Five Core Principles for Effective Learning I started teaching in 1979, when, as a third year undergraduate student, I was given a 1st year class to teach. Since then I’ve taught thousands of students, designed courses from short courses to Masters degrees and bailed out courses that were in trouble. Over 43 years I have …
This series of articles examines the deep and profound structural issues in post-secondary and adult education, examines the disruptive forces at work and works towards a new model of adult education that can truly work for all. Here is part one. Even before Covid-19, higher education was dead in the water, it just didn’t generally […]
Governments across the world have, to varying degrees, exercised control over universities. In the English-speaking world in particular, alternating waves of Reaganite or Thatcherite economics, the so called economic rationalism, have been juxtaposed with more left-wing social opportunity and equality policies. All of these have impacted universities in various unexpected ways. This series of articles […]
I am blessed with having friends of all sorts, from so many countries, religions, ethnicities, experience and professions. There are values in such diversity that you may not expect. [caption id="attachment_883" align="aligncenter" width="1400"] Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash[/caption]
 Since the development of writing we have gradually privileged text literacy above other forms of communication. Even oratory, one of the pillars of Greek civilisation, has been subsumed in the march of text literacy above all else. In education we put so much emphasis on text literacy that children who have difficulty with text are […]
A child being unable to learn to read at the ‘normal’ rate is only an issue in a literate society. For the vast majority of human existence an inability to learn to read was not an issue at all. In fact if you go back, say 10,000 years, an ability to read would be abnormal. […]
Having your child diagnosed with dyslexia or one of the other neurodiverse traits can be a traumatic situation that often leads to the panic of what to do to help. Since every neurodiverse person is different, what to do can differ greatly. But beyond the issue of specific treatments and assists, there are some principles […]
