POST-16 EDUCATOR ON ZOOM
David Ridley discussing his new book:
No Consolation: Radical Politics in Terrifying Times
Thursday 10 November 2022, 6.30 - 7.30
We live in an age of permanent crisis - pandemics, war and climate change are just some of the unexpected yet predictable events shaping the world today.
How do we collectively respond to these events? Do we face them bravely and intelligently or turn to nostalgia or utopianism?
Politicians, corporations and intellectuals fall prey to what Ridley, drawing on John Dewey, calls ‘consolation’. But a new generation is rising up to the challenge.
Standing alongside teachers, posties, train drivers, refuse workers - young activists are part of an emerging, global movement saying ‘enough is enough’.
Click: Zoom Meeting Link
Flyer
PSE 109 occasional publication/supplement (see below 'Features')
MORE THAN TRAINING FOR A JOB?
Are we just producing work-ready individuals for precarious jobs or is there space for social purpose in today’s vocational education?
Thursday April 28th, 6.30 - 7.30
Click to Join:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83678620179?pwd=UTdkRmsrbkl1bUloU3ZYTDNaZjRrdz09
Meeting ID: 836 7862 0179
Passcode: 724280
The role of further education in preparing young people for work is an issue of continuing (often frustrated) debate among FE teachers. Are we simply churning out work-ready young people with the skills employers say they want in an increasingly precarious labour market?
Yet, many FE teachers remain committed to the idea that vocational education should be more than preparation for a job but should also include a social-purpose education for life. But what does this mean in practice? What spaces are left for a broader education on tightly-regulated, time-limited vocational courses?
In this session, Colin Waugh will revisit an earlier attempt to widen the vocational curriculum through the introduction of Liberal or General Studies on day-release apprenticeship courses. These ran from the late-50s until 1990 when they were replaced by numeracy and communications classes more geared to the assumed needs of employers.
Drawing on her recent doctoral research, Hannah Walters will then look at how FE teachers today enable a social-purpose dimension informally on vocational programmes in response to the life-needs, shared concerns, and wider interests of their students.
All welcome.
On our website - worth reading:
- Hannah Walters (PSE 106): Future workers, 'levelling up' and a 'skills revolution'
- Colin Waugh et al: The Real Radical Education: Liberal and General Studies with vocational students in UK colleges 1950-1990 (link below, under 'PSE Features')
POST-16 EDUCATOR ON ZOOM
Jane Lethbridge discusses:
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHANGING H.E. WORKFORCE?
Thursday 26 May 2022, 6.30 - 7.30
ZOOM LINK: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/75164010172?pwd=daPThrsljmLgQ4YI02DzJW1mPhZyTa.1
In December 2021, Alison Wolf and Andrew Jenkins published a report: The new staffing patterns of UK higher education. To start this PSE discussion, Jane Lethbridge will analyse this report and look at how these changes are reflected in one post-1992 university (University of Greenwich) and the implications of these changes. The risks, threats and radical scope of these changes will fundamentally change higher and further education in future.
Everyone Welcome.
POST-16 EDUCATOR ON ZOOM
Jane Lethbridge discussed:
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CHANGING H.E. WORKFORCE?
Thursday 26 May 2022, 6.30 - 7.30
In December 2021, Alison Wolf and Andrew Jenkins published a report: The new staffing patterns of UK higher education. To start this PSE discussion, Jane Lethbridge will analyse this report and look at how these changes are reflected in one post-1992 university (University of Greenwich) and the implications of these changes. The risks, threats and radical scope of these changes will fundamentally change higher and further education in future.
Slides available here
URGENT: SACKING OF NINA DORAN
City of Liverpool College UCU branch appeal:
In 2021, City of Liverpool College (CoLC) UCU Liaison Committee Secretary and Branch Health and Safety rep. Nina Doran was subject to a protracted suspension by CoLC for allegedly breaching college policies in preparation for a protected disclosure. Nina was acting in her capacity as a union rep.
PSE readers are urged to sign the petition at:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reinstate-nina-doran-victimisation-of-ucu-rep
and/or write protesting Nina’s victimisation to:
The Principal and Board of the College c/o City of Liverpool College
Roscoe Street
Liverpool
L1 9DW
For more information please click here for a PDF leaflet.
Post-16 Educator interviews candidates for Deputy General Secretary of the National Education Union
In October 2021, members of NEU elected Niamh Sweeney as Deputy General Secretary. Daniel Whittall spoke with all three candidates on behalf of Post-16 Educator, with a view to getting a sense of where each stands in relation to post-16 issues. Link to the transcripts here.