tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69439158673289806622024-03-13T15:28:24.176+00:00Arms Length Staterambling ruminations on culture, politics, education and the stateJoe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-90592217846904211612012-02-29T11:17:00.002+00:002012-02-29T11:17:58.183+00:00Henley 2: This time it’s cultural<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So finally the
<a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00204075/vision-for-cultural-education-will-inspire-all-children-and-enrich-lives" target="_blank">cultural education review</a> has arrived. Like a difficult second album, this one
has taken far longer than Darren Henley’s excellent music education review
(although not quite as long as Kevin Rowland’s notorious second solo album – my
friend Jon was working for the record company that waited twelve years for that
gem to arrive).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The delay might have
been caused by Darren’s creative angst, but my guess is that it was probably
down to torturous back and forths between the DfE, DCMS and possibly the Arts
Council. As a member of the <a href="http://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/news.aspx?id=80" target="_blank">Cultural Learning Alliance</a>’s steering group, the
process was frustrating. Despite being promised consultation and early sight on
recommendations, yesterday’s news was genuinely news to most of us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The report has hardly
been eagerly awaited – that’s part of the problem. Cultural learning is
generally somewhere on everyone’s list of priorities, but despite the fantastic
efforts of the CLA, it generally scrapes along the bottom of people’s ‘to worry
about’ lists, especially in these meaner, more blinkered times. We all knew
that key decisions on the future of cultural learning lay outside the
boundaries of this review: in the now-delayed national curriculum review, and
the space it leaves or doesn’t leave for schools to develop a whole curriculum;
in the changes to the accountability system so that not every subject matters;
and in the budget decisions made, relatively autonomously, by thousands of
schools, youth centres, local authorities and cultural institutions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">So, has the review been
worth waiting for? </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Plans for a £3m BFI </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=140513" target="_blank">Film Academy</a></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">, or the £2.7M going to </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/heritage-schools/" target="_blank">English Heritage</a></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"> to pay for brokers to foster links
between schools and historic sites, made reasonable Tuesday headlines. But if
you know your history (as Michael Gove might say), they don’t really cover up
the financial holes created by Arts Council and Government decisions. Nor do
they answer the bigger questions about quality, access, the role of schools,
colleges and HEIs as cultural institutions, and how we target, target, target
resources at those most risk of missing out culturally, often through lack of
demand rather than supply. I still worry that in a few decades this government
may be remembered for precipitating the UK’s creative and cultural decline.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;">Henley’s focus on
newly qualified teachers feels like the right pressure point in the system –
the <a href="http://www.teachingoutsidetheclassroom.com/" target="_blank">Teaching Outside the Classroom</a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: black;"> programme I established always found it difficult to
compete for space in a student teacher’s calendar, With </span><span lang="EN-US">money attached, this idea could fit well into a teacher’s first or second year, when they are just
looking beyond the exhausting parapet of behaviour management, and might link
to Masters’ qualifications.My </span>thoughts on Gove’s thoughts about ‘data not being the plural of evidence’ (borrowed from Dylan William) will have to wait for another post.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Review also makes a good effort to define cultural learning. When leading <i><a href="http://www.findyourtalent.org/" target="_blank">Find Your Talent</a></i> (a programme which appears to have made a depressingly minimal impact on the future of cultural education) I stepped on the shoulders of Raymond Williams and other giants to define culture as '</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the means through which we understand and create our identities'. This film by Billy Pols, shown at the <a href="http://www.turnercontemporary.org/learn/young-people/nothing-in-the-world-but-youth" target="_blank">Turner Contemporary</a> exhibition on youth culture, fits with my definition. Would it make the Henley cut?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although the national plan for cultural education will be important, bigger news for cultural learning may well have come the
week before. According to Arts Industry, thanks to a big rise in National
Lottery ticket sales, The Arts Council can expect an extra £1.25 billion in
extra income over the next five years. I know it’s not all about the money, but
even if a proportionate amount was spent on children and young
people, that would give an additional £50 Million per year to play with. Now,
where did I put that proposal I wrote for a redesigned Creative Partnerships
3.0?</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-2907400707300543942011-12-05T16:33:00.001+00:002011-12-06T13:22:21.785+00:00Opting into PISA’s 2012 problem solving test<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's a virtual contribution to today's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wholeeducation.org/pages/overview/introduction/423,0/events.html" target="_blank">Whole Education conference</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The idea is straightforward; putting it into practice would probably involve overcoming torturous bureaucratic and diplomatic hurdles.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It concerns next year’s PISA new problem solving test which will be run alongside the usual literacy and numeracy assessments, and is being taken by 43 out of 66 OECD countries. The Department for Education has decided to <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6115609" target="_blank">opt out</a>, as it does not wish to ‘overburden schools.’ There are obvious ideological reasons behind this, although Michael Gove’s thoughtful <a href="https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/ssatnationalconference/Downloads/Embed.aspx?dfid=3270" target="_blank">speech to the Schools Network Conference </a>last week did suggest a broader philosophy of education, acknowledging the need to bring teaching and learning up to date with the demands of current society and workplaces. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The OECD is initiating these tests since “we need to assess problem-solving abilities as governments around the world seek to equip young people with the skills they need for life and employment.” The DfE may have been put off by some of the baggage which the OECD has attached to the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/8/42/46962005.pdf" target="_blank">problem solving framework</a> around “progressive teaching methods”. The test “aims to examine how students are prepared to meet unknown future challenges for which direct teaching of today’s knowledge is not sufficient. “ This is not the language to attract sceptics within and beyond DfE. However, this is not about a battle between so-called traditional and modern pedagogies; it’s simply after a robust assessment of outcomes, regardless of methods.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Can a group of UK organisations work with OECD to ‘opt in’ to this test?</b> We would find a representative sample of schools, using all the appropriate OECD methodologies, (to avoid tainting our sample with too many skills-serious schools).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Assessing skills is difficult; The QCDA came close with a strong, jargon-free analysis of <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110223175304/http:/curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/personal-learning-and-thinking-skills/index.aspx" target="_blank">personal learning and thinking skills</a>, but this never gained traction in enough schools, or developed into a common assessment framework. Our refusal to grasp the skills assessment challenge is part of the reason why the daft and destructive knowledge vs. skills battle that overshadows too much education debate never goes away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although we might have concerns about a computer-based problem solving assessment, the OECD and Pearson’s combined approach is likely to be very high quality and as evidence-based as possible. Taking these tests in 2012 would provide England with a benchmark for improvement over time and in comparison with other nations. Who knows? We might even come in the top three, and benefit from a boom in educational tourism, as foreign educators come pleading ‘why can’t we be like the English?’</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">... or Scottish, or Welsh, for that matter. I can’t find out whether they are participating – can anyone help? I am aiming to</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> build a broad coalition of organisations who could help us work with OECD to ensure that as many nations in the UK as possible participate in this test in 2012. We will need organisations that can mobilise thousands of school leaders – the NAHT and ACSL maybe but Whole Education might also play a role. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There may be an obvious flaw in my proposal. And it might be better for us all to lobby for the DfE to change its mind. But until told otherwise, we will keep pursuing this idea. If information is power, information gathering could be empowering. </span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-69639117497251401162011-11-24T10:22:00.001+00:002011-11-24T10:34:01.387+00:00From an EBacc to a MeBacc<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The briefest of blog plugs for a terrific collection of short articles on <a href="http://creative-blueprint.co.uk/thinkpieces/item/creativitymoneylove-introduction" target="_blank">Creativity Money and Love: Learning for the 21st Century</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, commissioned by Creative and Cultural Skills and A New Direction.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My chapter describes a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://creative-blueprint.co.uk/thinkpieces/item/from-an-ebacc-to-a-mebacc" target="_blank">proposal for a MeBacc</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. The idea is better than the name, I promise.</span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-91981305384091061162011-10-31T17:37:00.001+00:002011-10-31T17:40:18.125+00:00Leading Cultural Learning part two: dazed and confused<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, where did all those </span><a href="http://armslengthstate.blogspot.com/2011/10/leading-cultural-learning-part-one-six.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">stories</span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> leave me? I used to think and say, frequently and stridently, that cultural organisations needed to put learning at the core of their mission and operation. Now I'm not so sure. All I can offer are a few maybes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong>Maybe</strong> we need to recognise the tension between cultural and educational 'pedagogies'. As <a href="http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/index.shtml">Susan Sontag</a> once wrote, the role of the artist is to make things more complex. Generally, the role of the teacher is to explain, simplify, ensure understanding. In learning through culture, how can we make sure that the arts aren't serving a more reductive learning agenda that they probably won't serve that well anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Maybe</strong> learning is best left as an unintended or unplanned outcome of the artistic opportunities that artists and organisations provide through making and showing work - creating spaces where learning can happen, but might not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><strong>Maybe </strong>the most effective educational strategy is for artists and organisations to focus on the quality of their products, and make sure that as many different kinds of people as possible engage. This requires serious, sustained targeting at 'not yet reached' audiences, rather than random acts of cultural kindness, and needs a reclamation of the concept of audience engagement from marketeers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Is this cultural learning heresy? One person thought my views were straight from the 19th Century. I made it clear that I wasn't arguing for the abandonment of education officers, departments and programmes. Too much great work and progress has been made, and England's cultural learning infrastructure is the envy of much of the world. I also wasn't arguing against those whose mission is largely or entirely focused on learning. Their work adds huge value to our artistic and educational landscape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I also suggested that there might be some fascinating work to do in terms of the learning offer of the arts-producing SMEs - the small producing or touring companies, festivals and other venue-free ventures, who might be able to offer much more to children and young people with some minor tweaking and regearing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But I am not sure what I am arguing for... and maybe that reflects the problem and potential of <a href="http://armslengthstate.blogspot.com/2010/01/speaking-doubt-to-power.html">art's relationship with public policy and public services.</a> The education sector and wider policy world are crammed with people who are more certain of their position than their position deserves... who put doubts aside to exaggerate the strength or their argument. How can art compete in this environment? As <a href="http://www.randomdance.org/home">Wayne MacGregor</a> once said, 'the job of the artist is to not know'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I also know that we're dealing with an education sector that, more than ever, is systematically wired to neglect the arts, and relies on cultural partners to cover up for their deficiencies. And we are also facing a cultural sector that, despite the Arts Council goals, strategies and occasional words, is also subtly being offered the option to 'stick to their knitting' (and maybe my 'maybes' above are guilty of this too). With the <a href="http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/media_releases/8036.aspx">Henley Review</a> about to offer recommendations to government, those passionate about <a href="http://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/">cultural learning</a> need to lobby collectively and coherently - rumours are that there's money to be released. But as we coalesce and create ever more stunning evidence for the power of cultural learning, let's nurture rather than neglect our doubts about the whole enterprise - ultimately, doubt may be our most valuable currency.</span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-25914834024527596672011-10-21T15:07:00.001+01:002011-10-31T17:40:12.081+00:00Leading Cultural Learning part one: six stories, no ending<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was asked to speak to this year’s cohort of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cloreleadership.org/fellows.php">Clore Fellows</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Ten minutes as an interlocutor (I had to look it up) on ‘leading cultural learning’. I thought I’d risk a new riff, moving far from my standard </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bpb.de/themen/ZWO1DY,2">creative learning patter</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to reveal my inner confusion. I started with six stories, told in chronological order.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a teacher, I had no real affinity with the arts. To my shame, I didn’t teach one dance lesson in five years, and the visual art I attempted was too rare and too shoddy. I did however play around with drama, especially for assemblies. I remember creating a lavish assembly for an OFSTED inspection. Oblivious to those men with clipboards at the back of the hall, my Year Five Class performed a rousing history of the Jarrow crusade, complete with a couple of historically misplaced <a href="http://www.woodyguthrie.org/">Woodie Guthrie songs</a>. OFSTED failed the assembly, as it did not include an act of collective worship.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a parent, I remember visiting <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/">Tate Britain</a> with my two toddlers to see <a href="http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/time/georgian+and+victorian/art23026">Michael Landy’s childhood home</a>, rebuilt in painstaking detail in the centre of the main hall. It was a powerful experience, provoking emotions around identity, memory, and family. Whilst recovering from this art thunderbolt, I wondered what my children were making of this. Before I had the chance to find out, I had been dragged into a nearby room, and forced to make cardboard box homes with my kids. The Tate’s family learning programme had destroyed any chance of engagement with its art.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On my Clore placement to the <a href="http://www.stratfordeast.com/">Theatre Royal Stratford East</a>, I met one of their young Associate Directors. A few years before, as part of the youth theatre, he had, with friends, devised a dance piece based on the Pied Piper of Hamlyn. It had rapidly moved onto the theatre’s main stage, and two years on was now the <a href="http://www.barbican.org.uk/pied_piper">Barbican’s Christmas show</a>. He was now CEO of his own company, <a href="http://www.boyblueent.com/site/">Blue Boy Entertainment</a>.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Story Four: 2010</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At a think tank seminar, the artistic director of a large venue talked about how education was now at the centre of his organisation. He claimed that his own programming decisions were now more informed by the education department’s views than by anybody else. I thought ‘you’re lying, and I don’t know why you’re lying.’</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In one of my final visits to a <a href="http://www.creative-partnerships.com/">Creative Partnerships</a> school, I visited a secondary school which had done some wonderful programmes over five years, most recently working with a visual artist on ‘museum of love’ to explore concepts of love in Shakespeare’s plays and poems. The creative agent at the school, who was managing the programme, talked about how she had tried to ban the word art and artist from discussions with pupils and teachers.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Story Six: 2011 again</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last month, I was talking to someone in the arts education world. I was telling her about some schools which were thinking of starting ‘look clubs’, after school clubs where pupils would visit museums, galleries, buildings and landscapes, with an emphasis on looking and contemplation, rather than drawing or doing. She scoffed at me: ‘that’s not very participatory!’</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conclusions to be drawn… in next blog.</span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-82753817881424220882011-10-20T10:22:00.000+01:002011-10-20T16:46:40.657+01:00Beetroot Boris to bring back ILEA?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over a lunch with journalists, Boris Johnson yesterday suggested what Ken wouldn't dare - that maybe the mayor </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/19/boris-johnson-education-schools-london?CMP=twt_fd"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">needs some influence over London's schools.</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His logic is good. So much of the rest of his agenda for London depends on improving educational outcomes, especially for the poorest families. And the GLA has the potential to do so much more. Although many local authority support services are excellent, and the move towards self-financing principles of 'buy-back' are sharpening up or closing down many others, the oft-expressed assertion that London councils are too small to do the big things well and too big to do the small things well might be true for several aspects of education - special needs or school transport, for example.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of Boris' aides <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor/mayoral-team/munira-mirza">Munira Mirza</a> has been doing some excellent work banging heads together and provoking people and organisations to provide a better cultural education for all young people in London. This shows what is strategically possible. The mayor's <a href="ttp://www.london.gov.uk/media/press_releases_mayoral/boris-johnson-visits-first-two-schools-set-become-mayoral-academies">sponsoring of two academies</a> is a stranger move, but is probably symptomatic of his frustration about having no direct routes into influencing London's schools.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Daily Telegraph wrote back in 2006 that 'power in education in everywhere and nowhere'. The ongoing fragmentation of the school system means this is more true now than ever. How would another tier of authority play into this landscape? Does Boris want to take power from schools, Local Authorities, academy chains, or even the Department for Education?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather than 'seeking input' to a random mix of education issues, Boris needs to go back to first principles: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What in education could the GLA be accountable for, and why? And once we've answered these questions, two others follow:</span><br />
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What should the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GLA</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> do to support schools?</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What should the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GLA</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> do to challenge schools?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Boris should also recognise the strengths and successes he could build on. London's schools are now outperforming most of the rest of the country, and improvements in certain inner London boroughs are staggering. The percentages attending private schools has plateaued and may even be falling. Rising school populations has been partly caused by a decline in middle class family flight to the suburbs or beyond. The 'apartheid' of racial and social segregation in London schools that the head teacher of City of London School claimed we were<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/oct/04/alarm-over-racial-segregation-london-schools"> 'sleepwalking towards'</a> just isn't happening, especially compared to many Northern cities. <a href="http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/education/gorard-stephen.aspx">Stephen Gorard's</a> statistical work is especially useful here. Urban school systems around the world are dealing with similar issues around poverty, diversifying populations and other urban stress points, and may have much to learn from London as a case study. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">London's schools certainly don't have all the answers, and many of them are still in need of transformation. But before proposing new policy prescriptions, structures or funding streams for London's schools, it might be worth a deeper analysis of the last decade. <b>Schooling in London: What went right?</b></span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-54572565299413213412011-10-13T12:38:00.000+01:002011-10-14T18:44:18.361+01:00Free Schools: pioneers or land grabbers<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">I have no
ideological problem with Free Schools. My decade-old<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/1208/parents-exist-ok">book
on parent school relationships</a> recommended that government experiment with
parent-led provision. Free Schools could form an important R and D arm of our
education system, providing they are properly researched and evaluated –
everything this government says about Free Schools and Academies smells of <a href="http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/green_book_guidance_optimism_bias.htm">optimism
bias</a>, and opponents have the opposite problem. As for Academies, my
daughter goes to one, I have mentored <a href="http://www.teachfirst.org.uk/">Teach First </a>teachers in a couple, and at
Creative Partnerships I saw outstanding practice in many of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">My problem is with
Academy-speak, and what the rhetoric about free schools and Academies implies
about the other few thousand schools out there. Government never claims that
all local authority schools are failing – the evidence is too contrary, and GCSE
successes in schools such as <a href="http://www.bgtc.org.uk/">Bethnal Green
Technology College</a> (in a borough with no Academies) prevent any brash
assertions. However, there are constant hints that those institutions and
individuals which choose not to extract themselves from Local Authority
so-called ‘control’ are somehow dull, stubborn or both. In this week’s <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00199061/79-new-schools-now-approved-to-open-from-2012-onwards">DfE
announcement</a> about the creation of 79 new Free Schools, Michael Gove argued
that “</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">the people who are driving Free Schools and
UTCs are true pioneers. They are leading a revolution in the education system.”</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">A bit like the
PM’s call for <a href="http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/creating-an-education-system-based-on-real-excellence/">real
excellence</a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">,</b> it’s hard to know
what he means by true pioneers. Many of these schools are taking interesting
approaches, from prioritising foreign languages to linking with independent
schools. But every innovation happening in free schools could
take place, and probably is taking place, in local authority schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/schoolswhitepaper/b0068570/the-importance-of-teaching/">Schools
White Paper</a> also gave the same impression about Academies, as if any school
not taking the Academy route had some kind of deficiency in capacity or
ambition. At a recent academies event, one principal allegedly claimed that
‘only academies have true moral purpose’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The decision made
by hundreds of outstanding schools not to become Academies is not necessarily
down to lethargy or timidity. It may be a positive choice around wanting to
remain part of a family of schools, an understanding about what extra funding
might not buy, or even a quaint love of local democratic accountability. Moreover,
conversion is a bureaucratic process, and its consequences can create added
bureaucracy. Many heads are simply choosing to focus on learning and leadership
– standards, not structures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">For Free School
and Academy leaders are in a sense bureaucratic pioneers. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Their central freedoms, around admissions, assets
and staffing, are mainly bureaucratic, not educational. Their liberty to veer from the national curriculum lies largely untaken.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Many academy
heads are fantastic leaders, and there does appear to be an ‘academy state of
mind’ of bullish passion, attention to detail and entreprenuialism that some Heads could learn from. But pioneers are everywhere in England’s education
system, from small scale classroom tinkerers to revolutionary heads. The most
intelligent leaders, whether teachers, Heads, politicians or policymakers, will
look everywhere for inspiration, rather than confine themselves to one type of
school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">A few Free Schools,
especially <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jYYvl7JjgiPMBFvqvbIng0bYA9Bg?docId=N0019891318366566359A">Bristol
Free School</a>, look like land grabs on behalf of the affluent. No need for
swords or ploughshares when you’ve got sharp elbows. But the vast majority do
appear to have social justice aims at their heart. And their founders, leaders
and teachers will be working crazy, passionate hours to make
sure their pupils succeed. Welcome to the world and politics of schooling in
England, and good luck. There’s a lot we can learn from each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">One final
thought. The words ‘true’ and ‘real’ appear to have gone straight from
playground banter to Tory speeches. True pioneers. Real Excellence. It’s being
used like the star on exam A grades. Stop this True/Real madness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-90504459518300198152009-12-30T16:17:00.000+00:002010-01-17T21:56:26.222+00:00Speaking Doubt to Power<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/S0TByDIqM5I/AAAAAAAAADM/H2VFFsQHbxw/s1600-h/arttank.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5423672916840166290" style="width: 320px; cursor: pointer; height: 222px;" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/S0TByDIqM5I/AAAAAAAAADM/H2VFFsQHbxw/s320/arttank.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span><style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style><style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h1 {mso-style-next:Normal; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; page-break-after:avoid; mso-outline-level:1; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:0pt; font-weight:bold;} h2 {margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; font-weight:bold;} p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText {margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:192228231; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:977424032 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:36.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-18.0pt;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:618681500; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1758259310 -281391922 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:19.85pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:19.85pt; text-indent:-19.85pt; font-family:Wingdings;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> </style><v:stroke><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"><v:path connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" extrusionok="f"><o:lock aspectratio="t" ext="edit"><v:imagedata title="foe_knitting_circle" src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/CPGENE%7E1.ACE/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg"><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here is my idea for an ArtTank. But first, a quick admission.<br /><br /></span></span></span></span><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:536871559 0 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} @font-face {font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1 -369098753 63 0 4129279 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h2 {margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; font-weight:bold;} p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText {margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; color:black; mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin-right:0cm; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:519006443; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-927020908 855783752 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:60.75pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:60.75pt; text-indent:-24.75pt; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:618681500; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1758259310 -281391922 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:19.85pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:19.85pt; text-indent:-19.85pt; font-family:Wingdings;} @list l2 {mso-list-id:1440373663; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1177472778 -30782626 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l2:level1 {mso-level-tab-stop:18.0pt; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:17.0pt; text-indent:-17.0pt;} ol {margin-bottom:0cm;} ul {margin-bottom:0cm;} --> </style><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I’m not an artist. In fact, the arts passed me by for a couple of decades. After some early dalliances, when adolescence kicked in, the arts and I looked at each other in some dusty corridor, and walked on – we got by without each other.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Meanwhile, politics and policy grabbed me – from CND and anti-apartheid marches, to nerdy documents. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And policy kept me going throughout my career – even as a teacher, when I was a victim and bystander. From trade unions to think tanks to government departments, I stuck with policy and, beyond the odd novel and movie, stuck without culture. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It’s only been in the last five years, as one of the directors of a programme that uses the arts to transform young people’s lives, have I allowed art, and especially theatre, back into my life, personally and professionally.</span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br />So, here's the half-formed idea.<br /><br />Imagine, for one moment, you are a policymaker, or at the least a policy-shaper. You could be Prime Minister, a civil servant, think tank wonk, or in a tenants’ association. Take your pick. Part of your life is spent recommending or making decisions that will impact on other people’s lives.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br />Now imagine that, in this role, you have been handed a problem. Somebody’s hunch is that policy can help solve that problem – a new policy, a change in policy, or maybe just the removal of an old policy.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, what do you do? How to you make recommendations or decisions? You will probably want to gather and analyse evidence, talk to experts, maybe hold a seminar, consult with a wider group of people. Recommendations will emerge, which in time may or may not be taken up, and then may or may not be implemented in the way you envisaged.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">At some point, no doubt, someone will implore you to think creatively. That someone will probably be holding pens and post it notes of many colours. If you are very unlucky, a rainbow cocktail of pipe cleaners and assorted stationery will also appear.<br /><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><a href="http://www.nationalschool.gov.uk/policyhub/better_policy_making/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Policymaking</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> is busy work these days, and the processes are becoming busier and busier. Decades ago, hold one or two meetings, write a couple of strong memos, and out came policy. These days, it’s a more torturous process, involving horrible words like ‘stakeholders’, horrible meetings, and horrible online spaces.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br />All this activity, however worthwhile and rigorous, may not be sufficient. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My hypothesis is this. Policymakers who actively allow cultural experiences to inform their decision making processes will make better decisions. Or, as I recently said to a think tank director who was wondering how a new cohort of young researchers could come up with more innovative solutions, “Just get them to see some art!”</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Art builds new knowledge and creative capital, and provides a sideways look at the critical challenges facing society now. Artists are, whether they or we like it or not, an incredible political resource. At a time when fundamentals about the role of the state and democracy are being questioned, art can help us think through problems that seem impossible to solve. The results are not always straightforward or simple, nor is art a panacea. But it can and does help shift thinking. As the political theorist </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Edelman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Murray Edelman</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> has written:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">“Commonly held assumptions about the nature of the world are partly arbitrary, partly conventional, often contradictory, only rarely based on verifiable tests, and even in the last case likely to change as scientists revise their premises, hypotheses, and techniques of observation. Successful works of art enhance, destroy, or transform common assumptions, perceptions, and categories, yielding new perspectives and changes insights,,. although they sometimes reinforce conventional assumptions as well. They can transfigure experience and conception, calling attention to aspects and meanings previously slighted or overlooked.”</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Or, as the art historian </span></span><a href="http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/clarkt.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">TJ Clark</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> put it:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><div><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">“Art seeks out the edges of things, of understanding; therefore, its favourite modes are irony, negation, deadpan, the pretence of ignorance or innocence. It prefers the unfinished: the systematically unstable, the semantically malformed. It produces and savours discrepancy in what it shows and how it shows it, since the highest wisdom is knowing that things are pictures that do not add up….”</span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br />What are the policy discussions that could benefit from artistic input?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br />Right now, anyone who is thinking about policies relating to Englishness, identity, rural community or even intergenerational issues should get to the West End to see </span></span><a href="http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson01.asp?play=568"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Jerusalem</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If you are wondering about how to personalise the NHS, or about how technology might be used more innovatively across all public services, it would be worth exploring the recent </span></span><a href="http://www.andfestival.org.uk/siteNorm/home.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Abandon Normal Devices</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> contemporary art festival in Liverpool.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And if you want to think about how we manage consumerism and how consumerism manages us, take a look at </span></span><a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/art/article/404/a-day-in-the-life-of-grayson-perry"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Grayson Perry’s </span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">pots, inspired by visits to Westfield Shopping centre.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /><br />At a time when so much policy requires changing individual and organisational behaviour, where fewer of the solutions can be found in legislation or compulsion, art and artists can play a key role in helping us ask better questions and understand human behaviour, motivations, passions and spirits.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, for my Clore research project, I am beginning to play with the idea of an ArtTank, a mechanism that helps put art and artists into the policymaking process. Here are some of my starting assumptions:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- that the arts can influence the decision making processes of policy makers for the better</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- that art is a valid form of ‘evidence’ which could complement (without ever replacing) current policymaking processes</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- that artists should be seen as thought and doubt-leaders, and can help policymakers redefine and solve problems</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- that deliberately using art and artists this way does not surrender art to instrumentalism, or compromise the artistic process or product.</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- that positioning art as an essential tool for policy, rather than of policy, will contribute to its public value</span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-size:0;"><span style="font-size:0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For now, I am going back to theoretical basics, reading tough stuff about theatre, policymaking and power, and thinking through my research methods. So bring me your views, however brutal, and top tips for things to read and see. But I am also looking for partners from policy and art worlds who might help me test some of these ideas in practice. So shout if you think that ArtTank might be able to work with you.</span></span></span> </span></div><br /></v:imagedata></o:lock></v:path></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:stroke><v:stroke><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"><v:path connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" extrusionok="f"><o:lock aspectratio="t" ext="edit"><v:imagedata title="foe_knitting_circle" src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/CPGENE%7E1.ACE/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg"></v:imagedata></o:lock></v:path></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:stroke>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-86937706465692154492009-12-18T13:39:00.010+00:002010-01-18T12:23:56.516+00:00User-generated. Content?<p class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">How people blog when they are really busy is beyond me. I have been far too preoccupied with two very different tasks.<?xml:namespace prefix = u2 /><u2:p></u2:p> They are linked, tenuously I guess, around the theme of </span><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/openeconomy/victor-pestoff/here-comes-citizen-co-producer"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">co-production</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">. Much of my past month has been spent in hospital with my daughter, trying to negotiate a way of treating her lung condition that keeps her as well as possible and all the family as sane as possible. Home treatment saves the NHS thousands of pounds a day, despite the cost of home IV antibiotics. Evidence says that hospital treatment has more effect, but whether evidence is too generalised to count for our experience (I’d say we were now ‘expert patients’) and factor in our emotions is difficult to say.<br /><u2:p></u2:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Before that, I was working with the fantastic team at the </span><a href="http://www.stratfordeast.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Theatre Royal Stratford East</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">. Earlier this year, Artistic Director Kerry Michael </span><a href="http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/24265/exclusive-stratford-east-audiences-to-choose"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">announced </span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">that, for the first six months of 2012, the Theatre would open up its programming process to allow our public to completely decide on the Theatre’s programme, two seasons of work on the main stage, studio spaces, bar and off-site. My job was to scope the idea, gather examples of similar initiatives, and begin to create a recommended framework for how this could be done. We named the project </span><a href="http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/26217/theatre-royal-stratford-east-hands"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Open Stage.</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><u2:p></u2:p><u2:p></u2:p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">It’s clear that, even within the arts, Theatre Royal is not alone in its ambitions, despite </span><a href="http://artscounselling.blogspot.com/2009/07/does-arts-sector-trust-public.html"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Mark Robinson's</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> account of the arts sector’s ambivalence to this agenda. Notable recent innovations included the </span><a href="http://www.nuffieldtheatre.com/projects/archive.asp"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Nuffield Theatre Lancaster</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">, London Bubble's </span><a href="http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/fanmadetheatre"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Fan Made Theatre</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">, and </span><a href="http://www.fiercetv.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Fierce Festival's</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> recent innovations The combined might of the </span><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/11_november/25/history.shtml"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">British Museum and the BBC</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"> are also contributing to this zeitgeist, enabling participants to upload photos of their objects as part of their wonderful ‘History of the World in 100 Objects’ initiative, starting in 2010. User-generated content will create the worlds largest museum, adding to rather than challenging the curatorial decisions which led to the first one hundred choices.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><u2:p></u2:p><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">However, the Theatre Royal’s plans feel more radical, unique and genuine than anything else I researched. In a way, the concept is already part of the Theatre’s DNA. The theatre has long held a reputation for being a “theatre of the people” and the aim of <i>Open Stage </i>is to take that a step further, building on </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Littlewood"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Joan Littlewood</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">’s ‘continuous loop’ philosophy by giving real programming power to the people the Theatre serves. As Joan herself once said:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="verdana"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255);font-family:arial;" >I really do believe in the community. I really do believe in the genius of every person. And I’ve heard that greatness comes out of them, that great thing which is in people. And that’s not romanticism, d’you see?</span></i><br /><i><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255);font-family:arial;" ><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:85%;">Beyond some financial and ethical constraints, everything about how and what the theatre programmes is genuinely up for grabs. My central suggestion (with huge thanks to Kate from Fuel) was around the creation, through public consultation, of an Open Stage brief, which artists around the world could respond to, and the public would then select and curate from. But the project, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, could go in many exciting directions. In the midst of Olympic rhetoric and real, often turbulent change in its Stratford heartland, Open Stage could have a huge influence, not only on the Theatre Royal, but on the whole theatre and arts sector.</span></p>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-41767557207583933382009-10-06T15:34:00.003+01:002009-10-06T15:47:24.736+01:00Enron and on: art as evidence<div style="font-family:verdana;"></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SreuagPwneI/AAAAAAAAADA/bxhXLcBLJmk/s1600-h/DemCaughtReplOnEnronScandal.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383963649900584418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 242px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SreuagPwneI/AAAAAAAAADA/bxhXLcBLJmk/s320/DemCaughtReplOnEnronScandal.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">A recent article from </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/sep/14/economic-crisis-david-hare-enron"><span style="font-size:85%;">Michael <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Billington</span></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> about how theatre is responding to the recession focused on the current production of Enron at the Royal Court. With Enron, there has been just about enough time for some decent reflection, with the additional hindsight of realising how little was really learnt (If the smug 'we told you so' hindsight of The Economist ever irritates you, it's worth reading some of their </span><a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20340868.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">1990s articles about Enron</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">). The forthcoming play by </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jun/17/david-hare-national-theatre"><span style="font-size:85%;">David Hare </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">about the more recent financial crisis may present more of a challenge. When the events that theatre confronts are too contemporary, distance and reflection become more difficult - let's call it the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dam_Busters_%28film%29"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-size:85%;">Dambusters</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> dilemma. </span></div><br /><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Stunning </span><a href="http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whatson_reviews.asp?play=551"><span style="font-size:85%;">reviews </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Chichester</span> Festival has sold the run out. Thanks to a short placement at the Royal Court, I saw the first preview. The production was thrilling, with complex issues explained and exposed with creativity, sometimes subtle and occasionally bombastic. At times feeling like an adult pantomime, the play rarely stretched its audience to examine our own complicity and values. Given the demographic of the Royal Court audience (albeit on a first night), the performance felt at times like old money was laughing at the vulgarity of new money. </span></div><br /><div face="verdana"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I finally understood the fraud at the heart of the Enron story, the mark to mark market. To quote Jeff <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Skilling</span>:</span><br /></span><div face="verdana"></div><br /><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;color:#000099;">"It's a way for us to realize the profits we're gonna make now. if you have an idea, if you sign a deal, say that we're gonna provide someone with a supply of champagne for the next few years at a set price, every month whatever - Then that definite future income can be valued, at market prices today, and written down as earnings the moment the deal is signed. We don't have to wait for the grapes to be grown and squashed and ..however the hell you make champagne. The market will recognise your idea and your profit in that moment. And so will the company. If you come up with something brilliant - You know, life is so short. If you have a moment of genius, that will be rewarded now. No one should be able to kick back in your job years from now and take all the credit for the idea you had. "</span></div><br /><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Might policy benefit from a mark to market approach? It would enable politicians to take credit for achievements that are unlikely to be realised in their political lifetimes. In the last fortnight, I have visited several Hackney secondary schools. Even beneath the veneer of some stunning buildings, it feels like something extraordinary may be going on which could have as much impact on social mobility as anything tried in the past. Hackney's secondary schools now outperform the national average for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">GCSE</span> results. At </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/28/mossbourne-academy-gcse-results"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Mossbourne</span> Academy</span></span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, a huge group of students who five years ago would probably have ended up with minimal qualifications are now starting their A Level courses.</span></div><br /><div face="verdana"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the same way that the gains in primary school test scores in the late 1990s were probably more due to Tory policies than to New Labour's literacy and numeracy hours, some of this government's real achievements may not bubble through for a decade or more. </span><br /></span><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"></div><br /><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana"><span style="font-size:85%;">Whilst avoiding premature evaluation, is there any way to give our politicians credit now for evidence not yet seen, impact not yet felt, or outcomes not yet realised?</span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-51602799477543389532009-09-15T12:10:00.001+01:002009-09-15T13:01:53.253+01:00Putting the C into the CSR<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">All parties are going for some rhetorical slash and burn to prepare voters' minds for the spending cuts ahead. Lord Mandelson yesterday announced that </span><a href="http://www.build.co.uk/national_news.asp?newsid=99469"><span style="font-size:85%;">"everything is going to have to be examined".</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">It was less than two years ago that we reached the end of the last Comprehensive Spending Review, agreeing budgets for 2008 to 2011. Comprehensive it wasn't. For all the macho talk from civil servants about tough choices and total line-by-line examinations of Departmental budgets, ultimately nobody really suffered. If there were any major losers, they didn't shout too loudly. This contrasted with a concurrent </span><a href="http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/downloads/investstratrev.pdf"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Arts Council portfolio review</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"> that did dare to make some unpopular choices, although its communication and justification of these choices were more than flawed.<br /><br />Any government genuinely committed to cuts in public spending will </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">need a new language to admit its limitations, a polite way of saying that shit happens. I remember one Minister came close when, commenting on a couple of train crash deaths, he compared this to the numbers killed on roads. He was heavily criticised, as was Boris Johnson when responding with justified humour to the transport problems caused by last Winter's snow in London. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A recent </span></span><a href="http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0138"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">DCSF Press Release</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> on youth crime proclaimed:<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic"> "Ministers are clear that there is no room for failure when it comes to protecting the public from crime".</span> No room? None at all? Does this mean that whenever a crime happens, some part of Government has actually failed? </span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6829721.ece"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">George Osborne</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> this weekend praised Tory Councils for providing us with fully itemised details about how our money is spent. Would it be possible to start this openness earlier, to render more transparent the decision making processes about how our money is allocated, well before it's actually spent? The opacity of the current process, conducted in spreadsheet-filled rooms, feels archaic. We need an honest discussion between politicians and voters about why and where cuts might happen. As an addition to recent debates about </span><a href="http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/pips_top.aspx"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">co-production of public services</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">, is there time and space for some thinking about <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">co-reduction</span>?</span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> </span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-48981654563498709232009-09-07T10:10:00.021+01:002009-09-07T22:59:18.651+01:00research, reuse, recycle<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SqWA_ywax5I/AAAAAAAAAC4/H9q5Isgk_Zs/s1600-h/lavender+hill+mob.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378847163408893842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 1px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 1px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SqWA_ywax5I/AAAAAAAAAC4/H9q5Isgk_Zs/s320/lavender+hill+mob.gif" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I got back into some kind of post-holiday swing by reading Mark Robinson's </span><a href="http://artscounselling.blogspot.com/2009/09/plus-ca-change.html"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Arts Counselling</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> blog, celebrating the Gulbenkian Foundation's republishing of their 1959 report </span><a href="http://www.gulbenkian.org.uk/media/item/1178/199/Help_for_the_Arts.pdf"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Help For the Arts</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">. Mark's summary and analysis cut through the differences in languages (is it time for the regions to reclaim the word 'provinces'?) to show how little has changed in the key debates around arts funding. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Later, inspired by a brief family visit to the </span><a href="http://www.tour-eiffel.com/teiffel/uk/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Eiffel Tower</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"> and a quick fleecing at the gift shop, we all watched </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lavender_Hill_Mob"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">The Lavender Hill Mob</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">the kids still grasping their solid-metal souvenirs. Filmed in 1951, mainly in the heart of the bomb-damaged City of London, the film provided a beautiful visual accompaniment to the Gulbenkian Report.<br /><br />If it's really true that, chastened by climate change and the recession, we are all cutting costs and darning socks, we may also benefit from taking the same approach to the way we make and shape policy debates. Rather than rely on fresh-faced glossy pamphlets which blithely describe the 'pace of change', maybe we'll all start looking backwards, and learning far more.<br /><br />Everyone thinking about policy should try out the wonderful </span><a href="http://www.historyandpolicy.org/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">History and Policy</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> website, which "works for better public policy through an understanding of history". And if someone out there wants to discover what the current Building Schools for the Future programme might learn from the last wave of school building in the 1960s, I can give you a copy of my wife's Masters dissertation.<br /><br />Here is something I recycled earlier; an extract from </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Berger"><span style="font-size:85%;">John Berger's</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnfB-pUm3eI"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ways of Seeing </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">that has extraordinary resonance to current debates around art, technology and power relationships.<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><i><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#3366ff;"></span></span></i><i><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#3366ff;"><span style="font-size:85%;">“If the new languages of images were used differently, it would through its use, confer a new kind of power. Within it we could begin to define our experiences more precisely in areas where words are inadequate ... that is to say the experience of seeking to give meaning to our lives of trying to understand the history of which we can become the active agents.</span></span></span></i><br /><i><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#3366ff;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#3366ff;"><i>"The art of the past no longer exists as it once did. It authority is lost. In its place there is a language of images. What matters now is who uses that language for what purpose. This touches upon questions of copywright for reproduction ... As usually presented, these are narrow professional matters. One of the aims of this essay has been to show that what really is at stake is much larger. A people or a class which is cut off from its own past is far less free to choose and act as a people or class than one that has been able to situate itself in history. This is why – and it is the only reason why – the entire art of the past has now become a political issue</i>."</span> </span></span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-8705785753276335472009-07-22T15:32:00.002+01:002009-09-14T16:21:38.483+01:00back to broken basics<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Is there a better name for a blog than </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://bleedingheartshow.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/the-broken-society-vs-back-to-basics/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Bleeding Heart Show</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">? Neil Robertson's self-confessed 'liberal-left' blog takes the challenge that all of us should face - thinking like a Tory.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Neil compares Cameron's 'broken society' rhetoric with the pronouncements, and occasional policies of John Major's </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.johnmajor.co.uk/speechconf1993.html">Back to Basics</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> era. Wary of the way in which Major set standards that members of his Cabinet failed to meet, Cameron is being far more specific about a set of societal ills that afflict only a small part of the population.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">How broken is society? What has caused those ills, to what extent are we all responsible? Who was Number One in the Charts when <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/468759.stm">Major</a> gave that speech? Amidst the laughable hypocrisy of Back to Basics and cones </span>hotlines<span style="font-family:verdana;">, I remember one speech from Major that resonated with me then, and continues to appeal.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the middle of a speech full of eulogies for nuns on bicycles and warm beer (remember that one?) Major called for a gentler society. He never expanded on this, but, strip away the nostalgia for an age that was far more violent than golden, he may have been onto something.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Could gentleness become an all-encompassing political philosophy? In a faster, frantic modern world, what does gentleness look like? The Young Foundation's latest report on </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.youngfoundation.org/files/images/Civility.pdf">Civility</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> may well provide some fresh, gentle thinking on this issue. For now, the only answer I have is that, in September 1993, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince was Number One, with 'Boom Boom Shake The Room.'</span></span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-62619326532898748492009-07-17T16:16:00.007+01:002009-07-22T17:50:21.917+01:00stick to your blogging<span style="font-size:85%;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SmCb7XHwmjI/AAAAAAAAABs/X2O5jmyGyqg/s1600-h/knitting+circle.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/SmCb7XHwmjI/AAAAAAAAABs/X2O5jmyGyqg/s320/knitting+circle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359455000692038194" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span">As of today, I am a proud member of a new </span></span><a href="http://bloggerscircle.net/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span">bloggers' circle</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span">. Set up by </span></span><a href="http://blog.matthewcain.co.uk/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Matthew Cain</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> with the support of</span></span><a href="http://www.thersa.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span"> the RSA</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span">, the idea is that a group of amateur bloggers commit to reading, reviewing and publicising each others' blogs. We all aim to create at least one post a week, and comment on at least two posts from other blogs every month. At the moment, it feels like a warm supportive space. Maybe that's because the process hasn't yet begun.</span></span></span></div></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span">There are lots of Circles out there, but I have immediate visions of<b> knitting circles</b>. From there, the phrase <b>'stick to your knitting'</b> comes to mind. The phrase was apparently created by </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.tompeters.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span">Tom Peters</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"> (that business guru whose book 'In Search of Excellence' identified a number of excellent companies whose fortunes nosedived post-publication). </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;font-family:Verdana;" ><span class="Apple-style-span">It means carry on doing what you are familiar with and what you do best. If your company is good at knitting, don't diversify into something new.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The act of blogging is in a sense a direct denial of this daft principle. Great blogs play with the unfamiliar, create connections between different areas of knowledge, none of which the authors might know much about. They acknowledge the value of genuine expertise, but challenge and probe information, teasing out new insights and taking risks with half-formed opinions. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Let's hope everyone in the bloggers circle and beyond sticks to our blogging and keeps ranting way beyond our authority.<br /></span></span></span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-27005223535545422002009-07-13T16:28:00.000+01:002009-07-13T17:27:53.187+01:00Ends and Means<span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">This post isn't really about education. It just begins that way.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">A couple of weeks ago, Conservative Education spokesman Michael Gove gave an important </span><a href="http://www.thersa.org/events/vision/vision-videos/michael-gove-mp---29-june-2009"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">speech to the RSA</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">. The speech revealed the contradiction at the heart of his thinking, and probably that of all parties. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">The first half of his speech covered his personal views on the purpose of education. A return to the liberal tradition; a focus on thea subject-based canon of content; a retreat from the pursuit of wider skills and outcomes, as exemplified by 'Every Child Matters'. His views were interesting, coherent, and genuinely guided by a passion for social justice. </span><a href="http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/uncategorized/schools-without-boundaries/"><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">Matthew Taylor's blog </span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">gives a good summary, and will soon challenge Michael to clarify a few points. </span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">The second half focused on Tory plans to free up schools to run schools as they wish, driven by the demands of their parental community. If Michael really believes this, it renders the first half of his speech irrelevant. His opinions are no less interesting, but they become merely opinions, ones which schools and parents could adopt, adapt or ignore as they see fit.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:78%;">The key 'localism test' for any politician should be this: If you are serious about devolving power, you will have to be prepared not only to devolve methods, but to devolve outcomes too. Every child will still matter, but in very different ways to very different communities.</span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-6360487862050969552009-07-07T16:59:00.008+01:002011-07-07T14:51:47.344+01:00Raising and Redefining Achievement<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span">I have always had respect for Michael Barber's approach to education, and his ability to make genuine change happen. However his piece on </span></span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/30/schools-budgets-funding-cuts"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">How the school system should respond to a shrinking budget</span></span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">shows that he might have hung round politicians too long. He uses two political devices.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">Device 1: Invent extreme-viewed enemies that don't really exist</span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">Tony Blair used to do this all the time; I doubt he was the first. Here are three of Michael's examples:</span></span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><u1:p></u1:p></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><u1:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">"Many still cling to the demonstrably false view that creativity consists of each teacher making it up in the classroom. This is not creativity, it is betrayal."</span></span></u1:p></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><u1:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">"the widely held but absurd view that because some things can't be measured, we should measure nothing."</span></span></u1:p></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><u1:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">"There are many educators and leaders who simply don't believe that successful change is possible."</span></span></u1:p></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><u1:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">Where are these people? I have weaved my way round the education world for years, and never seem to meet them. Yes, there are those of us who, backed by evidence, believe that we focus insufficiently on the creative development of our children; that our assessment system is no longer fit for purpose; that change is rendered difficult by societal factors beyond the school walls. But nobody I have met ever takes these views to the extremes that Michael claims. By turning them into extremists he denies the validity of these concerns and closes down debate.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u1:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">Device 2: Make it sound too simple</span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">His 'systemic solutions' are faultless: train and develop great teachers and leaders; ensure teachers develop their pedagogy with regular opportunities for collaboration and feedback; devolve power and budgets to schools; ensure that data about school and student performance is rich, accurate and transparent. As an education system, we have made progress on all of these solutions.</span></span></span><span style=";font-size:85%;color:black;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is my additional solution, more messy and complex, but one which could move us on at a time when 'performance' appears to plateauing. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Talk about the outomes. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">As an education system, we need a robust discussion, a new consensus, and finally (and most challenging) a degree of local flexibility about the outcomes we want for our children and young people. Despite the tinkering from government, and braver moves from others, including the </span></span><a href="http://www.thersa.org/projects/education/education-campaign/education-for-the-21st-century-a-charter"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">RSA's Education Charter</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">, politicians tend to close down discussions about outcomes before they have really begun.<br /></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);font-size:85%;" ><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">I once claimed that the aim of Creative Partnerships was to </span></span><a href="http://www.cybertext.net.au/inet_s4wk1/p13_18.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="">raise and redefine achievement</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span">. Raising proved much easier than redefining. I hope that the new</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></span><a href="http://www.21stcenturylearningalliance.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span">21st Century Learning Alliance</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="">has more joy. <b><span class="Apple-style-span">S</span></b>tandards <b><span class="Apple-style-span">A</span></b>re <b><span class="Apple-style-span">N</span></b>ot <b><span class="Apple-style-span">E</span></b>nough (worked out the acronym?)</span></span></o:p></span></p>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-69344490351268897622009-07-06T16:44:00.008+01:002009-07-12T10:26:31.953+01:00tecchie shit, hippy shit, do shit?<div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">I've always wanted the superhero power to be able to tell if people weren't listening to me. Like those glasses which can tell when people pee in a swimming pool, it's not a really a power that would save the world. But it might help me to adjust my tactics in all sorts of situations. Scientists somewhere are probably onto it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Today I was at a brilliant conference, surrounded by people who weren't really listening. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.rebootbritain.com/">Reboot Britain</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> asked the question ' how can the promise of our new digital age tackle the challenges we face as a country?' I still don't know the answer, but it's clear that there are more than enough people trying. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">All around me, people were twittering, blackberrying, blogging, and even doing that 20th century email thing. On a closer look, most of this activity was entirely unrelated to the purpose of the day, and unconnected with the content of that session. Maybe they were listening to the speakers, but if so, they were taking multi-tasking to new heights.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">At one point, the journalist Yvonne Roberts expressed a concern that too many people were trying to solve problems online that could only really be addressed through making something happen on the ground. </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://artsandecology.rsablogs.org.uk/">Tim Smit's rail against hippy shit</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> came from a similar concerned place. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And if I wanted my Luddite intuitions about the digital age confirming, during an imaginative, reflective speech from Jeremy Hunt, up on screen beamed this tweet from OP1UM1. "Line bankers and politicians against my garden fence and shoot them in their faces".</span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/assets/Uploads/pdf/Provocation/reboot-britain-essays.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.21awake.com/RebootBritain_doc.jpg" alt="" /></a></span><br /></div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div><a href="http://artsandecology.rsablogs.org.uk/"><br /></a></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-82697868325720382922009-06-19T12:29:00.002+01:002009-06-19T12:37:49.269+01:00Caution AssessmentFor years, I have wanted to create a <strong>caution assessment form. </strong>Organisations would use the form to ask themselves questions about their recent, current, and future activities, and whether they are doing enough to promote risk. Excessive caution may ultimately be more hazardous than excessive risks.<br /><br />I have always struggled to think of a possible structure and suitable questions, beyond the obvious 'what risks are you taking?', 'what cock-ups have you made, and how have you learnt from them?' There may already be templates out there, or maybe it's a case of subverting the <a href="http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/template.pdf">standard risk assessment form</a>.Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-50933511580720652082009-06-15T22:18:00.006+01:002009-06-24T21:19:37.077+01:00Shall We Dance?<span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Halfway through an illuminating 3 days at Sadlers Wells, my late night remote control-flicking brought me to this advert for McCoy's "man-crisps" - A depressing message for anyone trying to change the image of dance.</span><br /><br /><br /><div id="visit4info_73418" style="WIDTH: 322px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white"><a href="http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Win-Man-Gadgets-with-McCoys-Man-Crisps-McCoys-Snack-Range/73418?autoplay=true" target="_blank"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Win Man Gadgets with McCoys Man Crisps" src="http://www.visit4info.com/sitecontent/LG/fullZZZZZZTVC090603093631PDC.jpg" width="322" border="0" /></a></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-54191963872937144552009-06-15T22:02:00.003+01:002009-07-21T21:56:48.826+01:00What would you cut?<p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Today the </span><a href="http://www.artscampaign.org.uk/"><span style="font-size:85%;">National Campaign for the Arts</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> launched their Manifesto for the Arts. At the conference, The London Mayor's head of Culture Munira Mirza posed the ‘what would you cut?’ question. We used to ask the same question at ippr, during the height of the 'no return to boom and bust' boom. Now, the question is even more relevant and unavoidable.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It is easy and tempting to look beyond the arts for cuts – Trident, ID cards, even the sacred, sometimes opulent spaces of health and education. Having visited lots of schools in the past few years, resourcing levels can occasionally feel extravagant.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">However, sticking with the arts, Munira pointed to the ‘bureaucracy that is supposed to support you’. She made similar points in her <i><a href="http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/CultureVultures.pdf">Culture Vultures</a> </i>publication. There is without doubt a messy clutter out there of organisations and agencies that are supposed to support artists, or support artists to support others.. Radical action, especially if resources are reallocated to the creation of art, could be timely and popular.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">But bureaucracies are easy prey, and cutting them rarely saves you as much money as you think it will.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Here is one other option, backed by zero data, and unlikely to be popular. Given that audience numbers are unlikely to rise much more in tight economic times, is it now time to face the possibility that we have an oversupply of cultural venues, in particular performance spaces? Last week, I heard about a £1.5 Million theatre, built at the start of the decade with mainly Arts Council money, that was now dormant, maybe used for two weeks of the year. This could be a London problem, or even an inner London issue. Meanwhile, the Building Schools for the Future programme is only just peaking; hundreds of schools will open or reopen every year for the next decade, many with modern performing and visual arts facilities – BSF has been described as England’s largest ever cultural building programme. If used as they ought to be, for wider public rather than school-only use, these schools will create even more capacity, but contribute to oversupply.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Also, the trend for producing theatre at mobile venues, or reclaiming space to produce temporary theatre, continues, and the recession has made many more spaces available for ‘pop-up’ performances and galleries.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">So, what would I cut? If we do have an oversupply of permanent 'static' venues, in certain areas, now may be to cut some of them loose and cut our losses.</span></p>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-47336635260658666202009-06-14T23:33:00.004+01:002009-06-17T00:12:55.931+01:00Good politicians borrow, great politicians steal<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Tory Education spokesman </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2009/06/Gove_outlines_plans_to_reform_school_testing.aspx">Michael Gove</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> today proposed that 11 year olds should take their tests in the first week of secondary school, rather than when at Primary School.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Here is what I wrote in </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/oct/29/schools.news">The Guardian </a><span style="font-family:verdana;">on the subject seven years ago:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >A simple solution [to problems with SATs] would be for 11-year-olds to take their SATs during their first few weeks at secondary school, invigilated by their new teachers. For the number-crunchers out there, the results could still be aggregated back to produce primary school league tables. Primary teachers would be able to prepare children without cramming them, and secondary teachers would believe the results, and use them diagnostically. Taking the test after six weeks holiday (provided they aren't eroded by yet more "booster classes") would give a more accurate reflection of children's literacy and numeracy levels.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The Tories are right on this one, and will probably have the chance to prove it.</span></span>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-23260998854625430552009-06-09T23:44:00.007+01:002009-06-10T11:48:57.038+01:00Better<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/Si7qbI_CRyI/AAAAAAAAABE/OtdM-NW9awk/s1600-h/Can+2008-08-06_26.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345467559724599074" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 213px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/Si7qbI_CRyI/AAAAAAAAABE/OtdM-NW9awk/s320/Can+2008-08-06_26.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I swore I would never blog about children or animals, at least not my own. Children rarely do the funniest things, and even those things are rarely funny to anyone unrelated to them. Here is where I break my promise.<br /><br />I am reading Atul Gawande's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Surgeons-Performance-Atul-Gawande/dp/1861978979"><span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">Better: A Surgeon's notes on performance</span></a>. Gawande identifies "three core components for success in medicine - or any endeavour that involves risk and responsibility" These are: diligence, do right, and ingenuity. Simple.<br /><br />On Saturday I took my seven year old out for a Pizza. She is overtaking her older sister in the race to adolescence, and even during the act of ordering I did something to annoy her. I asked her how I could be A Better Dad. In the style of Norman Foster, she scribbled all over a serviette, and thrust it at me.<br /><br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >Be Better<br /></span><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><ol style="font-family:verdana;"><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. tell. other. people. what. I. said.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. say. err. in. the. middle. of. the. sentence.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. do. disgusting. burps. and. farts. and. poos. and. breathing.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. tell. us. off.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. make. us. do. work.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. make. us. walk.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:85%;">don't. eat. and. slurp. your. food.</span></li></ol><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">I guess I now know my seven deadly sins. I am just trying to work out how many of these I can do at the same time.</span></div></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-90015635452230965952009-06-08T15:06:00.013+01:002009-06-19T12:39:26.475+01:00The Tyranny of Success<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/Si7jXWuwk3I/AAAAAAAAAA8/qwcxyhWDMZU/s1600-h/grayson-perry-st.claire.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345459798113555314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zW6CwL5tOUI/Si7jXWuwk3I/AAAAAAAAAA8/qwcxyhWDMZU/s320/grayson-perry-st.claire.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I once knew a brilliant headteacher in Leeds who suggested that the national curriculum should be designed by those who failed at school. Or, at the very least, the content of each subject should be decided by those who hated that subject, or found it very difficult. Getting a roomful of geographers to determine the geography curriculum just created overload from people who may love the subject, but were too precious and knowledgeable to make good choices.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I was reminded of this at last week's Clore Leadership conference ' Its the Arts, Stupid'. A panel of four artists spoke passionately about how the arts infrastructure, and we leaders, could better support artists. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kwei-Armah">Kwane Kwei-Armah</a> asked us what we were going to do to create environments for artists to fulfil their potential across different artforms. <a href="http://www.siobhandavies.com/">Siobhan Davies </a>argued that Dance needed a formal 'warts and all' history to take the form forward. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/grayson_perry.htm">Grayson Perry</a> railed against the cult of 'originality', the quest for which can devalue the search for quality. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_and_Louise_Wilson">Louise Wilson</a> talked about how collaboration can be nurtured.<br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span><div style="FONT-FAMILY: verdana" face="verdana"></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Thoughtful stuff; one problem. Similar to most 'panels', these were four highly successful artists, whom the arts infrastructure has clearly worked for, in various ways. From the joy of arts school to public funding of buildings to the Turner Prize to close relationships with theatre directors, the usual cocktail or talent, effort and serendipity had brought them</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> success.<br /><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">But maybe our starting point needs to consider those for whom the infrastructure has failed. Those with unrecognised talent, whose creativity was never nurtured. We all know them. Some of you are them. It is easy to fault the education system, and wider societal barriers, and the concept of a meritocracy in the arts is as outlandish as in any other sphere. But what could the cultural sector do itself to make sure that success came more to those who deserved it?</span> </div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-91856545978397009312009-05-29T09:36:00.007+01:002009-06-19T12:09:20.025+01:00Creativity, IQ and cultural bias<span style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Last week's New Scientist featured research on the existence of a '</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227084.300-creativity-chemical-favours-the-smart.html"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">creativity chemical'.</span></span></a></span> </span><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:85%;"><span class="Apple-style-span">The University of New Mexico's Rex Jung (with a name like that, don't you already believe everything he is going to say?) explored whether the chemical </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18px;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">N-acetyl-aspartate, which is already associated with neural health, metabolism and intelligence, could also play a role in human creativity.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18px;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18px;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Jung measured the NAA levels, IQ and 'capacity for divergent thinking' in 56 adult volunteers. His findings:</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18px;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><span style="color:#000000;"></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18px;font-family:arial;font-size:13;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Overall, volunteers' creativity scores correlated with levels of NAA in a brain region called the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG), which regulates the activity of the frontal cortex - implicated in higher mental functions. But while low levels of NAA in the ACG correlated with high creativity in people of average intelligence, in people with IQs of above 120, the reverse was true (The Journal of Neuroscience, </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><a style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0588-09.2009" target="nsarticle"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0588-09.2009</span></span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">).</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Jung speculates that if there is less NAA to regulate frontal cortex activity in "average" brains, they are freer to roam and find new ideas. In highly intelligent people, however, tighter control over the frontal cortex seems to enhance creativity. Perhaps this is because they are more likely to come up with new ideas anyway, and the tighter control allows them to "fine-tune" that ability.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(51,51,255)"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">"People say you have to let your mind wonder freely to be creative," says Jung. "For people of average intelligence, perhaps it's true that you need to utilise more areas of your [frontal cortex] for something truly novel and creative to emerge, but in more intelligent folks, there's something different going on."</span></span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">If this is true, it would imply a completely different approach to the development of people's creativity, depending on their IQ. With a two decade old O level in Chemistry, I am not going to challenge Jung's lab work. However, the problem may lie in the testing. The history and critique of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">IQ testing</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> is well known; many believe that cultural and class biases are inherent. How about testing for '</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_thinking"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">divergent thinking</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">'? Compared to the huge IQ industry, testing for divergent thinking has less profile, status and research. But if given similar scrutiny, would we also discover that these tests are equally flawed, if not more so?</span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">The other problem is that divergent thinking is just a part of what makes us creative. Convergent thinking can help too, amongst other attributes.</span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Meanwhile, expect Holland and Barrett to soon stock a creativity supplement, somewhere near the fish oil.</span></span></span></p><p class="infuse" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 20px 20px 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 140%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,102);font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" ><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Last word to Mr Jung: 'I would have loved to see what Einstein's ACG looked like'.</span></span></span></p></span></span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6943915867328980662.post-82438983619896127032009-05-27T13:39:00.004+01:002009-05-29T10:21:45.401+01:00Following my Leader<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My wonderful ex-boss Matthew Taylor is often used and abused by the media as an 'ex spin-doctor'. His </span><a href="http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Blog</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> reveals far more depth and substance.</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Commenting on a recent RSA seminar, Matthew describes a contribution from the Director of the </span></span><a title="Scientific Cuncil for Government Policy (Netherlands)" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.wrr.nl');" href="http://www.wrr.nl/english/" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><a title="Professor Anton Hemerijck - short biography" onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outbound/article/www.wrr.nl');" href="http://www.wrr.nl/english/content.jsp?objectid=4333" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Professor Anton Hemerijck. </span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In presenting the core arguments of his forthcoming book on the welfare state in Europe after the financial crisis, Hmerijck gabe five dimensions of welfare state recalibration:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />• Functional: what should the welfare state do? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">• Normative: what are the duties and values underpinning the welfare state? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">• Distributive: who gets what? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">• Institutional: how is the welfare state organised? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">• Referential: who do we compare ourselves with? </span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take out the word 'welfare', and these are really useful dimensions for thinking about the state more generally. Reapply them to the arts, and we could have the start of a helpful new framework.</span></span></div>Joe Hallgartenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14514394684172388299noreply@blogger.com0