Radical Teaching Collective

[Holly Rigby]

Hey all,

It was great to meet everyone at the ORC conference last month - lots of brilliant debate and exciting ideas!

One of the proposals that came out of the Teaching and Learning group was to set up a 'Radical Teaching Collective'. We discussed the limitations of radical teaching in institutions that often demand "neutrality" - the university academy, schools and colleges, community groups, publicly-funded and third sector organisations etc. We agreed that facilitating students to gain ownership of the learning process would be key to fostering and maintaining a culture and community of radical learning/teaching - both inside and outside the classroom.

We recognised that many people involved with ORC - and many people outside of it too - are already engaged in these processes. We therefore suggested establishing a network of teachers/learners, who could engage practically with these issues, by potentially organizing skill sharing and training workshops on radical teaching methods.

As it happens, there is a brilliant event happening next week in London which might spark some ideas for the collective. "Demand the Impossible" is a week long summer school for London teenagers on activism and radical politics at Goldsmiths University. I have offered to volunteer my limited teaching experience to the event as I think its such a brilliant initiative, and so I will be there all next week. 

http://demandimpossible.wordpress.com/about/

I thought that some ORCers might be interested in attending - but also this could be a great chance to organise our first meeting with radical teaching fresh in our minds!

I have set up a doodle here for anybody interested so we can plan what day would be best for everyone. I'm not very techy and so I was also going to suggest that if everyone who is interested sends me their emails I could set up a list for this specific project?

http://doodle.com/g8sc54uteeqp764t#table

Look forward to seeing some ORCers soon :)

Holly x

[Simon Thorpe]

Brilliant text Holly! I think you should put it on the website :)

[Simon Thorpe]

Regarding further discussion of the Radical Teaching Collective, perhaps a forum would be ideal? I'm having trouble getting hold of my cousin who I hoped would host and set up a forum for us.

Does anyone on this list have their own unlimited web hosting by any chance?

On 24 July 2012 11:19, Holly Rigby <holly...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:

[Peter Coville]

Hi Holly,

In response to your email, and as a teacher of A level Philosophy and Critical Thinking in an FE College, and who also runs a Philosophy workshop for adults (in Reading) I'd say the following:

Learning in schools, colleges & universities in Britain today is undermined by:

(i) A performance culture in which knowledge only has an instrumental value for students i.e. as a means of getting them to the next level & one step closer to that high-paid job. Closely linked to this:

(ii) a targets culture in which teachers are under constant pressure to achieve percentage "benchmarks" for attendance, retention and exam results (as a result of this methodology of performance, directly imported by recent governments from the City, "hard" subjects are dropped, as are extra-curricular activities, and students are spoonfed for exams).

(iii) The ambient consumer and celebrity cultures which celebrate values which are antithetical to learning: appearance rather than reality, instant gratification rather than patience.

(iv) The very real social problems suffered by a large proportion of students (certainly the ones I teach): parents unemployed or in low-paid/insecure work, drug or alcohol addiction of parents/students themselves, poor housing and inability to pay bills, mental health issues (a shocking incidence of self-harm and depression among my students).

In such a context, I have to say I do wonder about the value of "facilitating the learners to take control of the learning process" (something which is in fact already a mainstream objective and has been strongly encouraged by Ofsted for several years now). I wonder about this on several counts:

1. Is it a realistic objective in the context I have described?

2. Is it the most urgent objective, given the other issues - internal and external to education - which I have raised?

3. On a deeper level, is it even a desirable objective? It sounds and feels good & has a radical ring to it, but don't we need to be on the lookout for false radicalism? Will children ever really be capable of taking control of their own learning? Aren't adults there to guide, and even on occasion to enforce, until young people have developed enough self-discipline and understanding of the value of knowledge to take control of their own learning (if this is achieved by the age of 18 then I'd say that is a major success for the individual and the community)?

As you will have guessed, I have serious doubts on all three points, but I would love to hear your views and those of others.

Apart from these points, I'm certainly interested in following & contributing to the Radical Teaching Collective, which I think is an excellent idea.

Best wishes,

Peter

[Peter Pick]

getting students to own their learning was exactly what i was taught to do when given teacher training for adults when i taught at the university of sussex. i did not find it either radical or particularly useful in broadening the outlook of students in need of motivation. best wishes, dr. peter pick --- On Thu, 26/7/12, Peter Coville <peterc...@googlemail.com> wrote:

[Holly Rigby]

The collective really needs experience from those who already understand the problems/limitations - and potential solutions - of radical teaching and so I really appreciate your comments on the initial Radical Teaching Collective outline! We did discuss that we wanted to avoid "inventing the wheel" with our approach - and presumed that teaching being learner-led may already be being put into practice. We are very much in the early stages of thinking about the aims of the collective - and how we can make teaching/learning "radical" - and so further input from you both would be invaluable. I hope you can join us for our first meet up? 

According to the doodle Wednesday seems to be a good day for everyone....

And I have just seen on the other thread that the general ORC debrief is taking place on Wednesday and that people may want to attend both - it might make sense to meet at the same time/same place and have a break off group for the Radical Teaching Collective? Especially if we want to discuss whether we are going to be part of ORC or an autonomous group...

Can I request not having it around UCL because getting anywhere central during olympics is gonna be mega-faff? How would people feel about Goldsmiths? (this is obviously totally selfish as I will be at Goldsmiths that day so I am happy to be over-ridden :) )

---

Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:41:21 +0100
From: pete...@yahoo.co.uk

[simongar...@googlemail.com]

Ohhh yeah, it's the Olympics isn't it... :)

In that case UCL is much better for me as I cycle. I'd have to cross central London pretty directly to get to goldsmiths from Golders Green I imagine. Yikes. But also happy to make do with majority decision.

Si

[Sam Halvorsen]

I think would be great for both groups to meet at same time. Perhaps start with the general ORC stuff for first hour, then second hour we could split into different groups working on stuff, if there is more than one?

As for location, so UCL wise, I can get us a room with wifi, BUT I just realised that the quad (the outside bit) will be a no go as UCL have decided to turn itself into an "olympic city" with a mega screen showing every single minute of it, and open to the public!!!!

Other options: Royal Festival Hall? Anyone know if they are doing anything relating to the olympics?

x

[Debra Shaw]

Doesn't say anything on the website but I think it would be a bad idea to
head for a tourist area. It is likely to be rammed. I could see if Autonomy
Club is free but no wi-fi and Whitechapel might be difficult for some people.
What about ULU? SOAS?
Dx

Dr Debra Benita Shaw
Reader in Cultural Theory/Programme Leader, Cultural Studies
School of Arts & Digital Industries
University of East London
4-6 University Way
London, E16 2RD, UK
http://culturalstudiesresearch.org

This message has been scanned by the UEL anti-spam filters hosted by Websense

[Sam Halvorsen]

There has been a tradition to just turn up at SOAS and find a room. Has never failed in my experience, so that is one option? And if it did fail they have an SU with lots of seats (and enough of us are university of london people to make it work)

x

PS just remembered something for the agenda is discussing the ethics of research and potentially putting together guidelines, following conversations with Occupy peeps

> <winmail.dat>

[Peter Coville]

Does the radical teaching thing need to be once a week? I can't manage that as I have a lot of other commitments & live in Reading. I'd favour a monthly plenary with working groups if necessary at other times - but will bow to the consensus.

Peter x

[Simon Thorpe]

Surely if we were to brave central London, it may as well be for a safely booked room..? If we book one at UCL we should be safely hidden from the savage sports crowds shouldn't we?

If we really don't want to approach UCL Olympomania then SOAS sounds like an ok plan - we'd have the grass outside and IoE bar as backups in that area too.

18:30?

[Debra Shaw]

Sounds like a plan. Front steps of SOAS?

[Simon Thorpe]

aye!

[Sam Halvorsen]

coolio

6.30pm on front steps of SOAS? Someone to leave a number for late comers? 

[Peter Coville]

And the Radical Teaching Collective meeting?

[simongar...@googlemail.com]

I think Sam suggested 1 hour for ORC & then radical teaching collective meeting. I'd suggest 1.5 hours for ORC as there's lots to talk about. Which would put radical teaching collective at 8pm. Would that b ok? We could meet at 6pm to ease the pressure a little on RTC...?

[Holly Rigby]

Peter - the RTC is very much in its infancy and questions of how often we meet / how we organise / how we communicate are things I hope we iron out in the first meeting as essential parts of how we move forward with the active project of actually engaging in some radical teaching practise/workshops/skill-sharing etc. So definitely come along to the first meeting if possible - you certainly aren't bound to all future meetings thenceforth! 

With regards to timing - I'm hoping to encourage some people to the RTC meeting who may not have come to the ORC conference (there's some serious acronyms going on here) - so I think it might be good if we start ORC debrief at 6pm - with break-offs for other projects at 7:30pm? I'm hoping newbies will want to come to both! But 8pm is quite late to ask people to a meeting if they just want to come along to RTC?

Also - I have experienced quite a lot of meeting pre-faff when rooms aren't actually booked - saying that, I have no booking room rights whatsoever as I'm not a student so I can't really complain! But if we could get something booked, that would be awesome :)

x

---

Subject: Re: Radical Teaching Collective

From: simongar...@googlemail.com
Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:43:09 +0100
To: reading...@googlegroups.com

[Peter Coville]

Holly - I won't be able to come to first meeting anyway as I'm in Portugal till 6 Aug. Also, as I live in Reading, generally like to be on the 2115 from Paddington if I'm working the next day.

Peter x

[Simon Thorpe]

So any problems with 6pm?

And are we really confident that we'll get somewhere with minimal faff without booking? Potential problems with turning up to SOAS on Wed: forecast says rain, which would remove outdoor options from the equation; IoE, being a public space in central London, may for all we know be busy/noisy, possibly removing that option...; same for SOAS SU, though it's not so public.

Maybe we should book UCL... then we just have to wade through one crowd to get indoors and then we're safe...?

[Sam Halvorsen]

Just to add to the complication, I can get a room at UCL but we will need someone on door duty as just found out that the buildings we be on lock-down due to the Olympic stuff so may be a bit of a hassle

I agree about the SOAS problems as well, but am shifting towards avoiding the Olympiain (especially as the building I can get us rooms is right in the thick of it). Are there any other options? Can no-one here book us a room at SOAS or Bikbeck?

[Simon Thorpe]

no students can book rooms at birkbeck (stoopid innit) but I'll ask someone knowledgeable about how it might be reliably blaggable...

I don't know if anyone in ORC can book at SOAS, but I must know someone who can. I'll look into it.

So appreciating all the concerns raised about all options, shall we agree 6pm at SOAS steps so that's concrete, and the plan can be to try to get something booked in the vicinity if possible, at BBK or SOAS..? Cool?

[Holly Rigby]

Sounds good! 

Is everyone happy for me to post something specific on the ORC website about the Radical Teacher Collective Meeting at 7:30pm ? 

---

Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:05:17 +0100

Subject: Re: Radical Teaching Collective
From: simongar...@googlemail.com

To: reading...@googlegroups.com

[Simon Thorpe]

Yes please!!!

We need a post about the debrief too, so would you like to draft an RTC bit and send it to me and I'll combine it with a bit about the debrief and put it up together?