With Lou Mycroft LET’S COME TOGETHER TO BRIDGE THEORY AND PRACTICE


Working nomadically, I have a panoramic, bird’s eye view of further education and training. And people talk to me (I’ve got one of those faces). Recently, I’ve been getting the impression that FE is polarising into people who think and people who do.


Let me qualify that. The growing practitioner


research culture in FE, exemplified by the proliferating #FEResearchMeets and supported in various ways by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), is a Really Good Thing. Instead of being told what works, there’s nothing more empowering than figuring it out for ourselves and sharing what we learn with each other. This, for me, is a ‘Why To’ approach – plenty of ideas and inspiration, focused on purpose (and every educator’s purpose is going to be different, of course). But research still has its tensions. Regular readers of this column will know I hate any binary practice/theory divide in professional development which never gets to the ‘Why To’ because it stops at the ‘How’. Nothing wrong with being practical. Plenty of educators think that’s what they want because practice = good and


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SET LNG. Enhancing teaching practice in a digital world –


Portsmouth bit.ly/LNGPortsmouth


SET LNG. Screencasting in education – London. bit.ly/LNGLondonJune


Wellbeing Focus Group in East London bit.ly/WellBeingELondon


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Webinar: Enhance your digital skills with


Daniel Scott bit.ly/SETWebinars andResources


JULY 2


SET LNG. Innovations in managing learner


behaviour – London bit.ly/LNGLondonJuly


Reimagining FE conference at Birmingham City University. Supported by the Education and Training


Foundation. To book visit bit.ly/ReImaginingFE


inTUITION ISSUE 36 • SUMMER 2019 39


‘theory’ = bad. I get why people think that. FE is full of ‘people who do’ – rolling up our sleeves in the face of yet another policy or curriculum change. But, if theory only means thinking, what’s wrong with thinking about what we do alongside doing it? Figuring out a purpose, establishing the ‘Why’ alongside the ‘How’? With everything I’m getting involved in at the moment, I’m trying to bridge the frankly artificial How To/Why To divide. Theory (‘Why To’) will seem remote if all we’re asked


to read are out-of-date texts that don’t relate to our real, lived lives and those of the students we encounter. Practice (‘How To’) may well seem mindless if we’re doing new stuff for the sake of it and without thinking through its purpose. Binaries control us because they pit us against one another. Let’s come together to do the ‘How To/Why To’ work of this important shared project – FE.


Lou Mycroft is a writer, teacher, independent thinker and thought-provoker. She is currently working on two Education and Training Foundation projects: the PDNorth Professional Exchange and #APConnect, a programme for Advanced Practitioners. Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #pedagogue


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SET LNG. QTLS, your questions answered –


Newcastle bit.ly/LNG Newcastle


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SET LNG. Employability and career pathways –


Bolton bit.ly/LNGBolton


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SET LNG. Engaging marginalised learners –


Birmingham bit.ly/LNG Birmingham


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