Economics

Question: Are we Taught to become ‘Economically Viable Products’? What is the Purpose of Education?

Date: 17th January 2017
Podcast: HERE

Panel:
Prof. Margaret Stevens (Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford)
David Weston (CEO, Teacher Development Trust)
Garima Jaju (DPhil in International Development)

Chair: Sudheesh Ramapurath Chemmencheri (DPhil in International Development)
Organiser: Heather Mann (DPhil in History)

Speaker Biographies:

Prof. Margaret Stevens is a Senior Research Fellow in Economics at Lincoln College, Oxford. She is currently Head of the Economics Department of the University. After completing an MSc in mathematics at the University of Oxford in the 1970s, she worked as a statistician and as a secondary school teacher, before returning to Oxford to study economics at Nuffield College. She finished her doctorate in 1993 and has since then been involved in teaching and research in Oxford. Her main research interests lie in labour economics, particularly equilibrium research and matching models and their application to labour market policy questions. Other areas of interest include government policies towards education and health.

David Weston is Chief Executive of the Teacher Development Trust (TDT), Chair of the Department for Education (England) Teachers’ Professional Development Expert Group, and a founding Director of the Chartered College of Teaching. A former maths and physics teacher (MEng (Oxon) ALCM PGCE) with nine years experience, and a current school governor, David founded the TDT in 2012. He writes and speaks widely in media and at conferences and advises ministers and policy makers around professional development.

Garima is a DPhil candidate in International Development. Before this she completed the MPhil in Development Studies. Her research revolves around questions of imagination, practice and politics of work and work identities. Currently, she is completing her fieldwork in North India where she is focusing upon workers in the service economy in organised retail. Her essay, entitled ‘The Cultural Production of an “Employable Person”: A Case of Madrasa Students in West Bengal, India’ was awarded the Malang South Asia Essay Prize.