-
Recent Posts
- A political education. May 10, 2022
- Redistribution and recognition should go hand in hand. April 17, 2022
- French presidential election: could Mélenchon make it? April 10, 2022
- Owning our crises March 26, 2022
- French elections 2022 January 29, 2022
- Zola’s ‘Money’ January 23, 2022
- Overcoming the barriers to learning January 7, 2022
- Finding our voice in a crisis. January 1, 2022
- Stupid gene. December 30, 2021
- Learning from Utopia December 28, 2021
- Resisting classification December 23, 2021
- ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers November 22, 2021
- “You either bend the arc or it bends you” September 12, 2021
- A manifesto to end educational inequality? September 9, 2021
- ‘Light Perpetual’ by Francis Spufford May 15, 2021
Recent Comments
Susan C on Giving peace a voice. nivekd on French presidential election:… 
New Articles –… on Zola’s ‘La Curée’ and the corr… New Articles –… on Zola’s ‘Money’ nivekd on Finding our voice in a cr… Archives
Categories
Categories
Meta
Tag Archives: Equality
Redistribution and recognition should go hand in hand.
Reading Nancy Fraser’s critique of progressive neoliberalism. Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Tagged Antonio Gramsci, authoritarianism, capitalism, counter-hegemony, crisis, eco-socialism, Equality, hegemonic bloc, hegemony, inequality, markets, Nancy Fraser, Neoliberalism, populism, progressive neoliberalism, progressive populism, reactionary populism, redistribution, representation, social justice, socialism
Leave a comment
French presidential election: could Mélenchon make it?
Today’s French presidential election. Today’s first round of the French presidential election comes at a time of shifting political assumptions, although the line-up of leading candidates looks familiar, with the top 3 candidates this time round all having been in … Continue reading
Owning our crises
The climate emergency and environmental degradation, the Covid-19 pandemic, the injustices of systemic racism, wars and their humanitarian consequences, the sharp rise in the cost of living… As one crisis succeeds another in dominating our thoughts, it’s easy to see … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Tagged Anti-war, Antonio Gramsci, climate emergency, crisis, Democracy, economy, Equality, inequality, Nancy Fraser, politics, Social change, Sustainability
Leave a comment
Learning from Utopia
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
Posted in Culture, Education, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged Alternatives, Anarcho-syndicalism, Anarres, dystopia, Education, Equality, Science fiction, Urras, Ursula Le Guin, utopia, utopianism
Leave a comment
A manifesto to end educational inequality?
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
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged Education, Education policy, education system, Equality, Funding, inequality, schools, Teach First, young people
Leave a comment
Reading bell hooks.
‘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
Posted in Education, Philosophy, Reviews, Teaching and learning
Tagged bell hooks, Equality, passion, pedagogy, teaching, Teaching to Transgress
11 Comments
Learning, earning and the death of human capital.
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
Posted in Education, Education policy, Reviews
Tagged Ann Pettifor, capital, earnings, Education, employment, Equality, Green New Deal, Guy Standing, Hugh Lauder, human capital, human capital theory, inequality, Phillip Brown, Sin Yi Cheng, Sustainability, sustainable development, The Death of Human Capital?, training
1 Comment
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s ‘Nervous Conditions’.
The personal is political, and this wonderful book is both entirely personal and deeply political. Nervous Conditions (1988) is the story of Tambudzai, a young woman growing up in rural Zimbabwe (then known as Rhodesia) in the late 1960’s, told … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Fiction, Reviews
Tagged Africa, colonialism, Equality, inequality, liberation, Nervous Conditions, Race equality, racism, sexism, subjugation, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Zimbabwe
Leave a comment
An A-Z for a world which has to change.
In the midst of a global coronavirus pandemic which threatens many lives, we need to remember that this is just one of several global crises we face which will change our world in profound ways. All these challenges require us … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Tagged Anti-war, basic income, co-operation, Coronavirus pandemic, Democracy, Equality, global citizenship, inclusion, inequality, knowledge, marketisation, mutuality, poverty, rationalism, resilience, Solidarity, state, Sustainability, Thinking Global, trust, universalism, wealth, xenophobia, young people, zeitgeist
1 Comment
The narrative of the ‘poor bright child’.
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life. Jane Addams. Earlier this month the government announced a £23m ‘future talent fund’ targeted at ‘bright’ … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged Education, Equality, Future Talent Fund, high, NewVIc, selection, Social mobility, university progression
3 Comments
10 things which could improve education
I’d like to offer the following tentative 10 point charter to improve education at all levels as an initial contribution to the debate about the future of education in England. 1. Build a comprehensive system rooted in equality: We should … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged citizenship education, comprehensive education, Critical thinking, Cultural heritage, culture, curriculum, Democracy, economy, Education, education system, employment, England, Equality, future, global citizenship, knowledge, learning, liberal education, National Education Service, research, Social cohesion, Solidarity, values
Leave a comment
Equality at the heart of our values
The more we discuss and explore ‘British Values’ with our students, the clearer it becomes: equality needs to be at the heart of our value system. We cannot teach these values without placing the idea of equality at their core … Continue reading
University Gold.
With some help from the Jackson 5: The proposal to classify English universities as Gold, Silver or Bronze is a stroke of genius. The perfect expression of the English obsession with ranking. So obvious, one wonders why we’re not already … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged class, Equality, Jackson 5, meritocracy, selection, Social mobility, university
Leave a comment
Arguments against selection
It looks like the ‘grammar school debate’ is about to be revived within government, so it seems a good time to dust down the case against selection. Here are links to 4 of my posts on this from last year, … Continue reading
Posted in Education policy, Politics
Tagged comprehensive education, Education, Equality, grammar schools, selection
Leave a comment
The global economy of care.
The economy of ideas #3. Is there a limit to how much we can care about others? Is it natural that we should care more about those who are closest to us? Is it in our nature to ‘look after … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Politics
Tagged care, economy, Equality, global citizenship, selfishness, Solidarity, univeralism
Leave a comment
Eddie Playfair 