14 January 2010

Bell Lecture - 'Work-related learning in a recession'

The impacts of a recession on education will be explored in a free public lecture at the University of Dundee next week.

Universities and colleges, and increasingly schools, develop programmes of learning that are geared to particular occupations. They also respond to calls for more generic skills and capacities thought to prepare people for the workplace. But what happens when employment opportunities shrink? What is the impact on what is learnt and by whom? How can and should learning adapt?

These questions will be explored in the Bell Lecture given by David James, Professor of Education and Director of BRILLE, the Bristol Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning and Education, at the University of the West of England.

Professor James will address the issues and impacts of a recession on education in the public lecture on Wednesday January 20th. The event is free and open to all.

Professor James’ research interests encompass teaching, learning, assessment and learner identity across formal and less formal settings from schools to universities. The relationship between educational processes and social inequalities is a constant theme in his teaching, research and writing.

He is a widely published academic with his most recent book entitled 'Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education' (2007, Routledge) making a strong case for the importance of a cultural approach to the improvement of teaching and learning in further education.

The Bell Lecture takes place at 6pm on Wednesday January 20th in the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, University of Dundee. The lecture is followed by a drinks reception.

Free tickets for this event are available by e-mail at: cassoffice@dundee.ac.uk; by phone on 01382 384185; in person from the Tower Building Reception at the University; and online at www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets (under ‘Other Free Lectures’ section).

The lecture is hosted by the University’s School of Education, Social Work and Community Education.

NOTES TO EDITORS

History of the Bell Lectures
The Rev Dr Andrew Bell was chaplain to the army of the East India Company in Madras, India. In charge of educating the soldiers' children and finding a shortage of teachers, he used the older boys (who had been taught the lesson by the master) to instruct the younger pupils. On return from India, Dr Bell travelled the country encouraging schools to adopt 'the Madras system'. This method of peer learning became widely used in schools at home and abroad. By his death in 1832, over 10,000 schools were using his methods. The Rev Dr also founded Madras College in St Andrews in 1833 and what is now called Bell Baxter High School in Cupar. To further promote the study of education he founded two Chairs in Education, one at the University of Edinburgh and one at the University of St Andrews which was later transferred to Dundee.

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