A very short one today, as I’m struggling with a pile of stuff that I’m not sure I understand.
While it’s great that I get to do things I wouldn’t have otherwise be able to, Brexit has also meant I get asked to explain things that are either at the edge of my knowledge, or which are so novel that no-one’s considered them before.
You might have this in your classroom sometimes – I know I still do – so a couple of thoughts on how I handle it.
Firstly, work from what you know.
Nothing is so out-there that it doesn’t touch on something that’s much more settled, so build your conceptual bridge out from that. It not only gives you something more solid to work with, but often it’s where those involved are working from too.
Secondly, consider the range of options.
Politics is great to study because of its uncertainty, but that usually works within a bounded set of pathways. The more you can work through what that set might include, the better you can evaluate how actors might choose among them.
And thirdly, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know.
No-one knows everything and sometimes it’s a matter of either being too early to tell, or too uncertain to guess. Park it, say what would be a marker of things changing in a way that you could tell, so that your audience is left with some tools, even if they don’t get the answer there and then.
Right, back to the world of UK Parliamentary procedure.