Category Archives: Education

In praise of ‘low value’ subjects.

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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Frigga Haug and the mystery of learning

Posted on December 6, 2022 by Eddie Playfair

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 →

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Education, social justice and survival in a time of crisis.

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Eddie Playfair

Based on a presentation for the CSPACE ‘1000 little fires’ conference at Birmingham City University, July 2022. A system in crisis. It is clear that we are living in a global crisis which threatens our very survival. The climate emergency, … Continue reading →

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A political education.

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Eddie Playfair

Why political literacy? Politics is about power and change, how we live our lives and what kind of world we want. The political is not a separate sphere of life, it’s embedded in our everyday experience, as are the ideologies … Continue reading →

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Overcoming the barriers to learning

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Eddie Playfair

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at WorldSkills November 2021 These are a few thoughts about how teachers can help learners overcome some of the barriers to their learning. This is not a comprehensive ‘how-to’ guide or a list of tips to … Continue reading →

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Finding our voice in a crisis.

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Eddie Playfair

Blogging in the 2020s. It can be hard to write in a time of crisis. What can we possibly say that could be of any use to anyone? But when things are this bad, it’s also hard not to write. … Continue reading →

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Learning from Utopia

Posted on December 28, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

What is the function of alternative political and economic systems, whether actually existing or imaginary? Is it to offer hope that change is possible, or at least to provide some perspective on our own way of life?
Draws on ‘The Dispossessed’ by Ursula Le Guin. Continue reading →

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Resisting classification

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

The way we use categories doesn’t do justice to the multi-layered complexity of the world. It’s often a short cut to sweeping assumptions and flawed policy. Continue reading →

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A manifesto to end educational inequality?

Posted on September 9, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

The challenge We urgently need to address inequality and the human damage it causes, in education and across society. So, any programme with the aim of ‘eliminating educational inequality’ merits serious consideration. The eleven proposals in the Teach First ‘manifesto … Continue reading →

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Reading bell hooks.

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

‘Teaching to Transgress’ ‘Teaching to Transgress’ is as fresh and powerful in 2021 as when it was first published in 1994. Its messages about teaching as discovery, resistance and liberation are as vital today as ever. Reading bell hooks is … Continue reading →

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Freire for today

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

What can we learn from reading Freire today? The work of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was rooted in his adult literacy teaching among dispossessed and disempowered communities in Latin America and elsewhere and was influenced by both Marxism … Continue reading →

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Seven ways to avoid a Frankenstein education.

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

Seven ways to avoid a Frankenstein education – Philippe Meirieu. The French educationalist, Philippe Meirieu, in his 1996 book ‘Frankenstein Pedagogue’ reviews popular accounts of attempts to fashion a person to a maker’s design. Such fictional person-making often proves futile … Continue reading →

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Learning, earning and the death of human capital.

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Eddie Playfair

Is there a clear predictive relationship between the amount of education ‘received’, as measured by qualifications achieved, and future earnings? The idea is strongly held by many policymakers and it plays a part in the public debate about investment in … Continue reading →

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Why the comprehensive college?

Posted on September 20, 2020 by Eddie Playfair

When we talk about education, we are talking about both the personal and the social – the ‘small’ and the ‘big’. As individuals, what we know and can do goes to the very heart of our identity. We are engaged … Continue reading →

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Exam results – what just happened?

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Eddie Playfair

Most years, the national drama of A Level and GCSE results days in England plays out in two distinct but related acts one week apart, focusing on the performance of the education system and the young people navigating their way … Continue reading →

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