I had this feeling that the house would be a lot cleaner once I'd retired. This has proven to be completely untrue, but today I suddenly realised why. Before I reveal all, let's just think about academics and housework more generally. First, cleaners: we don't have one. Lots of my academic friends do, whether they… Continue reading Housework for academics
Tag: Reading
Redundancy in universities
(written before The Open University began its extensive voluntary severance programme in 2018, but with a few relevant additions in italics...) It's déjà vu all over again... I had a bad case of déjà vu this week, as the universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth and Sunderland announced job cuts. I went through this at Reading in 2010… Continue reading Redundancy in universities
Harassment and sexual misconduct: discussing the unthinkable
Issues of power and consent in higher education: as harassment advisor and from the other side
The times I taught well
Some students love the way you teach: others don't. That's just a fact, and if you're going to survive the end-of-module evaluations, you'd better accept it. I've been thinking again about teaching after an exchange with one of our MA students last week. He was mildly concerned that he wasn't taking many notes from the… Continue reading The times I taught well
The retiring academic 