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Showing posts from November, 2014

FE Colleges for vocational studies? A recipe for social inequality.

Yes indeed. Further pressure on FE Colleges to provide vocational degrees, reported in the Times Higher Ed . Now I have no problems with vocational degrees, and I have no problems with FE Colleges providing higher education. There is even a certain logic to the idea that FE Colleges are more likely to have the specific resources needed for teaching vocational and technical subjects, and less likely to have the kind of library and journal resources better suited to more academic studies. My problem with this is the way in which it generates a further class divide between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. FE Colleges are usually located in more deprived areas, and are driven by more vicious financial constraints than any other sector. FE Colleges suffer huge government cut backs. FE teachers are paid less than school teachers and students at FE Colleges (particularly HE students) are often there because they have no opportunities of going anywhere else (although you onl

A quick way to search Google Scholar

I have just discovered a rather nice wee shortcut for searching Google Scholar.  You can set it up in the Chrome browser by going to the 'Settings' option from the menu button in the top right of the toobar: