Monday, June 01, 2009
CUAC
On 27th May, I attended a conference run by the Church Colleges and Universities Association in London. I gave a short presentation, based on a paper written by myself and Paul Grosch, on a famous episode in Marjon history, when the founding Principals (Derwent Coleridge of St Mark's and James Kay-Shuttleworth of St John's) campaigned against the notorious Revised Code of 1862.
That Code abolished general funding for schools and offered payment by results instead -- grants determined by basic exam results and attendance. The Code also effectively demolished the case for skilled and well-trained teachers of the kind produced by our Colleges -- semi-trained teachers could teach to the test and keep a register.
Our Principals mounted a stirring defence of their own admirably high-quality practice, quoting some useful statistics about the benefits of the unreformed syustem and doubting the efficacy of the new policy. They also talked about a much wider vision for education - not a mere commodity but about character, in Coleridges's terms.
Paul Grosch and I used this episode as a case-study of what happens when fundamentally religious visions bump into vulgar and reductionist calculationsd of crude cost and benefit. Any links with contemporary debates was intended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Although I would not describe myself as a Christian in the sense of having any personal faith commitments, I was impressed by the ways in which Anglican theology is able to mount a superb critique of modern capoitalism generally, and rationalised political practice specifically. I have some of the papers if anyone is keen.
There were some big hitters at the Conference: Revd Profs and Pro VCs were tripping over each other in the queue for coffee. None of them had the slightest hint of pomposity or elitism though!
Dave Harris
That Code abolished general funding for schools and offered payment by results instead -- grants determined by basic exam results and attendance. The Code also effectively demolished the case for skilled and well-trained teachers of the kind produced by our Colleges -- semi-trained teachers could teach to the test and keep a register.
Our Principals mounted a stirring defence of their own admirably high-quality practice, quoting some useful statistics about the benefits of the unreformed syustem and doubting the efficacy of the new policy. They also talked about a much wider vision for education - not a mere commodity but about character, in Coleridges's terms.
Paul Grosch and I used this episode as a case-study of what happens when fundamentally religious visions bump into vulgar and reductionist calculationsd of crude cost and benefit. Any links with contemporary debates was intended.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conference. Although I would not describe myself as a Christian in the sense of having any personal faith commitments, I was impressed by the ways in which Anglican theology is able to mount a superb critique of modern capoitalism generally, and rationalised political practice specifically. I have some of the papers if anyone is keen.
There were some big hitters at the Conference: Revd Profs and Pro VCs were tripping over each other in the queue for coffee. None of them had the slightest hint of pomposity or elitism though!
Dave Harris
# posted by A Sociologist : 5:40 AM
