The ‘hour glass’ economy?

A recent report from Resolution Foundation (www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/polarising-crisis/) confirms a number of trends seen to be taking place in the labour market. Particularly that the number of low-skill jobs created  post recession exceeds the number of those  considered  high-skill and that the downturn has accentuated the decline of ‘routine’ and ‘middle-skill jobs’ –  more likely to … Continue reading The ‘hour glass’ economy? →

Labour market notes

Government representatives have made much of the fact that the monthly ONS figures show 30 million Britons are now in some form of employment. Though this is an all-time high, it’s still lower in percentage terms than before the downturn –as a result of a rising population. Nevertheless,  unemployment fell by 48,000 to 2.47 million, … Continue reading Labour market notes →

Restoring ‘economic competitiveness’. Will apprenticeships provide the answer?

Michael Gove’s   determination to hold education entirely responsible for the UK’s failing international competitiveness  is mirrored elsewhere. The week before Gove announced his latest GCSE proposals, David Cameron also called for a ‘new era’ of  apprenticeships  (www.express.co.uk/news/uk/439595/Firms-sign-up-to-apprentice-schemes)  with  more academic assessment, particularly in maths and English. Cameron’s  announcement was  also a  response to recommendations in the … Continue reading Restoring ‘economic competitiveness’. Will apprenticeships provide the answer? →

GCSE. The times they are a changing

The latest changes to GCSE by Michael Gove make the original examination even more unrecognisable.   It is somewhat ironic that GCSE was introduced by a Tory government headed by Margaret Thatcher and an Education Minister, Sir Keith Joseph, considered, like Gove, to be on the right of the party. GCSE was also left largely untouched … Continue reading GCSE. The times they are a changing →

Hope yet for the ‘dismal science’ ?

A  group of Manchester University economics students have  caused a stir by demanding changes to their syllabus - the inclusion of critics  of the free market like Keynes and Marx.  http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/24/students-post-crash-economics They also criticise university courses for having too much focus on  training students for City jobs.  The 'Post Crash Economics Society' plans to publish an alternative manifesto … Continue reading Hope yet for the ‘dismal science’ ? →

Book launch and Panel Discussion

            Book launch and panel discussion with Christine Blower                                                                           Goldsmiths College  November 19th                                      Download flyer  Goldsmiths                                                                                                                          www.radicaledbks.com   

Education Beyond the Coalition : Teacher strike action can point the way

"The book’s publication coincides with strike action called by the two main classroom teacher unions in opposition to Gove’s attacks on their members’ pay, conditions and pensions. This, at least potentially, represents the most serious opposition to Coalition education policies so far. As in the 1980s, the Tories know that ‘defeating the teachers’ is essential … Continue reading Education Beyond the Coalition : Teacher strike action can point the way →

Book Review – Mats Alvesson

http://www.srhe.ac.uk/publications/srhe_newsletter.asp SRHE News Review: Mats Alvesson  The Triumph of Emptiness: Consumption, Higher Education and Work Organization, Oxford University Press 2013, £25. Patrick Ainley   Mats Alvesson is a Swedish Professor of Organization Studies who writes with sociological intent but in a line of cultural studies going back to Veblen and, above all, to Daniel Boorstin’s 1961 … Continue reading Book Review – Mats Alvesson →

Book Review Michael Apple

POST-16 EDUCATOR: ISSUE 73   www.post16educator.org.uk  SOCIETY HAS TO CHANGE EDUCATION BUT HOW? Asks Patrick Ainley in a review of Michael Apple’s Can Education Change Society? (Routledge 2013, 9780415875332, pp.188, £23.99) that revisits some of the previous discussion in PSEs 71 & 72 over education and social control Michael Apple disarmingly answers the perennial question of his title … Continue reading Book Review Michael Apple →