Welcome to the Autumn term of 2015!

Here is the list of RiCES seminars for this term:

Thursday September 24^th 1.30 – 4pm in room JBL0W07:

Mike and Sarah will be reporting on their recent trip to the Ecoversities Unconference. You can read more about this gathering here: : http://enlivenedlearning.com/2015/08/12/gathering-of-kindred-folk-re-imagining-higher-education/

Or Mikes account here: https://nearymike.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/the-power-of-abundant-friendship/

Thursday October 8^th 1.30-4pm in room VH0001:

Dr. Kai Heidemann, Lecturer of Sociology, Maastricht University, Netherlands will be presenting his work from research carried out in Argentina:

“Another School is Possible: Neoliberal Crisis, Popular Protest and the Rise of Cooperative Schooling in Argentina”

What explains the rapid rise of a community-based co-operative schooling movement in Argentina in recent years? What is this movement about? Where is it going? Moreover, how might cooperative schooling in Argentina be related to other social movements and educational projects in other parts of the world? In this talk, Dr. Kai Heidemann offers a sociological perspective on the emergence and expansion of cooperative schools in the urban setting of Buenos Aires. Drawing from a multi-year research project, Dr. Heidemann tells the story of how a small but influential network of grassroots actors worked to bring the cooperative schooling movement to life from within a situation of massive politico-economic crisis and widespread public protest during the early 2000s.

Thursday October 29^th 1.30-4pm in room MB1006:

Anything to present? A catch up on the activities of the RiCES group.

If you would like to do a presentation or talk about your work, let me know and I will put together an agenda for the session which is reserved for members and associates to talk about their current work, or discuss future plans, or, of course, make suggestions for collaborations, etc..

Thursday November 19^th 1.30-4pm in room BH1201:

Dr Glenn Rikowski, Independent Scholar

“Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptures”

After a brief analysis of the concept of crisis (drawing on the work of Roitman, 2014) and following an outline and critique of some previous work (Rikowski, 2014) – on the Classical Theory of Education Crisis (in the light of Sarup, 1982) and philosophical perspectives on education crises – Rikowski explores the notion of crisis in relation to phenomena pertaining to the social forms of capitalist education. Starting out from Marx’s analysis of the ‘two great classes of commodities’ (following Adam Smith), Rikowski charts what ‘crisis’ might mean, and could be, in terms of the two commodity forms pertaining to educational processes in capitalist society. The final part of the paper explores actual and possible empirical manifestations of these crises of the commodity form in terms of the notions of disruption, eruption, interruption and rupture. It is argued that last two of these forms of crisis pose particular problems for the continuance and development of capitalism in general and the national capital and capitalist education in particular.

We may feel we need one more session in December to finish off the term, but we can decide this at a later date. I do hope you can all make it to the sessions, there will be more info on individual session on the RiCES blog and any readings will be sent out to you as I get them.

I look forward to seeing you all and having interesting and critical discussions throughout the coming year.

The first meeting will be held on Thursday, September 24th 2015 in room JBL0W07 at 1.30 – 4pm.

1.30 – 3pm Mike and Sarah will be sharing their experience of the Tamera Peace and Research Centre in southern Portugal.

We will be hearing about the ‘un-conference’ they attended recently and you can read Mike’s account here:

https://nearymike.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/the-power-of-abundant-friendship/

Then at 3pm we will be joined by Lyndsey Kemsley from the Research Office so that she can get to know the group and we can talk through what funding might be available this year for any research people would like to do.

See you on the 24th!

Dear All,

Welcome to this new academic year, I hope you have all had a good summer conferencing, holidaying, and writing!

We have some exciting things coming up this between now and the winter break:

A session hearing from Dr. Sarah Amsler and Prof. Mike Neary about their experiences in Portugal at the Enlivened Learning Gathering: http://enlivenedlearning.com/2015/08/12/gathering-of-kindred-folk-re-imagining-higher-education/

Dr. Kai Heidemann, Lecturer of Sociology, Maastricht University, Netherlands will be coming on the 8th October to deliver a seminar on:

“Another School is Possible: Neoliberal Crisis, Popular Protest and the Rise of Cooperative Schooling in Argentina”

and on Thursday November 19th we have Dr. Glenn Rikowski talking about

“Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptures”

More on these and other sessions soon!

The School of Education at the University of Lincoln, UK, is offering a fully-funded PhD studentship dedicated to the investigation of educational inequalities in rural contexts. The successful candidate will design and carry out a study of factors contributing to the production and reduction of educational inequalities in rural contexts in the UK, focusing on or including the county of Lincolnshire. Applicants must demonstrate an interest in and familiarity with problems of educational justice and equality, have advanced competencies in quantitative or mixed-method research design and analysis, have the potential to conduct independent academic research, and demonstrate competent academic writing.

Applications are particularly encouraged from candidates with an undergraduate or Master’s degree in the field of education. The successful candidate may begin this studentship from September 2015.

Eligibility: Candidates must satisfy the University’s minimum doctoral entry criterion for studentships of an Upper Second-Class honours degree (2:1) or an appropriate Master’s degree or equivalent. A minimum IELTS (Academic) score of 7 (or equivalent) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first language. International candidates are eligible to apply, but would be required to pay the difference between UK/EU and international fees.

How to apply: Applicants should submit a covering letter detailing their interest and academic experience, an 2,000–2,500 word research proposal outlining their proposed design, theoretical framing and methodological approach, and a CV. Please cite project reference and project title in all correspondence. Deadline for expressions of interest is 5:00 p.m. on 22 July 2015. Candidates shortlisted for interview will be notified on 24 July 2015 with interviews being held on 29 July 2015.

For further inquiries about this project and to submit your application materials, please contact Maureen Young by email at studentshipscss@lincoln.ac.uk. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted to arrange a meeting to discuss the proposed research.