“… educational theory is nothing other than the name we give to the  various futile attempts that have been made over the last hundred  years to stand outside our educational practices in order to explain and justify them. And what I am going to propose on the basis of this  argument is that the time has now come to admit that we cannot occupy a position outside practice and that we should now bring the  whole educational theory enterprise to a dignified end.”

So claims Wilf Carr.

The academic reading group is for staff and research students who enjoy reading and who would like to share their thoughts with others. It is intended to encourage and support new thinking and writing for publication and research. People from all subjects and faculties are welcome, and nothing more will be expected than the pleasure of debating a text as a group. Jeff Adams initiated the Academic Reading Group in 2008 and Damien Shortt continued it last year; it proved to be especially helpful for becoming familiar with authors and theorists in a supportive group atmosphere.

One text is chosen for each meeting and it will usually be contemporary and relevant in some way; it will also be short, in the form of an excerpt, journal paper, chapter or short story. We might also consider draft articles by members of the group. Hopefully people will be inspired to read further should they find the text useful or interesting. There is no requirement for all texts to be overtly ‘academic’, and some texts chosen for past sessions have been extracts from novels, web pages or graphic novels. Members of the group can nominate the texts for future sessions.

The next meeting is on October 21 at 3.00 in the library. We will discuss Wilf Carr’s provocative article “Education without theory” (quoted above). It’s in British Journal of Educational Studies, 54(2), 2006.

There is a link to this article which I shall post here, as soon as I get it.

I look forward to seeing you on Friday week.