Critical Professional Learning

Off The Press

A LETTER FROM TODAY TO YESTERDAY, WITH A NOTE FOR TOMORROW.

LEARNING TO BE A PROFESSIONAL. TEACHING IN A ROOM NEXT TO AN EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL.

A PERSONAL POSTWAR POLITICAL TRAVELOGUE

TEN YEARS TO SAVE THE WEST

The first of my many reasons for despising Michael Gove.

A CENTURY OF LABOUR

AS SOON AS THIS BOOK CLOSES THE REVOLUTION STARTS. TECHNO FEUDALISM - What Killed Capitalism - by Yanis Varoufakis, 2023.

The PLOT - The Political Assassination Of Boris Johnson By NADINE Dorries - 2023

POLITICIANS ON THEMSELVES.

I'll Be There - Vignettes of an Intrepid Traveller - Caroline Kennedy

A WRITTEN CONSITUTION? LESSONS FROM THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM.

SOME ISSUES THAT I THINK MUST BE TACKLED BEFORE THE NEXT GENERAL ELECTION.

Creating a Constitution of Inclusion and Consent.

"YOUR GRANDMOTHER CAN KEEP HER KEYS, BUT I SHALL KEEP THE HOUSE."

TEACHING HISTORY. TEACHING ANYTHING REALLY.

MAKING POLICY AND TRYING TO MAKE IT WORK. - HAVE YOU GOT A SPADE?

Today in 1936 THE ABDICATION. No More Edward VIII.

THE POLITICAL CONCERTO.

THE ANATOMY OF NEOLIBERALISM AND EDUCATION

"I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT SMIRKS."

A DREAM ABOUT EDUCATION.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GORBACHEV

THE IMPROVISING TEACHER

WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION.

A JOURNEY TO OBLIVION.

THINKING ABOUT A WRITTEN CONSTITUTION AND A REVIVAL OF POLITICAL EDUCATION: A PROJECT.

CHUMS

THREE BIG CHANGES CONVERGING FASTER THAN WE ARE READY FOR.

EXAMINERS AND THE EXAMINED CAN BOTH LEARN FROM EXAMS.

LABOUR’S FIRST YEAR

CELEBRATING BEING OUT OF DATE

TEACHING SEVEN YEAR OLDS PARAGRAPHS.

CSE or PhD?

THE RECESSION IN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

THEY ARE ALL THE SAME, POLITICIANS.

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS).

IS SOCIETY HOLDING TOGETHER OR SPLITTING APART?

KEY COCK UP EVENTS on the road to postwar political illiteracy and our powerlessness in relation to government.

PERESTROIKA or GLASNOST

BRIEF BIO UPDATE.

I DON'T WANT A COVID INQUIRY. I WANT AN INQUIRY INTO GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS.

AUTOMATON STUDIES

PATEL breaks the law concerning refugees. SO WHAT, WHO CARES?

EXIT NETANYAHU, perhaps. And now, THE TRIAL

FORTY SEVEN POINT SIX MILLION PEOPLE IN SEARCH OF A GOVERNMENT

TORY TRASHES THE TORIES

IN THE THICK OF IT

MONEY, MONEY MONEY

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH

WHICH IS THE STUPID PARTY?

OUR PATAPHYSICAL GOVERNMENT

DISINTEGRATION

Its LOCK DOWN or LOCK UP.

A YEAR BOTH OF POLITICAL AND OF POWER FAILURE

BACK TO THE FUTURE

BOWER ON BORIS

GOVERNMENT WITHOUT POLITICS GENERATES EITHER APATHY OR UNRULY SUBJECTS

THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH SAYS SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND MUST NOT CRITICISE CAPITALISM

Who wants to be a COVID MARSHALL?

"IF WAY TO THE BETTER THERE BE, IT EXTRACTS A FULL LOOK AT THE WORST." Thomas Hardy.

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW - A response to HAROLD WILSON - The unprincipled prime minister? -REAPPRAISING HAROLD WILSON

CONSTRUCTING CONSENT FOR POLICY OR SIMPLY IMPOSING IT.

POLITICS FADING AWAY

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN, 27th. JUNE 1743.

THIS SATURDAY MORNING AT THE FLICKS WE ARE ALL WATCHING LOCKDOWN CITY, A GREAT WESTERN.

POOR LIVES DON'T MATTER (except at election time)

OUR DILLETANTE GOVERNMENT

THE TIME BY MY DIALECTICAL WRISTWATCH IS

POUNDLAND BLAIR

MAKE SURE TO WEAR THE RIGHT LABEL AT THE RIGHT TIME IN THE RIGHT PLACE

MEEJA STUDIES

STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM, LOGICAL POSITIVISM AND FOOTY

WHO DOES OUR THINKING?

OPEN LETTER TO ANGELA RAYNER

MARX, KARL is on my mind.

ANOTHER EXCERPT FROM MY DRAFT PEOFESSIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

A PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL THEME

DOING PORRIDGE

Critical Voices - Katerina Saiti

Critical Voices - Katharine O'Neill

AT LAST SOME SANITY - Unspeakable The Autobiography of John Bercow

SEMI COLONS AND SEMI QUAVERS

SADO-MASOCHISTIC GOVERNMENT

A TOILET BREAK FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICY-MAKING

LEARNING TO BE A PROFESSIONAL

Critical Voices - Mandy Tsatsarou

Autobiography of a Professional Educator

A BRIEF RESPONSE TO CAMERON'S BOOK

A LETTER TO THE GODDESS DEMOKRATIA

A LETTER TO THE GODDESS DEMOKRATIA

THIRTEEN YEARS AND ALMOST FORTY VISITS - PART THREE

THIRTEEN YEARS AND ALMOST FORTY VISITS - PART TWO

THIRTEEN YEARS AND ALMOST FORTY VISITS

Reflections on 1948

FACEBOOK BLOGS

EXPLORING (A LITTLE) THE CONCEPTS OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION

EDUCATION IN EAST JERUSALEM, OCCUPATION, POLITICAL POWER AND STRUGGLE

THE MONSTER RAVING TORY PARTY

What was that book for?

100 YEARS BEFORE BREXIT

A CURATE’S EGG

SHOULD THE PERSON THAT SELLS YOU A CAR ENSURE THAT IT CAN BE SERVICED?

Sir Robert Peel's Principles of Law Enforcement 1829

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about Cliff Jones

For 10 years, I was Director of CPD in Dept of Education, University of Liverpool. I am now Honorary Senior Fellow of the University and a Fellow of the International Professional Development Association. To know more about me and my activities please see my CV.

Contact me: cliffvj@btopenworld.com

Welcome to Critical Professional Learning

Statement of Purpose

I take the view that professional educators are critical to society. They help shape our society but for far too long, we have failed to question the approved shape of that society and our role in bringing it about. Surely, the interests, values, concerns, anxieties, experience and expertise of educators count for something?

I believe that the stimulation of professional conversation is critical both in recognition of the key role played by educators in shaping and bringing purpose to society and in terms of the different perspectives that can be brought to bear when making sense of professional life. Whilst we have plenty of official consultations surveys of what educators think they are almost always shackled to a governmental orthodoxy or 'given' as they tend to be called.

This website will gradually fill with comment, news and activities designed to stimulate critical professional discussion. It represents no-one’s views but my own unless specifically stated otherwise. In places I make clear that activities, for example, may be adopted as they are, adapted or used as the basis for something better.

Use of my material is free, although acknowledgement will be nice.

 

Why Critical Learning?

The term, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) causes me problems. Too frequently we are considered to be developing only when we try to fit into a model whose purpose has been defined by someone else.

Training is essential at times, but as a word that purports to encompass all that happens to people becoming and continuing as professional educators it falls far short. This is why I balk when I see or hear Initial Teacher Training (ITT) or In-service Training (INSET).

Professional Learning, however, allows us scope to explore and draw attention to matters beyond a received template. When we use the word ‘learning’ we remove the limits and the imposition of an officially approved kind of development.