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Sean

@shocktigan.bsky.social

1.1K followers 1.2K following 380 posts

Materialist. Educational Psychologist. Writer of stuff relating to psychology and Marxism at - https://borrowed-language.ghost.io Speaking here in a personal capacity, not on behalf of any organisation.

borrowed-language.ghost.io

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Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 25d

CW: death.

A blog post about the sudden death of my father earlier this year.

I wrote it as an attempt to understand why we struggle so much to psychologically process experiences of death, dying and loss under late capitalism.

Enjoy(?)

#psychology

borrowed-language.ghost.io/theres-nothi...

THERE'S NOTHING ROYAL ABOUT THE PLACE WE'RE GOING TO

CW: Detailed descriptions of death and dying. This blog was supposed to be focused on Marxism and psychology, and I promise my future writing will be more directly related to those themes, yet it see...

borrowed-language.ghost.io

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

V fair enough!

There’s barely any people on the tills at our shop now.

Just one person running around trying to fix all the problems with the ‘self service’ checkouts.

Not good!

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

Guy in lab coat in front of a glass cage inside of which humans are being forced by gunpoint to re-enact the entire plot of The Wolf of Wall Street:

‘Gary! We’ve run the numbers and it turns out the human doesn’t interact well with the other human in this totally neutral lab environment’

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

Liberals can only make sense of the world by taking little bits of it and doing randomised controlled trials on them…

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

Liberals can only make sense of the world by taking little bits of it and doing randomised controlled trials on them…

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

What kind of thing?

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 4h

Remember back in the early 2000s when there were actual humans behind tills who you used to have actual interactions with…

Well they never used to target banking ads at you, did they!

Things are just better now.

A new development in the automation cycle whereby the supermarket replaces all their staff with self checkout screens and then one day they suddenly start advertising to you on said screen as your trying to pay for a chocolate bar and some bananas

(Pic is of a self checkout screen advertising nationwide bank)

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 5h

No interest in discussing the politics of a highly politicised issue…pure ideology!

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 7h

Furthermore, looking at intervention efficacy would depend on socio-political questions like ‘what are you measuring for?’ ‘What does good learning look like?’ ‘What do we consider success?’

You can’t talk about behaviour in schools fully without engaging in some form of socio-political analysis.

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 7h

Whose yelling? I’m not.

Behaviour policies in this country have moved towards behaviourism due to political decisions. (As a psychologist I can unpack the problems therein if you want?)

Discounting the socio-political nature of how this came to be is, ironically, deeply ideological.

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 7h

(to the tune of Dakota)

thinkin’ bout wanting to chew
but my jaw’s displaced
what am I going to do?

Stereophonics cancel shows after Kelly Jones suffers "displaced jaw joint"
The band's upcoming UK tour is currently "set to go ahead as planned"

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 8h

I was trying to engage in good faith there.

I think societal accountability vs individual accountability is an interesting topic, worthy of exploration.

Maybe I’m just ideologically blinded by my Marxist tendencies - unable to see things as they truly are!

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 10h

Furthermore, do we expect more accountability from *all children* as they grow? Or is there a class dimension to this?

Do the Boris Johnsons of this world have to accept accountability as they grow? Or is this a sliding scale whereby the poorer you are the more accountable you have to be?

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 10h

When does society become accountable for providing good jobs for school leavers? What about safe living conditions?

Why aren’t schools held accountable to ensure children aren’t put in isolation booths or are able to access the toilet when they need?

Accountability should be a two way street.

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 10h

I think accountability is a really interesting concept to explore. We expect children to become more accountable over time as society and systems have become less accountable.

Reposted by Sean

Sue Cowley @suecowley.bsky.social · 16h

Of all the things that annoy me about transphobes, this one *really* annoys me because the *actual users* of the pond have already made it abundantly clear that they want to be trans inclusive. What was that about listening to women again?

Good Law Project @goodlawproject.bsky.social · 16h

A transphobic pressure group is trying to ban trans women from Hampstead women’s pond – it's time to fight back

https://goodlawproject.org/petition/keep-hampstead-womens-pond-inclusive

Keep Hampstead women’s pond inclusive

A transphobic pressure group is trying to ban trans women from Hampstead women’s pond – we’re fighting back

goodlawproject.org

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 15h

The point I’m making is not that support isn’t given, teachers do excellent work…the point is they do this excellent work within in a system that doesn’t meet their needs or the needs of young people.

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 15h

I’d argue there are many reasons for absence as a problem emerging, some societal, but those that are school-based would include:

- zero tolerance
- didactic pedagogies
- poor links between learning and the real world
- lack of incentives to learn (eg good jobs, wide range of skills celebrated)

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 15h

Sure large numbers of pupils find school a place that is enjoyable…but there’s lots of evidence out there that suggests large numbers don’t.

I’m just saying, if the root causes of persistent absences were tackled we wouldn’t have to absence proof the curriculum.

Just two in five pupils in England always feel safe in school, survey finds - guardian headline 2024

Nearly a third of UK secondary pupils avoid school due to anxiety, survey finds - guardian headline 2024

Edurio research

Pupil Wellbeing Report 2023
Our new research reveals stark data on children's wellbeing and emotional health in English schools. Highlighting views from 184,000 pupils, this report provides an overview of the insights gained into emotional, physical, and social wellbeing.
We highlight key differences in wellbeing between pupils of different year groups, genders and school characteristics like school phase and Ofsted ratings.
Key learnings discussed in the report include:
• Overall Wellbeing: Wellbeing has worsened significantly since 2020
• Happiness at School: Pupils' happiness to be studying at their school has decreased by 15% since 2020/21

This year's report shows that around 1 in 16 children (6%) aged 10 to 15 are unhappy with their lives, and almost 1 in 8 (12%) are unhappy with school. The 2022 Good Childhood Report uses Understanding Society data from the years 2019-2020, which covers the start of the Covid pandemic, disruption to schooling and a period of economic uncertainty for families.
Over 2,100 children completed an
Understanding Society survey is this time period.

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 16h

Emotionally Based School Avoidance has been put forward as a key reason for the spike in persistent absence.

Though I totally agree that poverty and other social problems absolutely need to be addressed

Also important to note how intertwined all these factors are!

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 1d

A bad edit of James o’brien’s book about how he does everything right but it’s ‘How to form a political party right’ by ‘Your Party’ instead.

Pic of Corbs and Karie Murphy over the top of o’brien’s face

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 1d

Why is the conversation never about making school a pleasant place for children to be?

Creating a school system that children *want* to be present within is the only way to solve the problem of persistent absence

Tes magazine @tesmagazine.bsky.social · 1d

With schools facing problems with persistent absence, @greeborunner.bsky.social shares advice on making sure that gaps in attendance don’t translate into gaps in learning

How to ‘absence-proof’ your curriculum

As schools across the country struggle to tackle persistent absence, Zoe Enser offers advice on how to make sure any gaps in attendance don’t translate to gaps in learning

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 1d

Over 1 in 10 MPs are landlords and nearly half of those belong to the Labour Party.

Any party that benefits so brazenly from extracting capital from the working class can never be on their side

Politics UK @politlcsuk.bsky.social · 3d

🚨 NEW: The Green Party's conference has voted for a motion that makes abolishing landlords a party policy

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 1d

In which Joe Wicks aims to think in ‘revolutionary terms’ and instead of toppling the government (or at least agitating for better regulation) he develops and sells a protein bar that’s really really bad for you to raise awareness 🫡

Textbook Marxist-Leninism

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill review – TV so vile you’ll never touch a protein bar again

The lockdown star pulls a Jamie Oliver and gets political, creating a ‘killer’ snack bar that’s as harmful as possible ... to show up how hellish some of those on the market are. It’s frightening vie...

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Sean

Juzabel @juzabel.bsky.social · 2d

"She could have had the lucrative career of performative activism she was being lined up for. But by shunning this path, she shows up so many liberals for the frauds they are. She also puts a spotlight on all the big climate scientists who’ve never once said genocide is bad for the environment."

Nate Bear @natebear1.bsky.social · 2d

The liberal class once hailed Greta Thunberg's values. But Thunberg stepped outside of her lane and transgressed against the only true values the liberal class understands: imperial values. For this they abandoned her open.substack.com/pub/donotpan...

The Liberal Abandonment Of Greta Thunberg

The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has been detained by Israel and reportedly maltreated by her Israeli captors after she was kidnapped, along with hundreds of other activists, from Gaza’s territoria...

open.substack.com

Reposted by Sean

Left Foot Forward @left-foot-forward.bsky.social · 3d

The Green Party has called for the IDF to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation

Green Party conference calls for the Israeli Defence Forces to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation

Members overwhelmingly voted for the motion

leftfootforward.org

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 2d

‘Sean, why do you complain about MATs so much’?
- a colleague/friend

Going to write something on why the move to multi-academy trusts, alongside the destruction of local authorities and public services has been devastating to education…(at some point)

#edusky

Sean @shocktigan.bsky.social · 2d

According to Companies House - the ‘not for profit’ Multi-Academy Trust this person works for has a total of £93,794,324 in assets, according to their 2024 balance sheet

£4,757,495 of that is described as ‘cash at bank and in hand’

#edusky

Tes magazine @tesmagazine.bsky.social · 2d

Fixing the SEND system is not about more money – it’s about spending what we have more wisely and avoiding waste, says this SEND director