Substantive and disciplinary knowledge have become the words around which curriculum is being organised in some schools. Pro forma’s are filled in enthusiastically, or not so, to justify curriculum choices to line-managers. And whilst these terms seem to work well in some subjects I’m not so sure the distinction works so well in the arts. … More Curriculum, Assessment and the Arts
“Nothing has changed,” Theresa May was fond of saying, just as it was clear that things, in fact, had changed. The Dept. For Education in England has felt the need to release new guidance on how to tackle politically sensitive topics in an ‘impartial’ way. Teachers’ Unions are uncomfortable, saying this guidance might impinge on … More Teachers Should Not Teach Opinion as Fact
Toby Young: “The idea that somehow children want to be left to their own devices to run wild and play and discover the world for themselves, and any interference in that romantic process is cruel, is just rubbish…” Rousseau gets blamed for a lot of things in education being often cited as ‘where it all … More Rousseau, Romanticism, Education and Play
The problem with the word ‘creativity’ is that it conjures up such a wide range of possible interpretations that it ends up serving no-one except those who wish to peddle it as a pedagogical aim and charge thousands of pounds for their talks in Dubai or Davos, or a school hall near you on an … More Schools Should Ditch Creativity
Good Lord, a Pygmalion of a row has exploded across social media and beyond, Lord Digby Jones, as he calls himself, set up a little culture war all by himself, with Alex Scott the ex-footballer and now commentator for the BBC: She responded: The Good Lord took umbrage at that: Ah, the elocution word. Elocution … More Lord Digby Jones and Cultural Capital
The value teachers place on the activities children engage in outside of school. In Lawrence Stenhouse’s wonderful book ‘An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development’ there is a list of pupils’ interests and activities ranked by how their teachers approved/disapproved of them. It is quite an interesting, in some cases extraordinary, list. It was part … More Cultural Capital
Howl, by Ginsberg can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVGoY9gom50 The Seashell and the Clergyman: https://youtu.be/ypseXIQVaF0 Marat/Sade: https://youtu.be/RJc4I6pivqg De La Guarda: https://youtu.be/ks-DFvklR0c Circus Archaos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSekQXA0Gz8 Forced Entertainment: https://youtu.be/eJGm8hDhCdo DV8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAUmimFtFzQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIDxSGyO_TQ Berkoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6DUpCfICyMhttps://youtu.be/jzApltTRVSk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHn_c1nizMc Odin Teatret: https://youtu.be/s8dj4awiMJY Grotowski: https://youtu.be/dRyLLTvs00c Living Theatre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaUpu67D_wA Antonin Artaud, POUR EN FINIR AVEC LE JUGEMENT DE DIEU (Version intégrale) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXy7lsGNZ5A Robert Le Page, … More Antonin Artaud Video + Slides
From ‘It’s Your Time You’re Wasting’- A short contribution. It would be wonderful if you would ‘subscribe and like’ IF you like it, of course… ! Here is the text: How to teach the punks Punk means ‘a worthless person’ an identity John Lydon uses energetically and angrily. John Lydon voted for Trump.Saying on GMB … More Trump and Johnny Rotten
A talk and slides about: ‘Making Meaning in the World’. A look at some of the themes in ‘Athena vs the Machine’ 1.Conversation of humankind (culture) the way we do things here vs (who are you calling we?) – experience.2.Culture: Developing taste, opinions, values – finding meaning… truth, beauty, care, relationship to things, others – … More Curriculum and Culture
Here are my slides and an accompanying YouTube video of me chatting away about Bertolt Brecht. Some of it might be of interest to those currently teaching and/or studying Brecht’s theatrical theory and practice. I hope some of you find it to be of use! Plus if you spot any “deliberate” mistakes please alert me … More Teaching Brecht
Trivium 21c 