News

More than 60 Dublin-based community-based workers and volunteers took part in an intergenerational practice masterclass in Dublin on 7^th April 2022. It was jointly organised by Fingal County Council’s Community Development Office and the Fingal Community Facilities Network  . Fingal is local authority north of Dublin City. The Masterclass attracted a very diverse group of community-based practitioners and local authority staff, all wanting to learn more about intergenerational practice. They came from youth work, family support services, addiction services, community centres, day centres, active age groups, sports facilities, and early childhood education and care.

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We are delighted to share the news of the publication of: ‘Intergenerational Bonds: The Contributions of Older Adults to Young Children’s Lives’. TOY co-coordinators, Margaret Kernan and Giulia Cortellesi contributed the Foreword.

This very well researched book was edited by Mary Renck Jalongo and Patricia A. Crawford and published by Springer as part of their Educating the Young Child Series.

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The TOY Project is delighted to be an official supporter of the Global Intergenerational Week, which takes place from Monday 25^th April to Sunday 1^st May 2022. The aim of the week is to inspire people around the world to start or restart intergenerational connections. This is a global event and individuals or organisations in any country can register to become a supporter. Here is a message from the team coordinating the week:

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To mark the EU Day of Solidarity between Generations on 29th April 2021, Linking Generations Northern Ireland (LGNI) launched their latest research exploring the benefits of Intergenerational Approaches to Education and Learning.

LGNI is a TOY partner since 2016 and had a key role in developing and testing the TOY online course and the TOY for Quality programme.

You can also view this short film for a summary of key findings on the benefits for students, schools/colleges and the wider community’.

To mark National Intergenerational Week in the UK (8-14 March), the interdisciplinary Generations Network led by academics at Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Surrey, has produced a guide to ‘Talking about Generations’. The guide presents 5 key questions to be considered by those working with the concept of generations, and 3 suggestions for avoiding the pitfalls of ‘generation talk’.

The guide is the result of a year-long project funded by the Wellcome Trust, designed to transform the ways that generation is discussed among scholars, and between academics and policy-facing organisations. It further aimed to transform the way that ‘generation’ is used in media and public policy discussions, promoting a more nuanced and constructive understanding. The TOY Programme was represented in one of the project workshops.

Dr Jennie Bristow, Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, Policing and Social Sciences at the University, said: “There is increasing use of the concept of generation in media, political, and social policy discussions, particularly with regard to anxieties about generational conflict. “Such debates are often inaccurate and divisive. We wanted to redress this by clarifying what is meant when scholars and policy-makers talk about generations, and to encourage a more precise and temperate rhetoric in this area.”

More information about the Generations Network is available here.