Caliban's Dance concludes the trilogy begun with Further Education
and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and continued with The
Principal: Power and Professionalism in FE. The contributors probed
the question "Where in FE is there space to dance?", then "What
restricts the dance?" Now we ask: "With no restrictions, what would a
future FE dance be like?"
FE is subject to reductive utilitarianism by policymakers; Caliban's
Dance counters with vivid dreams of a sector unfettered. The book's
central metaphor is Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest, a play
that can be read as a manifesto for second chances, transformation, and
learning. The contributors re-imagine FE as utopia: if it is to be
Grimm, they demand that it be so on their own professional terms - as
powerful, democratic, dancers.