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Parental strike against school testing – hint, intimation, or flash in the pan?
Straw in the wind? Harbinger? Hint or intimation? Dunno. Snowball in hell? Impossible odds? Flash in the pan? Dunno. Still, worth noting that at the time of writing 24,412 parents (or people claiming to be parents) have signed an online petition supporting a strike – yes, worth reading that again: a STRIKE – that will… Continue reading
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Review of Adrian Voce’s book ‘Policy for Play: Responding to children’s forgotten right’
I was invited by the International Journal of Play to write a review of Adrian Voce’s ‘Policy for Play: Responding to children’s forgotten right’. This is the original manuscript of the review published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Play on 15 March 2016 available online http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21594937.2016.1146492 Policy for Play is at once… Continue reading
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Reflection on court finding no negligence in injury at play claim
Attention has rightly been drawn to a recent British Columbia (Canada) Supreme Court Judgment that, whilst not serving as precedent in other jurisdictions, is both interesting and useful. You can read the judgment here. In brief, the civil law case – brought under British Columbia Occupiers Liability Act 1996 – focuses on a negligence claim… Continue reading
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Dehli thought
Delhi – hot, colourful, polluted, noisy, crowded. Wonderful in it own particular way. The roads, traffic seething: cars, three-wheeled autos, pedal rickshaws, buses – some new(ish), some distinctly rickety. Taxis, swarms of bicycles, motorbikes, some seemingly transporting entire families. And people, all ages – that’s ‘all’ ages – crossing the turbulent traffic sea as the… Continue reading
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From values to counting: the apoliticisation of play (and much else)
One way of characterising the play sector, if indeed it constitutes a sector, is that it is apolitical and dependent, those two qualities interacting and exacerbating each other. By apolitical, I mean that it has no obvious popular or voter support, nor is much attention directed towards securing it. Rather, the ‘sector’ concentrates its efforts… Continue reading
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‘Slummy mummies’ – the overreach of schools
For the past couple of days the newspapers have been buzzing with a story summed up in this Daily Telegraph headline: ‘Head teacher tells parents to stop wearing pyjamas on school run’ The Daily Mail, rather more pointedly, talked about an ‘unrepentant slummy mummy’, referring to a mother who responded to the Headteacher’s letter by… Continue reading
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For its own sake – an end of year mull (of the non-alcoholic sort)
Looking back over the past, say, thirty years, future historians might think it distinctly queer that we have spent so much effort and time in promoting a view of play that is somewhat to the side of what we value, what we believe: that is, the non-instrumental value of play. But who are ‘we’? ‘We’… Continue reading
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When the evidence bites back
I quote: ‘ For three-and-a-half years, all pupils at St Ninians primary have walked or run a mile each day. They do so at random times during the day, apparently happily, and despite the rise in childhood obesity across the UK, none of the children at the school are overweight. ‘The daily mile has done… Continue reading
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Come on, it’s not so bad – the APPG report on play
It’s true, the recent report on play by the All-Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood would have benefited from some judicious editing and organising in terms of structure and length. True, too, that there are points where it veers off in directions that some might feel are not entirely consistent with other points… Continue reading
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Discordant harmony
From a simple humanitarian perspective, it’s easy to be outraged at some countries’ response to the current refugee crisis. The UK’s response is, I think, simply shameful. And, once again, from a straightforwardly humanitarian view, Hungary’s response is both cruel and brutal. These sentiments are easy to feel, and as easy to express. But from… Continue reading
About Me
This is Bernard Spiegal’s blog.
I write mainly about Palestine/Israel and related issues; sometimes other stuff too
Bernard Spiegal 