Young and old work together to challenge stereotypes of age

The workshops, entitled 'Act your Age! Challenging Stereotypes', form part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science 2011 and are organised by the University of Sheffield's New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA) research programme.

Sarah Howson and Charlotte Jones, who are co-ordinating the workshops, say: "Stereotyping in the media can lead to a negative understanding of older people. The workshop will use a variety of hands-on activities to help the children to consider their perceptions of older people. They will be asked to apply these ideas to their own lives and develop their self-awareness".

As encouraged in the Government's Personal Social Health and Economic Education guidelines, the workshop will provide the opportunity for children to engage both with older members of their local community and the programme's Older People's Reference Group. The older people will be invited to attend the workshop as participants, to explore and reflect on the issues of ageing alongside the children.

Through direct engagement with older people, the children will be encouraged to develop intergenerational relationships with members of the wider community and think collaboratively about ways of overcoming negative views of older people, as well as respecting their differences.

"The topic links in with several sections of the guidelines provided in the Key Stage 2 curriculum, such as exploring the ways that media present information and the ways that we understand people who are different from ourselves. In addition, it highlights key areas often neglected in children's social education. These issues have relevance in children's everyday interaction with others, as well as their own futures" says Sarah.

The participants will be asked to provide a list of positive and negative words to describe both older and younger people, followed by a 'getting to know you' session. Participants will use art and dressing up to express stereotypes of both age groups. The participants will examine how the media represent the ageing population in magazines, newspapers, commercials and TV shows and discuss how people are portrayed and the feelings this stirs up.

The participants will view photographs created by the NDA Project, 'Look at Me!' and discuss how the images challenge their preconceptions of ageing. To conclude the session, the first exercise of looking at positive and negative words will be repeated to see if there is any variation to opinions at the start of the session.

More information:
Act your age! Challenging stereotypes
Organiser: Sarah Howson and Charlotte Jones, New Dynamics of Ageing
Date: 4 November 2011 10.00-12.00
Venue: Prince Edward Primary School, Sheffield
Audience: Suitable for young children
For more information: Act your age! Challenging stereotypes

Provided by Economic & Social Research Council