Surviving school: Some (personal) thoughts on teachers and teaching
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
1M ago
The funny thing about writing about the English education system is that it never really changes. Most of the things I wrote 10 or 20 years ago are still as relevant as they were back then. It is also the most depressing thing about it. I’m pretty sure, after more than two decades writing about English education, that most of the things that are wrong with it are things we believe we cannot change, even though we can. We don’t even like to talk about these things – I mean, what’s the point, right, that’s just how things are – but unless we do, nothing will ever get better. It’s true of a lot o ..read more
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Yet another Great British injustice
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
2M ago
The Great British Post Office scandal is a story about corruption, cronyism and corporate and political negligence, but, more than anything, it is a story about class and power and how it works in Britain. Of course, the faulty computer software that made it look as though money was missing from the branches of more than 900 wrongly convicted Post Office managers (or sub-postmasters) did not target these individuals. It could have happened to anyone, given those circumstances. However, what happened next could not have happened to anyone – would not have happened to anyone – and can only be un ..read more
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We are on the brink of a new era, if only…
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
3M ago
So, 2023 turned out not to be the year when British democracy was renewed. It will not be renewed in 2024 either, or any time soon, for that matter. If you want to feel optimistic about something, you had better look elsewhere. Britain’s Eurovision chances look promising this year… While much of the world celebrated the end of a year that will be remembered chiefly for its unflinching child-killing brutality and the West’s equally unflinching complicity in it, the British government was putting the finishing touches on its latest clever policy announcement. From 1 January 2024, the Prime Minis ..read more
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My Grandfather, the Tory
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
6M ago
My Grandad was a Conservative, not a party member but a loyal voter and a kind of philosophical sympathiser, to a degree at least. But he wouldn’t for a minute have stomached the current regime. He was a proud and decent man, warm, funny, and passionate, if a little short-tempered. I admired him a great deal, though I disliked his politics. I came to understand that his conservatism had moral roots, grounded in his belief in self-reliance and his dislike of state intrusion of any sort. He despised charity and mistrusted its motives and eschewed anything he thought of as a handout. The terraced ..read more
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Prison state Britain
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
7M ago
Rishi Sunak’s clumsy, bad-faith attempt to evade scrutiny of a budgetary decision that would make his already staggeringly wealthy family even richer is yet more evidence that Britain is not the sort of place where everyone is equal before the law and treated the same no matter what their background. In fact, Britain is just the opposite – a semi-feudal, oligarchical society where the poor are continually surveilled and audited, and the rich can do pretty much what they want and needn’t worry about getting caught. While Sunak can glibly shrug off the latest breach of parliamentary code and fac ..read more
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The crisis in climate leadership and how we can learn our way out
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
8M ago
In 2015, the global community – Britain included – signed up to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 140-plus targets, on critical development areas ranging from climate change and poverty reduction to health and education and lifelong learning, which countries committed to achieving by 2030. As we pass the midpoint on the road to 2030, it is clear that progress on most fronts is woefully insufficient. The UN’s preliminary assessment found that only 12 per cent of the goals and targets were on track, with c ..read more
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Coercion in the classroom: Why school uniforms are bad for us
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
10M ago
One of the peculiarities of British cultural life is our willingness to support rules and conventions with arguments that have little to do with – and even run contrary to – the reasoning that led to their introduction. The monarchy may well have its roots in military force, land appropriation and vassalage, but we retain it because, we think, it is good for tourism and a source of national pride and unity. The same applies to the UK’s antique system of titles and honours, a reward for the loyalty of feudal gangsters rebranded as a way of recognizing achievement in public life or service. It s ..read more
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Station to station
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
1y ago
King Charles III, the newly minted (in every sense) king of England, made his first state visit this week, not, as planned, to France, where police have been smashing their batons into the faces of people protesting against a rise in retirement age, but to Germany, which seemed altogether nicer. He met a few hundred people, some of whom waved flags, spoke a bit of German in the Bundestag, shook some hands, went to Hamburg, mentioned the Beatles, laid a wreath, looked sad but didn’t say sorry, shook some more hands, advocated climate action, then flew home in a private jet made of solid gold w ..read more
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Diving for pearls
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
1y ago
With all the will in the world Diving for dear life When we could be diving for pearls. Shipbuilding, Elvis Costello It’s World Poetry Day today and, for the UK, where the study of poetry and the other arts is increasingly the preserve of the wealthy and privileged, it should be moment not only for celebration but also for critical reflection and rigorous self-examination. Research from the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education and Macmillan Children’s Books, published last week, found that schools in the UK have ‘limited poetry book stock’, with poetry read out loud less than once a week ..read more
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News of the world
The Learning Age | A blog about adult education and learning by Paul Stanistreet
by paulstanistreet
1y ago
It’s funny and disconcerting, watching the news; an odd and disorienting amalgam of the partially true and the wholly made up. Someone told me that they now find political ‘news’ impossible to watch because they feel they are being fed lies almost constantly. Politicians have turned plausible deceit into an art form. Malice, bad faith and contempt pulsate from the screen, like the primitive alien messages of conformity in the cult film They Live. The posh voices on the radio ring with complacency. Their message is clear: do not believe the evidence of your own senses – do not concern yourself ..read more
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