Helen O’Sullivan

Yes Hannah! YES! 🙌

A photograph of my fingernails on top on the palm of my hand with show the yellow stain of my nails and my hands.

Above are some pics from today and this is the current state of my nails.

When my hands look like this, it's always been a fun day! 🙌

#CfW #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion #ThisIsWhyINeverHaveMannicures!!

A collage made up of 4 images. The left two and bottom right images are of 90 pieces of fabric all wrapped up with string after being tie dyed using turmeric dye. The top right image is of a turmeric dye bath showing submerged fabrics and two wooden spoon stained yellow.

A collage with two photographs of cotton fabric after it's been tie-dyed with turmeric.

The pupils learned all about the impacts of dyes in the fashion industry and had a super fun tie-dye activity - Mixing up vinegar mordant, making their very own turmeric dye bath and transforming an old cotton bed sheet! They plan to use these in a future sewing project.

#CfW #SustainableFashion

A photo of a classroom/school hall with my PhD educational cartoon displayed on the screen in the background. In front of this are several tables and chairs ready to welcome 30 pupils for a practical day learning about fast-fashion.

It was so wonderful to see my PhD resources being used again for real-world learning in a real (non-data) classroom, well, school hall actually! I had a fantastic time with three classes of Y4 pupils (90 in total!) at Whitchurch Primary School today!

#CfW #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

A day in the life of Linda. Aka my new research assistant 🥰

It's only been 10 days since she and her buddies were adopted and she's such a friendly and inquisitive little thing.
🐔🐔🐔🥰🐔🐔🐔

#RescueHens #ExBatteryHens
#BHWT #BritishHenWelfareTrust

How have I only noticed this article today?

This was a lovely blast from the past and the @ffnplus.bsky.social #CollaborAcademy with Dr Rosie Hornbuckle & Dr Seher Mirza...

Read my reflections of our @iated.bsky.social #iCERi presentations here 👇

futurefibresnetworkplus.com/collaboracad...

Love that! I also only plant things that I can eat or help the pollinators 🙌

Learn how to protect our pollinators Pollinators like bees, butterflies and bugs are vital to our food supply chain and keeping nature healthy – but they’re under threat! So I’ve joined a free email course on how to protect our pollinato...

Be a Pollinator Protector!
🐝🦋🐝🦋🐝🦋🐝

Greenpeace "Power to the Pollinators" course
“Learn how you can keep nature buzzing!”
share.google/5IET5tq3h6no...

Despite Exhibit A, Exhibit B and Exhibit C, I managed to get around 2k words down today and have now reached the halfway point of the thesis as shown in Exhibit D!

The end is near! 🥳

(I just hope it doesn't include any of my random thoughts such as "oh for god sake Nugget, get down!" 😆 )

A photo of a Macbook which says 9:17am and is in front of a partitioned section of a chicken run. Behind the green mesh partition are 4 scraggly rescue hens, 2 of which are visible scratching around on the floor. The partition is to slowly introduce the new rescues to the existing flock. The top of the photo shows lots of flower plants in hanging baskets and garden decorations such as glass butterflies and metal bugs.

A photo of a large undercover chicekn run made from a polytunnel frame and pvc corrugated sheets. On the left section the run is partitioned with green mesh and inside are 4 new rescue hens. On the right is the main chicken run with 2 very healthy and fluffy chickens who were resuced almost 2 years ago. The new hens are eating their food and drinking from their hanging water feeders while the older pair are eating porridge from a plastic container because this is the only thing that stops them shouting in protest about the new arrivals! We are on day 3 of 10 of introducing the new hens to the established flock.

A photo of a healthy recuse hen called Nugget who is looking through to a partitioned section of a chicken run where new rescues hens are starting to be introduced to the flock.

Me sitting a a chicken run with a cup of tea and wrapped in an electric blanket ready to write a thesis!

When you've got a thesis to write but also recently adopted 4 new rescue hens & need to supervise the chaos and seemingly never ending drama of the existing hens. Thank goodness I invested in an electric blanket and a wifi booster!

#RescueHens #ExBatteryHens #WorkingFromHome #PhDLife

A photo of fluffy ginger and white cat distracting his owner who is in a very important online meeting. He is photographed sat directly in front of the computer staring up at her because he wants yet more cuddles! Behind him is the computer and a hand devils ivy plant.

A photo of fluffy ginger and white cat who looks very content that he has disrupted a meeting but laying down on his owners meeting notes who is in a very important online meeting. He is photographed laying directly in front of the computer "pretend sleeping" on his tail, but watching her with one eye because he wants more cuddles! Behind him is the computer with blurred out meeting attendees.

Alfie has no interest in academic research or the fact I was on a call to Yale University. To him, it's gone 5pm on a Friday and he wants cwtches.

Almost #Caturday #PhD #SustainableFashion #WFHCat #OfficeCat #WorkingFromHome

To Do List Today:
Write about the epistemology and ontology of #practivism as a pedagogical approach.

What I have actually done:
🪸 Bought 3kg of Gower laverbread
🚌 Purchased a festival campervan ticket
🐔 Adopted 4 rescue hens to collect this weekend

But it's not 9:30am yet, wish me luck...

Why a global Korean craze is making seaweed more expensive Black, crispy, often flat and square, dried seaweed is growing in popularity - but also in price.

One of the highlights of visiting the US was finding tons of these in all sorts of flavours in supermarkets (but hardly any vegetables) & presenting at Yale of course!

That reminds me I need to stock up on Selwyn's laverbread...local seaweed always tastes better!
🌊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌊

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

An freshly laid egg from a rescue chicken in the palm of my hand. The shell is incredibly wrinkled, especially at the lower wider end.

I wish my little lady would realise she's in retirement and doesn't need to lay anymore. Because this looks painful!! 😭

#RescueHens #ExBatteryHens #HenRetirement
@bhwt.bsky.social

But this time I wasn't there as a PhD researcher, I got to play!! And was offered a job by several of the pupils! One of which said it was "the best day ever!" 🥰

e/🧵
#EduSky #CfW #CurriculumForWales #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

Ysgol Trimsaran on Instagram: "Dysgu sut i wnio pwyth rhedeg @sustfashwales" 3 likes, 0 comments - ysgoltrimsaran on January 30, 2026: "Dysgu sut i wnio pwyth rhedeg @sustfashwales".

Our final stop was...

🗺️ Atacama Desert, Chile 🇨🇱
⚠️ Exploring global minority clothing waste in the global majority
💡 Basic skills to repair, customise and upcycle existing clothing

4/🧵
#EduSky #CfW #CurriculumForWales #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

www.instagram.com/p/DUI5-YGCMQ...

Next we headed to...

🗺️ Phnom Penh, Cambodia 🇰🇭
⚠️ Learning about garment worker exploitation in Cambodia
💡 Creating a protest banner to speak up for workers rights

3/🧵
#EduSky #CfW #CurriculumForWales #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

www.instagram.com/p/DUIxQ7HiLg...

First up was...

🗺️ Guangdong, China 🇨🇳
⚠️ Exploring the socio-environmental impacts of chemical dyes
💡 Tie dye and mixing up turmeric dye and mordants

2/🧵
#EduSky #CfW #CurriculumForWales #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

www.instagram.com/p/DUIhEIViJm...

A photo of me teaching a class of children. I am sat at the table with the children surrounding me as I demonstrate how to tie fabric for tie-dye.

A photo of activity sheets which feature a comic-strip style cartoon documenting the journey of our clothes. There are two piles of completed worksheets. The first is exploring garment worker exploitation and the second explores the impacts of chemical dyes. The comics have speech bubbles which the pupils have filled in with emojis to communicate how the story made them feel and led to discussions about how to make it better.

A photograph of several bright yellow rectangles of cotton fabric which have been tie-dyed using turmeric.

A photograph of fabric painting protest banner squares which the children are working on (hands just visible). It features three squares of fabric with positive messages for garment workers and a paint tray in the centre of the image with several paint brushes and mixed up paint.

I had such a wonderful time at Ysgol Trimsaran teaching Y3 pupils about where our clothes come from & where they end up.

We had an action packed day using my #PhD resources on an imaginary journey along the #FastFashion supply chain...

1/🧵
#EduSky #CfW #CriticalPedagogy #SustainableFashion

A photo of a sunset over the Welsh countryside taken from a beer garden. There is a wooden table with a pint of beer in the centre and another to the right of the photo. The sky is mostly blue with some whispy clouds, while the sun is right orange with a glow around it as its just about to set behind the hill.

So great to go for a mini hike followed by watching the sunset with a pint this evening.

Perfect antidote to the world right now.

#SundayVibes #SwitchOff

YouTube video by The Beatles - Topic I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Remastered 2009)

Oh heck yes @cerysmatthews.bsky.social!!! 🙌

One of my top Beatles songs ever 🎵🥰🎵

Diolch yn fawr!

youtu.be/tAe2Q_LhY8g?...

A photograph of a chain of crochet using magenta and teal cotton yarn. The photo shows the chain attached to the crochet hook on thr right. Thr middle of the photos shows the chain with 3 wooded hearts attached through their central hole. The top of the photo shows around 10 wooden hearts strung onto the yarns ready to be attached.

Celebrating Dydd Santes Dwynwen, aka St Dwynwen's Day (the Welsh patron saint of lovers) by crocheting a necklace with wooden hearts.

❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤️

#DyddSantesDwynwen
#StDwynwen
#Crochet #CraftSky

Exactly the kind of tonic I needed right now. 😸

The outcome is not the same thing as the process. Just because learning results in changes in memory doesn't mean that retrieving information is all you focus on. Motivation matters! If you want children and young people to love learning you have to help them understand that it's joyful. ☺️ #EduSky

I went to the gym, but am having cuddles now 🥰

Yes! 💯 to this! 🙌

A photo of fluffy ginger and white cat distracting his owner who is trying to write her thesis. He is photographed sat directly in front of the computer staring at her because he wants yet more cuddles!

Now, do I attempt to explain the epistemological & ontological perspectives of an emerging pedagogical approach (that doesn't even have a clear definition yet) or do I go to the gym?

Alfie once again says neither because it's almost #Caturday!😻

#EduSky #PhDLife #WFHCat #OfficeCat #WorkingFromHome

A photograph of the cover of the Paulo Freire book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed". The design is bold in contrast using red, yellow and black. The upper part of the cover has a red background with a rough yellow negative style image of showing a group of people with fists in the air, the lower half is the same image but with a black background and red images. The middle centre of the book has a black rectangle with yellow text saying "PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED", under this is a yellow rectangle with black text saying he authors name: "PAULO FREIRE". The bottom of the book has the Penguin publisher logo and white text saying: "New revised edition of this international classic"

It's officially #FreireFriday as I'm about to tackle the critical pedagogy section of my theoretical framework thesis chapter!

But I am NOT allowing myself to open this book*, because I can never put it down...

#EduSky #CriticalPedagogy #PhDLife

*Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

No getting out of that! 😂

A collage of 5 images of a fluffy ginger and white cat distracting his owner who is trying to write her thesis. He is photographed either directly in front of the computer screen, climbing on top of her, giving her kitty kisses or attempting a lay on the keyboard. There is also a 6th images in the collage which is a screenshot of a mistyped word that says: "pedagof=gical" which is supposed to be "pedagogical". It's uncertain if that was the fault of the writer or the cat.

How's my thesis writing going today? 🤔

👇

(It's not even #Caturday yet!)

#EduSky #PhDLife #WFHCat #OfficeCat #WorkingFromHome