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Recent Posts
- Zola : a political reading. August 13, 2023
- Hotter than July? August 5, 2023
- Rethinking work July 30, 2023
- Educating for political literacy in an age of crisis. July 21, 2023
- Savoirs et valeurs : pratiquer et conjuguer July 21, 2023
- ‘Transformative Teaching and Learning in Further Education – Pedagogies of Hope and Social Justice’ July 18, 2023
- Dilemmas of Growth June 14, 2023
- A broader view of skills? June 7, 2023
- In praise of ‘low value’ subjects. February 27, 2023
- Frigga Haug and the mystery of learning December 6, 2022
- Debating Growth. November 29, 2022
- Code red for human survival November 8, 2022
- The politics of silence. September 4, 2022
- Posts on Corsican themes. August 10, 2022
- When Corsica welcomed thousands of Serb refugees (1916) August 9, 2022
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Author Archives: Eddie Playfair
Zola : a political reading.
Political writing and political reading. Politics is concerned with ideas about how we live, power, class, inequality, social and economic relations and how they change over time. Writing also deals with how we live, and we can think of all … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Fiction, History, Politics
Tagged anarchism, Bonaparte, capitalism, Charles Dickens, class, Class Struggles in France, Communism, Coup-d’état, Elizabeth Gaskell, Emile Zola, France, Frederick Engels, Germinal, Hard Times, Honoré de Balzac, Ian Birchall, Jules Vallès, Karl Marx, L'Argent, L'Assommoir, La Curée, La Fortune des Rougon, Le Ventre de Paris, Margaret Harkness, Nana, Napoleon III, North and South, Pot-Bouille, revolution, Rougon-Macquart, Second Empire, socialism, strikes, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, The Paris Commune, Travail, utopianism, William Gallois, working class
3 Comments
Hotter than July?
Joining the dots on system failure and climate justice in the era of global boiling. July 2023 has been the hottest month on planet Earth in recorded history. It included the hottest day ever (6 July) and before it even … Continue reading
Posted in climate emergency, Economics, Politics
Tagged Antonio Guterres, climate action, climate emergency, climate justice, climate transition, crisis, decarbonising, Ed Hawkins, fossil fuels, heatwave, Just Stop Oil, just transition, net zero, poverty, social justice, Sustainability, United Nations
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Rethinking work
What is work? Work is organised and purposeful human activity, some of which is waged and commodified. How work is defined, who does it, how it is valued and organised, by whom and for whom and how it impacts on … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Education, Politics
Tagged Andre Gorz, capital, capitalism, commodification, David Graeber, Democracy, doughnut economics, ecological economics, economy, employment, Equality, Hilary Wainwright, human capital, human capital theory, Kate Raworth, labour, labour market, Lucas workers plan, Mondragon co-operatives, post-capitalism, production, productivity, Robin Hahnel, social justice, value, work
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Educating for political literacy in an age of crisis.
“Who’s Afraid of Political Education?” The Challenge to Teach Civic Competence and Democratic Participation. Edited by Henry Tam. Policy Press, 2023 One of the key purposes of education is to help people acquire the knowledge and skills to participate and … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy, Politics, Reviews, Teaching and learning
Tagged agonism, Bernard Crick, capitalism, Chantal Mouffe, citizenship education, climate emergency, co-active, co-construction, Colleges, crisis, criticality, curriculum, Democracy, Diane Reay, Education, Equality, further education, global citizenship, human capital theory, John Dewey, Neoliberalism, Paulo Freire, political education, political literacy, politics, populism, schools, social justice, systemic crisis
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Savoirs et valeurs : pratiquer et conjuguer
Comment préparer nos étudiants pour un monde de crise et de fracture ? Est-il souhaitable ou même possible de chercher l’ordre dans les savoirs scolaires ? Comment définir les valeurs communes et les savoirs communs qui ont de la valeur et qui méritent … Continue reading
Posted in Education, en Francais
Tagged Angleterre, Education, egalite, France, fraternite, liberte, Paul Eluard, pedagogie, savoirs, valeurs, valeurs republicaines
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‘Transformative Teaching and Learning in Further Education – Pedagogies of Hope and Social Justice’
Professor Vicky Duckworth and Professor Rob Smith From a conversation the authors had with Eddie Playfair as part of the Association of Colleges Quality, Teaching and Learning conference in December 2022. Eddie Playfair: I’m delighted to welcome Vicky and Rob … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy, Reviews, Teaching and learning
Tagged Adult education, AoC, Association of Colleges, class, Colleges, critical education, criticality, dialogic education, Education, Funding Accountability and Performance regime, further education, hope, inclusion, inequality, knowledge, literacies, neuroscience, pedagogy, Rob Smith, skills, social justice, Social mobility, transformative teaching and learning, Transforming Lives, UCU, Vicky Duckworth, widening participation, working class
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Dilemmas of Growth
Our relationship with economic growth can sometimes feel contradictory: ‘can’t live with it, can’t live without it’ . This ‘dilemma’ of growth, as described in Tim Jackson’s ‘Prosperity without Growth’1, seems to be predicated on two assumptions which are in … Continue reading
Posted in climate emergency, Economics, Politics
Tagged capitalism, degrowth, Democracy, doughnut economics, ecological economics, economy, Equality, growth, Jason Hickel, Julia Steinberger, Kate Raworth, Less is More, Living well within limits, planning, Prosperity without Growth, Sustainability, sustainable development, Tim Jackson
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A broader view of skills?
Thinking about ‘essential employment skills’ The recent Skills Imperative 2035 report from the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) is the latest in a long line of documents making the case that the shift towards more professional jobs(a) is increasing … Continue reading
In praise of ‘low value’ subjects.
The English education system is built on value judgements. Measures of provider quality, qualification currency and student achievement create a web of rankings which shape our view of the system, and the resulting hierarchies impact how everyone feels about where … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged capitalism, class, commodification, competition, Education, Education policy, education system, elitism, hierarchy, high value subjects, human capital, inequality, labour market, low value subjects, marketisation, markets, Neoliberalism, privilege, qualifications, STEM, subjects
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Frigga Haug and the mystery of learning
How does learning happen? What exactly is going on when we acquire knowledge or skill? When we consider our own education, it’s evident that over time we learn quite a lot – some of it may even overlap with what … Continue reading
Debating Growth.
Conway Hall recently hosted a public debate about the proposition “The pursuit of growth is a disaster for our country and our planet” sponsored by the ‘How To Academy‘. Supporting it were Ida Kubiszewski, Associate Professor at UCL’s Institute for … Continue reading
Code red for human survival
The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide us with a global agenda for human survival. From poverty to peace and justice they list the urgent challenges we face and set a broad direction of travel towards a fairer … Continue reading
The politics of silence.
Simplex and Sapiens are discussing the opposition’s strategy. Simplex: This government has lost all credibility and support and has no plan for dealing with the crisis. Sapiens: Agreed. The times we’re living in require a complete change of policy and … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Tagged elections, Labour party, manifesto, opposition, policy, political parties, political programme, politics, pragmatism, principle
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Posts on Corsican themes.
Seneca in Corsica The Roman senator and philosopher spent several miserable years in exile on the island in the first century A.D. Paoli in London ‘The 18th century Che Guevara’ produced one of the first constitutions of the enlightenment era and fought … Continue reading
When Corsica welcomed thousands of Serb refugees (1916)
Kathleen Courtney in Corsica. In 1916, around 5,000 Serb refugees were evacuated to Corsica via Salonika, Corfu and the Adriatic coast to escape the conflict in the Balkans. On arrival they were settled in the major towns of Bastia and … Continue reading
Eddie Playfair 