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Recent Posts
- 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
- Reading bell hooks. April 5, 2021
- Zola’s ‘La Curée’ and the corruption of desire. April 2, 2021
- Freire for today March 6, 2021
- Seven ways to avoid a Frankenstein education. February 27, 2021
- Learning, earning and the death of human capital. February 21, 2021
- ‘Listen to this’. February 13, 2021
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Tag Archives: Equality
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Market autonomy or democratic autonomy?
With French presidential and parliamentary elections due in April , May and June next year, politicians on all sides agree that education should be a high priority and they are trying out a range of policies for education reform. These … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Education policy
Tagged autonomy, competition, Democracy, Education, Equality, France, marketisation, Philippe Meirieu, Social cohesion, Solidarity
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Educational inequality in Europe
What are the patterns of educational inequality in Europe? To help answer this question, The Social Atlas of Europe (Policy Press, 2014) by Danny Dorling, Dimitris Ballas and Benjamin Hennig provides a fascinating visual overview of inequalities across our continent … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged cartograms, Danny Dorling, economy, Education, Equality, Europe, inequality, social atlas, Social cohesion
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Life in the qualification market
‘The truth is in the whole’ and if we want to understand the impact of recent post-16 qualification reform on sixth formers’ experience of education we need to start with an overview of the whole educational landscape before analysing specific … Continue reading
Eddie Playfair 