Project 2000: The Judge Report 1985

Somehow, or perhaps that is being kind, I have a feeling that sources on the history of 'recent' nurse education may come to the fore. It is interesting that the guest editorial below reflects itself on the preceding 25 years. Not just several cohorts of students, careers, but a whole life-time. 

We must hope today, that British nurse educators can find more security, if not the contentedness described by Rye in 1985 ...

'The main principles for policy change contained in the commission's report are as follows.

1 The uncoupling of education from service. Students should no longer be employees of the National Health Service. Nursing education should now be part of the main-stream of higher education, students being financed through a suggested bursary system.

2 A single level of basic nurse qualification leading to registration.

3 Curriculum development (as discussed in chapter 4 of the report) must take into account the need to retain certain speciality options, and prepare students for practice both in hospital and community settings. It creates the possibility of direct entry into district nursing, health visiting and midwifery. 

This 3-year course would have educational credibility as it will be at diploma level, the first year being a foundation programme, furnishing a basis for informed choice later. The second year would contain practical placements (in the community, adult nursing and mental health). It would consist of three modules, the first to be based in a community setting, the second (focused upon the nursing of adults) in a hospital setting, and the third in a variety of environments related to mental health. Roughly 30% of the time will be dedicated to carefully supervised practice in clinical settings. The final year will be characterized by increased specialization. The opportunity to make a selection from a number of available modules will equip each successful student to become registered and to take up work either in an institutional or non-institutional setting. The academic award will be that of Diploma in Nursing Studies. 
...
This new approach to nursing education will not create a 'generic' nurse, but will prepare students to work in their chosen speciality in hospital or in the community. If nurses are to respond to the changing patterns of health care, it is critical for future development that preparation for working in the community takes place in the basic diploma programmes. This may be seen as one of the more controversial implications of the report, but the profession must address itself now to these matters, as nursing education must become more flexible and capable of change to meet the needs of clients.'

See also: #RCN26 RCN Congress - Nurse Education 

Rye, D.H. (1985), THE EDUCATION OF NURSES: A NEW DISPENSATION. THE REPORT OF THE RCN COMMISSION ON NURSING EDUCATION. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 10: 505-506. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.1985.tb00540.x

Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain)., & Judge, H. G. (1985). The education of nurses : a new dispensation. Royal College of Nursing. (Classed as a Book.)

See also: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/p889dx97

https://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/10084/1/ouseycontent_9838.pdf

Improving University Teaching - July 2026 Glasgow

Dear Colleagues

A reminder that you are cordially invited to participate in the 52nd International Conference on Improving University Teaching, to be held this year in Glasgow, Scotland. Our conference theme is “Connecting Across Cultures: Collaboration, Compassion, and Creativity,” with a focus on the links that sustain teaching and learning. IUT welcomes proposals in a variety of formats — papers, posters, workshops, and roundtables. More information about theme, subthemes, and presentation formats is available on our website, https://iutconference.com, where you will also find a link for proposal submissions.

This year’s proposal submission deadline is Monday, January 26th.

The dates for IUT 2026 are July 15-17, 2026. Our in-person host is the University of Glasgow in Scotland — the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world, with a student enrollment of almost 40,000 and a strong tradition of both research and teaching excellence. Once again, this year’s conference will be a hybrid event. We hope many participants will attend the conference in person in Glasgow, but also warmly welcome those who choose to participate remotely.

Whether you prefer to join us online or in person, we hope you will consider a submission. Please contact us at iutconference AT gmail.com with any questions.

With best wishes,

Anne Tierney
President, IUT

Jim Wilkinson
Treasurer, IUT, and President emeritus

Q. Is Hodges' model Person OR University-centered? [ 'Big Mind' iii? ]

To date, I have not written a paper on Brian Hodges' original purpose for his model in curriculum development, design, planning and evaluation. Geoff Mulgan's book and referenced sources provide support, if not evidence, for the increasing relevance of Hodges' model.

The center of Hodges' model, the nexus, can be variously occupied by an individual student, researcher; a group, or team, or even an institution. Why not a university?

Since 1987-88, when I applied Hodges' model in a case study, I've acquired a broad understanding of the 'POLITICAL' domain in terms of institutions and organisations. Even if that learning is now 'archived':

https://web.archive.org/web/20150414073721/http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/linksIV.htm

In 'Big Mind', Chapter 14, The University as Collective Intelligence (pp.174-180) refers to 'third-loop learning' and a document from Nesta:

Geoff Mulgan, Oscar Townsley, and Adam Price, "The Challenge-Driven University: How Real-Life Problems Can Fuel Learning", Nesta, accessed April 28, 2017.
accessed 15/12/2025: https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/the_challenge-driven_university.pdf 

'This paper focuses on one important strand of change: the rise of what we call ‘challenge-driven’ university models. These models develop students by putting them up against difficult problems and challenges for which there are no established answers.  Instead students to draw on many disciplines to solve them; they have to work in teams; and they have to collaborate with organisations outside higher education.

These models aren’t a replacement for the classic core of university education - mastering a discipline.   But they provide an important complement to this core, and they may be better suited to preparing young people for the needs of the world. They also re-emphasise one of the founding principles of some ancient universities: a focus on questions rather than answers as the key to deep learning.'

Within the Nesta document, Mulgan et al. list educational institutions who have succeeded, and are trying to effect change (with much editing):

US

The approach was pioneered by McMaster University Medical School in the late 1960s where in response to changing demands on the profession, the curriculum was changed so that students learned collaboratively, working on real-life cases in small groups. ...

... examples like High Tech High in the US, use project-based learning, centred on real-life problems, as the core curriculum for students.

Olin College of Engineering has quickly gained a reputation for being one of the most innovative institutions in the US since it opened in 1997.

Last year, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy school founded the ‘Urban Innovation Field Lab’, a project aiming to improve social conditions in cities in Massachusetts.

Canada

In Canada, the University of Waterloo uses a model of co-operative education, where students’ time is split between study and assessed work experience.

Europe 

Aalto University in Finland was created out of a merger between Technology, Economics and Art Universities in Helsinki and now runs four interdisciplinary ‘factories’ - Design, Health, Media and Service, where teams of academics and students work with companies and communities to develop new products that respond to demand from the real economy. 

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim has a similar approach. As part of their courses, students are required to join a ‘village’ (i.e. area of interest) of around 30 members which address questions such as ‘Biofuels - a solution or a problem?’, ‘Sustainable, affordable housing for all’, and ‘Portable technology and well-being’.

At Maastricht University (the second youngest university in the Netherlands), all teaching uses a problem-based learning model, and this has become one of the main attractions of the university. 

Twelve to fifteen students discuss problems in group sessions, with one student appointed to lead the discussion. The students are given complex problems from everyday professional practice which they brainstorm and research both together and separately. ...

UK 

Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art (RCA) are two particularly innovative higher education institutions. For the last ten years, Imperial has been running the Energy Futures Lab - a cross-discipline, issue-based department aimed at tackling global energy challenges. It was established to bring together disparate fields of study that are relevant to energy including engineering, environmental sciences, computer science, business, policy and mathematics. ...

Imperial and the Royal College of Art also run a Double Masters in Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) which is well known for producing some of the best talent in the field. Their flagship international module ‘GoGlobal’ takes students abroad for three week cross cultural, collaborative projects with academics and industry partners. ... The University of Lincoln has challenge-driven education at the core of its teaching.

Globally? South?

... 

Over the years I've reached out to a great many private and public bodies. 

MEMO TO: New College of Humanities and London Interdisciplinary School

I note the NESTA document is a 'draft'. I'd be pleased to help update and complete this work. Keen to frame Hodges' model not just in the context of problems, but strengths, weaknesses, risks, opportunities and more. When your model emerges from health, you quickly learn when it comes to problems that versatility and adaptability are essential. Always ready to cross disciplines - insofar as I understand them, borders and boundaries as required.

Previously:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2025/07/big-mind.html

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2025/12/ii-big-mind-book.html

Geoff Mulgan (2017) Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World, Princeton University Press.

Knowledge - Ignorance: Political leaders always seek an informed citizenry. Discuss?

c/o 'The war on knowledge' Simon Schama 
Life&Arts :: FTWeekend

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

'As the Founders saw it, the great driver of freedom was knowledge. Two decades before independence, the lawyer and essayist William Livingston insisted in a journal called The Independent Reflector that "knowledge among a people makes them free, enterprising and dauntless; but Ignorance enslaves, emasculates and depresses them". Are you an 'Independent Reflector'? MIND

'In 1779, Thomas Jefferson (who would make sure that his role as "Father of the University of Virginia would be inscribed on his tombstone) championed a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Its purpose would be to "illuminate ... the minds of the people at large" - excluding of course, women and the enslaved - "and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts . .. [that] they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes." The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, primarily drafted by Adams, committed itself to "The Encouragement of Literature" so that "Harvard-College in Cambridge" would be the institution through which the diffusion of "wisdom and knowledge" would ensure health of the body politic.' BODY

PUBLIC 'The informed citizenry' Public understanding of the sciences.

POLITIC 'As Richard D Brown's important history The Strength of a People: The Idea of an Informed Citizenry in America, 1650-1870 points out, all of America's first four presidents (including James Madison) assumed that the security of the republic depended on the "equation of virtue and knowledge". A century later, Calvin Coolidge might assert that "the chief business of the American people is business", but a rich stream of ideas flowing from the learned optimism of the Founders, through the creation of land-grant colleges and the "brain trust" administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, assumed that professors were not the "enemy" but a resource that was indispensable for the good of the nation. The true enemy of American democracy was not professors, but ignorance.'

My source:

Simon Schama. 'The war on knowledge', Life&Arts, FTWeekend, 26-27 April, 2025, pp.1-2.

Previously: 'knowledge' : 'ignorance' : 'political'

Saving 'a' School of Nursing ... Cardiff, et al. (2025 ...)?

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

Nursing has provided many models and theories and (even as some have scoffed), we could be on the cusp of new things; with the ideal model - for reflection, reflective practice, and critical thinking. Surely this is worthy of ongoing undergraduate and post-graduate study? What message does closing a SoN send to: the public; other universities, colleges and schools; to students (and alumni) selecting subjects for study; to highlighting the mental health impacts on campus for students, faculty and researchers; other disciplines; the policy makers (APPGs ...);~ other nations? You know: students and families know -  #MentalHealthMatters! Ethics too - with the need for self-care, sustainable services, recognition of ALL the literacies. Nursing isn't Philosophy (and others..) with dept.s globally also under threat, but you can find it there - in uniform and civilian dress with all the -isms to be negotiated. Nursing has moved on from its past, but still calls on giving of self, a certain character, self-awareness. ... Closure!? And, just as it was getting all transdisciplinary! You've exposed here the literal primacy of an individual's 'health career' : how this is impacted by life chances.^

If you hadn't noticed, the robots & AI are coming.  Ah! But of course, you do know that's were the £££ is. Indeed they are already here. Nursing is an art and science, but in terms of data, the future workforce requirements are stark. We need to act today - 4 tomorrow! Each nation needs its own nurses. Here is a way to contribute to global health; (there must be a way to achieve equity). Parity of esteem too: health is mental AND physical. This misses the continuum that touches so many curricula from the SELF to PLANETARY health. How will we pursue (confirm?): Models of Care & Nursing Theory still has a place? Nursing & Nurses can deliver much a-Cross curricula, and as collaborators in research. Nursing can contribute so much to the community of lifelong learning. No! No! Nursing is much more than bio-psycho-social. It is BIOPSYCHOSOCIOPOLITICAL: - pardon the irony, but thank you for the evidence. Nursing has much to offer in education, EdTech, informatics, living in the 21st Century.

What about history?   What would Betsi and Florence say? What about the future health of society: improved nutrition, air quality, climate change, emergency preparedness and the true Nat. Health & Care Services? Especially, as so much is incomplete:  consider - Social care, Community Care, Older Adults - demographic change, Prevention and Health Education, Public Health & Public Mental Health. A measure of a culture - society isn't merely how it looks after the sick and disabled, it is also (must be) how it educates its populace. 'Teach your children well.'* ^Nursing knows (really) that it is not merely a case of the social determinants of health. It is all - political, economic, education ...

Does this mean Project 2K is a mistake? Was Project 2K a waste of time, effort and resources?  What of the students to date: the fees, COVID ..? What was promised to this Profession - these Professionals? Or is this LIFO at work? How do Nursing's leaders respond - in light of the frequency Nursing is poorly, or not represented at the 'table'?~ Nursing is dynamic, not only shoe leather and mental gymnastics, but the demands placed on curricula, call for a curriculum design, planning, development and evaluation resource. Nursing can help inform the National Care Services, and provide part of an incredible career pathway. - wither a Duty of Care - Social Responsibility? Sorry, what are the reserves? Saving for a lunar campus, no doubt? Well, healthcare will be needed in space too.

Will you switch off the lights, or will the nurse have to return with the keys to 24/7/365 care?

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOaUnSmJr8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Nursing_Society (resurrected?)

Save Cardiff University School of Nursing - Sign the Petition

Cardiff University have announced that the School of Nursing is set to close with cuts to staffing because of a funding shortfall. 

We condemn this action and urge the university to find another solution that does not involve closing the School of Nursing. 

This awful decision will have a direct impact on the number of nurses available to work in health boards across the country . At a time where there is a significant number of nursing vacancies within the NHS this action will undermine an already depleted workforce. 

With well over a 1,000 students within the department, Cardiff University School of Nursing contributes a very important number of nurses which are employed within the NHS each year. 

The school of nursing is ranked 1st in Wales and is an centre of excellence. It is a dynamic, innovative and forward looking school. They are recognised for their excellence in learning, teaching and research. They pride themselves on pursuing research of the highest quality, and are one of the leading healthcare departments in the UK.

As well as this, the staff  work incredibly hard, have invaluable diverse expertise and put their hearts and souls into making the school a vibrant and welcoming place. The nursing department is full of warm, intelligent, passionate people with a wealth of knowledge, who are at danger of losing their livelihoods. We stand in solidarity with the university staff affected by this decision. 

Please sign this petition in the hope that Cardiff University reconsider its decision to close the School of Nursing. 

https://t.co/HU5Cyn8j8p

QR code also available.

Previous posts: 

Nursing, history and (future) travels

Wales

It would be marvellous to be able to deliver a lecture on Hodges' model to new nursing course entrants. Vital though to secure the future of all.

Variable Hours Tutor: Take II

Variable Hours Tutor: Take II

In September 2019 I was successful in securing a part-time post as a university tutor. This was great news.

While I've always worked in practice, I've enjoyed having students as a (sign-off) mentor and helping colleagues to fill holidays and other gaps; and completing a certificate in education (PGCE). In the past with the help of colleagues, I've organised teaching sessions for students on placement and small conferences. Now, I miss 'mentor updates' and meetings with the university outreach teams - practice education facilitators.

Of course at the end of 2019 a pandemic was brewing. The upshot - sadly for me - the tutoring was a non-event. No teaching (learning) opportunities followed, and the contract was not renewed in August 2020. 

Through nurse revalidation in March 2023, I was helped in Warrington with another academic contact. I attended an open event, but again no openings. In (N) spring last year, I picked up the 2019 thread once again. 

Success again! Another chance. Six months having passed, I do wonder though  - if any hours will follow? 

Fingers still crossed, having chased and looking elsewhere too.

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2023/08/brian-e-hodges-r-i-p.html

Int. Conference on Improving University Teaching 2025

Redefining Education:

Navigating Sustainability and Innovation in a VUCA World

In a world increasingly subject to volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) the goal of sustainability is aspirational, yet elusive.  A UN report published in 2024 notes that “intensifying, interconnected challenges continue to endanger the realization” of the seventeen sustainable development goals identified by the UN Sustainability Conference twelve years ago in Rio de Janeiro.  This is especially true in education, which the report correctly terms “the bedrock of sustainable development.”   It notes the negative effects of the COVID epidemic, regional conflicts, climate shock, and economic turmoil and paints a picture of a planet struggling to make progress towards them. While the big picture may be less than perfect, there is still much cause for hope, as we strive towards a better future.

Against this backdrop, the International Conference on Improving University Teaching seeks to address the challenge of sustainability, equity, and innovation as they affect higher education. In particular, we are exploring how to prepare students for a “VUCA world” in which they will have to contend with multiple challenges, while at the same time ensuring their wellbeing—and that of all academic staff—in the present. By definition, a future subject to uncertainty and ambiguity will require flexibility and adaptability on the part of students. ..

Continued ...

Previously: IUT, VUCA

UK Higher Education Survey of Carers

From: Marie Moreau <marie_moreau AT HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: UK HE survey of carers

Dear Colleagues

I am sharing this final call as we will be closing our survey of carers in UK HE at the end of the month.

Many thanks to those of you who have replied.

To be eligible, you need to be employed by a UK-based university and to be a carer (broadly understood, including as a parent, for a friend, a relative etc.). Here’s the link:

https://angliaruskin.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/national-carers-survey-uk

The outcomes will help us to better understand the experiences of carers in higher education and to provide recommendations to the sector.

We have received ethical approval for this project and are happy to address any question.

Warm wishes

Marie-Pierre Moreau
ARU, Cambridge, UK

My source (with some editing):

This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/FREEDOM-OF-INFORMATION, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/

Book: Landscapes of Investigation [open access]

"Creating landscapes of investigation is a primary concern of critical mathematics education. It enables us to organise educational processes so that students and teachers are able to get involved in explorations guided by dialogical interactions. It attempts to address explicit or implicit forms of social injustice by means of mathematics, and also to promote a critical conception of mathematics, challenging the assumption that the subject represents objectivity and neutrality. Landscapes of Investigation provides many illustrations of how this can be done in primary, secondary, and university education. It also illustrates how exploring landscapes of investigation can contribute to mathematics teacher education programmes. 

This edited volume is the result of a collaboration established through the Colloquium in Research in Critical Mathematics Education, which took place in 2016, 2018, and 2019 in Brazil. Its twenty-eight contributors are young researchers from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India, Mexico and the USA, who are dedicated to the further development of critical mathematics education. 

Organised in eighteen chapters, the volume presents examples of engaging students from a diversity of social and economic backgrounds, age ranges, and abilities across different countries. The chapters present original findings on the social aspects of all levels of mathematics education. Landscapes of Investigation is of particular relevance to those with an interest in the potential of mathematics education to challenge social injustices."

Penteado, M. & Skovsmose, O., editor. (2022) Landscapes of Investigation: Contributions to Critical Mathematics Education. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021385926/

Review:

David M. Bowers
"Book Review: Landscapes of Investigation: Contributions to Critical Mathematics Education (2022) (M. G. Penteado & O. Skovsmose, Eds.)". Journal for Theoretical & Marginal Mathematics Education, vol. 2, no. 1, 2023. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10440243

My source:

https://x.com/dylanwiliam/status/1602776823225540610?s=20

Previously

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=mathemacy

UK Higher Education Research Excellence Framework - Disciplines

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a national assessment of the quality of UK higher education research in all disciplines.

34 subject-based Units of Assessment (UOAs)

INDIVIDUAL

|

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience Archaeology Theology and Religious Studies Philosophy [Mathematics & Logic] ^Communication  as Intra- Interpersonal (Skills) Neurodiversity hence an individual's sense-making

Clinical Medicine (Neuroscience) Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy Biological sciences  Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Sciences Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences Chemistry Physics Mathematical Sciences Computer Science and Informatics Engineering Architecture, Built Environment and Planning Geography and Environmental Studies Archaeology Area Studies Sport and Exercise Sciences,

Archaeology Social Work and Social Policy Sociology Anthropology and Development Studies area studies Education Modern Languages and Linguistics English Language and Literature History Classics Communication^, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies

Leisure and Tourism Archaeology Economics and Econometrics Business and Management Studies Law area studies Politics and International Studies

As ever, you see the idealised nature of conceptual (and other) models. I have repeated archaeology, and area studies, added mathematics and logic to the intra- interpersonal (our reasoning, imaginative ability) which increasingly is being challenged and debated as computer-based proofs 'take-over'. I'm not sure where future studies might sit (or pace anxiously!)?

The REF was mentioned at the Improving University Teaching Conference [IUT] in the past week. I'd been meaning to look at the scope of the framework which is often raised across the media, hence this post. IUT, was well worth the effort of a presentation and attending. A global event spanning Australia-Asia, Europe, and North America - one to follow in the future.

2023 Improving University Teaching - Hybrid Conference: Sustaining Academic Resilience

 I received news this morning that I will be presenting virtually at:

"Students may arrive at university without a clear sense of what to do now that their goal of admission has been attained. To them, reaching that goal feels like a significant achievement—and it is. But finding a purpose—their own purpose—for pursuing university studies beyond admission is clearly a key ingredient for their academic and personal success.  Without it, they risk not having the resilience needed to cope with novelty and failure. With faculty support, however, students can develop a personal sense of direction to both guide and inspire them as they learn. A corollary is that emotional investment in their studies will help determine their success just as much as intellectual gifts and academic preparation.

Two years ago, the IUT conference was organized around the theme of “the human side of teaching.” This year we return to some of these same issues, which have become if anything more important in the light of our experience during the pandemic. We have seen how students who engage in remote learning often miss the support of direct contact with peers and academic staff and must compensate with added commitment of their own. We have also seen how teachers and students can become stressed to the point that wellbeing becomes an urgent issue for both. How can their wellbeing be nurtured? How can we sustain academic resilience?"

More details ...

 
Looking forward to join, learn and share:

"Hodges' model: Insights into Sustainability & Resilience"

@LJMU @UniofGreenwich @UniNorthants et al. *

Re. new Climate Change degrees ...

What do your students and faculty need to know
to nurture that green knowledge domain,
and turn the other domains green?

INDIVIDUAL

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

MENTAL HEALTH CONNECTION ATTITUDE BELIEFS - SPIRITUAL ADVERTISING (mental pollution)? [meta-] ETHICS ECOCIDE ACTIVISM EDUCATION - LIFELONG LEARNING LITERACY - INFORMATICS SKILLS ...	BIOSPHERE POLLUTION EXPOSURE - EXPOSOME THERMAL REGULATION WATER CYCLE ... AGRICULTURE GEOPHYSICS, GEOGRAPHY MEGA-ENGINEERING PHYSICAL HEALTH URBAN - RURAL METRICS, MONITORING ...
SOCIAL HISTORY SOCIAL MEMORY, ARTS QUALITY OF LIFE WAYS OF LIFE - Communities (Nations!) SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH SOCIAL JUSTICE 'home-land' - DISPLACEMENT - RESETTLEMENT SOCIAL COHERENCE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ...	POLICY, LAW PROTECT FUTURE PEOPLES COP X, UN, UNESCO ... REGULATION TRANSFORMATION OF ECONOMICS - CIRCULAR ECONOMICS SUSTAINABILITY COMMERCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH FORCED MIGRATION POLITICAL CHANGE (LONG-TERM) ...

What do they need to believe,
envision and be able to do,
to help transform the World?

My source: Nicola Woolcock, Universities offer first climate change degrees, The Times, March 23, 2021,p.16.

*Hope it is going well, and while we really need it to - this is, of course, a responsibility for us all.

I'm a critical thinker and no I don't carry a card ;-)

"One of us (PD) had a conversation recently with a new Director of Nursing (DoN) of a large hospital trust. They started to talk about “these new graduates today” and “what was wrong with them.” For shame, PD was just waiting for the usual tired diatribe about “university nurses” and what they “could not do” and why they were all “too academic” and so on ad nauseum. I could not have been more wrong. The DoN talked about “these new nurses” and how they did not seem to be critical thinkers who could question and challenge existing systems and practices. What I need, they said, are nurses who can advocate, challenge, step in to prevent incidents or patient deterioration, who can see better ways of doing things and make that happen. The last thing they need, they said, were nurses who could only tick boxes or follow algorithms and orders. To say this conversation was an eye-opening highlight in the oft-reported “decay” of critical thinking in nursing (Morrall & Goodman, 2013) was an understatement, especially since every university School of Nursing will swear blind that it produces nurses who are card-carrying “critical thinkers” and every hospital will testify that it encourages this, rather than erects barriers to prevent it (Cornell, Riordan, Townsend-Gervis, & Mobley, 2011). It is a real concern that so few Schools or health services even know how to ask the question, “How do we know?”, let alone answer it." p.2.

Darbyshire, P., Thompson, D. R., & Watson, R. (2019). Nursing schools: Dumbing down or reaching up? Journal of Nursing Management, 27(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12730

Still ready to help teach, share, collaborate - while still learning here ...

Sept 2022: 'An introduction to evidence-based health care'

Are you aged 16-18 years, based in the UK or Ireland, and interested in studying a #healthcare-related subject at university?

Sign up here https://t.co/f6gSMgRtYa for 'An introduction to evidence-based health care', a free webinar we're hosting alongside @CochraneIreland pic.twitter.com/r7Kj5MbVZO

— Cochrane UK (@CochraneUK) July 14, 2022

Students 16-18 years old.

School leavers

A career in health care

'Health Career' - 'Life Chances'

"How Universities Have Betrayed Reason and Humanity—And What's to Be Done About It" c/o Nicholas Maxwell

In order to make progress towards a good, civilized world – one in which there is peace, democracy, justice, individual liberty, and sustainable prosperity, for everyone – we need to learn how to do it. That in turn requires that our institutions of learning, our universities, are rationally designed and devoted to the job. They are not. For a century or so, they have pursued knowledge and technological know-how, and have not engaged in public education about how to solve those problems of living, local and global, that we need to solve to make progress towards a better world. The pursuit of knowledge and technological know-how dissociated from a more fundamental concern to help solve problems of living has actually made possible the genesis of many of our global problems: the climate and ecological crises, the lethal character of modern war, the menace of nuclear weapons, pollution of earth, sea and air, population growth, the degradation of democracy as a result of social media and the internet. In giving priority to the pursuit of knowledge and technology, as at present, universities betray reason and humanity. We urgently need a revolution in our universities so that the basic task becomes to help humanity resolve conflicts and problems of living in increasingly cooperatively rational ways – the pursuit of knowledge being important but secondary. 

See From Knowledge to Wisdom: https://philpapers.org/rec/MAXFKT-3

See also “How Universities Have Betrayed Reason and Humanity—And What's to Be Done About It”, Frontiers, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2021.631631/full

Best wishes

Nicholas Maxwell

Science and Technology Studies, University College London 

Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/from-knowledge-to-wisdom

Publications online: http://philpapers.org/profile/17092http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/view/people/ANMAX22.date.html

My source: 

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/

The Times: Education Commission

"An education commission is being set up by The Times that could lead to radical change across schools and universities.

It brings together experts including senior MPs, head teachers, academics, vice-chancellors and a children’s author who will work on the year-long project that is expected to inform government policy. They say school closures during the pandemic and the resulting surge in online learning have provided the perfect opportunity for an overhaul of the system to be considered."

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Lifelong Learning (Attitude (cognitive access)) Knowledge & Skills (Purpose of education) Critical thinking, Problem Solving, Reflection	Curriculum New Technology (Anticipating AI & Robotic Process Automation) Lifelong Learning (Physical access, Technology Enhanced Learning)
Lifelong Learning Social mobility (Social access) Exclusions Social skills How many forms of 'literacy'? Team work / Collaboration Challenge social gender stereotypes	Lifelong Learning (Policy, Economic access) Government policy - Work creation University entrants - nos. Exams? Curriculum 21st Century Qualifications Still the 'Two Cultures'?

My source:

Woolcock, N. (2021) Push to give children a better start, The Times, March 24, p.4; The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in education, leading article, p. 27.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-education-commission-children-better-start-lockdown-5bvf2bhwm

Review: i Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student

If there are sources to help understand Hodges' model and even contribute and provide evidence for a 'theory' then this book is one to add to the shelf.

Consequently this is the first of several posts (and other book reviews?):

Kinchin's Visualising Powerful Knowledge to Develop the Expert Student and related books

As mentioned Kinchin's book was brought to my attention through the Threshold Concepts forum. More on this to follow. Kinchin begins by noting how academics who teach at universities are there because they are subject experts. This is not just their knowing a lot, but the way this knowledge is organised (structured) and understood. This facilitates their engagement in the field to help extend knowledge further and the discipline they teach. Kinchin cites Goldsmith et al. (1991):

"To be knowledgeable in some area is to understand the interrelationships among the important concepts in that domain." p.4.

There is an immediate opportunity here, to note that Hodges' model in providing four domains is encouraging and facilitating the identification, association, understanding (meanings) across the model's domains that for novices simultaneously increases their vocabulary.

Kinchin's book seeks to address what is often a marked gap, between academics as subject matter experts and their ability to teach or present the content of 'what they know'. While teachers (and nurse mentors) are preoccupied with a student's competence, this book also considers the competence of teachers to teach. Kinchin reports how a great deal of teaching appears designed to keep students as 'perpetual novices'. I had an image here of Benner's theory pushing from one side; while teaching custom & practice (Powerpoint, linear, chains - of theory) pushes from the other. Why are students being taught, why are they learning? Reference to tell-memorise-test-forget in order to pass exams, seems the end-game, the outcome that student are now (potentially) paying for.

At this point in writing the review, I come across an omission. There is no index, but what appears a comprehensive list of references is provided. I found what I was looking for quickly enough - reference to 'bulimic learning' on p.7. Students gorge on information only to regurgitate it for exam purposes. This means it is undigested, not learned and integrated into the student's existing knowledge base and other concurrent learning. While science is applied in terms of evidence through research, teachers often seem reluctant to apply the very same principles.

"One of the problems in moving from 'traditional' teaching models towards 'effective' models is perhaps the lack of accessible tools with which to support the change from the non-learning of inert knowledge to the meaningful learning of powerful knowledge." p.7

Teachers and teaching provoke many adages, especially in health education; the 'differences' between those who practice, those who teach and those dedicated to research who eschew teaching preferring research. As the references suggest, Kinchin cites the literature, in this case the 'politics of reluctance'. Ideally all should apply, teaching, teachers, research and researchers married and allied together. There is a tendency (as ever) to stereotype and dichotomise. Some teach because they are lousy researchers; when it should be the case that teachers teach the way they research (p.10).

Chapter 1 is "The Framework - Linking Key Ideas" central is the approach and resource provided by Novak and Symlington in 1982 using the concept map. With a small library of papers and books, Novak is in there, Tony Buzan's mind-mapping approach - which is different and other sources. From the start, examples of a concept map framework are provided pp. 3,4,6 ... While very critical of 'traditional' teaching, Kinchin is sympathetic to the reality many teachers face and empathetic of teaching as the poor cousin. There are teachers aspiring to be 'active' teachers and effect change.

to be continued...

Novak, J.D. and Symington, D.J. (1982) Concept mapping for curriculum development. Victoria Institute for Educational Research Bulletin, 48: 3–11.

Kinchin, I., (2016) Visualising powerful knowledge to develop the expert student. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

See also:

Intro post

Review Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Thanks to Brill for my review copy.

Liminality in "How ancient rituals help us adapt to the digital age" c/o G. Tett

How ancient rituals help us adapt to the digital age

Ceremonies and symbols matter more than ever in a disorienting world

Context: "This week I made a pilgrimage to the east coast of Scotland to participate in that classic ritual of modern middle-class life: a university graduation".

"However, heritage marketing is not the only factor, given that such rituals also occur in places that do not have 600 years of history behind them. Another way to frame the issue is to ponder a concept first developed by the ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep, and later elaborated by the anthropologist Victor Turner and the psychologist Carl Jung – “liminality”.

This word comes from the Latin limen – doorway or threshold – and refers to the idea that whenever societies or people make a transition, they typically use rituals and symbols to mark this. 

These usually contain three parts: a ritual to show the end of the old life; a ritual to mark the entry into the new one; and a “liminal” stage between the two, when the transformation occurs. Moreover, in that liminal state the normal rules of life tend to break down. Liminality is the cultural equivalent of the pupation that insects undergo: patterns become untethered and fluid, to be remoulded".

Tett, Gillian. 2019, How ancient rituals help us adapt to the digital age. FT Weekend, Magazine, June 29-30, p.46.

Book: National Populism - The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy

individual - self

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group- population

	National Populism

"Universities are not here to make people feel comfortable or to allow only research that avoids causing offence. Nor are they here to coddle young minds and present to them an ideologically homogenous view of the world. Universities are here to pursue truth, engage in reasoned argument, support freedom of inquiry and nurture the development of critical thinkers." Goodwin, 2019.

This post also links with Prof. Land's keynote in Dundee.

Book review by LSE Review of Books


My source:
Goodwin, M. Mob rule is crushing the campus, The Sunday Times, 30 June, 2019, p.25.