July 2011
Delegate's report on this year's conference
Research study request - volunteers wanted
Contribute to the FACE to FACE journal
What else is in the News? Other sources of education news online
Delegate's report on this year's conference
by Dawn Mannay, PhD Student, Cardiff University
I am a doctoral student in my last year of an ESRC funded position studying at Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences. My research interests revolve around class, education, gender, geography, inequality and visual research methods and my current research, explores the gendered and classed processes of social and cultural reproduction, relationship cultures and identity formation through a focus on mothers and daughters in working-class families resident on a peripheral housing estate.
In December 2010 I entered an open competition run by the Higher Education Academy centre, ESCalate for a bursary to attend an education themed conference. I wrote my application with details of the conference I wanted to attend, the FACE 2011 Annual Conference, Lifelong Learning and Community Development, and the reasons for selecting this particular event. I was fortunate to be selected by the ESCalate panel as one of the winners receiving a full ESCalate bursary.
For me, FACE was the education conference that seemed most fitting, and I applied to attend this particular conference for a number of reasons. Firstly, the themes of the conference, particularly ‘Higher education provision and its contribution to the community’ and ‘The future of outreach work and the Aimhigher legacy’ were of academic interest and resonated with my own research. Secondly, I wanted to present a paper and hopefully get some feedback and ideas from other academics and practitioners. Lastly, as I teach part time for the Open University and for Newport University’s Access programme, I also have an interest in FACE in terms of best practice in my own teaching and wider developments.
Arriving at FACE I was not disappointed and knew that I had made the right choice. The first day started with lunch, and chatting with other delegates I was impressed by their commitment to equality and education and their student centred approach. This was particularly refreshing in a climate that often emphasises research outputs above teaching and also the austerity of cuts. Over the three days of the conference, the keynote speakers and parallel sessions were also inspiring and I would like to write about them all, but in restricting my self to speak about one of each I was particularly impressed by the first key note presentation and a paper given in the final set of parallel sessions.
Professor Keith Popple gave the opening keynote presentation, ‘The Big Society: the implications for community development’ and I avidly wrote extensive notes trying to capture the opportunities and challenges presented by the policies of the new government, it was an interesting and thought provoking beginning. Among the exciting programme that followed I presented the paper, ‘Aimhigher? Considering the emotional cost of aiming higher for marginalised, mature, mothers re-entering education’, which was well received and opened up dialogues with new networks.
One of these new connections was made with Lindsay Hewitt, and it was her joint paper with Jonathan Sharpe that was a particularly inspiring parallel presentation. I was impressed with the paper in terms of the practical and educational benefits the project brought to refugee and asylum seekers in Glasgow. Academically, I was interested in the innovative way that Bhabba’s (1994) notion of the third space was employed to think about learner identities in terms of ‘in-betweeness’, (Hewitt et al 2010) a hybridity that I have tried to grapple with in my own work (Mannay 2009). Attending the conference provided an opportunity to find out about this study, and the work of other delegates, which I would have missed in my ordinary milieu of publications.
This is the key strength of FACE; it is a coming together of academics from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, but with a common interest in making education both accessible to all and of a high quality. I left FACE full of ideas and enthusiasm and I am planning to attend the 2012 conference at the University of Ulster. The conference was very well organised and Alan Foster and the team at CR&DALL, Glasgow University did an excellent job as hosts of FACE. Lastly, Glasgow was a fantastic city and the conference timings and Scottish ‘sunny’ weather engendered an opportunity to explore the urban treasures. So thank you, FACE, CR&DALL, ESCalate and all the speakers and delegates who taught me so many things in such a short time, a fantastic experience.
Dawn Mannay
References:
Bhabba, H. K. 1994. The location of culture. Oxford: Routledge.
Hewitt, L., Hall, E. and Mills, S. 2010. Women learning: women’s learning: an investigation into the creation of learner identities. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 12, pp. 91-102.
Mannay, D. 2009. Postgraduate Café Papers 2009: Balancing on the boundary between two discursively different worlds: a mother and daughter case study exploring space, place, class and identity. Cardiff School of Social Sciences Working Paper 126, Cardiff University, 19-32. http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/resources/wp126.pdf
Research study request from Neil Raven
Volunteers wanted (please)!
I am looking to interview colleagues in widening participation and continuing education who regularly reflect on their day to day working practice (whether formally or informally). For example, this might be through keeping a diary, or compiling 'to do' lists, or even mulling things over with colleagues. All that would be required is for you to tell me about your reflective practices. The information is for a small research study and would be treated in confidence.
If you are interested, please contact Neil Raven on n.d.raven@lboro.ac.uk.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Contribute to the FACE to FACE journal
Ace editor Pete Jones is currently accepting articles, short academic papers, policy debate discussion pieces or original research findings for the next edition of FACE to FACE, our eJournal. FACE members and other colleagues are always very welcome to contribute.
If you would like to submit a piece (anything from 250 to 1500 words) for the next edition, please send it by email to Pete Jones at pete.jones@staffs.ac.uk or by post to Editor FACE2FACE, Peter Jones, Academic Development Inst., Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2AD. If you have an idea for a contribution and would like to discuss this prior to submission, please call Pete on 01782 294941
Catch up on previous editions of FACE to FACE available free as downloads from www.f-a-c-e.org.uk/face2face.html
What else is in the News?
For the latest UK Education headlines and stories go to the FACE News Feeds page where you'll find the online news feeds of several of the sources listed below gathered together on one page for easy access.
The Department of Education news page http://www.education.gov.uk/news
The Guardian http://education.guardian.co.uk
The Independent http://news.independent.co.uk/education
The BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/default.stm
The Times Higher Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk
This is the July 2011 eBulletin from FACE (the Forum for Access and Continuing Education), offered to practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and others with an interest in access, widening participation and lifelong learning. The eBulletin is sent to colleagues in the sector, members and non-members alike. If you would prefer not to receive it, please contact James.Tate@uwe.ac.uk and your details will be removed from the circulation list.
If you wish to respond to anything in this eBulletin or contribute to the August 2011 issue, please email Jim at James.Tate@uwe.ac.uk