Education

One flavour of discounting first-hand voices: A theory that our ethics and scepticism are being misconstrued/misrepresented as selfish blinkered naïveté.

On the discounting of first-hand voices in favour of external “experts”. This is an obstacle to determining ethical and effective courses of action. Featuring quotes from Marcus Riggs and Charlotte Cooper, and references to the Children, Schools and Families Bill.

There’s a saying that “knowledge is power”. But sometimes ignorance has advantages too.
Featuring a quote from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and a couple of extracts from the Children, Schools and Families Bill Committee.

Some good writing by other people: Allie’s article on the Ticky Boxy world, Dani’s presentation on Government lies, Rosemary’s submission to the Bill Committee and a Times commentary on the Govt’s mistrustfulness.

Here I quote something Louisa wrote on children’s self-sovereignty, the non-neutral role of the state, and an ethical point of reference for the shape of our activism. This arose out of a discussion about how compulsory school can be used to protect children from being made to work (in the economic/ money-earning/ survival sense).

The book Flat Earth News gives an invaluable insight into the present-day news media. Highly recommended for all activists. Quotes and discussion here.

On the last day of the year, a slightly retrospective flavour exploring one theme of my year.

A fundamental problem with inspection of families doing elective home-based education: whether or not to believe the parents.

Get your PDF summary here. Can be used to print a 2-sides-of-A4 summary, to keep handy for showing to people who don’t know the law.

Other people’s responses to my related post a couple of weeks ago, plus a reply from my MP.

There’s loads of wonderful free educational videos available on the net these days. Here are some of the best I know.

Some suggestions for possible amendments to the Home Education section of the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Plus some context for why I’m thinking about this now.