About
Forum
ISSN 0963-8253
FORUM: for comprehensive education publishes indispensable analysis, informed comment and, when necessary, forthright criticism of all aspects of United Kingdom government policy as it influences the education of children from primary through to higher education.
Across almost seventy years, the journal has campaigned vigorously for the universal provision of state-provided non-selective education, and to uphold and build on the gains of the past. Teachers, headteachers, parents, governors, educational academics and campaigners read the journal and write for it. Join them!
Editorial Board
Melissa Benn | writer and campaigner, London
Nuala Burgess | King's College, London
Lucy Coleman | early years teacher, Oxfordshire
Sue Cox | formerly School of Education & Lifelong Learning, UEA
Sol Gamsu | University of Durham
Charlotte Haines Lyon | York St John University
Richard Harris | former Cabinet Member for Education, Southampton City Council
Perpetua Kirby | University of Sussex
Gawain Little | General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions
Alpesh Maisuria | University of the West of England
Rachel Marks | Chair, UCL Institute of Education
Jane Martin | University of Birmingham
Peter Moss | UCL Institute of Education
Laura Quick | University College London
Kathryn Spicksley | University of Birmingham
Howard Stevenson | University of Nottingham
Patrick Yarker | Editor-in-chief, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, UEA
Honorary Editorial Members
Roger Seckington
Isobel Armstrong
FORUM is published three times a year in Spring, Summer and Autumn, those three issues constituting one volume.
FORUM's e-books are available for free download:
Renewing public education: proposals for an inclusive, democratic and joyful system
A contribution to policy-discussions before the 2024 General Election, this e-book explores formal education’s purposes. A set of short essays diagnose what’s wrong with the current system, advance proposals to reform key areas-including Early Years, curriculum, assessment, pedagogy, governance and inclusion-and chart a course to better education health under the sign of democratic and joyful comprehensive education.
Another Way of Looking: Michael Armstrong’s Writing for FORUM
Michael Armstrong’s inspiring association with Forum spanned half a century. We offer a selection of his most distinctive, insightful and committed writings for the journal, including ‘Education and Re-construction’, the text of his 2012 Brian Simon Memorial Lecture, and several examples of his extraordinary close and attentive reading and interpretation of stories written by children.
Margaret Meek: A Literate Life
Margaret Meek Spencer worked with teachers and academics to foster a more adequate awareness of what it means to learn to read and write, and having learned, to stay a reader and a writer. The many riches of her scholarly work are critically surveyed by Judith Graham, a long-standing colleague at the University of London Institute of Education. Meek’s probing consideration of literacy, and of the fundamental importance of story, remains vital in a period marked by dogmatic policy and coercive practice in relation to the teaching of reading.