PRISM Journal PRISM Volume 3. Issue 1 (2020) https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 95 © 2020 PRISM, ISSN: 2514-5347 PRISM Editorial: Transitions and Challenges Craig Hammond School of Education, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK (C.A.Hammond@ljmu.ac.uk) 1. Transitions This is the first PRISM volume and issue to be published under the new journal management team, and the new OJS journal management system. As the new team of journal managing editors (myself, Dave Allan, and Peter Ford), our intention was to not only maintain but also wherever possible improve the generic education-based remit and experimental nature of the journal. With this mind, we think that the changes implemented so far have generated a number of positive developments. Firstly, the new structure of the PRISM OJS platform offers a number of enhanced publication features: the publication interface of the journal now organises and publishes articles under the following categories: Themed Research Papers Themed Think Pieces General Research Papers General Think Pieces Book Reviews And, of course, the new PRISM Blog The above categories and types of paper means that each volume and issue can have a specific theme – a theme and a Call-for-Papers (CfP) negotiated, developed and implemented by a team of Guest Editors; (the Creativity Theme published as part of this issue above is the first example of this). The next theme, attached to Volume 3 Issue 2, will be Guest Edited by Francis Farrell, Vini Lander and Shereen Shaw, on the theme of ‘The mission of integration’, repression, subjugation and discipline in civic nationalist education policy and practice. After this (Volume 4 Issue 1) will focus on the theme of Working Class Academics. This Themed Issue and CfP emerged from the first International Working Class Academics conference, which ran on the 14th and 15th of July 2020. This will be Guest Edited by Peter Shukie, Kay Sidebottom, and Mollie Baker. (Working Class Academics Themed Issue CfP is still live and can be accessed here). Whilst developing this rolling notion of Themed and Guest Edited issues for each volume (focusing on a dedicated and specific area), we also wanted to ensure that we were able to protect the open and generic nature of PRISM. Hence the General Research Paper and General Think Piece sections – which authors can routinely submit articles and research papers to – means that the eclectic education-related remit of the journal (on wider practice, theory and philosophy) is maintained. The addition of the Early View section to the PRISM publishing platform means that all accepted papers can be made available to the academic community as soon as is practicably possible. By comparison, other education-based journals tend to operate to a tight and highly specified research and publication remit. However, we didn’t want to do this to/with PRISM; we wanted to become more proactive in targeting, engaging with and inviting an eclecticity of colleagues and wider networks to consider PRISM as a publishing platform. Currently, there do not seem to be many robust journals that either will – or can – afford Guest Editorial teams a very real, flexible, creative and innovative space to not only democratically engage with, but actually shape and take innovative risks with. https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/ mailto:C.A.Hammond@ljmu.ac.uk https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/ mailto:farrellf@edgehill.ac.uk mailto:vini.lander@leedsbeckett.ac.uk mailto:shereen.shaw@edgehill.ac.uk https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/the-mission-of-integration-repression-subjugation-and-discipline-in-civic-nationalist-education-policy-and-practice/ https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/the-mission-of-integration-repression-subjugation-and-discipline-in-civic-nationalist-education-policy-and-practice/ https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/06/12/the-mission-of-integration-repression-subjugation-and-discipline-in-civic-nationalist-education-policy-and-practice/ https://workingclass-academics.co.uk/post-conference/ mailto:peter.shukie@blackburn.ac.uk mailto:k.sidebottom@leedsbeckett.ac.uk mailto:mlb60@cam.ac.uk https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/announcement/view/17 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0738-5364 PRISM Hammond (2020) PRISM 96 3(1) As it is, PRISM, with its new and flexible structure can venture into that terrain; together I hope that we can manoeuvre in to diverse and interesting directions. Amidst the ubiquitous and escalating pressures placed on academics through targets, performative requirements and managerialist-based expectations (emanating from all of our places of work), PRISM might well be unique in this regard. As a nomadic publishing entity, we welcome Prismatic Bedouins, (see Peter Ford’s excellent PRISM Blog entry On the New Bedouins: discontinuity and disruption in education). We believe there is a space and an important need for untrammeled, risky, challenging and unpredictable offerings in relation to education-based research and writing. Unfortunately, these important principles appear to be becoming relics almost, that hark back to a period when knowledge and education was considered (at least a potential source of) potent, utopian and transformative practice; a key vehicle for constructive personal and social transformation. We would therefore like contributors and readers to target and associate PRISM with these key principles. For us, it is definitely a positive that PRISM is so fluid and malleable. Prismatic Bedouinism contains the potential to stand academic journalistic writing back on its ‘feet’. In a pedagogic sense, the metamorphic skein of PRISM has a flexibility that can yield and shape around the creative and innovative interests of any and all collaborators and Guest Editorial teams. For us, it is very clear, we either constrain contributors through the banisters of editorial shackles; or, we try to take a risk on developing something different. By endeavouring to pique the hungers, and creative interests of colleagues who also – hopefully – aspire for something more and something better, we can achieve a publishing platform that facilitates the dissemination of something more than a vehicle for churning out perfunctory academic sameness. To those of you hoping to engage with and produce something different, something impassioned, provocative, critical, and with future-focused tactics and ideas, we hope to hear from you. 2. Challenges By I would like to pay tribute to the team of Guest Editors (Anna, Emma, Neil and Chrissi) who developed and successfully took forward this Themed Issue on Creativity. Not only did the team have to navigate PRISMs new systems and processes as part of the transition to the Open Journal System (OJS), but they had to do this amidst the many challenges and obstacles created by COVID-19. The interesting breadth and quality of the papers produced is impressive. In addition to the articles published under the Themed Issue of creativity, PRISM also published two articles under the General Research Papers category. Strudwick & Johnson’s article Learning from collaborative ‘conversations’ on the Students as Producer Pedagogic model: students’ views, and Enriquez’s article Paper-work: what module guides have to say about assessment practices. The papers are excellent examples of diverse and innovative academic writing – they embody everything that PRISM aspires to support and produce. Strudwick & Johnson’s piece exemplifies a productive pedagogic and research collaboration between a Higher Education (HE) and College based Higher Education (CBHE) institution. As PRISM was conceived within and grew out of the CBHE environment, we are proud to publish this piece, and welcome more submissions (and possible Guest Editorial collaborations) with colleagues in the CBHE sector. Enriquez’s article is also worthy of note and celebration. As a draft manuscript, this piece had been submitted previously to a number of “mainstream” education journals purporting to publish radical and critical research on assessment and pedagogy. However, the piece had been ‘rejected’ due to not fitting with the principles or ethos of those journals. After PRISM published this article, the author was contacted by an influential and high profile professor, who complimented and supported them in the production of an important piece of critical scholarship. Craig Hammond – PRISM Deputy Editor (Editorial lead on the Creativity Themed Issue). https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/326 https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/326 https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/326 https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/369 https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/369 PRISM Hammond (2020) PRISM 97 3(1) 3. Disclosure statement The author(s) declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. 4. Acknowledgements All of the work that takes place behind the scenes in the production of papers prior to publication (such as copyediting and formatting) is incredibly time consuming, and is often conducted by people that rarely get outward recognition. I would like to thank Lauren Weston for her unwavering commitment, support and work behind the scenes. I don’t think that this Themed Issue could have been published without the copyediting and wider support work that she has provided. I would also like to thank Cath Dishman the Open Access and Digital Scholarship Librarian at LJMU, for her time, expertise and invaluable support with organising and setting up the OJS journal platform, and supporting the PRISM editors. 5. Open Access Policy This journal provides immediate open access to its content with no submission or publications fees. This journal article is published under the following Creative Commons Licence: This licence allows others to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to this article (and other works in this journal), and/or to use them for any other lawful purpose in accordance with the licence. PRISM is also indexed in the world largest open- access database: DOAJ (the Directory of Open Access Journals). DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. 6. To cite this article: Hammond, C. A. (2020). PRISM Editorial: Transitions and Challenges. PRISM, 3(1), 95-98 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 https://doaj.org/toc/2514-5347?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22terms%22%3A%7B%22index.issn.exact%22%3A%5B%222514-5347%22%5D%7D%7D%2C%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22article%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22match_all%22%3A%7B%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22size%22%3A100%2C%22_source%22%3A%7B%7D%7D https://doaj.org/toc/2514-5347?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22terms%22%3A%7B%22index.issn.exact%22%3A%5B%222514-5347%22%5D%7D%7D%2C%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22article%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22match_all%22%3A%7B%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22size%22%3A100%2C%22_source%22%3A%7B%7D%7D https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.03012012 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://doaj.org/ PRISM Hammond (2020) PRISM 98 3(1) 7. References Enriquez, J. (2020). Paper-work: what module guides have to say about assessment practices. PRISM, 3(1), 99-112 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.0301206 Ford, P. (2020, April 29). On the New Bedouins: discontinuity and disruption in education. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from PRISM Education Journal Blog: https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/202 0/04/29/on-the-new-bedouins-discontinuity-and- disruption-in-education/ Strudwick, J; & Johnson, P. (2020). Learning from collaborative ‘conversations’ on the Students as Producer Pedagogic model: students’ views. PRISM, 3(1), 113-125 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.0301201 https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.0301206 https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/on-the-new-bedouins-discontinuity-and-disruption-in-education/ https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/on-the-new-bedouins-discontinuity-and-disruption-in-education/ https://prismeducationjournal.wordpress.com/2020/04/29/on-the-new-bedouins-discontinuity-and-disruption-in-education/ https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.0301201