mansaray: Promoting Rural Education in Sierra Leone.

Option 9 (Click here for abstract) Room 111

Lynn Gazal: Tree planting to promote hope in young people in the context of escalating climate change.

Option 10 (Click here for abstract) Room 112

Narelle Dalton , Lorna McLean: A kindness culture; not the easy option!

12.45 – 13.35: Lunch provided and opportunities for networking and visiting exhibitions stands

13.35- 14.25

Keynote: Professor Mina Fazel Room G03
What kind of refuge? Post-migration needs of displaced children

14.25 – 14.35: Movement break

14.35 - 15.55

Option 11 (Click here for abstracts) Room 103

Michelle Longhurst: A mixed methods study of students’ and caregivers’ perceptions and experiences of the managed move process within a neighbouring local authority secondary school.
Dr Emma Clarke: ‘Images from the Edge: Girls’ experiences of being at risk of permanent exclusion’.
Lynda Kay: Seeking ways to halt the exclusion train: In search of factors that contribute to effective inclusive practice for children who exhibit challenging behaviour in schools.

Option 12 (Click here for abstracts) Room G03

Farhia Hersi: "The Power of Teachers' Choice": a qualitative study of teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practices relating to promoting cultural diversity using children's literature.
Professor Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić, Professor Shu-Chen Jenny Yen, Olesya Saban: Improving Children’s Well-being: Social Story as a Tool for Aiding Children to Cope with the Ukraine/Russia War.
Dr Marie Clancy, Beth Dennis: Methodological approaches to using poetry in research with refugee children and their families experiencing palliative care.

Option 13 (Click here for abstract) Room 111

Zaina Aljumma: ESOL Tutors’ perspectives on literacy and language difficulties among forced migrants’ learners and the impact on their progress in Wales. (Workshop)

Option 14 (Click here for abstract) Room 112

Dr Alan Price, Dan Whittaker Learning beyond the classroom – two different approaches towards the amelioration of social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Case studies from within a UK special school for learners with social emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH) within the West Midlands. ( Symposium)

15.55- 16.15: Mid-afternoon refreshments provided, networking, exhibitions

16.15 - 17.35

Option 15 (Click here for abstracts) Room 103

Dr Kathy Evans: Working with vulnerable children and young people, exploring educational and mental health labels, and the implications of both.
Andrew Caress: Delivering safe and effective mental health education within the school curriculum.
Dr Maria Reraki, Dr Alicia Blanco-Bayo: So, what is it then; Special Need, SEMH or both? An assessment framework to value their interplay.

Option 16 (Click here for abstract) Room 112

Dr Clara Rübner Jørgensen, Dr Graeme Dobson, Freda Crook and Wendy Ross: Refugee children with Special Educational Needs – an interactive workshop discussing the information needed to distinguish different needs and best support the children. (Workshop)

Option 17 (Click here for abstract) Room 111

Dr Debbie Bailey and Dr Paul Van Walwyk: From “Maladjusted” to “SEMH” – do labels make a difference? Two Headteachers of special schools for pupils with SEBD/SEMH share their research and discuss how labels impact on practice. (Symposium)

17.35: Day 2 Closing remarks
Followed by opportunity to network until 18.00

18.45- 19.30: Drinks Reception: Edgbaston Park Hotel. Sponsored by Routledge.

19.30: Gala Dinner: Edgbaston Park Hotel (prior booking with SEBDA needed)

Gala Dinner Speaker: Professor John Visser
What can a label do?

21.00: Live music

Day 3: Saturday 9th September 2023

9.30 – 10.00: Registration for Saturday only delegates
SEBDA AGM for SEBDA members - Room 103

10.00- 10.10: Welcome and introduction to Day 3 - Room G03

10.10-10.45

ENSEC Room G03
Professor Sanja Tatalović Vorkapić: Considering early childhood educators’ competencies for mental health and well-being: One of the solutions for working with vulnerable children

10.45- 11.05: Mid-morning refreshments provided, networking, exhibitions

11.05- 12.25

Option 18 (Click here for abstracts) Room 103

Cathy Stancer, Jenny McCabe, Rob McCabe: Regenerating Human Ecosystems: The Birmingham Pathfinder approach to family support. (Optional follow up workshop at 14.40)
Claire Hannah-Russell: Emerging solutions to a wellbeing crisis within the education system: An exploratory evaluation of a wellbeing and nurture programme in primary schools for supporting children in the immediate Covid-19 post-pandemic era. (Optional follow up workshop at 14.40)
Dr Amanda Barrie: Accessing the voices of children with SEMH needs using Photo Elicitation Interviews.

Option 19 (Click here for abstract) Room 111

Dominic Gunn: Self-Regulation in Early Childhood Education – A Neurological Perspective on ‘Pla (Workshop)

Option 20 (Click here for abstract) Room 112

Dr Rob Long: Positive Psychology and Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) “Their future is not over”.

(Workshop)

12.25 – 13.15; Lunch provided and opportunities for networking and visiting exhibitions stands

13.15 – 14.05

Keynote: Dr Anne Southall Room G03
Trauma informed education: From the inside out.

14.05 – 14.20

What next? A plenary session to discuss the legacy of the conference -Room G03

14.20- 14.40: Mid-afternoon refreshments provided, networking, exhibitions

14.40 – 16.00

Option 21 (Click here for abstracts) Room 103

Naomi Western: Re-writing policy for behaviour: Promoting inclusion and wellbeing in a Junior School setting through the embedding of an Emotional Regulation Framework.
Dr Donna Gaywood, Alison Tobin: An International project supporting inclusive education for refugee and migrant children in early years settings.
Georgie Zacharzewski: A critical evaluation of the Motional Assessment and its impact on educators’ understanding of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs in the classroom

Option 22 (Click here for abstract) Room 111

Cathy Stancer, Jenny McCabe, Rob McCabe: Birmingham Pathfinder: In practice. (Links to presentation Saturday 11.05)

(Workshop)
Option 23 (Click here for abstract) Room 112

Clare Williams & Siobhan Garrett: Hearing the child’s voice at the heart of SEMH interventions to facilitate inclusion and to provide a platform that promotes the development of social and emotional skills for life and learning. (Links to Professor Richard Joiner’s research presentation Saturday 11.05)

(Workshop)

16.00: Conference closing remarks

Day 4: Sunday 10th September 2023

Social/cultural activities

A tour of the world class facilities on the campus, taking in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts; Winterbourne House and Garden; the Lapworth Museum of Geology; and for the energetic – if wanted - the Sport & Fitness Centre.
Please sign the list at Reception to indicate your interest in this tour.

Birmingham City Centre is well worth a visit with highlights including Brindley Place and canals; Symphony Hall; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; Victoria Square; Roundhouse (Victorian heritage buildings); Paradise Place: Centenary Square. The surrounding area also has many places of interest.
Click here further information.