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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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Category Archives: Education
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
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
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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No austerity of the imagination
What’s the mood in sixth form and further education 10 weeks after the election? Following the May general election there’s no question that post-16 education wherever it takes place faces greater austerity than any other phase of education. 16-18 year olds are funded … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged austerity, Colleges, competition, Education, elections, imagination, marketisation, National baccalaureate, Post-16 funding, teaching, young people
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Glasto-Bacc
At last week’s National Baccalaureate convention, the ‘Glastonbury analogy’ was used to describe the way we’re choosing to develop this new curriculum framework. I don’t know if this is its first outing, but the idea is that lots of different … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged 18 year olds, A levels, curriculum, Education, Glastonbury, Ken Spours, liberal education, National baccalaureate, young people
2 Comments
For a pragmatic idealism
We all have a range of perspectives on education arising from our various roles: professional, personal and political. In those roles, whether as teachers, learners, parents, governors or trade unionists we need to find ways of dealing with the world … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged Democracy, Education, Equality, marketisation, National baccalaureate, Post-16 funding, SEA, Solidarity
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The skilled learner DOES
Our mission at Newham Sixth Form College is ‘to create a successful learning community’. Each of the three ideas; success, learning and community are important to us and we make sure we define what each one means for all our … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Students, Teaching and learning
Tagged Critical thinking, Education, learning, Newham Sixth Form College, NewVIc, skills
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Market madness: condition critical
Market madness: condition critical From Forum vol.57, no.2, 2015 The condition of English education is critical. It has been weakened by pathological marketization and is in desperate need of treatment to restore it to health. In this article, I try to … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy
Tagged aspiration tax, competition, comprehensive education, Democracy, Education, elections, Equality, Forum, marketisation, selection, Solidarity, young people
2 Comments
Speaking up for 16-19 year olds
SFCA Summer Conference 2015 Our Sixth Form College Association conference is always a great opportunity to meet old friends, make new friends, share our fears and frustrations, hopes and joys, find comfort and support from colleagues across the country. We … Continue reading
Snatching hope from the jaws of despair
What we say and do about post-16 education, like everything else, has to be seen in the context of the outcome of the recent general election. Elections are the great democratic moment when the people ‘speak’ and all our individual choices … Continue reading
Education for solidarity
We should work with each other for the common good. Education should develop and support our understanding and consideration of others and our ability to exercise and challenge power collectively.1 Solidarity is a powerful idea but a widely misunderstood word … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged Eduardo Galeano, Equality, identity, Lev Vygotsky, Rabindranath Tagore, Solidarity, xenophilia, xenophobia
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Educational inequality in France
With a far more cohesive national education system than ours, it is tempting to assume that France is more successful in challenging social inequalities through schooling. In fact, French educators share many of our concerns about the limits of their … Continue reading
Eddie Playfair 