“This book challenges and poses dilemmas as to the nature and relevance of effective communication, within teaching and learning, in the present global climate. The evidence presented is important and applicable for both policy makers and practitioners. Academics and practitioners, from diverse backgrounds, offer pragmatic approaches towards a holistic education, which questions the development of the whole person in the context of future lifelong learning. Conversational leadership is explored as an important concept, a process and a way forward, addressing some of the inadequacies or so-called holes of Swiss Cheese Learning, witnessed in traditional educational models. The approaches in the text empower & inspire individuals to be more reflective & reflexive in pedagogy and practice. It is only through sharing best practice from interdisciplinary dialogue that a model of genuine inclusivity can be attained, sustained & valued. The text presents a way forward.”
– Stasia Cwenar, Linguist and Expert in Educational Needs, Leicester and Liverpool Hope Universities
“The book draws attention to a wide range of factors facing education and training today requiring consideration in the context of global mobility. It draws upon the 2020 OECD evaluation of traditional UK education as narrow and exam driven based on memorisation. Schleicher (2020) argues the role of education is to support and integrate students’ personal, practical and academic competencies. The book’s contents are therefore wide-ranging and challenge UK and Western values, including the curriculum and pedagogy. Readers may reflect upon the idea that teachers and trainers lacking language, cultural knowledge and experience may judge employee or student competence according to individualist Western culture’s mixed expectations e.g. silence, debate and eye-contact. This is contrasted with non-Western interactions, such as those valuing informality, collectivism and cooperation and those in which respect is shown by avoiding eye-contact. The discussion extends to education and training content in a global context, embracing technology, robotics and the media. There is much interesting, stimulating content in the book to engage, interest and challenge industrial and political leaders, as well as everyone involved at all levels of education. It is suitable for stakeholders in education wishing to understand background.”
– Jennifer Rogers, Linguist and Psychologist, Open, Northampton, Leicester and Liverpool Hope Universities
“The editors have recently produced 2 thought-provoking books – Paradoxes in Education (Sense) & The Robots Are Here (Buckingham University Press) to show-case the developmental work of Practitioner Doctoral participants. This text completes a winning trio, with the legend of Two Wolves a timely reminder of our human nature in the final chapter. This story of a grandfather uses a metaphor of 2 wolves fighting within him to explain his inner love-hate conflicts to a grandson. When the boy asks which wolf wins, the grandfather answers: ‘whichever he chooses to feed is the one that wins’. The book evidence explains how in unstable communities and uncertain times people’s bad side surges forward. A 2020 pandemic has presented the human good side and this force can rid the world of disadvantage and discrimination as the big barriers to progress and productivity. Billy Ocean’s new album One World, with the triumph of love, reflects the stories told in this inspiring, gripping text to reinforce education’s positive role in development.”
– Alice Keens-Soper, Head of Specialist Factual at Oxford Scientific Films and Executive Producer at the Natural History Unit