Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Stuck! Britain’s social mobility problem

Series
Department of Education Public Seminars
Embed
The Sutton Trust’s Chief Executive, Dr Lee Elliot Major, will argue that Britain has failed to address its problem of low social mobility, drawing on a range of international evidence.
This ‘stickiness’ is particularly persistent at both the top and bottom of society: the privately educated continue to dominate the leading professions and the proportion of children leaving school without basic numeracy and literacy skills remains stubbornly high. Education has largely failed to be the great social leveller; and widening inequality has limited social mobility. Failure to tackle immobility in modern Britain will not only cost the country economically, but lead to ever deeper divisions in society.
Creative Commons Licence
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK (BY-NC-SA): England & Wales; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Episode Information

Series
Department of Education Public Seminars
People
Lee Elliot Major
Keywords
education
society
social mobility
class
economics
Department: Department of Education
Date Added: 24/01/2017
Duration: 00:32:49

Subscribe

Download

Lion Statue

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On whether there were ever lions in Egypt. Today, there are no lions roaming wild in north Africa, but evidence from ancient Egypt suggests that lions once did.
Could this Egyptian pottery lion, dated to 2,325 – 2,175 BC provide clues to what the north African lion might have looked like? Professor David Whyte Macdonald, Wildlife Conservation, University of Oxford. Object number: AN1896–1908E.189

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
David Whyte Macdonald
Keywords
history
archeology
Ashmolean
egypt
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:35

Subscribe

Download

Henry VIII Renaissance Medal

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On Henry VIII and the Founding of the Church of England Minted at London in 1545, this medal shows a bust of Henry VIII, with inscriptions in Hebrew and Greek on the reverse.
As a consequence of Henry’s break with Rome in 1533, he claimed to be 'Supreme head of Church of England.' With Rev. Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, History of the Church, University of Oxford. Object number: HCR6591

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Keywords
history
Ashmolean
religion
henry viii
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:19

Subscribe

Download

Meissen porcelain chocolate cup and tea bowl

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On arranged marriages among royalty.
How does porcelain represent a royal marriage? When Maria Amalia of Saxony married Carlo, King of the Two Sicilies, in 1738, she brought Meissen porcelain with her to Naples. Her grandfather had founded the first European porcelain factory in 1710 and the Saxon court often presented porcelain to ambassadors and others who helped them to broker strategic political marriages. With Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly, German Literature, University of Oxford. Object number: WA1977.246-7.

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly
Keywords
history
Ashmolean
marriage
arranged marriages
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:02:56

Subscribe

Download

Arab robe worn by T. E. Lawrence

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On Lawrence of Arabia and wearing Arab robes. T. E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia was infamous for his scruffy appearance when in the British Khaki uniform, and wore it as little as possible.
However, Lawrence took on quite a different guise when his friend King Faisal of Iraq suggested he dress in his set of Arab wedding clothes. With Professor Eugene Rogan, Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Oxford. Object number: EA1965.176.

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Eugene Rogan
Keywords
Lawrence of Arabia
history
TE Lawrence
Arabia
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:20

Subscribe

Download

Silver-gilt carriage clock

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
This travelling calendar carriage clock dates to 1747–1823. Why would such a clock need to have both lunar and sun time represented on it? With Professor Chris Lintott Astrophysics, University of Oxford.
Object number: WA1949.134

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Chris Lintott
Keywords
history
Ashmolean
clocks
engineering
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:02:57

Subscribe

Download

Ennui by Walter Richard Sickert

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On Viginia Woolf's interpretation of Walter Sickert's painting of Ennui.
Virginia Woolf, the famous author, wrote an essay 'Walter Sickert: a conversation' on the painting of Ennui by Walter Richard Sickert in 1933. Woolf describes how she imagines the characters in the painting as an old publican, 'with his glass on the table before him and a cigar at his lips.' With Professor Dame Hermione Lee, English Literature, University of Oxford.
Object number: WA1940.1.92

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Dame Hermione Lee
Keywords
literaature
art
Virgina Woolf
Walter Sickert
ennui
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:23

Subscribe

Download

Mummified Child

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
On growing up and dying in ancient and modern populations.
What can we learn about the lives of ancient populations and how does this compare to modern societies? The boy lived during the Roman period of ancient Egypt (AD80–120), a time we know a lot about due to the Romans taking censuses and records of illness. With Professor Sarah Harper, Gerontology, University of Oxford.
Object number: AN1888.820

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Sarah Harper
Keywords
history
archeology
mummification
death
Romans
rome
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:13

Subscribe

Download

Carved Stone Ball

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
We still do not know why these stone balls were created. They date to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, between 3200 and 1500 BC.
They are made of various types of rock, such as sandstone or granite. Could they have been made by ancient mathematicians? With Professor Marcus Du Sautoy, Mathematics, University of Oxford. Object number: AN1927.2727

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Marcus du Sautoy
Keywords
mathematics
archaeology
history
Ashmolean
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:01:45

Subscribe

Download

Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus by Édouard Manet

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
Embed
Are Eastern Art and Western Art basically the same, and what is painting for? On Édouard Manet, Cézanne and their similarity to Chinese paintings. With Professor Craig Clunas Art History, University of Oxford.
Object number: WA2012.53

Episode Information

Series
Thinking with Things: The Oxford Collection
People
Craig Clunas
Keywords
art
art history
Manet
Cézanne
Department: Ashmolean Museum
Date Added: 23/01/2017
Duration: 00:03:14

Subscribe

Download

Pagination

  • First page
  • Previous page
  • …
  • Page 1899
  • Page 1900
  • Page 1901
  • Page 1902
  • Page 1903
  • Page 1904
  • Page 1905
  • Page 1906
  • Page 1907
  • …
  • Next page
  • Last page

Footer

  • About
  • Accessibility
  • Contribute
  • Copyright
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Login
'Oxford Podcasts' X Account @oxfordpodcasts | Upcoming Talks in Oxford | © 2011-2026 The University of Oxford