Forging a new culture of learning for a digital age
November 2011
As the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013, Derry-Londonderry’s vision for 2013 is inspired by the fusion between art and learning pioneered by Derry’s sixth-century founder, St Columba, whose monastic order created the Book of Kells. Derry’s year-long cultural programme will explore the role of creativity within education in...
Good enough jobs and good enough workers
November 2011
Many of us who work in education, working with the graduates that will staff the cultural industries, would see it as our role to produce critical practitioners. This means not only having the skills and knowledge required to follow this type of work, but an ability to reflect on that...
Stories within the songs
November 2011
I remember little of what I was taught during my formal education. All those facts and figures learned by rote, gone. However, I do have an uncanny memory for almost every film, book, song and anecdote I watched, read and heard during that period. This isn’t because I was a...
The value of taking notice
November 2011
I grew up in Portsmouth, a city sandwiched between the sea and the countryside. My dad’s Welsh émigré family were seamen – my mum’s, farm labourers. I remember being impressed by the way my grandparents were able predict the weather or the behaviour of animals or birds due to the...
Moral purpose for the Commons
November 2011
The aftermath of the summer 2011 riots in England saw plenty of recrimination, but precious little by way of education. The government decided, almost from the outset, that the cause was simply ‘criminality’, without offering an explanation as to why so many young people would choose to become criminals, many...