Most popular posts of 2017
Of the posts I published on this site in 2017, the most read were:
Sixth form resolutions for 2017: 3 modest resolutions to make 2017 better than its predecessor.
10 things which could improve education: the outline of a charter for an education system based on equality and social and personal transformation.
Reconstruction in an age of demolition: post-16 education in England today is characterised by selection, marketisation, low expectations and inadequate investment. We need to develop an alternative building on the best of our capacities.
The GCSE retake challenge: we should be aiming for high standards of literacy and numeracy but the ‘comparative outcomes’ approach is hindering progress.
Education and the French presidential election: evaluating the education policies of the 5 main contenders for the French presidency.
NewVIc results 2017 and NewVIc class of 2017 progress to university: summaries of our best ever results at Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc).
The East End’s ‘engine of progression’: How the Daily Mail could have described our achievements, but didn’t.
Newham’s outstanding record of widening participation: a more general celebration of our borough’s long-standing track record of university progression despite being a ‘deprived’ area.
Design for leaning: how we set about creating a wonderful new building for our college.
The best of things: what the opening of our new building means for young people in Newham.
My NewVIc story – Kabir Jagwani: the latest in this alumni series, featuring a former NewVIc student who is now a senior leader in our neighbouring secondary school.
2. Also worth reading from 2017
A few of the other posts published last year:
From Toynbee to TELCO via Chicago and From ‘slumming’ to solidarity: a brief history of responses to urban poverty and inequality from the late 19th century university settlements to today’s community organising and social activism.
Education is a human right: a reminder that we are a long way from fulfilling the global promise of education for all and article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A global crisis requires a global politics: conflict threatens the survival of 20 million of our fellow human beings. A challenge on this scale cannot be addressed by the politics of national interest.
Citizens of somewhere, citizens of anywhere: rejecting the false choice between inward-looking parochialism and outward facing internationalism.
Oxbridge admissions – time for action: highly selective universities cannot absolve themselves from widening participation, this post offers 4 practical proposals for immediate action.
The narrative of the ‘poor bright child’: challenging a model of social mobility which fails to address structural inequality.
Equality at the heart of our values: we need to emphasize the egalitarianism at the core of the British values which we promote.
Giving young people a stake in their future: making the case for a truly universal citizens’ service as part of a richer and more challenging education including free higher education.
Easing student debt won’t cut it: minor mitigation of the impact of university fees does nothing to challenge the harm being done by marketization of Higher Education. We need to reconsider the financialization of education.
Shaping an alternative education policy: the egalitarian vision underlying Labour’s education proposals and the need for a system.
Education 2022 Market or system? What will education in England look like in 2022? Two very different possible futures.
Learning through conflict: conflict and disagreement are essential for human progress and learning. We need to value understanding, complexity and deliberation and help our students reach beyond who they are and what they know.
The Habits of democracy: education’s role in developing the practice of democracy and the understanding and experience which support it.
Challenging IQ: questions the usefulness of ‘general intelligence’ and behavioural genetics and urges caution about behavioural, social or political claims derived from genetic data.
Life in the sixth form funding canyon: far from being ‘flat cash’, what we have experienced is a massive funding cut per student in recent years; a serious threat to what we can offer our students.
The Mathematics of survival: poems for difficult times by NewVIc students working with English PEN.
Eddie Playfair 