Author: Sheffield Institute of Education
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Changing writing
I can just remember the last two occasions on which I signed my name. The first, a fortnight ago, was when I validated a friend’s passport photograph and the second, only the other day, involved signing for a parcel – and for that I used a fingernail to scrawl my name on a handheld device. […]
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University Assessment and a High Court Judgement
A genre analysis of university assessments by lecturers may prevent a forensic analysis of them in the High Court. The High Court judgement in the case brought by a former student against Oxford University excited much coverage in the press last week. Mr Faiz Siddiqui had claimed that the teaching at Oxford had been so […]
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THIS LGBT HISTORY MONTH LET’S REMEMBER THE DIVERSITY OF LGBT PEOPLE
How often have you heard someone talk about ‘the heterosexual community’? Rarely or never, I would guess, but the phrase ‘LGBT community’ is frequently used by policy-makers, service providers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people themselves, particularly during February, which is LGBT history month. So what understandings and experiences does that phrase conjure […]
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Epistemic justice: is this what universities are for?
In an era in which the credibility and confidence in knowledge is under attack, the idea that ‘powerful knowledge’ (Young, 2008) might provide reliable explanations, as well as the basis for suggesting realistic alternatives to the status quo operating in society, raises a number of questions for teachers and curriculum developers. Knowledge that is powerful, […]
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The additional labour of a disabled PhD student
For people with little or no experience of disability it may be easy to believe that disabled people get all the support they may need at University. There are systems in place which means their needs will be met and if they do face problems it’s down to the individual to be more flexible or […]
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Time is a great healer: how can academics contribute to students’ mental wellbeing?
Every day at work is a race against the clock and in my case, the clock often wins! There was a time (excuse the pun) when this caused me no end of stress and anxiety, but not anymore…. Why? Because I’ve learnt through experience that nothing horrendous happens as a result. More importantly, I’ve developed […]
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Easy targets: learning styles, ‘ability’ grouping and the politics of research use in education
This month saw the publication of a report into evidence-informed teaching written by a team from the SIOE with colleagues from Durham and UCL. The report highlights the difficulties teachers can have in assessing research quality, and this brings to mind recent complaints in the press about a lack of evidence-informed teaching. Schools are using a […]
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In Defence of Alchemy – thoughts on the future of student engagement
Over tea the other night my husband, a maths teacher in Sheffield, told the story of his last period of the day with his nightmare Year 10 class. Suffice to say, seating plans had failed, engagement with the magic of number had not occurred and at one point a desk had been thrown. Inevitably, after […]
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The Autism Definition Debate – Language Matters
Education is all about teaching and learning. Well, it should be all about teaching and learning, however, for all teachers to teach and all learners to learn, it must also be about equality of access. From my perspective, as a member of The Autism Centre, equality of access, through the genuine inclusion of autistic students […]
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Of writing, wardrobes and windows
In the coming months, we (Lisa and Karen) between us will write a research bid, an ethics application form, research articles, responses to reviewer comments, an SFHEA application, emails, module guides, and now, a blog post….a dizzying array of genres, each calling for different language choices and rhetoric if we are to achieve our communicative […]