Reminder about our forthcoming Learning Exchange.

LOUGHBOROUGH LEARNING EXCHANGE 28.03.2010

Venue. Burleigh Community College, Thorpe Hill, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 4SQ. The Adult Centre (immediate right after entering the gate),  Travel Directions are available here – http://www.burleigh.org.uk/directions

 PROGRAMME

 1100-1110 Drinks

 1110-1115 Introductions

 1115-1130 AGM

 1130-1145 Developments taking place in CPE-PEN-EHP

 1145-1230 Members learning exchange / experiences / news

 1230-1300 Home Education Developments and Implications

 1300-1400 Lunch – Informal networking

 1400-1600 ‘Book of the Year’ Toxic Schooling: How Schools Became Worse by Clive Harber.

Introduction

-         Publishers Views

-         Key Ideas

-         Signficance to CPE-PEN

Wider discussion by attendees

1600-1630 Continue / Informal / Drinks etc

Please let us know you are planning to attend with your address, telephone and email contact by contacting Janet Meighan at edheretics@gn.apc.org / 0115 925 7261

In the same Guardian paper as previous post more in our network are having substantial mainstream impact. Our friends at School of Everything had good coverage in a piece called ‘Everything your brain desires’ by Hazel Davies.

Founder Paul Miller describes initial inspiration surfacing when he read a book about a free university project on 1960s California. The rest is history!… indeed we have regularly tracked much of that progress in this blog.

The latest link with Becta is about  developing the white paper vision ‘The Learning Revolution’ for informal and adult learning. SoE is moving towards increasing the addition of full course provsion (as opposed to just lessons) and adding courses from FE Colleges and Local Authorities. The last SoE posting below also referred to the database of free and low cost venues.

The CPE-PEN network will be able to see just how encouraging these developments are in building the personalised educational landscape we envision. Its not too great a step to see a S0E type model operating as an alternative, supplement or even a replacement for mainstream schooling.  Exciting times! www.schoolofeverything.com

The Guardian.Tuesday 9th March 2010. Virtually perfect. Teaching is on a course for an idyll in which people learn at their own pace, in their own time, and wherever they choose. … Kim Thomas.

Kim’s article gave us some encouragement that our messages are getting through into mainstream. In the space of a full page article:

‘ …people learn at their own pace, in their own time, and wherever they choose…’

‘…anytime, anyplace learning…’

‘…Choice will be the biggest thing in the next 10 years’

The article finished with some quotes from a group of key educationalists and thinkers. Inputs from our friend Dr Tim Rudd from Futurelab….

‘It is now easier to gather store, share edit and publish information than it has ever been. The inreasingly ubiquitous nature of technologies and connectivity will challenge our notions of what a learning space is, with learning less tied down to specific locations. Society is moving away from notions of a single organisation holding all the relevant knowledge to one with far more interaction between different formal and informal settings.’

 Professor Stephen Heppell….

‘The ability for students to work together all around the world will be significant.’

 stood alongside the Futurist Peter Cochrane …

‘We can expect to see a wholesale move away from the “sage on the stage” to a “guide on the side” future’

We’re really glad everyone has been dusting off the CPE-PEN vision and re reading the Educational Hertics Press catalogue!!

Our headline message actually reads…

Personalised Education Now seeks to develop a rich, diverse, funded Personalised Educational Landscape to meet the learning needs, lifestyles and life choices made by individuals, families and communities. It promotes education based on learner-managed learning, using a flexible catalogue curriculum, located in a variety of settings, and operating within a framework of democratic values and practices. An educator becomes, pre-dominantly, ‘the guide on the side’ rather than ’the sage on the stage’.

We expand this…

What is meant by ‘Personalised Education’?

 Personalised education as promoted by Personalised Education Now is derived from the philosophy of autonomous education. This centres on learner-managed learning, invitational learning institutions, the catalogue/natural versions of curriculum, invited rather than uninvited teaching, and assessment at the learner’s request.  Its slogan is, ‘I did it my way – though often in co-operation with others’ and operates within a general democratically-based learning landscape that has the slogan, ‘alternatives for everybody, all the time’.

We already have institutions that work to the autonomous philosophy within a democratic value system. A prime example is the public library. Others are nursery centres, some schools and colleges, museums, community arts projects, and home-based education networks. They work to the principle of, ‘anybody, any age; any time, any place; any pathway, any pace’.

Such institutions are learner-friendly, non-ageist, convivial not coercive, and capable of operating as community learning centres which can provide courses, classes, workshops and experiences as requested by local learners. These are part of a rich and successful, but undervalued personalised learning heritage, from which we draw strength, and which we celebrate.

Personalised Education is legitimated by our latest understanding about the brain, and how we develop as learners and human beings throughout our lives. It operates within a framework of principles and values resulting in learners whose outcomes are expressed in their character, personality, in the quality of life they lead, in the development and sustainability of our communities and planet, and in peaceful coexistence and conflict resolution. Performance indicators are measured as much in their physical and mental health, in peaceful existence, freedom from crime, usefulness of their contributions and work, levels of active citizenship, more than they are in the existing limitations of the assessment scores and paper accreditations.

 Re-integration of Learning, Life and Community

Under the current mainstream education system most learning, living and sense of community is fragmented, defeating learning, fracturing social cohesion and our quality of life and community.  It is structured around the needs of institutions and not learners, and fails to understand the brain and human development. These issues must be addressed and learning, life and community re integrated.

So there’s plenty of room for mainstream to deepen and develop their ideas. They don’t have to look far!

From OpenEye’s E-news 11.03.2010… there’s much wisdom to found in this

The Student’s Prayer

Don’t impose on me what you know,
I want to explore the unknown
And be the source of my own discoveries.
Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.
 
The world of your truth can be my limitation;
Your wisdom my negation.
Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.
Let my richness begin where yours ends.
 
Show me so that I can stand
on your shoulders.
Reveal yourself so I can be
Something different.
 
You believe that every human being
Can love and create.
I understand, then, your fear
When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.
 
You will not know who I am
By listening to yourself.
Don’t instruct me; let me be.
Your failure is that I be identical to you.
 

Humberto Maturana

12.03.2010
A new article entitled DCSF Research expected to begin on May 12th has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

08.03.2010
A new article entitled Government runs out of time to change law on home education has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

23.02.2010
A new article entitled Watch Report debate in Commons today has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

22.02.2010
A new article entitled Is DCSF creating new policy on school attendance orders and special needs? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

18.02.2010
A new article entitled Wash-up: revised pages on writing to MPs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

16.02.2010
A new article entitled DCSF writes to LAs about home education and special needs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

16.02.2010
A new article entitled Wash-up in May? Still 2 months to lobby MPs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

11.02.2010
A new article entitled 4th February, Minister: no Home Access \”because we don\’t know who those families are\” has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

A new article entitled New DCSF research: what\’s going on? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

10.02.2010
A new article entitled Morgan tells Lords home educated families \”opt out of funding\” has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php

A new article entitled Update on adding MP signatures to amendments has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

08.02.2010
A new article entitled Writing to the Lords has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

Futurelab is holding a research insights day featuring findings from Futurelab’s current research, and offering the opportunity to consider the wider implications for education and learning. The day will feature a mixture of presentations and sessions on the  following themes:

Creativity in European Schools – What expert perspectives in the EU27 tell us about contexts for, practices of and barriers to creativity and innovation in curricula, schools and teacher training.

Digital participation – Exploring digital literacy and how to foster it across the curriculum.

Home-school relationships – Exploring the connections and overlaps between children’s learning at home and learning at school.

Transformative learning spaces – Discussing the challenges, the opportunities and the unrealistic expectations of ‘transformative’ design.

Greater expectations – Exploring how digital technologies can support young people to engage with their rights and entitlements resulting in a free to use Web resource for young people: ‘Infocow’.

Gaming in families – Exploring family engagement with this media.

There will also be an opportunity to learn more about some new free resources from Futurelab, including an online one-stop shop for innovation aimed at the education community and an online website that supports young people to make positive changes in their life.

There is a fee for attending this event of £70 per person (early bird rate of £60 available until 24th March) and this will include lunch and refreshments.

For further information e-mail: events@futurelab.org.uk or to book go to forms.futurelab.org.uk/booking

Shocking illustration of current values, child upbringing and social policies compunded by inappropriate early years education?

Ex Curricula
Our major new report found that one in ten five year olds are disengaged from education before they even get to school.http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/excurricula.
Sonia Sohda and Julia Margo

Youth disengagment is a big and costly problem: the current generation of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training (‘NEET’) will cost society an estimated £31bn over their lifetime, including the costs of unemployment, to health services and to the criminal justice system. A shocking 1 in 10 children are entering school without the tools to benefit from their education and little chance of success.

Policies to tackle this problem have had limited success.  This report shows that what has been missing is a properly-resourced, early intervention approach to tackle disengagement amongst younger children who lack the skills they need – skills like concentration, good behaviour and connecting with others – and who are at risk of ending up as tomorrow’s generation of NEETs.

Drawing on original analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study – which surveyed the families of over 15,000 five year olds – it sets out recommendations in the areas of parenting and early years provision for 0-5 years, behaviour and exclusion, special educational needs and spreading evidence-based, preventative practice in schools.

If you need a ‘head-up’ on where secondary schooling might be leading then perhaps you ought to attend the following… don’t forget your headache pills!

Learning for the 21st Century
Annual Secondary Conference
17th June 2010, 9am- 4pm
Mary Ward House, London

The essential conference for developing the curriculum and pedagogy for independent, ‘outstanding’ learning that examines:

What is the curriculum and pedagogy we need for engaging learners in our 21st century schools?
How does it fit with the new Ofsted criteria?
What is the impact of learning to learn on value added results and progress in learning?
How are schools implementing the new KS3 curriculum to develop and assess the Personal Learning and Thinking skills?
How can we address the diverse needs of various groups of students within our schools?
How will new methods of assessment AS learning help develop independent learners?
Don’t miss the opportunity to:

Hear about the latest research on how learning to learn can impact on your school outcomes.
Take back resources and ideas for developing excellent teaching and learning in your school
Develop your own pedagogy and practice to deliver independent learners for life.
Create innovative curriculum ideas for KS3 that will fully engage learners
Focus on learning progress in order to improve the outcomes for all students
Find out how to deliver functional skills in KS4 as required by the new curriculum qualifications.
 
Booking
Information
Visit the Campaign for Learning website http://tiny.cc/2ErLi
Contact Katie Bloom 020 7766 0010

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has joined forces with the Landscape Institute to run Future Vision 2010 – the annual student award scheme to find bright ideas for better places – for the next two years.

Future Vision 2010 will be run by the Landscape Institute, in association with the HCA, to encourage young people to think about how they can contribute positively to the creation and maintenance of great places.

Neil Williamson, president of the Landscape Institute said:
 
“Future Vision 2010 offers a great opportunity for students across many disciplines to prove their creativity in tackling sustainable ideas on buildings, places and the environment.  Best of all, the five winners will have a guaranteed work placement for four weeks.” Read the rest of this entry »

John Taylor Gatto does make his points so well! See the following…

The Hall of Mirrors by John Taylor Gatto

From Life Learning Magazine.http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/

“As the twenty-first century begins its second decade, mass schooling is much as it was in 1910, at least for the poor and the ordinary. It is test-driven, bell-driven, pedagogue-dominated, and thoroughly dumbed down.”

Let me give you an excerpt from a boys’ manual of instructions on how to build things, published in 1937. It was sold on newsstands as The Amateur Craftsman’s Cyclopedia of Things to Make and was expressly intended, as it states in print, for ten to twelve year old boys.

I’ve selected the project on building a model racing schooner because I don’t want to shock you with the pages which teach boys how to “cut a new entrance into a frame home” or build “a small portable arc furnace” out of clay and bricks. So the modest schooner project will have to make my point by itself.

Let’s begin with glue to hold the ship together. Our ten-year-old will make that himself by melting toothbrush handles in acetone. Got that? Then, after he cuts and planes hull and mainmast, casts the keel in molten lead, masters diction like “jib-stay” and “peak halyard,” and uses his sewing skills to sew the foresail, he tackles the main assembly narrative:

“Spring the sides apart and slip the lower ribs in place at their proper stations. Set the ribs in so the bevel begins at edge of the side. Drive an escutcheon pin into each rib from each side. Make the inside keel from ¼- inch square wood. Fit it inside the inside stem in the notches of the lower ribs, and spring it over to, and inside of, the stern, as shown.”

There’s more, but you’ve heard enough, I think.

Efficient Marketing = Stupid Customers

That was 1937. Such instructions for little people were commonplace from Ben Franklin’s day until the end of WWII, but suddenly a new standard seemed to appear after that war was over. In classrooms in every big city at first, and soon everywhere, it looked like this:

a) Students were confined to chairs in quality-ranked classrooms, for six hours a day, 185 days a year.
b) Each day they were set to copying notes off blackboards to memorize and listening to lectures.
c) They were given regular paper/pencil tests to measure their obedience in memorizing, and publicly humiliated if they fell short.
d) Casting ship keels in molten lead was forbidden.
e) They were sharply enjoined to remain silent.
f)  Many other procedures, similar in spirit, were imposed.

Pedagogy had arrived, big-time.

Read more at:http://tiny.cc/DRFfI

What Students say about Flexible Learning Centres in South East Queensland…
the overall schooling experience for young people from all backgrounds in Queensland. … education “flexible learning”

An interesting set of videos (3 parts) on YouTube  from Australia on Flexible Learning Centres http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmqtoCF5LqA

The AERO E-News 01.03.2010 highlighted the following

Democracy at Risk? Ask the Kids! by Laura Stine (posted on the Institute for Democratic Education in America’s website)

The other day, I made a suggestion in the comments of Brainwrap’s excellent diary (2/22/10) on the latest developments in the evolution of the Pennsylvania school district tale known in the Daily community as WebCamGate.’ In short, the district is being sued by the parents of a student who was disciplined by his school for something he must have done in his bedroom at home. How did they come to understand this alleged infraction of some rule? Seems the laptop computer in his bedroom belongs to the school and had within it the capacity with its cam technology to record said alleged infraction. “A clusterf*ck,” writes Brainwrap.

In my comment, I recommended that Daily Kos readers check out the trailer of a documentary directed by Cevin Soling called The War On Kids for an in-depth look at the oppression of children in our current authoritarian educational settings. I had purchased a copy of the documentary and watched it several times, each time becoming more and more alarmed with the authoritarian tactics being used on our children in public schools.

 Read the entire post at: http://democraticeducation.org/index.php/article/democracy_at_risk_ask_the_kids/

After the challenges of last year its great to see the Annual AERO Conference as strong as ever!

The 7th Annual AERO Conference
Learner-Centered Alternatives for Everyone!
June 24th – 27th, 2010
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Albany, NY
720.475.1602
www.EducationRevolution.org

alternativeeducation@gmail.com

Join us in Albany, NY for *the* education conference!

Keynote speakers:
-Mathew Davis
-John Taylor Gatto
-Shilpa Jain
-Herbert Kohl

Featured presenters:
-Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs)
-Elizabeth Baker & Michele Beach
-Brent Cameron
-Anthony Dallmann-Jones
-Melia Dicker
-Angela Engel
-Mari Luce Fernández & María Payán
-Adam Fletcher
-Mary Leue
-David Marshak
-Chris Mercogliano
-Ron Miller
-Jerry Mintz
-Rick Posner
-Khalif Williams

Entertainment:
Taina Asili y La Banda Rebelde
J-Live with Oddy Gato & DJ Trumastr

Special Events:
Local art show (details forthcoming)
Silent auction to benefit AERO
Special pre-conference on June 23rd (details forthcoming)

Documentary Screenings:
The War on Kids (ft. a panel on public education)
Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden
August to June

Highlights:
Free child care
Extensive bookstore
GREAT networking opportunities
Talent show
Access to historic Albany (we’re in the heart of it all!)
Attendee-led workshops

…and MUCH MORE!

School of Everything is a community of people teaching and learning. Learn more or sign up to get started. http://schoolofeverything.com/tour

The SoE grows from strength to strength. In the February E-News they announced an important new feature reflecting SoE and CPE-PEN’s philosophy that learning can take place anywhere. This is really useful addition to the SoE offer.

We’re pleased to announce yet more new features on School of Everything. We now lists venues that host (or could host) lessons, classes and all other learning events. You can browse venues until you find one suitable for your learning and teaching requirements. School of Everything venue listings are created by you, for you and anyone is able to edit the information so it’s all kept as up to date as possible. ‘Venues’ doesn’t just mean the Town Hall or Sports Centre around the corner – it can be any place that is suitable for learning in whatever form – whether it’s a café suitable for one-to-one meetings or a room above a pub ready for a meet up – they can all be added to the venue listings. We’ve also added the function of uploading images and documents on our resources pages. Exciting times. There’s a little bit more about resources here. Share the knowledge people!

INFOCOW
Work experience opportunity with Futurelab
There is an exciting opportunity for you and a small number of students to work with Futurelab over the coming year. As part of the Greater Expectations project we are looking for 10 small groups of Infocow ‘partners’. These groups will work with us to help develop and manage our brand new resource ‘Infocow’. We are looking for groups of between three or six students aged 14-19, who will need to be supported by a teacher or mentor. The group will be involved from late March 2010. Please contact Kieron Kirkland kieron.kirkland@futurelab.org.ukfor more details

Learning spaces open day – 16 March, Bristol
This interactive event for secondary school pupils and staff will explore the challenges of engaging young people in school refurbishment and redesign. The event includes stimulating talks from researchers and designers, open discussions and participatory techniques like hands-on design. Schools are invited to bring along 10 to 15 pupils to take part in the day. Places are limited.
Further details… http://www.futurelab.org.uk/events/listing/learning-spaces-day
 
 
Research insights day – 29 April 2010
This will be an opportunity to find out more about the work that we’ve been doing over the past year – including overviews of research areas such as digital participation, computer gaming in families, and the relationship between home and school. Early bird bookings are now being taken.
Further details… http://www.futurelab.org.uk/events/listing/research-insights-day

Conflab – Futurelab conference consultation
If you could create the most exciting, inspiring and useful education conference, what would it involve? Who would be there and what would it be about? This year’s Futurelab conference – planned for late Autumn 2010 – will allow you to create just that, your ideal conference. And we’re taking a new approach – called conflab – to create the most useful and inspirational event. So we’re looking for your ideas and suggestions for themes and we’ll then use our networks and resources to bring you your conference.
Send us your ideas… http://www.futurelab.org.uk/events/listing/conflab

Becta announces second phase of provisional-approved suppliers for Home Access programme

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown launched the Home Access programme at the Learning and Technology World Forum. The scheme aims to deliver equal learning opportunities to the third of families in England that currently have no access to the internet at home. The Home Access programme, which is managed by Becta, forms part of the drive to make England one of the first countries in the world to ensure every young person has access to a computer and the internet at home.

http://www.becta.org.uk/homeaccess

The Lessons: Hi Stakes Testing = Mis-Education

A short video that contrasts the disastrous high stakes testing syndrome with a more creative cultural competency-based form of evaluating a student’s intellectual growth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D712J1V2Jsg

The Times, January 1st 2010. Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent. http://tiny.cc/1hLWl

Children forced to read from the age of five are no better than those left without books until their seventh birthday, according to research. 
 By Graeme Paton, Education Editor. Published: 10:00PM GMT 05 Jan 2010.  Read the article at http://tiny.cc/3ok5H

07.03.2010
A new article entitled Why write to Lords and MPs now and what to say has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

04.03.2010
A new article entitled Government asks authorities about safeguarding practice in home education has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

01.03.2010
A new article entitled New Ideas on Writing to the House of Lords has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

28.02.2010
A new article entitled Please pass House of Commons Research Paper to peers before Second Reading March 8th has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

23.02.2010
A new article entitled Press Release on Birmingham\’s Child Protection Failure has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

23.02.2010
A new article entitled Watch Report debate in Commons today has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

22.02.2010
A new article entitled Is DCSF creating new policy on school attendance orders and special needs? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

18.02.2010
A new article entitled Wash-up: revised pages on writing to MPs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

16.02.2010
A new article entitled DCSF writes to LAs about home education and special needs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

16.02.2010
A new article entitled Wash-up in May? Still 2 months to lobby MPs has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

11.02.2010
A new article entitled 4th February, Minister: no Home Access \”because we don\’t know who those families are\” has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

A new article entitled New DCSF research: what\’s going on? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

10.02.2010
A new article entitled Morgan tells Lords home educated families \”opt out of funding\” has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php

A new article entitled Update on adding MP signatures to amendments has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

08.02.2010
A new article entitled Writing to the Lords has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

A new article entitled Committee verdict: pig\’s ear/unworkable and deeply unpopular policy has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

Designs for Learning      
Transforming outdoor spaces for education – make this event part of your CPD
Tuesday 23rd March 2010, The American School of London NW8
  
97% of teachers believe that schools need to use their outside spaces effectively to enhance their pupil’s development* but 80% claim that their school is failing to maximise the potential of this valuable resource.*

‘Designs for Learning’ is a conference that will aim to change this by bringing together the diverse perspectives of all those involved in school capital programmes, providing a unique opportunity to hear from students and teachers about what works outdoors. The conference will provide opportunities to discuss creative designs with landscape architects and question those setting the agenda for capital programmes. The event will also offer delegates tried and tested tools, good practice, tips, techniques, and inspiration.
 
Landscape architects, architects, local authorities, school leadership teams and all those involved in school capital programmes will look at how to maximise educational impact with minimal input with practical guidance on the key components of great school grounds.  There will be a focus on what CABE and PfS want from outside spaces, inspiration from Scandinavia and the opportunity to hear from teenagers on what they would like to see outdoors.
 
Speakers at the event will include: Tim Byles, the Chief Executive of Partnership for Schools; Jonathon Porritt the Founder/Director, Forum for the Future; Richard Simmons, the Chief Executive of CABE and Robin Hammerton, OFSTED.
 

The conference will take place on 23rd March at The American School, London, NW8.
 
To book your place please visit  www.ltl.org.uk <http://www.ltl.org.uk>

A new article entitled Committee Chair Receives Parliamentary Petition Against New Measures has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

02.02.2010
A new article entitled New readers start here: where are we up to with Government plans has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

01.02.2010
A new article entitled Are Home Educators Worrying About Nothing? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

28.01.2010
A new article entitled EO Press Release asks does guidance contradict Minister on funding? has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

25.01.2010
A new article entitled DCSF Position Statement has no legal status and is for information only has been posted on the EO Campaign website,
http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/update.php.

Planning for the future – new resources available to inspire futures thinking

Make the Future

A new video looking at ideas drawn in the main from research commissioned under the Beyond Current Horizons programme, is now available. The video, entitled Make the future, considered futures for education in the light of social and technological change over the next two decades. The video aims to inspire education leaders to think differently about the future of education and to consider the challenges and possibilities for 21st century schools.

The video is available to watch at www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/multimedia/video/Video1589 .

Vision Mapper

Another source of information to help plan for the future is www.visionmapper.org.uk,  a free web resource designed to help examine the future of education beyond 2025. The resources provided are designed to support education leadership, including headteachers, department heads, local authorities and school redesign consortia to approach long-term planning and decision making with an informed view of the future.

Claire Denney
Communications Administrator | Futurelab
1 Canons Road | Harbourside | Bristol BS1 5UH | United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)117 915 8206 | fax: +44 (0)117 915 8201
email: claire.denney@futurelab.org.uk | www.futurelab.org.uk
blog: flux.futurelab.org.uk | twitter: @futurelabedu

Seminar 1: violence and the making of the subject

Friday March 12. 9.30 to 5.30.

Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX

 This seminar explores the role of violence in shaping the subjectivity of the young human. Its focus is on how practices of parenting and schooling involve the deployment of violence to socialise and enculturate children and the capacities of the baby/child to resist these deployments. Thinking of violence as an ordinary practice of parenting and schooling in which cultural and social norms produce the borders between discipline and abuse or harm highlights the social construction not only of childhood but of violence and pain itself. The international and comparative focus of the series brings into sharp relief the importance of cultures of parenting and schooling in understanding the young child’s experience of violence and the signification attached to violence.

 To register for this free event please email Karen Wells (k.wells@bbk.ac.uk).

 9.30 to 10.30      Breakfast

 10.30 to 12.00.   Policy and Practice: NGO perspectives on violence at home and school

Chair and discussant: Dr Virginia Morrow

Cesar Bazan Plan International, Learn Without Fear – promoting debate and action on school violence in 60 countries.

Ms Omattie Madray – Country Director Guyuna EveryChild.

The cultural and socio-economic impact of violence on children in the village of Agricola, Georgetown, Guyana.

12.00 to 1.00.     Lunch

 1.00 to 3.00       Violence and the making of the subject: academic perspectives

Chair and discussant: Dr Heather Montgomery.

Professor Pamela Reynolds.
On being responsible for any child: governance, subjectivity and violence

Professor Alma Gottlieb, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaigne.

First Acts of Violence: Reflections on Breastfeeding and Enemas in West Africa

Dr Neal Hazel, University of Salford Parents’ and young people’s views of physical punishment

Sylvia Meichsner, University of Essex

A hard hand for the sake of God: Observations on violence and punishment in residential childcare.

3 .00 to 3.30       Break

 3.30 to 4.30        Integrating theory and experience: break-out groups.

Chairs: Professor Erica Burman ; Professor Alison Watson. Professor Pamela Reynolds; Professor Alma Gottlieb.

 4.30 to 5.30:       Plenary. Chair: Dr Karen Wells

 Message posted by Karen Wells

Posted by the Childhood Email List at the Childhood Research and Policy Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. To join this list or to post a message please send emails to ssru@ioe.ac.uk.

 www.ioe.ac.uk/ssru/crpc

A joint publication between CABE, Futurelab and Portsmouth City Council, ‘Thinking Space’ is a FREE workshop resource aiming to support people involved with redesign and rebuild projects, such as Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the Primary Capital Programmes (PCP).  It provides ideas for workshop sessions which can help those in preparing for the visioning and pre-engagement phases.

The resource comprises of materials for two workshops; one aimed at staff to support critical and creative thinking about the future of education and the implications on future educational spaces; the other to be undertaken with pupils as part of a wider commitment to actively engage and involve them in the redesign process.

‘Thinking Space’ was developed by CABE, Futurelab and Portsmouth City Council, as part of their wider commitment to sharing resources information on learning space redesign programmes. The full resource is available to download for FREE from the Vision Mapper website at www.visionmapper.org.uk/resource/schoolredesignpack.php#space.

Vision Mapper

www.visionmapper.org.uk is a free web resource designed to help examine the future of education beyond 2025. The resources provided are designed to support education leadership, including headteachers, department heads, local authorities and school redesign consortia to approach long-term planning and decision making with an informed view of the future.

Make the Future

Another source of  inspiration for futures thinking is the new video, entitled ‘Make the Future’, which looks at ideas drawn from research commissioned under the Beyond Current Horizons (BCH) programme. BCH considered futures for education in the light of social and technological change over the next two decades. The video aims to inspire education leaders to think differently about the future of education and to consider the challenges and possibilities for 21st century schools.
The video is available to watch at www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/multimedia/video/Video1589 .

EcoBugs

Plus, don’t forget to support our EcoBugs submission in this years Digital Media and Learning Competition, aiming to find “and to inspire” the most novel uses of new media in support of learning. Register your interest at dmlcompetition.net/pligg/story.php?title=302

Claire Denney
Communications Administrator | Futurelab
1 Canons Road | Harbourside | Bristol BS1 5UH | United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)117 915 8206 | fax: +44 (0)117 915 8201
email: claire.denney@futurelab.org.uk | www.futurelab.org.uk
blog: flux.futurelab.org.uk | twitter: @futurelabedu