Category Archives: Thiscloudmissessunshine

Reflections on an EdD study week-end

The highlights: meeting my supervisor, anticipating the highs and lows ahead, wondering whether having been a research student in the 90s will comprise an advantage, concluding that it probably won’t.

 A really good conversation with one of the OU people about what ‘democratic values’ means in the context of ethical research. A parliamentary democracy can invade an oil-rich nation. A parliamentary democracy can land commandos on a ship carrying aid. If I practise comparably aggressive methods in my research, am I being ethical? If not, why not? It seems to me that democratic values can mean whatever the powerful want them to mean.

 Getting a really interesting book on Communities of Practice, critically challenging the whole idea. It may shake or cement my views; either is good.

 The less than highlights: not being a natural networker, keeping that frozen smile on hold was a big ask.

 Eating way way too much. Henceforth I will be known as Sir Loin of Pork.

 Rushing back on Sunday to see England play Germany. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s best to have a defence, midfield and attack, rather than 11 clueless Herberts running randomly and pointing a lot.

 The security guy at the library who wouldn’t let me in at 11:57 because the library doesn’t open til 12. No further comment needed.

 And next – sorting out my research methods. What do I do, apart from conduct interviews? I don’t want to add another level of data gathering just for the sake of doing it. But there may be a gap between how people tell me they use technologies for learning, and how they actually use them. That gap seems big right now.

 Overall – very glad I met my supervisor (Daisy) and spent several hours discussing the research with her. Very glad I attended the workshop on transcribing interviews (her suggestion). Very glad I met a very nice Labrador on the way to the library.

 Could the event have been half a day shorter? Maybe, but churls like me never wholly enter the spirit of these things.

 Final thought. The perennial anxiety of research as an isolating experience. That’s the best bit. Some of us were medieval monks in a previous life. Probably.

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum (1939)

I recently read ‘The Saber-Tooth Curriculum’ (1939) though everybody else working in education appears to have read it already. ‘The Saber-Tooth Curriculum’ is an educational parable.

The saber-tooth tiger is a beast with unbending ferocity and an unwillingness to compromise. In this sense the title of ‘The Saber-Tooth Curriculum’ embodies one of the central concerns of the piece, namely that educational systems have a tendency to think of themselves as fixed and immutable whereas, if they are to be relevant, they have to fleet-footed, like the antelope who appear in the article half-way through.

New-Fist’s (the main character) approach to education is utilitarian. He wants learning to have a purpose, for it to suit the needs of the society in which it operates. Hence he devises a curriculum, complete with aims and objectives:

Having set up an educational goal, new-Fist proceeded to construct a curriculum for reaching that goal. ‘What things must we tribesmen know how to do in order to live with full bellies, warm backs, and minds free from fear?’ he asked himself.

New-Fist, a radical in his time, devises a successful curriculum. However, over time, the radical system becomes the entrenched, conservative system. Hence, as times change the curriculum loses its relevance, and a new breed of radicals challenge with a new curriculum.

‘The Saber-Tooth Curriculum’ argues that education has no value if it is not relevant to what comes after education. We cannot expect students to buy-in if they do not perceive relevance in what they are learning, and how they are learning it. However, in the twenty-first century, with the advent of digital technologies, society is moving at a faster pace than we have been accustomed to in recent generations. Therefore, how can we have an education system that prepares us for society, when the complexion of that society will be different by the time the learners enter that society as, hopefully, economically, socially and culturally productive citizens or subjects?

One thing we can say about the twenty-first century is that our skills will need regular renewal over the course of our lifetimes. Therefore, learning to learn should be integrated into our own curriculum, to create fleet of foot learners who can respond to changing landscapes.

Private H.E. in the UK

I spent yesterday at a conference at Regent’s College: ‘The Growth of Private and for Profit HE providers in the UK: Competition or Collaboration?’ The conference was based on a report commissioned by Universities U.K..

The surprise of the conference was realising how much private provision already exists within the H.E. sector. Glynne Stanfield of the Eversheds legal firm pointed out that there are already 75 United Sates universities with sites in the UK and, while some of these presently cater only for US students on overseas programmes, the number is likely to increase. In addition, Polish universities have set up sites in London, enabling Polish citizens living and working in the UK to study.

The Principal of Regents College, Prof Aldwyn Cooper, argued for the removal of the fees cap altogether. I heard the same argument from a Vice-Principal at King’s College London when I worked there. This issue is not far off critical mass, but questions of fair and equal access to H.E. are not in the foreground of the discussion.

The last keynote was David Willetts, Tory Shadow Minister for H.E.. He stated that H.E.I.s would increasingly specialise, focusing on their strengths, and not offering every subject. Lord Mandelson said the same thing at the Dearing conference in February. So, whoever the government is, we’re likely to be looking at similar changes.

I came away from the conference thinking that H.E. buildings are starting to resemble portals or (pejoratively) supermarkets, in which the consumer purchases the college brand and product of their choice (assuming they can afford it). The metaphor is apt for a period when approaches to H.E., from governments and students alike, are predominantly utilitarian.

The alignment of H.E. with goods and services makes a lot of us feel uneasy (and education is distinct from goods and services in the sense that the outcome is dependent on the input of the purchaser), but are supermarkets necessarily bad? I like the thought of boxes of organic veg, but it’s quicker and far cheaper to go to Tesco’s, and the job still gets done. Piety looks good, but it’s Brecht who argues, ‘Give us bread first, ethics later.’