As the wintry months turn icy, the winds of a new intellectual Cold War are sweeping across UK universities. Having blown across the wider cultural and political landscape for some time, these winds are starting to bite on campuses, with the recent debate at the University of Cambridge over whether staff must be “respectful” of […] … learn more→

I’ve been thinking about academic writing and blogging again. I’ve been wondering what we might learn from thinking about the writing that bloggers do. Academic blogs are not all the same. They can be categorised in various ways. I’ve been thinking about categorising blogs as “action” – focusing on what they seem to want to […] … learn more→

As after the Charlie Hebdo attacks , the assassination of Samuel Paty gave rise to its share of proposals to strengthen the teaching of secularism at school: the president of the “Republicans” group in the National Assembly, Damien Abad, in particular demanded the establishment of “courses on the values ​​of the Republic and secularism” , sanctioned by a compulsory test for the […] … learn more→

When abstract metrics are used to measure teaching excellence and graduate outcomes, often with very little granularity, it is worth dwelling on moments that remind you of the real purpose and impact of a university education. My own recent reminder to look beyond the bureaucratic statistics on student satisfaction and graduate employment came while supervising […] … learn more→

A love for reading can be hugely valuable for children. The benefits of leisure reading include increased general knowledge, a positive impact on academic achievement, enhanced reading ability and vocabulary growth. Indeed, research suggests that time spent reading for pleasure could be a key indicator for the future success of a child – even more important than their family’s socio-economic status. It […] … learn more→

Education has suffered throughout 2020 perhaps the greatest stress test in its history. But until the pandemic was unleashed in all its virulence and educational centers around the world closed, there was time, however, to devote to some issues that were gaining prominence. At the beginning of the year, the so-called “parental pin” stirred the educational […] … learn more→

How do you know what to do when you are revising your writing? Revision always involves making a judgment about your own work. You become a self-evaluator. But what criteria do you use? Art educator and philosopher Elliott Eisner (1976, pp. 140-141) suggested that any evaluation of your own and/or others’ artistic or creative work […] … learn more→

The demand for learning foreign languages has got really high over the last decade. This tendency mostly reflects the situation on the labor market. Many open positions in global companies require the knowledge of at least one foreign language. Fluent English gives an opportunity to receive a scholarship and get a diploma from any college […] … learn more→

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education of an entire generation of students. The statistics provided by UNESCO show that nearly 1 600 million students in more than 190 countries-94% of the student population of the world were affected by the closure of educational institutions at the time most height of the crisis. In the case of Spain, it […] … learn more→

Concluding on December 9 a day organized at the CNAM on the theme: “Secularism, law, standards and habits”, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, spoke of his desire to further structure training initial and continuing teachers with regard to secularism. He announced that from the 2022 session of the recruitment competitions, candidates’ knowledge of secularism would be duly appreciated. Jean ‑ […] … learn more→