Student Support Services On Zero Hours Contracts

This is a 2015 social document of the transitioning of some student support services in British universities to Zero Hours contracts. Over the years, I have had many conversations and emails with various people involved in formal education – much of which remains private between myself and those individuals.  Occasionally I ask if I can share some of these conversations and personal correspondences in the public realm as I think they are important first hand accounts of what is happening. Read more…

Is Education Becoming Infected With Money ?

In this article I want to plot out an argument that the instrumental effect of financialising areas of public value is a destructive force in our society, and that education is becoming ‘infected with money’. By this, I mean that the managerialism of putting finance at the heart of areas of life which are not profit driven is altering the fundamental nature of how people engage with institutions such as education. Read more…

Working Men’s Clubs and Education by Dr Ruth Cherrington

It’s for a good reason that I gave my book on working men’s clubs (WMCs) the title ‘Not just Beer and Bingo!’ They were always about much more than drinking and low level gambling. I will outline here the important educational aspects that WMCs started out with which were part of their ‘self help’ ethos. Another article will follow WMCs into the 20th century describing how, whilst educational aspects declined, they did not entirely disappear. Read more…

18th Aug 2015: A World To Win; Learning From The Past, Making The Future by Keith Venables

Keith Venables

Come along to Leith Beer Company, put your feet up and listen to Keith tell us about the history of working class education

 

Title of talk:

A World to Win: learning from the past; making the future.
 

Bullet points of what you would like to talk about:

  • What do key events in working class history teach us?
  • Can we apply them now to make a better world?
  • This will be an interactive session.

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The Corporation: Public Discussion on the Film

Over the last two film and curry nights at Serenity Cafe in Edinburgh, we have been watching the film The Corporation.  Originally it started as a book by Professor Joel Bakan, who teaches law at the University of British Columbia. He examines the social, economic, and political dimensions of law winning a number of awards for his scholarship and teaching as well as having worked on landmark legal cases and government policy.

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Podcast: Professor Keith Smyth’s Inaugural Lecture; ‘It’s Third Space, Jim, but not as we know it’

This is a podcast and record of Professor Keith Smyth’s Inaugural Lecture; ‘It’s Third Space, Jim, but not as we know it’.  As I pull away in the train from Inverness, I leave with the thought of ‘pivotal moments’. This is one of the messages which I have taken from Keith Smyth’s inaugural address for his Professorship in the University of the Highlands and Islands. That we should be seeking them out and trying to join them up in our world… Read more…