Games and Interpretation

I have recently read the book Das Neue Lernen heißt Verstehen (New Learning means Understanding) by German neurobiologist Henning Beck. He develops the idea of understanding as the goal of learning from the study of how our brains work. Scholars like David Perkins [1] have developed a similar concept of understanding as performance from studying … Continue reading Games and Interpretation →

Good-bye heritage? Reflections on changing sectors

Next week, I will take up a new post and in doing so, I will formally be leaving the heritage and museum sectors that I have worked in over the past years. From now on, I will be working in the further education and socio-cultural sector. I will admit that when I first read the … Continue reading Good-bye heritage? Reflections on changing sectors →

Interpretation and Journeys Into the Past

According to my visitor interviews to date [1], the key benefits visitors get from visiting a heritage site are ‘being in the place where history happened’, ‘imagining what it was like’, and ‘[expressing] national or personal identity’[2]. This made me think of the title of David Lowenthal’s book: The Past is a Foreign Country [3]. … Continue reading Interpretation and Journeys Into the Past →

QCF – A case for interpreters

The Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) is well established across Britain. In the words of Ofqual, the body that administers the framework, it aims to provide ‘a simple yet flexible’ qualifications system that is ‘inclusive, responsive, accessible [and] non-bureaucratic’. What does it have to do with interpretation, you wonder? That’s simple: it’s another way of … Continue reading QCF – A case for interpreters →