February 2018

  • Witness to the SDGs

    I'll be off to Atlantic College in a couple of weeks to take part in a witness session in relation to education and the SDGs.  I've tried to be provocative in my prepared input.  See what you think: In 2015,...

  • The world we left behind in the 1780s

    At the launch of The World We'll Leave Behind last week, Paul asked those attending what sort of topics would have been included in such a book written in the 1780s which were just as 'interesting times' as ours are...

  • EAUC wins the people's lottery

    I'm told that £160,000 has come EAUC's way c/o HEFCE.  The HE funding council, in its death throes, has handed over its loose change to EAUC to do more of the same – and no doubt to be just as...

  • The World We'll Leave Behind is published

    Slightly ahead of schedule, the Vare & Scott book, The World We'll Leave Behind has published.  We are both pleased with it, whatever others might come to think.  You'll find details here along with a Routledge conversation about it –...

  • The name's Bond, Basildon Bond

    A long while back (somewhen in the 1980s I think), Jordanhill Teacher Training College* in Glasgow did an evaluation of some competency-related programme or other (the details of which escape me).  The providers of the programme identified what they claimed...

  • RAG Ratings for the SDGs

    In an idle moment (and with inadequate data) I have been assessing the UK's performance against the SDG targets – doing this for UKSSD. I used RAG ratings which are "suggestion of performance" against the goal.  These are: Red -...

  • DfE rejects PISA's new dimension

    I see that the BBC is reporting (thanks, NAEE) that the new PISA tests assessing global competences will not be taken in England.  The DfE is, it seems, joining the United States, Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Ireland in deciding not to...

  • The car maker that sees no evil

    Volkswagen loses its moral compass was the headline of a Times article the other week about the latest scandal to hit the truly awful German car-maker when, as article noted: "... it emerged that VW and other German manufacturers had...

  • More challenges around the SDGs

    The report on the St George's House consultation on the SDGs contains three sets of challenges, and I wrote about the ones to government the other day.  I was somewhat sceptical as to whether anyone would take any notice. But...

  • Ever mindful of the GAP

    I had an email the other day from UNESCO's representative on Earth. This included a couple of policy briefs that have been developed through the Global Action Programme (GAP).  The email said that these were the key messages: As a means...