When it comes to the topic of conservative Christian home schooling, the term “politically tolerant” usually doesn’t spring to mind. Even while the home schooling phenomenon continues to grow and diversify…
I have often argued that I would not let any teacher into a school unless – as a minimum – they had read, carefully and well, the three great books on education: Plato’s Republic, Rousseau’s Émile and…
Are parents using technological devices as pacifiers rather than talking to them?
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A parent with a small child in a stroller is walking along the footpath with headphones in. The child is crying, the parent is oblivious. A parent walks into a cafe engaged in conversation on the phone…
A middle school student I know came home from school with the task to recreate a medieval fort out of cake. I expect the History teacher thought this was a creative and engaging activity. This particular…
British author and teacher Hanif Kureishi has slammed writing programs – but he’s missed the point as to the value of teaching writing at universities.
Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M
Having served in a more humble capacity at the University it is now an honour to call myself a professor at Kingston. – Hanif Kureishi. In October last year Hanif Kureishi, novelist and screenwriter, and…
The rise of homegrown terrorism and foreign fighters in conflicts such as the Syrian civil war has prompted governments to consider various policy responses to combat such threats.
EPA/Stringer
Dealing with the rise of homegrown terrorism has prompted governments to take novel approaches in combating such threats. The UK government, for example, has recently pushed for schools to teach children…
Valeria Lukyanova: a ‘thinspiration’ pin up.
Youtube
Decoration and modification of the body have become a contemporary form of fashion. Aesthetic sensibilities once considered quite deviant (and now ordinary) commonly articulate our sense of self through…
Years of schooling separate the rich kids from the poor kids.
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The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Stewart Riddle outlines the correlation between low socioeconomic backgrounds…
12 Years a Slave is to be mandatory viewing in all state-run US high schools.
Francois Duhamel
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave walked away with the coveted prize of Best Picture at the Oscars last night. It faced fierce competition from contenders such as American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity…
Music is not cheesecake! It is an essential condition that is omnipresent in all human cultures.
he boden
The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Katrina McFerran discusses how access to music education can reaffirm social…
Students born in the Information Age are digital natives, but in an already crowded curriculum, where will technology subjects stand?
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Australia finally has its first digital technology curriculum which is mandatory for all Australian children from Foundation, the name replacing kindergarten, to Year 8. The Technologies area now has two…
I don’t want to be a care worker when I grow up.
DFID - UK Department for International Development
Zimbabwean migrants to Britain are often referred to by those at home as being the BBC – British bottom cleaners – fit only for the most menial roles in the former colonial “mother country”. But our research…
The length of the school year and school days, as well as the timing of holidays, is always a controversial topic. While the debate rages in the UK about whether children should spend more time at school…
Al-Madina free school governor Abdullah Shahjan was told his school was disfunctional.
Rui Vieira/PA Wire/Press Association Images
The closure of the secondary section of the Al-Madinah free school in Derby will be celebrated by those who oppose free schools and what are euphemistically labelled “faith” schools. Whatever the stated…
Academics may find they are increasingly able to use altmetrics in the place of traditional modes of tracking reach.
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Like many of my fellow journalism lecturers, I often get asked for tips on turning academic research into journalism pieces. These requests have been getting more frequent. It’s a compliment, but why is…
Jobs for the girls.
By Rhoda Baer, via Wikimedia Commons
You can be forgiven for assuming that gender is not an issue any more in higher education. There are more young women entering universities than ever before and they are graduating each year in their hundreds…
Would you admit to being a teacher?
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Are you a teacher? When you are at a party, a wedding or in the pub, and asked: “What do you do for a living?” – what do you say? Why might you lie? Is it too boring? Too complicated? Much too likely to…
Philosophy was always dangerous, as the life and death of Socrates taught us. He was, need I remind you, executed not by an authoritarian regime but by a caring democracy. Times have changed however, and…