Saturday, December 30, 2017

Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms @ Academia and ResearchGate


Glenn Rikowski

PRIVATISATION IN EDUCATION AND COMMODITY FORMS @ ACADEMIA AND RESEARCHGATE

My article, Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms (Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Volume 15 Number 3, December 2017, pp.29-56) is now available at Academia and at ResearchGate.




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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 
Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Friday, December 29, 2017

Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms



Glenn Rikowski

Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms


Glenn Rikowski
Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

My article, Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms has now been published in Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Volume 15 Number 3, December 2017, pp.29-56.

The Abstract for the article is below.

The article can be accessed at: http://www.jceps.com/archives/3620


ABSTRACT

To date research and scholarship on privatisation in education lacks critical depth and intensity. Stock concerns occupy contributions to the field: the effects of privatisation in education on teachers’ labour, pay and conditions of service; educational expenditure; resultant problems of planning at local and national levels; corruption (systemic, and by teachers); and on the curriculum and pedagogy. Additionally, many accounts have been largely descriptive, focusing on how privatisation takes place, or on threats to privatisation, or its insertion within education systems. Many case studies have been undertaken in this light, with sectoral, country-wide and local cases. There has been less emphasis on why privatisation in education occurs. Resistance to educational privatisation has been another common theme. Finally, work on educational commodification has been substantially dissociated from studies on privatisation in education. This paper builds on this last point. Writing and research on privatisation in education has largely avoided what it represents and calls forth: the development of capital, the deeper capitalisation of education. Furthermore, discussion on educational privatisation typically ignores its implication in the social production of labour-power. Therefore, with reference to Karl Marx, this contribution drives the critique of privatisation in education forward by focusing on commodity form(s) in education and their relations to the capitalisation of educational services. Consequently, the points of resistance to privatisation in education are sharpened as anti-capitalist weapons.

The URL for the whole issue is: http://www.jceps.com/archives/3644

The journal website is: http://www.jceps.com

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Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Thursday, December 28, 2017

A Force for Good, Or Policing the Poor? Police Officers Based in Schools in England



A FORCE FOR GOOD, OR POLICING THE POOR? POLICE OFFICERS BASED IN SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND

University of East London
Cass School of Education and Communities

International Centre for Public Pedagogies Seminar Series

We are delighted to announce the following seminar.

Wednesday 24th January 2018

1-2pm

Room: ED2.04

Amanda Henshall, University of Greenwich

A force for good, or policing the poor? Police officers based in schools in England

Concerns about youth violence and the radicalisation of pupils have contributed to the deployment of onsite police officers in schools in England, particularly since the implementation of Safer School Partnerships from the early 2000s onwards. 

There has been little research undertaken on the work officers do, and how pupils experience the presence of police in their schools. This presentation will focus on recently published research, based on data obtained through a Freedom of Information request to all police forces in England and Wales. The study found that 17 of the 43 police forces base officers in schools. In London specifically, officers were found to be based in 182 secondary schools. Using school characteristics data, the study showed that officers were more likely to be based in schools with a higher percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. 

In the US, where some ethnographic research has been carried out, studies show that the presence of police officers on school campuses may result in the escalation of minor infractions of school rules into criminal offences, and contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. This research highlights the need for further study on the role of officers in schools in England, and to what extent their presence benefits, or otherwise, the schools and the pupils. The talk would be relevant to anyone working in or researching the secondary school phase, and/or interested in surveillance in contemporary society.

Dr Amanda Henshall  has been a Research Fellow in Education at the University of Greenwich since 2016. From 2013-15 she was a Senior Lecturer in Education at Greenwich, and has also taught at the University of Cumbria (London Campus). Previously, Dr Henshall worked as a researcher at the well regarded children’s charity the National Children’s Bureau, and at the University of London’s Institute of Education. Before taking her Masters and PhD at the University of Lancaster, she was a secondary school teacher of English and worked in a variety of settings, including with children who were out of school. 

Amanda Henshall (2017): On the school beat: police officers based in English schools, British Journal of Sociology of Education, DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2017.1375401


The International Centre for Public Pedagogy (ICPuP) was founded in 2013, it is based in the Cass School of Education and Communities, and is cross-disciplinary with other members from Psychology and Performing Arts. Public pedagogy is a relatively new area of educational scholarship that considers the application and development of educational theory and approaches beyond formal schooling. Public pedagogy therefore includes analysis, investigation and action research in contexts such as cultural education, public spaces, non-formal learning, technology and education, popular culture and political struggle. The centre hosts seminars once a month during term time. Staff from all schools and students are welcome.

Dr Charlotte Chadderton
Reader in Education
Fellow of the National Institute of Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC)

Cass School of Education and Communities
University of East London
Water Lane
Stratford
London E15 4LZ
0208 223 4771

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Glenn Rikowski

I wrote a short article on this topic in 2007, Playground Risks and Handcuffed Kids: We Need Safer Schools? This article can be viewed at Academia: http://www.academia.edu/11074776/Playground_Risks_and_Handcuffed_Kids_We_Need_Safer_Schools



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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 
Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski


Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies - Volume 15 Number 3


Professor Dave Hill
Chief & Founding Editor
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies

Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
Volume 15 Number 3, December 2017


This is the latest issue of Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies. It includes my article Privatisation in Education and Commodity Forms, which you can see at: http://www.jceps.com/archives/3620




CONTENTS:














Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies: http://www.jceps.com

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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

International Conference on Critical Education VIII


ICCE VIII

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL EDUCATION VIII


University of East London, Stratford, London, England
25th – 28th July 2018

Critical Education and Activism Against Neoliberalism / Authoritarian Neoconservatism in Education, State and Society

The International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE), previously held in Athens (2011, 2012), Ankara (2013), Thessaloniki (2014), Wroclaw, Poland (2015), London (Middlesex University) (2016) and Athens (2017) is a forum for scholars, educators and activists committed to social and economic justice. 

The 8th ICCE: Critical Education and Activism Against Neoliberalism/ Authoritarian Neoconservatism in Education, State and Society will take place at University of London (UEL), London, 25-28 July 2018.

At a time of economic crisis, when education is under siege by neoliberal capitalism and by neo-conservatism and aggressive nationalism, when teachers and academics are being proletarianized, youth criminalized, civilised and caring societies being stripped of welfare and benefits and rights, schools and universities turned into commodities, at such a time, critical education, as a theory and as a movement, as praxis, is clearly relevant. International communities of critical educators and activists are working together, and with other movements, to build active resistance to these processes and are engaged in fostering educational and social change leading to a more just, equal and fair society.

The current economic, social, and political crisis, that has been ongoing for 30 years, is manifesting more deeply in education on a global scale. The crisis- part of, and resulting from, dominant neoliberal and neoconservative politics that are implemented and promoted internationally as ‘the only solution’, under the slogan ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA), have substantially redefined the sociopolitical and ideological roles of education. Public education is shrinking. It loses its status as a social right. It is projected as a mere commodity for sale while it becomes less democratic, de-theorised, de-critiqued.

Understanding the causes of the crisis, the particular forms it takes in different countries and the multiple ways in which it influences education, constitute important questions for all those who do not limit their perspectives to the horizon of neoconservative, neoliberal and technocratic dogmas. Moreover, the critical education movement has the responsibility to rethink its views and practices in light of the crisis, and in the light of social, political and educational resistance in different countries - and the paths that this crisis opens for challenging and overthrowing capitalist domination worldwide.

The International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE) – regularly attended by between 300 and 400 participants, provides a vibrant and egalitarian, non-elitist, platform for scholars, educators, activists, students and others interested in critical education and in contesting the current neo-liberal/ neo-conservative/ nationalist hegemony, to come together and engage in a free, democratic and productive dialogue. At this time of crisis when public education is under siege by neoliberalism, neo-conservatism and nationalism, we invite you to submit a proposal and to attend the Conference. We especially welcome new and emerging scholars / scholar-activists.

Speakers invited include:

Grant Banfield (Australia)
Dennis Beach (Sweden)
Sara Carpenter (Canada)
Hana Cervinlova (Poland)
Polina Chrysochou (Greece /UK)
Christian Chun (USA)
Alessio d’Angelo (UK)
Sandra Delgado (Canada/ Colombia)
Mustafa Durmus (Turkey)
Agnieszka Dzieminowicz-Bak (Poland)
Gail Edwards (UK)
Ramin Farahmandpur (USA)
Derek Ford (USA)
Nathan Fretwell (UK)
Panayota Gounari (USA)
George Grollios (Greece)
Carly Guest (UK)
Julia Hall (USA)
Dave Hill (UK)
Lee Jerome (UK)
Wei Jin (Peoples Republic of China)
Gianna Katsiampoura (Greece) 
Nurcan Korkmaz (Turkey)
Ravi Kumar (India)
Alpesh Mairsuira (UK)
Tristan McCowan (UK)
Gyuri Meszaros (Hungary)
Louise Prendergast (UK)
Lotar Rasinski (Poland)
John Rice (Australia)
Glenn Rikowski (UK)
Leena Robertson (UK)
Juan R. Rodriguez (Spain)
Wayne Ross (Canada)
Rachel Seoighe (UK)
Kostas Skordoulis (Greece)
Spyros Themelis (UK)
Tamas Toth (Hungary/Poland)
Paolo Vittoria (Italy)
Josefine Wagner (Poland)
Terry Wrigley (UK)
Ahmet Yidiz (Turkey)

Conference Organisers: Dave Hill (Institute for Education Policy Studies) and Alpesh Maisuria (University of East London)


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Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski




Friday, November 17, 2017

Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis


Glenn Rikowski

CRITIQUE OF THE CLASSICAL THEORY OF EDUCATION CRISIS

Glenn Rikowski
Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

This is a paper prepared for the International Centre for Public Pedagogies (ICPuP), International Seminar for Public Pedagogies at the University of East London for 21st February 2018. See the post below for details.


ABSTRACT

The Classical Theory of Education Crisis is the default theory utilised by educational theorists for understanding the constitution and explanation of education crises in contemporary society. Following a brief outline of the concept of crisis, and the histiography of the notion of education crisis from the Second World War to the neoliberal recession of 1980-82, there is a an outline of The Classical Theory of Education Crisis as most fully expressed in Madan Sarup's classic Education, State and Crisis: A Marxist Perspective (1982). The key aspect of the Classical Theory is that education crises are derivative of economic crises. This is followed by the main event: critique of the Classical Theory. Its reliance on structuralist thought (with associated determinism, functionalism and reductionism) and the inflow of economics imperialism are some of its key deficiencies. The Conclusion outlines ground still to be covered and the need to move beyond the Classical Theory of Education Crisis.

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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

CRISIS AND EDUCATION


Glenn Rikowski

CRISIS AND EDUCATION

Glenn Rikowski
Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

International Centre for Public Pedagogies (ICPuP)
International Seminar for Public Pedagogies
A Presentation by Glenn Rikowski on
CRISIS AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON
Stratford Campus
Water Lane
London
E15 4LZ

21st February 2018
5.00 – 6.00pm
Room: TBA

ABSTRACT

There are two parts to the presentation. Following a brief examination of the concept of ‘crisis’ the first part provides a critique of the Classical Theory of education crisis. This is the default theory of education crisis utilised by the majority of educational theorists and education activists today. Its starting point is that education crises are basically derivative of economic crises. The works of Marxists Brian Simon and Madan Sarup are important in fixing and consolidating the Classical Theory of education crisis. These will be explored in some depth.

The second part of the paper is more speculative. It seeks to pinpoint education crises as crises for capital. Thus, it is concerned with working on the weaknesses in the rule of capital (in education and in terms of its development) rather than focusing on how crises originating in the economy have deleterious effects for state-financed, public education. Two forms of education crises for capital are located, based on the mode of existence of commodity forms in educational institutions: crises of labour-power production; and crises in the ‘general class’ of commodities in educational settings. The implications for an anti-capitalist, anti-affirmationist politics of education based on this analysis are provided in conclusion.

Note: Two papers will be produced for this seminar: Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis, and Education Crises As Crises for Capital. In the meantime, the following paper is useful: Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptions, which is available at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/18511424/Crises_Commodities_and_Education_Disruptions_Eruptions_Interruptions_and_Ruptions

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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 
Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski


Monday, October 2, 2017

Karl Marx Reading Group - London - Capital Volume 2



KARL MARX READING GROUP
LONDON
CAPITAL VOLUME 2

As many scholars, critical thinkers, activists and interested parties as possible are invited to a new Reading Group in London UK beginning mid-October 2017 which will read Volume 2 of Capital by Karl Marx.

There are 3 founder members of the group: Dr. Pritam Singh Professor of Political Economy at Oxford Brooks University Business School; Dr. Jon Hackett – Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at St. Mary's University; and Biswadip Dasgupta, a lay student of Marx with extensive experience of Marx reading groups over the last few years.

Clearly the most suitable readers would be those who have already read Capital Volume 1 at least but others who have read other parts of Marx's oeuvre or those who simply want a greater critical understanding of the capitalist economy are also welcome.

Looking forward to a great journey through Volume 2 of Marx's great critique of political economy!

Please email farout.left@gmail.com for an invitation to join the Google group and discuss further details about the reading group.

Please circulate widely

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Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Kristi's Shoe Repairs - Ilford: Save Kristi's!


Jimmy Papi, Kristi's Shoe Repairs, Ilford

KRISTI’S SHOE REPAIRS – ILFORD


SAVE KRISTI’S!

Kristi's Shoe Repairs has been a part of Ilford station for over a quarter of a century providing quality shoe repair services to commuters and local customers. Kristi's is not just a local business with a loyal customer base, it is part of the Ilford Community and as a small local business Kristi's pays it taxes to the local community.

The upgrade of Ilford Station as part of the London Cross Rail project is a welcomed improvement for the people of Ilford and London as a whole. However instead of embracing this small local business, TFL and its subsidiary Crossrail are evicting Kristi's from the new station. Despite my many requests, TFL and its agents have not offered Kristi's any space in the new station.

Unless there is a change of heart by TFL, Kristi's at Ilford Station will close its door for the last time in 2017. With your help by signing the petition to save Kristi's we may be able to persuade TFL to include this small and successful local business alongside the many corporate retailers that are being brought into the newly developed Ilford station.

This petition will be delivered to:
Managing Director, Surface Transport, Transport for London (TfL), Leon Daniels
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
Commissioner, Transport for London (TfL), Mike Brown


Personal Statement:
I have been taking my shoes to be repaired at Kristi’s Shoe Repairs in Ilford since the business started up. Jimmy Papi is a real craftsman: top quality work, good value and he gives great advice about the care of shoes and how to make them last longer. Kristi’s provides a very friendly and helpful service. This is a small, community and highly professional business that Ilford and the surrounding area needs. TfL, the Mayor of London and Redbridge Council should surely reserve a place for Kristi’s in the planned redevelopment of Ilford Station. The new development should not just be about boring chain stores, mobile phone shops and ubiquitous coffee bar outlets! Ilford has these already!
Dr. Glenn Rikowski

Newspaper Reports:




Posted here by Glenn Rikowski


Ruth Rikowski, outside Kristi's Shoe Repairs, Ilford

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Pedagogy of Hate


Mike Neary

PEDAGOGY OF HATE

Cass School of Education and Communities Seminar
Date: Monday 12 June 2017, 16.00-18.00
Venue: Room ED2.03, The Cass School of Education and Communities, University of East London, Stratford Campus, London E16 4LZ
Convenor: Dr. Rhiannon Firth

Seminar title: Pedagogy of Hate

Seminar speaker: 
Professor Mike Neary, Professor of Sociology, School of Social and Political Sciences,
The University of Lincoln

Abstract
The paper recovers the concept of hate as a critical political category. Not a personal, psychological or pathological hate, but a radical hate for what capitalist civilisation has become. Radical hate is set alongside radical love so the dynamic of negative dialectics can be put in motion. This exposition of radical hate is elaborated through a critical engagement with the work of Peter McLaren, a significant figure in the field of critical pedagogy, whose recent work has called for a pedagogy of resurrection based on the affirmation of holy love, Christian socialism and the life of historical Jesus. The paper provides studies of how negative dialectics can move within higher education, as ‘Student as Producer’, the Social Science Centre, Lincoln and as a co-operative university.

Mike Neary is Professor of Sociology at the University of Lincoln in the School of Social and Political Sciences.


Readings

Neary, Mike (2017) Pedagogy of Hate. Pre-print of article to appear in Policy Futures in Education: http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/26793/3/__network.uni_staff_S2_mneary_Pedagogy%20of%20Hate.pdf

Neary, Mike & Saunders, Gary (2016) Student as Producer and the Politics of Abolition: making a new form of dissident institution. Critical Education http://ices.library.ubc.ca/index.php/criticaled/article/view/186127

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Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski









Thursday, June 8, 2017

Reading Capital: Wealth In-Against-And Beyond Value - John Holloway in Lincoln


John Holloway

READING CAPITAL: WEALTH IN-AGAINST-AND BEYOND VALUE – JOHN HOLLOWAY IN LINCOLN

 


Research in Critical Education Studies (RiCES)


School of Education

University of Lincoln

Brayford Pool
16 June 2017
1:00-4:00pm
Room: Minerva Building, MB1012


Professor John Holloway will be speaking about his new work, ‘Reading Capital: wealth in-against-and-beyond value’ at the University of Lincoln, on 16th of June.

John’s reading and writings on Marxist social theory are highly influential as a way of rethinking Marx in terms of ‘Change the World Without Taking Power’ (2005) and abolishing the social relations of capitalist production through acts of resistance, as ways to ‘Crack Capitalism’ (2010). In this new work, ‘Reading Capital’ John points out that Capital does not start with the commodity, as Marx and probably all commentators since Marx have claimed. It actually starts with wealth: “The wealth of societies in which the capitalist mode of production prevails appears as an ‘immense collection of commodities’ …” Seeing wealth and not the commodity as the starting point has enormous consequences, both theoretically and politically. To say that Capital starts not with the commodity but with wealth is both revolutionary and self-evident. The challenge is to trace this antagonism through the three volumes of Marx’s Capital. This is the theme of the talk.

Free Buffet lunch is included.


Research in Critical Education Studies (RiCES): https://criticaleducation.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/

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Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski 
Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski