Left voices, unfiltered, unedited, Ungagged.
{I was invited to speak at the Confronting Inequalities! The Role of Citizenship Education conference, organised by NECE.} The conference brought together academics and educationalists from across Europe, to discuss the issue of inequalities in the development of young people’s citizenship and political identity. My workshop was about the work of WOSDEC, the NGO who […]
The success of Finland’s education system is well known. At the turn of the century it emerged as a global leader in education. PISA tests revealed Finnish pupils produced some of the world’s highest scores in maths, science and reading, to this day the country’s performance remains the highest ranked in Europe. The success came […]
Our History has been written by the victors and they are not going to loosen their grip over their narrative of our past. When I started the history police, it was in response to obvious misrepresentations of Scotland’s history. This was mainly down to the subtle use of language such as English titles for British […]
The new rebellion… Images: with thanks to Eleanor Gault, Steve Mitch, Stuart McConville, Neil Macmillan, Rebecca McNaught Ross McCleann and Courtney Thomson “You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we […]
Pic: Winnie Bueno – Founder of “Tinder dos Livros” In Brazil, the presence of black people in higher education has made some recent advances with the introduction of affirmative actions and other social programs, but in academia the racial portrait is one of greater inequality. According to a survey on the Socioeconomic and Cultural […]
This week it was announced that 1,187 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland in 2018, the largest number ever recorded. This caused a shockwave to run through Scottish politics, though it wasn’t such a shock to those on the front line who knew the figures would be terrible. But seeing anecdotal evidence of a spiralling […]
On Thursday (30/5/19) Lib Dem leadership candidate Jo Swinson commented that unequal access to university was due to a lack of investment in early intervention and lack of aspiration from young people, who don’t think that university is for them. She cited a town in her constituency where she claimed 80% of young people went […]
According to information from the Federal Union of Public servers of Basic, Professional and Technological Education (SINASEFE), the teacher and trade unionist Camila Marques was arrested yesterday morning, (Tues 15/04), at the Aguas Lindas campus of the Federal Institute of Goiás (IFG). She was in class when she was detained. During a statement recorded in […]
When JFK once said that the US must keep moving forward just to stay still, one can only imagine how he would be viewing the quagmire that we find ourselves in. The Tory led Brexit swamp we are all permanently bogged down in. Yet despite the chaos and carnage that a no deal Brexit will […]
Free Education: The Foundation of a Better Society I am passionate about education. I believe that it has the power to transform individuals, communities and society for the better. As such, I think education should be free. And that means free education throughout life, not just primary and secondary schooling. As Rector of the […]