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.
Discovering the ideas, traditions and practices associated with open learning from around the world was singularly the most generative discovery of my life. More than anything it has improved my health, happiness, and ability to think and act in the world in ways which are constructive. This journey is one which cannot be measured but can be felt; that is experienced emotionally in such a way that connects the body beyond the reduction to facts and figures, and to people. Read more…
On Friday 29th November 2019 I got consent from the three trustees of Ragged Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Scottish Charity 048364) to wind it up and close the books. With unanimous agreement the request to dissolve Ragged as a charity was put to OSCR and is awaiting legal processing. This post is a document of the communication(s) I made and some of the conversations I have had over the year about Ragged University and what place it might or might not have in the Third Sector as it stands. 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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I came up to Edinburgh at the end of April to experience a Ragged University event for myself and got in touch with Alex in advance to explain why. After having retired from teaching Drama and English, running a Theatre-in-Education operation and engaging in non-institutional teacher-training, I have had time to reflect at length on the upshot of that whole working life. Read more…
On Saturday 25th November I attended and presented at the ‘Power and Professionalism in FE Conference’ which was held at University of Huddersfield (Twitter hashtag: #hudpowerfe). This conference was brought together to coincide with, and reflect the themes, ideas and work of a host of contributors to the launch of the book ‘The Principal; Power and Professionalism in FE‘ published by University College London Institute of Education Press. Read more…
This paper explores a perspective emerging from a community education project called Ragged University. The philosophical underpinnings of the project came as a response to necessity brought about by the existential poverty being created as a result of the process of enclosing the commons of the intellect. Read more…