Call for Papers: Spring 2025
Posted on 09/07/2024
Contributions are invited for the Spring 2025 number of FORUM (67.1) for which the copy date is Friday 15 November, 2024.
A lead story in the Observer newspaper in October 2023 claimed that criticism of government education policy posted on social media by teachers, teaching assistants and educational academics was monitored by the DfE. Furthermore, the DfE sent an official to a conference it was sponsoring in order to monitor what was said by certain invited speakers who had critiqued government policy. Is such monitoring sensible due diligence and evidence that proper attention is being paid to unfolding debates, or a sign of something more authoritarian?
October 2023 also saw events which culminated in war in Gaza.
FORUM invites contributions which address the degree to which space currently exists in schools and colleges to discuss politically contentious matters, and the extent to which such discussion is enabled or prevented by the curriculum and by institutional policies. How free are teachers to teach what’s contentious, or even to talk about it, and how free do they feel they are? Is self-censorship more concerning than any ‘censorship’ exerted by policy? What are the responsibilities for professionals in education who wish to help young people better understand matters highly likely to cause significant strife and division? Have new spaces been made for discussion by the activity of young people themselves?
In the light of the change of government, and the hope that it may seek and pay heed to a wider range of views, we invite reflective and considered contributions, including those which stem from first-hand experience. If you have taught about an issue which might be seen as contentious, what did you do, and why, and how did it go? If you have engaged with the DfE about its monitoring of social media, what did you find out, and what are your thoughts about the issues raised?
FORUM welcomes writing which is heart-felt as well as thought-through. There’s no set length for a FORUM article. Although many weigh in at about 4000 words, many are shorter. Nor is there a set way of writing an article. We certainly welcome academic papers, but personal reflections, critically-alert consideration of issues and experiences, and informed discursive writing are welcome too, as are texts written by more than one person.
If you have an idea for an article, or would like to discuss the possibility of contributing, please email Patrick Yarker. The deadline by which to send an article for the Spring 2025 number of FORUM is Friday 15 November 2024, but please contact Patrick beforehand to let him know you are sending in a text.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Patrick Yarker
Editor, FORUM: for promoting 3 to 19 comprehensive education
https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/