Culture and Education Research Group (CERG)
Bridging the Gap between Education and Cultural Studies
The Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) has well established interests and expertise in exploring the inter-relationships between education and culture. CERG is a new research group which brings that knowledge together. We focus on the central role that learning plays in culture, using cultural theory to understand educational problems and educational perspectives to analyse the production and transmission of cultural values. The role of the group is to develop IPSE bidding capacity, scholarship and networks in this field. The group is open to all members of IPSE and welcomes links with all researchers, students, policy makers and practitioners who are interested in this area.
Current members are:
Jocey Quinn
Anthea Rose
who combine expertise from early years to lifelong learning.
NEWS
'The Influence of New Media Technologies used in Learning on Young People’s Career Aspirations' Report Published
Poor career advice turns young people off creative industry
Careers in the creative industry appear unimaginable to many young people from working class backgrounds and those living in areas of the UK with less visible creative sectors, recent research by London Metropolitan University’s Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) reveals.
The Research ‘New media technologies, creative industries and young people’s career aspirations’, was conducted among 14-16 year-old media studies students, and provides important evidence which raises concern about access to creative professions.
Pupils lack timely information on careers in the sector and are encouraged by careers services and family to pursue more traditional, vocational and lower-risk career routes.
IPSE’s findings are supported by the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions’ recent report, Unleashing Aspirations, which demonstrates that the chance of young people getting jobs in the creative industries is more limited than ever, despite it being the fastest growing professional area in the UK.
Report Recommendations:
- Development of clear and direct entry routes and qualification and
career pathways. - Better training for careers advisors about careers and routes into
the creative industries. - More opportunities for young people and their parents to find out
about the sector such as careers fairs, visits from creative
professionals and work placement opportunities.
The full report can be downloaded at: http://partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&catcode=_re_rp_02&rid=16918
Conference - Happy Talk: Researching Learning and Pleasure
The 'Happy Talk: researching learning and pleasure' conference sponsored by the Gender and Education Association and organised by Jocey Quinn with Christina Hughes of Warwick University was held successfully on 16th October at Goldsmiths. Thanks are due to Angela Kamara for co-ordinating it and our old friend and colleague Heather Mendick for organising the venue.
The day covered issues like the cultural construction of 'happiness', the pleasure and pain of being a PhD student, the guilty pleasures of feminist academics, pleasurable spaces in women's art education, joy in knowledge amongst marginalised learners, using art to develop creative pedagogies in HE and preserving love of music in music education. Feedback on the day was very positive: "a really great event" and plans are afoot for future developments in this area.
The conference was reported in the Times Higher Education, ‘The Doctorate doom? Don't forget the PhD's moments of 'orgasmic' pleasure’, by Melanie Newman, Times Higher Education, 29th October. Please see: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=408840
The group is focusing on 2 themes at the moment:
Education and Local Cultures
Areas of interest here include: youth cultures in urban, rural and provincial areas; local cultural narratives about education and work; migrant culture and education; inner city femininities; provincial masculinities; cultural theories of whiteness.
Members of CERG have been involved in the following related projects:
- An Investigation of Factors Affecting Inner-City Pupils’ Identities, Aspirations and Post-16 Routes: Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
- Identities, Educational Choices and the White Urban Middle-classes, ESRC
- From Life Crisis to Lifelong Learning: rethinking working class ‘drop out’ from Higher Education: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Young People in Jobs without Training in South West England: not just ‘dead-end kids in dead-end jobs’: ESF/LSC/Connexions
Popular Culture and Education
Areas of interest here include popular culture and mathematics; the influence of TV on careers; young people and new media, celebrity and educational choice; creative education and industries.
Members of CERG have been involved in the following related projects:
- Mathematical Images and Identities: ESRC
- Mathematical Images and Gender Identities: UKRC
- Masculinities in Mathematics ESRC: Goldsmiths
- The Influence of New Media Technologies used in Learning on Young People's Career Aspirations
- The impact of the depiction of work in TV Drama on young people’s Career aspirations and Choices: British Academy
- Young women and the Performing Arts: Creative Education, New Labour and the remaking of the young female subject: AHRC: Goldsmiths
Publications include:
- Jocey Quinn (2010, forthcoming) Education and Culture, New York: Routledge
- Heather Mendick (2006) Masculinities in Mathematics, Buckingham: Open University Press
- Louise Archer, Sumi Hollingworth and Heather Mendick (2010, forthcoming) Urban Youth and Education Buckingham: Open University Press
