Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
154
result(s) for
"Simmons, Robin"
Sort by:
The Historical Experience of Liberal Studies for Vocational Learners in Further Education
This paper revisits the liberal studies movement - an important if under-researched episode in the history of education. It examines the lived experience of a set of former vocational students, the great majority of whom eventually went on to teach in further and higher vocational education. All participants had undertaken a course of liberal studies alongside a programme of work-related learning at an English college of further education at some point between the mid-1960s and the late-1980s. The paper presents two key findings: first, whilst participants' experiences were varied and uneven, most seemed quite agnostic about liberal studies in their youth; second, the great majority of those who took part in the research were substantially more positive about their learning in retrospect.
Journal Article
Liberal studies and critical pedagogy in further education colleges: 'where their eyes would be opened' (sometimes)
This paper revisits the liberal studies movement, a significant feature of the English further education (FE) sector from the 1950s until the beginning of the 1980s. Its central argument is that liberal and general studies (LS/GS) and similar provision offered a vehicle where, at least in some circumstances, certain politically-motivated FE teachers were able to engage in forms of mutual, dialogic teaching and learning which can be conceptualised as critical pedagogy-or at least as close to critical pedagogy as can be achieved within the formal education system in a nation such as England. The paper draws on interviews with former FE lecturers who taught various forms of liberal studies to vocational students in FE colleges across England during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Whilst it is recognised that LS/GS was always contested terrain, data presented in this paper provide evidence to suggest that the spirit of critical pedagogy existed amongst a certain strand within the liberal studies movement, at least for a time-even if not all learners wished to be emancipated by their studies.
Journal Article
Mrs Thatcher's first flourish: organic change, policy chaos and the fate of the colleges of education
This paper revisits the abolition of the colleges of education in England and Wales, specialist providers of teacher training which were effectively eradicated in the years after Margaret Thatcher's 1972 White Paper Education: A Framework for Expansion. Its central argument is that the way in which change was enacted thereafter represented a significant break with the model of policymaking which had held sway since the end of World War Two. Whilst more far-reaching change would come after Mrs Thatcher's 'conversion' to neo-liberalism later in the decade, the fate of the colleges of education was, I argue, an important if largely overlooked episode in the history of education - especially in terms of violating the collaborative relationship between central government and local authorities which had, until that point, dominated education policy in post-war Britain.
Journal Article
Civilising the Natives? Liberal Studies in Further Education Revisited
This paper uses Basil Bernstein's work on pedagogic discourses to examine a largely neglected facet of the history of vocational education - the liberal studies movement in English further education colleges. Initially, the paper discusses some of the competing conceptions of education, work and society which underpinned the rise and fall of the liberal studies movement - if indeed it can be described as such. The paper then draws on data from interviews with former liberal and general studies lecturers to focus on the ways in which different variants of liberal studies were, over time, implicated in inculcating certain forms of knowledge in vocational learners. Whilst it is acknowledged that liberal and general studies always represented contested territory and that it was highly variable both in terms of content and quality, the paper argues that, at least under certain circumstances, liberal studies provided young working-class people with the opportunity to locate their experiences of vocational learning within a critical framework that is largely absent from further education today. This, it is argued, can be conceptualised as an engagement with what Bernstein described as 'powerful knowledge'.
Journal Article
Social mobility and post-compulsory education: revisiting Boudon's model of social opportunity
This paper uses Raymond Boudon's model of educational expansion to examine the relationship between education and social mobility, paying particular attention to post-compulsory education - an important site of social differentiation in England. The paper shows how Boudon focuses explicitly on the consequences of educational expansion, and argues that his work helps us understand why widening access to post-compulsory education does not necessarily lead to higher rates of social mobility. We investigate Boudon's key theoretical insights and assess the contemporary relevance of his model. The paper argues that the fundamental assumptions of Boudon's model not only remain valid, but have been intensified by systemic changes in English post-compulsory education, and its articulation with the labour market.
Journal Article
The Reparations Work Underway in Evanston, IL
A Little National Perspective Whether you agree that \"We are in an Era of Repair\"1 and that there is a \"growing momentum . . . around issues of racial justice,\" per a recent NPR story reflecting on Juneteenth, or you are simply appalled that the country's racial homeownership gap is worse now2 than it was before the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, you understand the importance of the reparations strategy rolling out in Evanston, Illinois. Because this article is being published in an affordable housing law journal, chances are you embrace both these realities-the real progress and the continued failures. What we hope to provide, via this article, is a little behind the scenes insight and perspective about Evanston's reparations strategy from two Evanston residents-one, Robin Rue Simmons, a local leader and the visionary advocate behind Evanston's Reparations strategy and the other, Robin Snyderman, a long-time housing professional dedicated to regional housing solutions (who concluded her six-year stint as Chair of Evanston's Housing Commission, when its first and more diluted inclusionary zoning ordinance passed, more than fifteen years ago!). Personal stories of over-assessed property taxes and predatory lending, exclusionary zoning, home relocation, eminent domain, housing discrimination, and more emerged from an ongoing community discussion, building the case for Reparation in Evanston and beyond. Key details: * The resolution approved earmarking $10 mil of city revenue to the Evanston African American community through housing, economic development, and educational initiatives. * The revenue is derived from a new three percent tax on cannabis sales as well as donations. * To be eligible for these resource, Black recipients will need to provide proof of residency and/or ancestry between 1919-1969. * Through the community process, in the year following the passage of the initial resolution, it was decided that the first investment of this Reparations Fund would address historic housing discrimination by dedicating $400,000 to participants of a new Restorative Housing Program that the City Council approved with an 8-1 vote. * The housing benefits will provide up to $25,000 to eligible
Journal Article
Creativity and performativity: The case of further education
This article examines the circumstances affecting creative teaching and learning within the specific context of English further education (FE)—a sector which has proved to be particularly fertile ground for performativity. Beginning with an analysis of notions of creativity in education and a description of the peculiar history and policy context of FE, the article problematises the relationship between representations of creativity and the current situation of teachers and learners. Drawing on a range of empirical studies and policy analyses, it is argued that FE is increasingly positioned at the 'lower end' of a largely class-based division of post-compulsory education in England. In such a division, the authors argue, meaningful creativity is difficult to achieve. Within the performative context of FE, attempts to interpret official discourse on creativity may only serve to reproduce and exacerbate existing inequalities in education.
Journal Article
RAISING THE AGE OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND: A NEET SOLUTION?
This paper problematises the official discourse of economic competitiveness and social inclusion used by the 2007 Education and Skills Bill to justify the proposal to extend compulsory participation in education and training in England to the age of 18. Comparisons are drawn between this attempt to raise the age of compulsion and previous attempts, which took place in a significantly different socio-economic context. It is argued that the needs of those most likely to be affected by the current proposal - young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) - are subordinated to the needs of an English economy that is increasingly based upon low-skill, low-pay work relations.
Journal Article