About Little Chatters

Little Chatters is run by Gina Parker (Mullarkey). Gina has worked as a primary teacher, nursery practitioner, an outdoor education tutor and most recently a Global Education Manager at Cumbria Development Education Centre (CDEC). With nearly 30 years experience in delivering educational packages she is a qualified and professional trainer and classroom practitioner. Gina’s work ranges from whole staff training to classroom based sessions, keynote speeches at conferences and she has also written a number of publications. Gina has been working as a freelance education consultant for over 10 years under the business name of 'Little Chatters'.

Gina’s focus is now on Continuing Professional Development opportunities for teachers, sessions for children (in school and within the community) and supporting resources linking to thinking skills, oracy, outdoor and global learning.

Gina offers many courses, including Philosophy for Children courses accredited by Thoughtful Thinking Moves in the Outdoors through Dialogue works , ITC Level 3 Awards in Learning Beyond the Classroom in partnership with High Points, Learning through Landscapes Local School Nature Grant and Climate 180 training and Carbon Literacy and Climate Fresk training through Futureproof Cumbria

Gina also works in partnership with Jane Yates to deliver Philosofuns.

Gina contributes to action research projects and was involved in two projects led by Thoughtful, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation The project evaluated the impact of Philosophy for Children - P4C, supporting previous studies into its effectiveness. Gina is currently involved in another EEF project led by Sheffield Hallam University focused on Oracy in the Early Years - TWiTCH.

Finally Gina works in partnership with other organisations; such as the Morecambe Bay Partnership, introducing P4C to approximately 30 schools around the bay and the Morecambe Bay Curriculum , supporting the development of curriculum materials.

One of the elements of her work that Gina is most proud of is the establishment and co-ordination an Outdoor Learning Network for Primary, SEND and Alternative Provision settings from across Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire, who meet on a termly basis. As a previous teacher Gina identified the need for this network.

Some of the organisations Gina works with

Thoughtful

Dialogue Works

Morecambe Bay Partnership

Learning through Landscapes

Kindling (Forest Schools)

Institute for Outdoor Learning

Conserving Coniston and Crake

Rusland Horizons

Pendle Hill Partnership

Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust

University of Cumbria