It’s good to see there is life outside the EIS (the Educational Institute of Scotland, that is, not Eaglesham Industrial Services as per our introductory item).
Norman Bissell, the union’s one-time enfant terrible (well, one of many) who has taken the omerta pledge after his translation from activist to official, has made a public reappearance.
Bissell is not on a union soapbox this time but a contributor to a book of essays on the writer Kenneth White, just published under the title Grounding a World (pound;9.95 from all good book stores - that’s enough free advertising).
In a learned and thoughtful piece about White’s role as an educator, Bissell is clearly paying tribute to a kindred spirit (who was actually one of his tutors at university). “It was as a student that Kenneth White began to think about the university and about education, calling in question a great deal of what was going on,” he writes.
As many an EIS leader has known only too well, Bissell has been calling things into question for many years.
