Teachers, like many of us, remember moments of achievement, schoolyard games and making mistakes as children. Often teachers draw on childhood memories to explain why they wanted to enter their profession. Teachers may hold memories of being inspired by a former teacher or resolve to do better than a teacher they experienced as unfair or belittling. Childhood memories chronicle more […] … learn more→
Monthly Archives: April 2021
How teachers remember their own childhoods affects how they challenge school inequities
My partner or my degree: a choice that exposes how students battle gender inequity
The current focus on gender equity has meant universities are promoting and investing in strategies to overcome gender-related factors known to hinder women academics’ success. While these are positive steps, female university students burdened by gender inequities have been largely overlooked. Our research explored the impacts of traditional societal expectations of women’s domestic roles on mature-age nursing […] … learn more→
Freedom of speech really is at risk – but beware of top-down solutions
As usual, I didn’t make a fuss when it happened to me again a couple of years ago. I had applied for a job at a middling university in southern England. I held a comfortable professorship at Newcastle University, but I wanted to be closer to my elderly parents. Four candidates were invited, but it […] … learn more→
Is the benefit of the REF really worth the cost?
As long ago as 1998, Colin Blakemore, then president of the British Neuroscience Association, expressed his reservations about the burden imposed by the UK’s research assessment exercise (RAE) on both institutions and those charged with “peer reviewing” their submissions. “The changes in ranking that now occur from exercise to exercise are generally small in magnitude […] … learn more→
Shhhh, they’re listening – inside the coming voice-profiling revolution
You decide to call a store that sells some hiking boots you’re thinking of buying. As you dial in, the computer of an artificial intelligence company hired by the store is activated. It retrieves its analysis of the speaking style you used when you phoned other companies the software firm services. The computer has concluded […] … learn more→
School bullying: the weak points of current control strategies
Since 2011, bullying has become a major political and social concern. And for good reason, about one in ten children is a victim of this scourge. To combat this phenomenon, institutions use two types of strategies. The first is to take preventive action to make students aware of the consequences of this type of behavior (dropping […] … learn more→
Academics must stand up for their publishing rights
I’ve come to realise that most academics are woefully ignorant about the publishing industry. Sure, we are delighted when someone wants to publish our work, but do we read the contract we sign in our moment of joy? Do we really understand the consequences of basically signing over our work to a corporate entity with […] … learn more→
How Biden’s request for more education funding would shift more power to the federal government
The president has called on Congress to make a “historic investment” in the Title I grant program. The program provides financial assistance to school districts that have high numbers or percentages of students from low-income families. The Biden administration wants US$36.5 billion for the program, an increase of $20 billion from the 2021 enacted level. As a political scientist who examines […] … learn more→
How teachers remember their own childhoods affects how they challenge school inequities
Teachers, like many of us, remember moments of achievement, schoolyard games and making mistakes as children. Often teachers draw on childhood memories to explain why they wanted to enter their profession. Teachers may hold memories of being inspired by a former teacher or resolve to do better than a teacher they experienced as unfair or belittling. Childhood memories chronicle more […] … learn more→
For lifelong learning to work, students must own their educational data
The pandemic has inspired many education leaders to predict a brave new future for higher education. The possibilities of the enforced digital transformation, they suggest, will be embraced to prepare people for an already rapidly changing economy that is now hit by the economic ravages of lockdowns. All the feverish talk of individualised, anytime-anywhere learning, […] … learn more→