Opinion

Here I comment on a wide range of issues from education to politics, the arts and more. I welcome lively and opinionated debate, so please leave your comments.

  • Two reasons why school trips go wrong

    This blog explores the issues involved with school trips, considering the reasons why problems happen. It follows an interview I did about the matter on Talk TV, December 2024.

  • Towards boundary crossing: primary and secondary school teachers teaching creative writing and its redrafting

    This academic article, written by Professor Tom Dobson and I, explores the research we did looking at primary and secondary school teachers attitudes towards creative writing and redrafting. This is a rare piece of research which compares primary and secondary school teachers’ approaches to teaching creative writing. It shows that primary school teachers can be formulaic in the way they teach creative writing, using product approaches. However, in secondary schools the picture is different: teachers, particularly those, who are writers themselves, give students more agency in redrafting and shaping their writing. This indicates how professional development should involve primary and secondary school teachers in dialogue with one another to cross boundaries of practice.

  • The British Library, research and creative writing

    Creative writing can be used to help people engage with the British Library and its collection. MA students led members of the public through the Library, inviting creative responses to its archive and exhibitions.

  • What can the opera ‘Carmen’ teach us about domestic violence?

    A blog written for my publishers, Blue Door Press, which explores how and why the opera ‘Carmen’ can be seen as a critique of violence and masculinity.

  • Four reasons there is a Connected Curriculum at Goldsmiths

    Why bring all the students at a university together to learn critical thinking and research skills?

  • Why are three in ten teachers bringing in food for hungry pupils?

    58% of households in the bottom fifth of incomes have cut down on or skipped meals, or gone hungry because there was not enough money for food. That is 3.4 million households. Poverty-stricken households would form one of the biggest cities in the UK.

  • Inspiring Creative Writing and Learning: Multidisciplinary Approaches

    How and why creative writing can be improved by a multidisciplinary approach including freewriting, drawing and art, writing letters to different audiences (even imaginary ones)

  • Parklife Project: Students’ Creative Advocacy for Local Parks

    This article explores the research primary school pupils carried out in order to improve their local park in east London. It shows how they produced creative outputs such as pictures, models and poems which enabled them to both research their local park and advocate for change.

  • Four reasons we should all learn about Green Careers (+ some top job hunting tips!)

    A recount of the Green Careers event that I co-ran (with Widening Participation, the Horniman Museum, and Lewisham’s Young People’s Climate Network) in May 2024 at Goldsmiths University.

  • Of Note- Four Ways Taking Notes have Enriched My Life

    Notes have helped me remember; they’re my safe space; they’re therapeutic; and they’ve liberated my imagination

  • Four ways education can make the world more socially just

    Abstract or Description This article enumerates four ways that education can make the world more socially just, drawing upon the expertise of the educationalist in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths. Reference: Gilbert, Francis. 2024. Four ways education can make the world more socially just. Educational Studies blog, [Article] TextSocial Justice Feb 2024.pdf – Accepted VersionAvailable […]

  • ‘I need you to jump out of your seat and go plant more flowers!’

    What do primary school children in Lambeth want for their local parks? It’s February 2024, and a cold, rainy morning outside Hillmead Primary School, but inside their assembly hall, the Year 3/4 (8-9 year olds) pupils are happy and engaged. Some of their classmates are delivering speeches about what they want from their local parks […]

  • Why do children misbehave in school? Here are 5 reasons.

    I appeared on Vanessa Feltz’s Talk TV show discussing the misbehaviour of children in school. I enumerated these reasons: To learn more about this topic, it’s worth reading this BERA blog.

  • Four reasons why children are being excluded from school

    An article which explores the reasons why children are excluded from school.

  • Aesthetic Learning, Creative Writing and English Teaching

    ‘Aesthetic learning’ can be helpful for English teachers, because we are all ‘aesthetic learners’: we learn to appreciate the qualities of the worlds we inhabit, whether actual or virtual.

  • Decolonising Creative Writing

    You can access the PowerPoint for this lecture here. Please do not publish it without first gaining my consent. References •Begum, N., & Saini, R. (2019). Decolonising the Curriculum. Political Studies Review, 17(2), 196-201. •Crinson, M. (2003) Modern Architecture and the End of Empire. (Aldershot: Ashgate 2003) •Evaristo, B. (2020) The Long Form Patriarchs, and […]

  • My Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Audio Book is now published: free copies available, read more here!

    A discussion about the creation of my audio book for my best selling study guide on the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’.

  • What happened to the New Man?

    As I’ve pointed out in previous blogs, the process of listening to the audiobook of Who Do You Love has been enriching for me, making me return to the text some years after writing it. Christopher James  reads the book more slowly than me, taking his time, giving the narrator’s voice a melancholic, deadpan quality. […]

  • Making an audio book out of my novel, Who Do You Love

    I’m very excited to be working on an audio book version of Who Do You Love, my novel which I published with Blue Door Press in 2017. I have investigated ways of doing this over the years, having a go at reading myself. I found that although I can be an expressive reader — some […]

  • Five Ways to Revolutionise Reading in Your School

    These suggestions are based on the points raised at the Reading Revolution Conference held at Goldsmiths, University of London on Saturday 23rd September 2017. ONE: Encourage Reading for Pleasure Read for the sake of reading. Read aloud, read in groups, read in pairs, read silently. Read poems, stories, articles, blogs, relevant social media and so […]