Belated New Year wishes to all!
During the Christmas break I had time to access the video clips on YouTube. I can now put a face to many of the contributors whose insights and ideas have had an educative influence on me over the past few months. From now on, when I read contributions from Alan, Peter, Moira, Marie and Yaakub (I have already met Jean, Jack, Maggie, JeKan and Sarah)I will be able to visualise them and have an awareness of their values as expressed through the video clips.
I am now convinced of the value of visual forms of representation as a means of conveying values and of articulating standards of judgement. I had been rather sceptical around this, having been conditioned to believe in the superiority of the written word. In a situation somewhat similar to the stories of Alan and Moira, whose schooling appears to have been affected by the dominant ideologies of the time, I was encultured into the belief that the written word was paramount. Intellectual ability and scholarship were defined by expertise in writing. Art was not taught in either primary or secondary school, the whole emphasis being on 'academic' subjects. As a result, all my energy was focused on the written word and I paid scant attention to other, visual forms of representation.
There were so many values evident in the video clips on YouTube that it would take too long to describe them all in detail, but these are the ones that were apparent to me and that were evident in more than one clip:
BERA Practitioner-Researcher <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<
< Dear Alan, Ndugu yangu,
<
< No need for 'oh dear' in respect of my unsubscribing. What can you imagine
< you've written to bring about my leaving the list? Nothing at all that has
< been posted on the list by anybody has moved me to unsubscribe. Moving on is
< an indigenous~endogenous need; my nomadic ecology of inclusion takes into
< account 'over grazing' (warm smile). I've thoroughly enjoyed myself, in
< esteemed company.
<
< hug
< Yaakub
<
<
< -----Original Message-----
< From: BERA Practitioner-Researcher
< [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan
< Rayner
< Sent: 16 January 2007 11:05
< To: [log in to unmask]
< Subject: Re: Practitioner research - World Leading Enquiry into the Nature
< of Educational Leadership
<
< Dear Yaqub and all,
<
< Oh dear!
<
< It appears that in my enthusiasm I have lost circumspection and not
< sufficiently put my two recent postings into context. I don't understand
< why Yaqub wants to unsubscribe in response to what I was saying, and I
< guess I should have held back.
<
< My posting arose from feelings of disquiet I was having, in the context of
< Je Kan's offering, about the dangers of trying to play the 'World Class
< Leadership Game' according to rules imposed by the RAE regime.
< Fundamentally I felt that these dangers were about the possibility of
< adopting a compromised and inauthentic position in order to fit in with the
< mindset of those setting down the rules. One, extremely understandable and
< tempting response is simply to walk away from that regime, recognizing that
< it is not governed by the same principles that we/I might espouse. But that
< response carries the risk of cutting off our nose to spite our face, when
< we can't ignore the culture in which we are included even though we may not
< want to abide by the rules of that culture (this is the 'Catch 22' of
< living in an adversarial culture, that many of us are trying to negotiate
< on a day-by-day basis). Generally I don't think it is possible to transform
< an adversarial culture by entirely excising oneself from it, which is why I
< have not as yet entirely excised myself from my biological neighbourhood
< (though I have been excised from the 'Biology unit of assessment' in the
< RAE exercise because my research 'does not fit with the strategy of this
< unit or anywhere else').
<
< The way out of this loop of appearing hypocritically to claim 'world
< leadership' based on prescriptive rather than evolutionary 'standards of
< judgement' came to me in the form of including enquiry into the nature of
< leadership in the practice and theory of educational research. By so doing,
< we can align ourselves with a very different form of leadership or
< 'craftsmanship', based on humility, from that propounded by the RAE
< exercise. If 'education' is about 'leading out', then educational research
< is fundamentally about leadership and what I think this research is
< pointing to is the need for transformation of the very concept of
< leadership from impositional to inclusional. In that sense we might claim,
< in all humility, to be 'world-leading', exposing the 'nonsense' in the
< foundational assumptions of objective rationality.
<
< I also hastily copied, without explanation, some correspondence with Ted
< Lumley regarding the notion of 'sovereignty', because I think it is
< fundamental to this question of the nature of leadership.
<
< Apologies for 'jumping the gun'.
<
<
< Warmest
<
<
< Alan
<
<
<
< --On 16 January 2007 08:17 +0000 Paul Murray
< <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<
< >
< >
< > Dear Jack, Dear Alan and all,
< >
< >
< >
< > Alan's posting has reminded me that as an educator and educational
< > researcher I'm self-evidently inclusional, as well as nomadic when it
< > come to epistemological fields and in my teaching, I believe, I breathe
< > 'inclusional nomadology' (thanks to Deleuze and Guatarri).
< >
< >
< >
< > I'm wondering if there is a similar list within BERA for the exploration
< > of critical pedagogy and progressive educational theory. If there is
< > could you -- somebody perhaps -- let me have the details for it, please?
< >
< >
< >
< > In any event, Jack, if you could unsubscribe me from this list, please,
< > or just let me know (again, sorry) how I can unsubscribe.
< >
< >
< >
< > Thank you.
< >
< >
< >
< > Yaakub Murray
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< > __________________________________________________
< >
< > From: BERA Practitioner-Researcher
< > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
< > A.D.M.Rayner Sent: 15 January 2007 20:34
< > To: [log in to unmask]
< > Subject: Practitioner research - World Leading Enquiry into the Nature of
< > Educational Leadership
< >
< >
< >
< > Dear Jack and all,
< >
< >
< >
< > I feel quite excited about the upshot from this evening's conversation,
< > whereby we can recognise an opportunity to turn the notion of
< > 'World-Leading Research' on its Head, through our understanding of
< > inclusionality, and so, like my Shadowy Tennis Player appear to be
< > 'playing the game' whilst bending its 'rules' to our 'advantage'.
< >
< >
< >
< > We are showing through our enquiry how the very notion of 'leadership'
< > can be transformed into one that can help to address the social,
< > environmental and psychological challenges of the twenty first century
< > rather than exacerbate them. We are transforming our understanding of
< > what 'world leading' really means from that which imposes itself on the
< > world to that which places itself dynamically in the world.
< >
< >
< >
< > Something like that.
< >
< >
< >
< > This feels much better than being obliged non-authentically to justify
< > practioner research in the very terms and venues that we find most
< > questionable.
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< > Warmest
< >
< >
< >
< >
< >
< > Alan
< >
< >
<
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property
Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts
|