News
TOY is an official supporter of the Global Intergenerational Week
The TOY Project is delighted to be an official supporter of the Global Intergenerational Week, which takes place from Monday 25th April to Sunday 1st 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:
New research report on IGL in education from Northern Ireland
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’.
Talking about Generations: 5 questions to ask yourself-UK IG Week
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.
Returnment: a new term for retirement in line with what TOY believes
Ever heard of returnment? This is an alternative term for retirement and it is very much in line with the idea of active ageing that TOY promotes. Returnment encourages older adults to work after work, to use their skills and knowledge to benefit the greater good.
Seed funding for IGL initiatives in England. Apply now!
Care Home Friends and Neighbours is a programme run by My Home Life England. It helps care homes connect with their local communities and vice versa by encouraging Friendships and Neighbourliness. According to one of the instigators of this great initiative, Julienne Meyer, ‘for too long, care homes for older people have been seen as ‘islands of the old’. Collectively, we wish to change this by creating opportunities for older people living in care homes to once again feel connected to the local people, places and passions that make up community life’.