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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
Results Day: best of days, worst of days.
It’s a love / hate thing. On the one hand results day is a wonderful moment of celebration when all the hard work put in by students and staff is publicly celebrated, a moment when young people can reflect on … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Learning resources
Tagged A levels, achievement, Colleges, information advice and guidance, NewVIc, pass rates, results day, Sixth form, value added
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Reducing culture to memes
The economy of ideas #2 Human culture is such a complex and fluid assemblage of shared knowledge, ideas, beliefs, attitudes, perspectives and practices. How can we even begin to analyse and usefully study it? One way is to break it down into … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Philosophy
Tagged cultural education, culture, emergence, ideas, Mary Midgley, memes, reductionism, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
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Edward Lear in Corsica
Edward Lear (1812-1888) is probably best known for the limericks and nonsense rhymes of his Book of Nonsense (1846) but he was also an accomplished and well-travelled zoological, botanical and landscape artist. He was the twentieth of twenty-one children born into a middle-class family … Continue reading
Let Us Be Midwives! Sadako Kurihara
Let Us Be Midwives! An untold story of the atomic bombing by Sadako Kurihara, translated by Richard Minear Night in the basement of a concrete structure now in ruins. Victims of the atomic bomb jammed the room; It was dark—not … Continue reading
Keri Facer and the future-building school
In her brilliant book Learning Futures – Education, technology and social change (2011) Professor Keri Facer suggests that we should be creating what she calls future-building schools rather than future-proof schools based on equipping young people to compete in the global economy. Keri … Continue reading
A Bauhaus education for the 21st century?
We are familiar with the clean functional lines of the influential modernist Bauhaus school of design founded in Weimar, Germany by Walter Gropius in 1919. The Bauhaus school was more than a training ground for designers, it was based on a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Education
Tagged Art, Bauhaus, culture, curriculum, Design, Education, Germany, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, liberal education, Walter Gropius
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‘Not for Profit’ by Martha Nussbaum
In Not for Profit (2010), the U.S. philosopher and academic Martha Nussbaum argues that we are in the midst of a global crisis in education. Why? Because we are too willing to neglect the skills we need to keep democracy … Continue reading
For a National Education Service
Jeremy Corbyn, who is standing for the Labour leadership, is the first leading politician to advocate a National Education Service as far as I know. His speech on this can be read here. So what might an N.E.S look like? … Continue reading
The marketplace of ideas
The economy of ideas #1 Can the application of market thinking to any aspect of learning be a good thing? If we support the idea of a universal, comprehensive education system free of markets, selection and hierarchies surely we have … Continue reading
Labour pains
Sapiens and Simplex are discussing the future of their party: Sapiens: We need to make ourselves popular again… Simplex:…but not adopt vote-winning policies. Sap: We need to listen to the electorate… Sim:…but not simply pander to what people want. Sap: … Continue reading
What’s at stake in the new post-16 Area-based Reviews?
Large and cost-effective v. small and inefficient? In Reviewing post-16 Education and Training Institutions published 3 days ago the government suggests that we need ‘fewer, often larger, more resilient and efficient providers’. The implication is that larger colleges are better … Continue reading
Poem: Corsica
Corsica Corsica Our island Rest and refuge So wild and warm In our hearts and minds Casting shadows on every other place Always there and forever yearning for us Cold spring water to quench our thirst On a sun baked granite … Continue reading
Leçons sans paroles: comment la musique nous apprend à vivre
La musique est indispensable à la vie humaine mais nous trouvons difficile d’expliquer ses effets. Peut-on décrire les leçons qu’on pourrait extraire de notre expérience vécue de la musique ? Voici au moins 10 choses que la musique peut nous apprendre : … Continue reading
John Minton in Corsica
John Minton (1917-1957) was a brilliant English artist and contemporary of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. He was one of the foremost English painters of the 1940’s and 50’s whose influences include De Chirico and the surrealists as well as … Continue reading
Embracing the canon, resisting the canon
The BBC’s Ten pieces is a brilliant music education resource for primary schools based on a selection of 10 pieces which introduce children to classical music with a range of associated materials for schools to use. Although there is nothing specifically ‘primary’ about … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Education, Teaching and learning
Tagged BBC 'Ten pieces', canon, Cultural heritage, culture, curriculum, Denis Lawton, liberal education, Raymond Williams
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Eddie Playfair 