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Part-time working and the teacher mother:panacea or poison?
No full textPart-time work is often suggested as a panacea to the work/life challenge for teacher parents, and most notably, mothers. This paper reports findings from a wider study on the experiences of Primary and Early Years teachers who are also mothers. Four participant stories are draw upon, collected through unstructured life-history interviews with current teacher-mothers, then analysed using ecological systems discourse analysis (ESDA) to highlight predominant discourses. These include the benefits of flexible working, as well as barriers to accessing part-time work. The barriers include perceptions of flexible working and reticence from school leaders to offer job-share, as well as practical and emotional challenges that securing part-time work can bring. It concludes that whilst the option of part-time work may be a supportive measure for some, for others it is an invitation to ‘work full-time effort for part-time reward’, both financially and emotionally
Voices from the margins:the value of online narratives of communication disorders
No full textThis chapter explores online narratives and comments by people who have post-stroke dysarthria, a communication difficulty. Our aim is to gather valuable insights into the experience of this group in terms of the isolation and social exclusion they face, and to show that their lived experiences may not be sufficiently ‘heard’ by health care professionals or understood by the wider community. We believe that our findings will provide additional evidence to increase the understanding of lived experience of people with dysarthria by researchers and healthcare professionals and that this will enhance inclusion in health settings and society. We also show the benefits of an online support platform for research and for those affected by communication difficulties more broadly
Shifting the spotlight:what do we mean by ‘religious language?
Get PDFThere are mainly two types of questions asked about religious language: those about identity (e.g., what is a religious language?) and those about meaning (e.g., what do its sentences say?). Most philosophers focus on the latter because while they disagree about meaning, they agree that some sentences are religious and that our understanding of them does not depend on us knowing what makes them religious. In this paper, I provide two reasons why questions about identity should receive more attention. First, theories of identity and theories of meaning share a two-way relationship where the characteristics of one influence those of the other, and so overlooking identity overlooks important characteristics of meaning. Second, the study of religious language has been shaped by this relationship for some time and being aware of it improves our understanding of conventional trends and contemporary debates. If successful, this paper will motivate philosophers to reconsider the role of identity in research and to dedicate more effort to its study
A conversation on bridging the research-to-practice gap in sport psychology::a collaborative approach to supporting retired athletes
No full textBackground: The research-to-practice gap remains a longstanding issue in sport psychology (Moore, 2007), with academic work being criticised for lacking an in-depth experiential understanding of applied practice challenges (Schinke et al., 2024), and practitioners lacking resources to inform their practice with research (Quartiroli et al., 2022). In response, there have been calls to move away from bifurcation, where academics and practitioners are working in isolation of one another (Schinke et al., 2024).This panel brings together Dr Chris Rowley and Dr Helen Heaviside-Brown from Leeds Trinity University (LTU), and Dr Odette Hornby from ACT Community, to reflect on our partnership aimed at collaboratively supporting retired athletes in their transition into careers beyond sport. Through action research, our partnership seeks to meet both academic and practitioner needs in a mutually beneficial way, striving to bridge the gap between research-to-practice.Key Points: Key items that will be discussed during the panel include: i) the distinct needs of ACT Community and LTU Sport Psychology academics, ii) approaches adopted to address these needs mutualistically, iii) challenges and compromises involved in addressing both organisations needs, and iv) methods for translating sport psychology research into accessible, meaningful resources for applied practice.Conclusions: Drawing on our experiences, we offer recommendations for academics and practitioners for bridging the research-to-practice gap. This includes, encouraging the development of mutually beneficial university-industry partnerships, engaging in action research to serve both organisation’s needs, offering student placements to support impactful research dissemination, and presenting research in meaningful and useable ways for practitioners
The precariat:an underclass or the new normal for the class-that-lives-from-labour?
No full textClass is not about distinct strata of population, and even if class reflects the conflictual dyad labour-capital it is not about the struggle between the capitalist class and the working class. It is not about two opposing armies (Benjamin, 2016; Holloway, 2005). The conflictual relation of labour and capital traverses individual subjects (Gunn, 2004; Houseman, 2018), these act as personification of social forms, such as money, capital, labour-power, wage-labour etc. and experience the labour-capital conflict as internal as well as external. External because capital and labour tend to be concentrated at the extremes (individuals do not coincide with concepts: so only at the extreme we have ‘pure’ capitalists and ‘pure’ proletarians). Internal because labour needs to be valorised as capital and capital needs to be valorised as more capital. This is part of the constellation within which class is necessarily posited: the dyad labour-capital necessitates a series of mediation which include abstract labour, money, money as capital and money as wage for the exchange of labour-power etc. The issue of class and precarity needs to be inscribed in these mediations: e.g. the necessity of selling labour-power on one side and the need to valorise abstract labour on the other. Key to this discussion is that concept of class is ‘negative’ when it expresses the state of need of large part of humanity which is hierarchically subordinated, that is: it expresses a critique, rather than a picture of reality. ‘Labour’ does not come as either conceptual first nor it is assumed to be a historically primary transformative force, as labour is chained to the production of capital (Bonefeld, 2023). Indeed, the idea of class needs to be historical and anti-historical at the same time, the capital-labour tension needs to be represented in the present of social conflicts, like that around precarious employment. At the same time the subordination of human activity and creativity through labour to abstract wealth is not just part of the logic of valorisation of capital, it is part of the ever-existing and continuous “primitive accumulation” (Bonefeld, 2023b). As well as the law of value, OM insists on the force of value which historically recall the violent dispossession of an entire class from their means of social production, the force of value which means the continuous creation of an “objectless free labour” (Bonefeld, 2014; 2023)
The enforced silence:Gaza and the scholasticide of Palestinian academics - parallels, provocations, and pathways for action
No full textThis article interrogates “enforced silence” in higher education as an active, racialised technology of governance that manages speech, polices dissent, and narrows the horizons of legitimate knowledge. Bringing scholarship on institutional racism, decoloniality, and academic freedom into dialogue with analyses of scholasticide, the systematic destruction of education and intellectual life in Palestine, the paper argues that neutrality and professionalism function as administrative veneers that protect institutional reputation while disciplining racialised scholars and erasing Palestinian epistemologies. Palestine operates here as both an acute site of violence and a diagnostic mirror that illuminates a transnational repertoire of epistemic governance: censorship, securitisation, campus injunctions, and weaponised definitions that chill debate and criminalise solidarity. The article extends the concept of scholasticide beyond material destruction to include ideological and institutional assaults on dissent and critical thought, demonstrating how marketised, securitised universities reproduce racial regimes while disavowing complicity. Against this architecture, the paper advances a praxis-oriented framework drawing on critical pedagogy and the Palestinian ethic of Sumud to envision universities as sites of freedom rather than corporate neutrality. It sets out concrete strategies for scholars and institutions, including protections for dissent, refusal of censorious definitions, divestment from complicit partnerships, cross-border classrooms, and recognition of emotional–political labour, to convert witness into transformative action. The article concludes by insisting that academic responsibility is irreducibly collective: education must commit to liberation, not serve domination
Bridging language, lifelong learning, and sustainability:scope of real-world English language teaching in Bangladeshi higher education
No full textThis study examines the potential of real-world learning (RWL) in English language teaching in Bangladeshi higher education, which is an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Our exploration is guided by the ‘quality education’ objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and lifelong learning perspectives. We used a mixed methods approach to capture student views through a survey at six higher education institutions and semi-structured interviews with faculty members, academic leaders, and university policy makers. The findings show gaps in collaborative learning, industry alignment, and stakeholder engagement which hinder the students’ critical skills and employability. The study highlights the need for interdisciplinary learning, policy investment, and faculty training to bridge academia-industry gaps. Consequently, it offers insights into curriculum innovation and sustainable education for enduring the impact. The novel contributions of the study include the scope of RWL within an EFL environment; and fresh insights into curriculum innovation, faculty development, and policy reforms aimed at advancing sustainable development
How to make a good first impression in the classroom:research-based guidance to strengthen student-lecturer relationships
No full textIts mainly about fit:employability perspectives from undergraduate learners on a vocational course in England
Get PDFNumerous definitions of employability exist and they vary. Employability stakeholders have been consulted regarding their interpretations of employability. Nevertheless, the student perspective on employability is not dominant in employability literature. This paper is interested in students’ general understanding of employability and consequently, its aim is to explore students’ experience of employability within higher education. A qualitative method was adopted to obtain the student perspective. The research approach of a collective case study was taken. 3 cases involving 11 undergraduate students contributed to the collective case study. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews; students supplied employability related stories. Additionally, work placement written reflections plus work placement mentor feedback forms were examined. Findings demonstrated that participants perceived employability as a multifactorial concept, however, a fit between worker and their work was of prime importance. Certain elements were considered impactful on fit. They included- knowledge, skills, practicalities, the social, change, happiness, and challenge. Employability is well-recognised as a multifactorial concept and previous authors have linked employability with a fit between worker and their work. Nevertheless, this paper stresses the importance of fit between worker and their work for students. It also identifies factors influential on fit and therefore on employability
Of kitemarks, metrics and politics:caught between institutional EDI objectives and a desire for an inclusive institution
No full textIn this paper I consider Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work in UK Universities through the political philosophy work of Jacques Ranciere. I draw on this work to distinguish between EDI work which has a policing function to uphold the status quo and that which has a political or activist function to bring about sustained positive change. While Ranciere's work helps us distinguish different types of EDI work, it does not necessarily help us understand how to move towards the latter. In order to explore this the paper draws on the work of Sara Ahmed to operationalise Ranciere’s distinction and set my lived experience across several institutions into context. I conclude that EDI work in universities mostly serves a policing function and is driven by the desire to achieve and maintain kitemarks and awards. It therefore often benefits institutions more than the people within them and is more about evidencing commitment to EDI than about EDI itself. Nonetheless, through 3 examples of approaches to work which include a focus on workload allocations, supporting of innovation and diversity in teaching and allocation of roles within departments, I show that resistance through activism, Ranciere’s politics, can and must be possible even though it comes at a cost and is not always wholly successful