Could the right to a carefree childhood justify social media bans for under-16s? I argue that this claim is less convincing than it first appears. Social media can undermine carefreeness, but may also help to sustain it. philosophy-of-education.org/childhood-ca...

Childhood, Carefreeness and Social Media: The Case Against Social Media Bans - Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain

(Above is an audio recording of the blog post) The UK government has recently announced its intention to ban under-16s from using major social media platforms. Many of the details are still pending, b...

philosophy-of-education.org

New research I conducted for @humanists.uk shows that faith-based selection in school admissions drives racial segregation. Schools able to select 100% of pupils on religious grounds have less ethnically diverse intakes than those subject to the 50% cap. humanists.uk/2026/04/17/r...

Revealed: faith school religious selection drives racial segregation

Research from Humanists UK has revealed that religious selection in state faith school admissions drives racial segregation in their pupil intake. In particular, schools with a 50% cap on faith-based ...

humanists.uk

I am neither a Christian nor a conservative. But even if you are one, or both, you should not support Christian nationalism. Our new piece in Prospect explains why calls to restore Britain as a ‘Christian country’ rely on bad history & dangerous politics. www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/religi...

Christian nationalism is un-conservative

An increasingly vocal minority want the UK to retain its Christian character, even if it has lost its Christian majority

prospectmagazine.co.uk

A victory for children’s rights! But today’s Supreme Court ruling on RE and collective worship matters well beyond Northern Ireland. Here's why:

Humanists UK@humanists.uk · 9mo ago

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Belfast-based non-religious father and his child that the exclusively Christian teaching of Religious Education and mandatory Christian collective worship in Northern Ireland are discriminatory under human rights law.

🎉Out now! Philosophy of Education, my new book with @lauradol4.bsky.social & @janegatley.bsky.social (Palgrave Philosophy Today series). It explores how thinking philosophically about educational concepts can clarify aims & address challenges in policy & practice. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Philosophy of Education

This textbook provides an introductory account of the philosophy of education, focussing on the questions raised by educational policy and practice.

link.springer.com

Educating Responsible Believers - a symposium featuring articles by Nick Burbules, Jeff Standley, @drruthwareham.bsky.social, @lauradol4.bsky.social, @leeseunghyun.bsky.social, Danielle Diver, Nick Tanchuk, Rebecca Taylor, Martha Perez-Mugg, Ben Kotzee and me. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Symposium Introduction: Educating Responsible Believers

Click on the article title to read more.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

That an ally of the UK might make trade contingent on allowing women to be harassed accessing their healthcare is shocking enough, but this story is *full* of monstrous implications that remind us Christian nationalist pressure on our country is only just beginning. www.yahoo.com/news/trump-w...

No free trade with US without free speech, Starmer warned

Sir Keir Starmer’s attempts to strike a free trade deal with the US are at risk over a free speech row.

yahoo.com

A number of my academic papers are listed here, but they're all open access. Is this still a concern? www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

theatlantic.com

Should teachers promote vaccination in the classroom? In my latest (open-access) article, I argue that they should – not only as a safe and effective way to prevent disease, but also as a civic duty. Read more here 👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Should Teachers Promote Vaccination?

The Covid-19 pandemic brought the importance of vaccination and public attitudes toward it firmly to the fore. However, vaccine hesitancy and refusal remain significant barriers to global uptake, wit....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

📢New article in Educational Theory: Should teachers promote vaccination? I argue yes - & show that all the major criteria for teaching controversial issues (epistemic, political, & pluralist) support this. #Vaccination #ScienceEducation #CivicEducation onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Should Teachers Promote Vaccination?

The Covid-19 pandemic brought the importance of vaccination and public attitudes toward it firmly to the fore. However, vaccine hesitancy and refusal remain significant barriers to global uptake, wit...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

If you (or someone you know) have recently left a high-control religious group or cult, Faith to Faithless is here to help. You can find out more below👇

Humanists UK@humanists.uk · last yr.

Leaving a high-control religious group can be one of the most painful experiences anyone can face. That's where our service #FaithtoFaithless comes in. We help people leaving high-control religious groups. Our beautiful animation – launching today – brings these deeply personal stories to life. 🧵

I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean Immanuel! 😂 youtu.be/8qNK1tt6L5k?...

Bigger Finding # 2: Outrage-evoking misinfo seems to have little concern for truth It is shared more w/out reading, but people still could tell you it wasn't true, they just don't care In other words, we basically prove the adage "YOU CAN'T BRING FACTS TO A FEELINGS FIGHT" 7/

And our findings: Big Finding #1: First we found that misinfo consistently evokes more outrage than trustworthy news, and when it does it is shared more. Interestingly, *this is specific to outrage* !! It is not just a general association with negative emotion in general. 6/

It is vitally important that the Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill doesn't inadvertently reintroduce higher levels of religious selection in state schools. Faith-based admissions are bad for children, families, & local communities. Ideally, they should be scrapped altogether.

Humanists UK@humanists.uk · 2y ago

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 🚨 If not amended, certain clauses of the Children's Wellbeing Bill would have the potentially unintended consequence of reverting back to levels of religious selection not seen in English schools since 2007. humanists.uk/2024/12/20/h...

People sometimes make fun of science that sounds stupid and random. Meanwhile, a study of lizard saliva turned into a peptide medication, which was turned into a diabetes medication, which was turned into a GLP1 weight loss drug, that just became the first therapy every approved for … sleep apnea

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2y ago

Breaking News: The FDA approved use of the weight loss drug Zepbound for a common form of sleep apnea. It is the first drug authorized to treat the disorder.

a short thread of Nicolas Cage resembling various philosophers 1. Spinoza

Don't search for me.

Hane@hane.bsky.social · 2y ago

fun fact: if you search Google Images for the philosopher Alexander Bird, this is what you get. they've coordinated their outfits incredibly well.

Yesterday, Wales Humanists published damning research showing the nearly half of Welsh Catholic schools discriminate against vulnerable care-experienced children in their admissions. humanists.uk/2024/12/05/a...

Almost half of Welsh Catholic schools discriminate against children in care

Catholic schools are failing disadvantaged and vulnerable children across Wales. This is the damning conclusion from a new report which scrutinised school admissions arrangements in every school in Wa...

humanists.uk

The parliamentary debate on #AssistedDying today was impressive. Emotional, carefully argued, and respectful points were made on all sides. Democracy at its best.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has passed its Second Reading. A historic first step to meet the aspirations of the public, who overwhelmingly support having choice, dignity, and compassion at the end of their lives. #AssistedDyingBill #YestoDignity #AssistedDying

The fight for a compassionate assisted dying law needs you. This Friday at 09:00-12:00, we're rallying in Parliament Square, London, to coincide with the first debate of the Assisted Dying Bill. Will you stand with us? humanists.uk/events/assis...

‘You can’t ban assisted dying, you can only ban people doing it safely.’ Nathan Stilwell from @humanists.uk calls for reforming the UK’s assisted dying laws, highlighting the suffering of families and terminally ill under the current system 📜 Read more👇 chamberuk.com/reforming-as...

The Case for Compassion: Reforming Assisted Dying Laws in the UK - ChamberUK

In this exclusive op-ed, Nathan Stilwell highlights the urgent need for assisted dying reform in the UK, emphasising the suffering caused by current laws and lessons from compassionate practices abroa...

chamberuk.com

It’s #WorldPhilosophyDay today, so why not listen to a few episodes of the Philosophy Bites podcast - over 300 to choose from on Spotify, Apple Podcasts etc podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...

Philosophy Bites

Philosophy Podcast · 379 Episodes · Monthly

podcasts.apple.com

Next week Glenn Bezalel will address the challenge of teaching about conspiracy theories in the University of Birmingham Philosophy of Education Research Seminar Series. All welcome.

The challenge of teaching about conspiracy theories

Philosophy of Education Research Seminar Series

birmingham.ac.uk