The climate crisis is becoming increasingly evident as world temperatures rise, biodiversity falls and humans struggle with the associated issues of how to keep the planet within a safe margin for life to continue. Read more…
I work at Edinburgh University, where the Students’ Association (EUSA) has recently issued a formal call for the renaming of the David Hume Tower, the University’s most prominent blot on the city’s skyline, on the grounds that the Enlightenment philosopher after whom the building is named held ‘extremely problematic and incredibly harmful’ beliefs regarding ‘the inferiority of non-white peoples’ (‘Campaign to rename Edinburgh University building named after David Hume wins Students’ Union support’, Edinburgh Evening News 6 July 2020).
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I am pleased to be involved in the organisation and creation of the Working Class Academics Conference in July this year. I first met the educators who are the engines behind the vision several years back when an academic in Manchester felt that I had something to contribute as well as something to learn in the area of digital inclusion.
This is a presentation examining sociological barriers communities face in engaging with higher education institutions. Globally there is a discussion around the unsustainable ways which humans are living on the planet and everyone is told that they play an important role in meeting the challenges which are now at our doorstep. There is international consensus that climate breakdown and the problems of unsustainable ways of living and being on the planet must be addressed on a system wide, community wide and individual level. Read more…
This is a piece of writing where Alex Dunedin responds to Hina Suleman’s questions about whether alternative education is the route to Utopia. One of the joys of having been involved in doing Ragged University is getting to meet so many people who love learning and who are invested in analysing the differing aspects of doing education in various ways. I had the pleasure of meeting the inspirational Hina Suleman at Liverpool John Moore’s University where she was involved in doing a session with students exploring ways of approaching teaching and learning. Read more…
This expresses the philosophy of education underpinning the values of Ragged University. This thesis is an expanded version of a presentation originally given at the British Educational Research Association conference held in Liverpool John Moores University 8th November 2018 which spoke to the of ‘Transitions: Challenges, Threats & Opportunities across the Post-compulsory Sectors’. Its original title was ‘Education as Human Development; Rewilding and Saving Social Mammals from the Ostracism of the Market’ Read more…
This is material which accompanies a presentation given at Liverpool John Moores University as a part of a module created by Craig Hammond and Angie Daly which focuses on informal education. I was asked to give different perspectives on education outside and beyond formal educational settings and the session was recorded which you can listen to. This articule is to accompany the discussion and provide some materials for reflection.
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