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Society

Hub for Education and Language Diversity

Ground-level analysis and action, enhancing language repertoires.

The Hub for Education and Language Diversity (HELD) is a collaboration between academic, professional and third sector organisations.

It is guided by a commitment to three fundamental ideas:

  1. Shared language is vital to social life, but linguistic diversity is also central. Both can be enhanced by education, enriching both the individual and society.
  2. Local conditions and participant perspectives really matter.
  3. Theories and research can be powerful tools, helping people to think differently.

Areas of interest

We pursue these ideas through the following areas.

In-service teacher education

Curriculum and assessment materials development

Public campaigns

Projects with arts organisations and the cultural sector

Masters and doctoral training

Research

  • Diasporic Adult Language Socialisation (Leverhulme)
  • Politicisation of identities in diaspora (CFPR)

Academic and professional publications

International collaborations

Team

Publications

Urban Classroom Culture: Realities, Dilemmas, Responses

The aim of these training materials is to generate honest, informed debate about the complexities and realities of urban secondary comprehensive school culture. The book does not pretend to propose answers to issues which are not susceptible to easy solutions. However, it is driven by a confidence that experienced teachers, through collective analysis and discussion, are capable of developing workable responses to rapid cultural change in classrooms and wider society.

Contemporary classrooms are a major focus of public debate, and have been subject to intense central government regulation in England since 1988. In recent times Government has sought to direct both curriculum and pedagogy, supporting this with an extensive programme of assessment and inspection, linked to an ideal of teaching in which the teacher has a monopoly of knowledge in class and acts as the centre and arbiter of acceptable modes of communication. Within this scenario, perceived failings of urban comprehensive secondary schools have been routinely attributed, by politicians and media outlets, to bad teaching and bad teachers. However, surprisingly little of this popular opinion has been based on any kind of systematic analysis and description of what urban secondary school classroom life is actually like. In addition, little account has been taken of the effects of some of the changes stimulated by globalisation including the ubiquity of digital culture and digital devices, the virtually universal dominance of popular culture and the increase in population mobility and ethnic plurality.

Download the training materials here: Urban Classroom Culture: Realities, dilemmas, responses.

Accompanying audio recordings:

Publications

Urban Classroom Culture: Realities, Dilemmas, Responses

The aim of these training materials is to generate honest, informed debate about the complexities and realities of urban secondary comprehensive school culture. The book does not pretend to propose answers to issues which are not susceptible to easy solutions. However, it is driven by a confidence that experienced teachers, through collective analysis and discussion, are capable of developing workable responses to rapid cultural change in classrooms and wider society.

Contemporary classrooms are a major focus of public debate, and have been subject to intense central government regulation in England since 1988. In recent times Government has sought to direct both curriculum and pedagogy, supporting this with an extensive programme of assessment and inspection, linked to an ideal of teaching in which the teacher has a monopoly of knowledge in class and acts as the centre and arbiter of acceptable modes of communication. Within this scenario, perceived failings of urban comprehensive secondary schools have been routinely attributed, by politicians and media outlets, to bad teaching and bad teachers. However, surprisingly little of this popular opinion has been based on any kind of systematic analysis and description of what urban secondary school classroom life is actually like. In addition, little account has been taken of the effects of some of the changes stimulated by globalisation including the ubiquity of digital culture and digital devices, the virtually universal dominance of popular culture and the increase in population mobility and ethnic plurality.

Download the training materials here: Urban Classroom Culture: Realities, dilemmas, responses.

Accompanying audio recordings:

Project status: Ongoing

Contact us

For more information on HELD, please contact Dr Mel Cooke by email.