Earlier this month I spoke at The Media Education Summit 2008 . reflecting more on the wider role of Media Studies as a subject/discipline and its ‘effect’ on developing particular kinds of subjectivity. The talk first looks at early Media Studies as the product of an activist teacher-workforce racially exploring questions of contest and pedagogy. This approach received formal (if contradictory) mandate by societies concerned with the effects of mass media and I also looked at current attempts to define media literacy as a form of self-regulation in concert with the current educational-isation of media culture. Finally the talk will consider the paradox of how media studies works along with other creative industries subjects to produce forms of precarious labour -the defining feature of the creative workforce. Final directions reflect of the politics of this ‘incorporation’.

At the turn of this year I wrote an essay commissioned by the London Development Agency exploring how the Non-Formal Learning Sector (NFLS) (what used to be called community arts), has played a particular role in the ecology of educational provision across London. The essay tries to situate the work of the NFLS in relationship to changes in further and higher education as well as in respect of training and vocational education in the creative industries. The NFLS has also played a lead role in social inclusion policies.

The full paper is attached here.What Future for the Non-Formal Learning Sector?

At the end of May 2008 I will be participating in an international seminar on Cultural Studies and Education at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.

My paper is based on experiences and research at virtually all levels of the English education system and argues that we can observe the ‘impact’ of Cultural Studies on the forms and practices of Education as a system and as institutions as well as at the more micro-levels of individual learning and even theories of learning itself. These ‘impacts’ are analysed along 3 dimensions.: the institutionalisation and/or incorporation of school subjects (like Media Studies); the way Cultural Studies has been used to frame an offer of schooling to resistant and disengaged youth; and the ways in which practical and informal forms of pedagogy have supported identity-based theories of learning. I use use examples of each type of impact to explore each level of effect

My interest is in reflecting on how transformative these impacts have been. Do they pose lasting types of change or have they been incorporated by the status quo given the imperviousness of schooling to successive waves of educational reform? How have the more radical kinds of critique contained in Cultural Studies methods, thinking and approaches been absorbed at the different levels of the education system and at what cost and to whom?

The final section of the paper considers practical and theoretical prospects for future versions of Cultural Studies and Education. I end by considering whether the destiny of Cultural Studies is to repeat its marginalised academic status as critique or ‘system-irritant’ or whether we can could envisage a theoretical way of scaling up and mainstreaming how Cultural Studies works.

Last month (February 2008) I talked at the Scottish Cultural Summit in Edinburgh. I talked about how it might be useful to question current uses of the idea of participation in the Arts. I also ran a workshop reviewing the impact of Creative Partnerships. I used the opportunity of being in Edinburgh to try to develop an initiative comparing creative education initiatives across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales looking at how such ideas have been imagined and implemented at policy level and in practice. Hopefully more on this soon.

I am also talking at the Cultural Studies Association of Australia Conference . My presentation is called ‘Creative Subject(s): reflections on the history of Media Studies’ and considers the wider role of Media Studies as a subject/discipline and its ‘effect’ on developing particular kinds of subjectivity. The talk first looks at early Media Studies as the product of an activist teacher-workforce racially exploring questions of contest and pedagogy – a mode of operations that has become reinvigorated by Web.2 technologies. This approach received formal (if contradictory) mandate by societies concerned with the effects of mass media and current attempts to define media literacy as a form of self-regulation in concert with the current educational-isation of media culture. Finally the talk will consider the paradox of how media studies works along with other creative industries subjects to produce forms of precarious labour -the defining feature of the creative workforce. Final directions reflect of the politics of this ‘incorporation’. The paper is available on the proceedings of the conference website.

In December I am speaking in the Office for Youth’s week long programme, Involve in Adelaide. My talk is called ‘How can we Transform Creative Cultures into a Creative Economy? ‘ and reflects on some of the changes in popular culture that support young people to become media creators and producers ‚Äì the myspace generation. It will then describe the impact of initiatives around the world, of which the Northern Sound System in Playford, S.A. is one example where Government and education policy have tried to offer young people more structured training in the cultural industries. The talk will look at these changing trends and opportunities and explore how Adelaide might build policies to develop a broader and more sustainable creative economy for young people in the future.

As part of my adjunct role at the University of South Australia, I am speaking at the Hawke Institute for Sustainable Societies at an event called, Place , Space and Text. The flyer for the event is attached here

Space,Place and Text

This month saw the final conference for The Last Mile ( an EQUAL project). I was involved in putting together the programme for the day and facilitating the narrative for the panel discussion.

The London Development Agency have commissioned me to write a provocation essay reflecting on how or whether we can establish a framework for the role of the Non Formal Learning Sector (NFLS) as part of the overall ’ecology’ of education and training in the creative and cultural sector. I will review the history, reach, and effect of the NFLS and analyse the mixture of qualifications/regulation, skills and training policies and market trends in order suggest a rationale, and objectives for the continuation of national or regional support. I am aiming to offer the LDA a clear coherent and co-ordinated role if the LDA is to continue to work in this area.

In September I led a delegation from Creative Partnerships to speak at Network 2007, a conference of US Arts educators in Oakland. We described research exploring the effect of Creative Partnerships on school change and also on the cultural sector. Comparing and contrasting an initiative like CP with other similarly motivated but differently imagined creative education projects was challenging and will result in the development of a few comparative projects.