Artefact 5 - LSE Business Review article


My fifth and final artefact for Year 1 of my doctorate is the following article from the London School of Economics and Political Science examining the increasing divide COVID-19 is causing in education, wealth, social mobility and life. The article can be read here:

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/104403/1/businessreview_2020_04_21_covid_19_is_increasing_the_divide_in_life.pdf

This article has struck a chord with me, and how I will have to adapt my research moving forward. If I move my enterprise education invertention online, this could inadvertently add further disadvantage to the children I am trying to reach and level the playing field for. Children who often don't have separate study areas in their homes, their own digital devices, access to wifi/broadband or access to educational support in the home. My original design of going into classrooms and bringing the tools, expertise and inspiring volunteers with me would have overcome many of these socio-economic barriers, with me being able to target low participation schools, in terms of numbers of students who go onto higher education and/or self employment.

I am now exploring the idea of applying for funding to support my research so that I can address some of the financial barriers however, the physical distancing and remote learning procedures put in place as a result of COVID-19 are unlikely to be reversed in the near future, therefore this will take more than simply a financial investment, but also a pedagogical redesign and a redesign of research methods in order to be able proceed.

Comments

  1. Lisa BBAugust 7, 2020 at 3:12 PM

    Emailed comment from Lydia (my academic advisor):

    Excellent - all very relevant to shaping your project, as you say Lisa. In addition to teaching and learning approaches, I would add consideration of curricula from a gender perspective.

    I read the online article on the pandemic and inequality with interest. This IFS report on the impact of the pandemic on inequality is also interesting: https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14879

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artefact 3 - TEDxWolverhampton application

Image
In November 2019, I saw a call for applications for speakers for TEDxWolverhampton 2020. The theme of the event was CTRL-ALT-DEL and applicants could choose to deliver a talk which fell under a theme of Control, Alternatives or Deletion. It has been a bucket list item of mine for a few years to deliver a TED talk, and I felt this could now be my opportunity! I sent in my application and had to go through a series of rounds, before I finally found out in January 2020 that I had been selected as one of the 12 speakers for the event. I decided to base my talk on the theme of Alternatives, as my EdD research is examining alternative approaches to enterprise education.  I went along to the speakers meeting in January and met the other speakers and organisers of the event, and realised that most of the other speakers were just as nervous about the experience as I was, but also really excited to be part of the event. Tickets went on sale and I was embargoed from revealing I was on the line up
Read more

Artefact 4 - Critical Incident - Lockdown

Image
The fourth artefact for my reflective blog is a critical incident. In March 2020, the UK went into lockdown as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. This obviously has had an impact on all areas of everyone's lives, but for me, it has changed my job, my research and my future plans for my EdD thesis. My educator role has moved entirely online since March and is likely to stay remote until at least September. This has changed the way I teach, support students and interact with colleagues. Additionally, the outreach work that I deliver in schools has been suspended as schools have been closed and even when they reopen in September, it is less likely that external visitors will be permitted due to COVID safe measures put in place by the schools.  This has led me to rethink how I will be able to conduct my research, as my original plan was to research in the classrooms, both in schools and in my own classrooms at the university. Intervention packages to support future women in b
Read more

Artefact 2 - Photo of graffiti

Image
In our October class for the EdD, we were asked to choose a photograph that summed up how we were feeling at that point within our journey. Apart from the welcome session in September, this was our first session on the programme. We were still getting to know each other and our way around the campus and the programme itself. I chose this picture of graffiti: The reason for choosing this photo was it was a visual representation of how I was feeling at that point on my EdD journey. It is chaotic, misunderstood and subjective, however it is a tag which in graffiti is used to identify the artist and it features the word respect, which is something I have for my fellow EdD students, who are also embarking on this unknown adventure along with me.  This image also represents my feelings towards the school children on my outreach visits to schools, as it represents youth culture, exploring identity and a generational and often cultural divide between students and us as educators. This is somet
Read more