Clik here to view.
Young people and the election
Are young people turned off politics? Will they vote? Do they care who wins the election? Are all parties the same? Are the candidates just hacks mindlessly parroting their parties’ approved slogans?...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tribalism or pluralism?
With no single party likely to win an overall majority in next week’s general election, they are all finding ways of answering, or not answering, the questions about what they will do in hypothetical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Listening to our post-16 conscience.
Frank Coffield is the conscience of the post-16 sector. When faddishness or instrumentalism threaten, he is there to remind us of our values and our purpose. A decade ago, Coffield was one of the first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A better future for London?
Photo by: Jacob Surland, http://www.caughtinpixels.comThe political parties are currently in the process of choosing their candidates for the 2016 London mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections....
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
‘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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Developing Labour’s vision for education
The heady summer campaign is over and a new leader has been elected. It’s time for the party to turn its attention to policy development as well as effective opposition. Across the whole spectrum of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
W.E.B. DuBois, black liberation and liberal education for all.
The great African American academic, socialist, peace and civil rights activist William Edward Burghardt DuBois (1868-1963) wrote about philosophy, sociology, history, race equality and education as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The social origins of human thinking.
What is thinking? Where does human thought come from? How did it evolve? These are important questions for us if we want to understand what makes humans different from other living things and to make...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boswell in Corsica.
The Scottish lawyer and writer James Boswell (1740-1795), famous for his Life of Samuel Johnson, was also a great supporter of Pasquale Paoli and Corsican independence. Boswell met enlightenment...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young people discuss the future of London
We were delighted to welcome 3 of the candidates for this May’s Greater London Assembly elections to our NewVIc Future London event, held at Stratford Circus Arts Centre on Wednesday 23rd March. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Project Hope: for a democratic Europe.
‘Project Fear’ is well under way. Both sides in the EU referendum are keen to convince us that everything will be worse if we stay / leave and to scare us into the polling stations on June 23rd. No...
View ArticleClik here to view.
London Citizens’ Mayoral Assembly: 28th April 2016.
Is it inevitable that politicians are held in low regard and that political debate is reduced to personalities or fleeting soundbites? Is there an alternative to disengagement and cynicism? A politics...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Young people debate free speech in the House of Lords
Free speech is alive and well, judging by a recent debate in the Chamber of the House of Lords involving over 200 young people from across the UK and sponsored by a number of organisations including...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The habits of democracy.
For educators, elections are a great opportunity to teach our students about the democratic process with all its strengths and limitations. We rightly emphasise the need to register and the importance...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View Article
