• Higher Education in ‘The Present...

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    26th January 2026

    As my colleagues and I prepare for the next step in our research project ‘What’s the “Use” in Higher Education’, focussing on how the contemporary and diverse landscapes of universities...
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  • In Praise of the Essay

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    19th January 2026

    (Essais, de Montaigne, 1595) The essay is a unique way of approaching education. It can be part science in that it means 'to test' or 'to experiment'. Conversely, it can be part art in that in...
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  • ‘You’ve got to take a few on the...

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    12th December 2025

    Cricketing wisdom for, well, mainly relationships and road trips: a dedication to my late father (1962- 2024) (Wikimedia Commons: Johnson bouncer to Swann, 2013) Note: this piece contains some...
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  • Between Expression and Erasure:...

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    1st December 2025

    Education is never only about the transmission of knowledge. It is a field where professional identities are shaped, contested, and continually remade. To speak of professional identity in teaching...
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  • Book Review: The War on Science

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    13th November 2025

    The War on Science edited by Lawrence M. Krauss Book cover for Krauss (2025). Taken from the Forum catalogue. Forum, 2025. ISBN: 9781800756182, Hbk. ISBN: 9781800756199, eBook. RRP: £16.39 /...
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  • Book Review: It’s Tough at the Top

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    23rd October 2025

    It's Tough at the Top by Anon. Book cover for Anon. (2025). Taken from the Erratum catalogue. Erratum, 2025. ISBN: 978-1-916541-22-1, Pbk. As our first anonymously authored book launches a new...
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  • Resisting the ‘AI gospel’: The...

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    3rd October 2025

    In recent years, the world has witnessed a surge of advancement and popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. With the publication of several UNESCO (2019; 2021; 2023) documents...
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  • What do I mean by ‘autonomy’?...

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    8th September 2025

    Francisco Goya, El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (1799).  With the support of a small grant from the PESGB, I recently attended the Association for Moral Education’s annual conference,...
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  • The inevitable growth of standardised...

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    18th August 2025

    Edvard Munch, "The Oak" (1906) A recent report identified a growth in the use of standardised curricula in both primary and secondary schools in England. These resourced schemes of work are...
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  • Polymathy Lost: On the politics of...

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    21st July 2025

    (Melencolia I, Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)  What is to be done except learn all we can about everything we can? Education is a force of civilisation. Through it we have...
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  • Is Philosophy just making stuff up?...

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    25th June 2025

    One of the most awkward parts of attending conferences, or indeed any work related event, is the requirement to explain what I do. On the train from Sheffield to Oxford for the PESGB annual...
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  • Existentialism in the Classroom: The...

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    16th June 2025

    Having taught Philosophy A Level in Further Education for two years now, I still find it so striking, and perhaps frightening, the expectations and pressures that our society bestows upon our young...
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