An essential read for anyone interested in the roots and development of today’s education system If you’ve attended one of my talks, you’ll have heard me bemoan the conspicuous absence, from the shelves of actual and virtual bookshops, of any recent books about the history of education. To my knowledge the last overview for the general reader was published in […]
Tag: liberal education
Learning what we don’t need to know
I was invited to discuss my essay The Liberating Power of Education this weekend at the second Buxton Battle of Ideas festival. The text of my introductory speech follows. The discussion that followed, with respondents Dr Adam Simcock and Dr Ruth Mieschbuehler and members of the audience, was recorded and should be available soon. For as long as people have […]
What do we mean by ‘the best that’s been thought and known’?
I was recently interviewed about my essay The Liberating Power of Education for a future episode of Dr James Mannion’s excellent long-form podcast, Rethinking Education. In the often intolerant and tribal world of educational theory and policy, James is to be commended for his willingness to explore differences of opinion in a generous and civil fashion. And we disagreed, civilly, […]
The Liberating Power of Education
I’m very proud to have contributed to the Academy of Ideas’ Letters on Liberty series of pamphlets, which has been doing a great job of showing what the much-devalued idea of ‘freedom’ can mean to us today. My Letter is a mini-history of education, which explores the tension between the recognition that knowledge is important and the fear of where […]
Reimagining schools at the Battle of Ideas
I spoke on the Reimagining schools panel at the Battle of Ideas festival, which took place in Westminster on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October. My introductory comments are reproduced below: Pandemic or no pandemic, I think it’s always worth asking could schools be done differently? Could be they be done better? There’s still plenty of scope to experiment – […]
Head Hand Heart
Santa has brought us some unexpected history of education content this Christmas, hidden between the covers of David Goodhart’s latest book. Goodhart is a journalist, commentator and former director of the think tank Demos. His previous book, The Road to Somewhere: The Populist Revolt and the Future of Politics (2017), introduced the categories ‘Anywheres’ and ‘Somewheres’ to the political lexicon […]
Alcuin of York
In my view, this little known media scholar is one of the most important figures in the history of education in England, and actually in Europe. To find out why, read my tribute in Teach Secondary magazine. If that piques your curiosity, you can find out more in an edition of Radio 4’s In Our Time dedicated to the man. […]