‘Don't talk about what you don't know’: on (not) conducting research with/in Indigenous contexts

This article raises the recurrent question whether non-indigenous researchers should attempt to research with/in Indigenous communities. If research is indeed a metaphor of colonization, then we have two choices: we have to learn to conduct research in ways that meet the needs of Indigenous communities and are non-exploitative, culturally appropriate and inclusive, or we need to relinquish our roles as researchers within Indigenous contexts and make way for Indigenous researchers. Both of these alternatives are complex. Hence in this article I trace my learning journey; a journey that has culminated in the realization that it is not my place to conduct research within Indigenous contexts, but that I can use ‘what I know’ – rather than imagining that I know about Indigenous epistemologies or Indigenous experiences under colonialism – to work as an ally with Indigenous researchers. Coming as I do, from a position of relative power, I can also contribute in some small way to the project of decolonizing methodologies by speaking ‘to my own mob’.     

An account of practice: employing drawings and stories to enable reflective learning

Facilitating reflection for personal growth in a business context requires careful thought and planning. As a learning process, Business-Driven Action Learning (BDAL) has two points of focus. It aims to firstly identify and make recommendations regarding a business challenge, whist secondly facilitating potentially significant individual personal learning and growth. The research reported in this account of practice focused on personal learning by exploring the potential for individuals to experience transformative learning during a BDAL process. During the research I used a number of methods including hand-drawn images and in-depth interviews to enable the writing of interpretive stories. Findings revealed that participants found reflection during and after the BDAL beneficial. They gained insights into what they learnt, what changed since the BDAL experience and also what they still need to focus on. The findings have practical implications for the action learning facilitator of BDAL during management development programmes. One of the ways action learning facilitators can initiate the reflection process of new participants is to share the experience of previous participants. ‘Sandy’s interpretive story’, contained in this article, is such an example and includes hand-drawn images of her learning journey. I argue that the use of interpretative stories helps new participants understand programme challenges and stimulates their individual learning journey.     

Teaching through an ethics of belonging,care and obligation as a critical approach to transforming education

This paper considers the experiences of a New Zealand family and their ‘disabled’ daughter Clare’s ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ in her early childhood centre and the implications of these experiences for shifting from a discourse of ‘inclusion’ to ‘belonging’ based on ‘an ethics of care and obligation to others’. I argue that the meanings and understandings of ‘inclusion’ for disabled children in education are variable and that they often default to dominant deficit discourses whilst believing themselves to be ‘inclusive’. I also argue that we must consciously develop a critical awareness of how exclusionary power operates in society and in our own settings. In this paper, I present ideas drawn from a ‘pedagogy of listening’ and Te Whaariki – The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum to critically reflect on some of the early childhood education experiences of Clare and her family. I suggest that teachers’ use of critical reflective ‘child’s questions’ can be used as tools for educational transformation towards the full and meaningful participation of disabled children in education.     

How can PhD supervisors play a role in bridging academic cultures?

ABSTRACT

PhD supervision is generally deemed a rewarding experience as supervisors and students embark on an academic journey together. Pursuing a PhD in a ‘foreign’ context inevitably brings forth distinct opportunities and challenges for students and their supervisors. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this qualitative study of supervisors and PhD students examines the cross-cultural facets of doctoral supervision in the light of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory of human development and its underpinning explanation for supervisory processes and learning orientations. Undertaken in the Danish context, our paper highlights exemplars of contrasting supervisors’ and PhD students’ experience in relation to academic and psychosocial adaptations. This research strongly endorses that supervisors’ appreciation of the intertwined link between academia and society combined with a positive view of their role in bridging academic cultures can powerfully complement students’ adjustments and subsequently make a qualitative difference towards a more fulfilling and meaningful academic journey together.     

Limitations of focussing on homophobic,biphobic and transphobic ‘bullying’ to understand and address LGBT young people's experiences within and beyond school

This paper presents new empirical data that highlight how a focus on ‘bullying’ is too limited and narrow when thinking about homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that young people may experience. The paper draws on two recent studies with young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans participants, which each identified issues and experiences not readily captured within dominant bullying discourses and understandings. Findings are examined within three sections: beyond ‘bullying’, questioning inevitability, and (in)appropriate responses. In conclusion, I set out some implications and suggestions for the development of practice and future research concerning homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in youth settings.     

Guides to sustainable connections? Exploring human–nature relationships among wilderness travel leaders

This paper explores and critically interprets the role wilderness travel may play in fostering environmental sustainability. The paper draws upon two qualitative studies that sought to understand human–nature relationships as experienced by different groups of wilderness travel leaders in Canada. According to leaders involved in the studies, wilderness experience enhances emotional connections to nature and encourages a desire to foster similar nature connections among others (i.e. the campers/clients of wilderness trips). However, our interpretations show that leaders’ perceptions of wilderness are varied and ambiguous, and that the priority given to ‘experience’ may help to re-inscribe dominant discourses in which nature and culture are dichotomized. The paper discusses these complexities and sheds light on the potential of wilderness experience to contribute to the individual and social transformations that environmental sustainability calls for.     

Singapore’s educational policy through the prism of student voice: recasting students as co-agents of educational change and ‘disrupting’ the status quo?

This paper examines the implementation of Singapore’s landmark policy, ‘Thinking Schools, learning Nation’ (TSLN), in developing ‘thinking students’ through the prism of student voice. In the context of twenty-first century education and the growing importance of student voice in education, this paper argues that the time might be right to ‘disrupt’ Singapore’s education status quo and incorporate meaningful student voice in education policies. Instead of perceiving students as mere subjects of educational policy enactment, and seeing policy as something that is done to them, it should be reconceptualised as something which is done with them; importantly, students should be recast as key co-agents of educational change, consistent with TSLN’s reconceptualization of learners as ‘thinking students’. Basing its arguments on findings from a qualitative case study of students’ perceptions and schooling experiences of critical thinking in TSLN, this paper considers the case for the inclusion of significant student voice in Singapore’s educational policy reforms. It fills gaps in research on student voices in Singapore’s educational reforms and TSLN’s research from students’ perspective. The paper suggests that the inclusion of student voice in educational reform might be the next landmark step in ‘disrupting’ its educational landscape after the ‘big bang’ of TSLN.     

Students' experiences of learning in a research environment

Research into the research–teaching ‘nexus’ has undergone significant changes in focus and methodology. From an initial quantitative concern with correlating measurements of research productivity and teaching effectiveness, the empirical emphasis has shifted in favour of exploring the experiences of participants (academics and students). This paper reports the findings of interviews carried out in a New Zealand university with 34 students studying across a range of levels in physics, geography and English. In particular, it focuses on students’ understandings of the purpose of a university education and on students’ experiences of research—how ‘visible’ it is for them, where it is located and who engages in it. Analysis reveals that students’ relationship with research varies across the disciplines in both a spatial and temporal dimension according to the ways in which knowledge is conceived of and explored. Accordingly, some students have an early sense of proximity to and/or participation in a research community, while for others, research remains, through their undergraduate years, a remote phenomenon.     

Partners for success? Undergraduate women’s post-feminist constructions of intimate relationships

Past research suggests that undergraduate women have faced educational cultures in which their college experience is defined through romantic experiences. This study expands this literature by investigating how heightened achievement expectations for undergraduate women inform their broader conceptions of intimate relationships, by asking the following research question: how do high-achieving undergraduate women conceptualise intimate relationships? Through qualitative analysis of 76 semi-structured interviews, I find that study participants reject gendered narratives of romance and instead preserve their achievement by constructing two ideal relationship logics: independent and companionate logics. I suggest that participants’ conceptions of relationships have undergone a notable inversion: students’ constructions of positive intimate relationships centre on the maintenance of academic achievement and autonomy, and show the long reach of neoliberal, ‘post-feminist’ ideologies into women’s everyday lives.     

A cross-cultural exploration of ‘wild’ in wilderness therapy: Canada,Norway and Australia

This paper addresses pluralistic understandings of wilderness in the context of wilderness therapy (WT). The term wilderness perpetuates a modern worldview of place that beyond ‘civilisation’ exists an environment defined by risk, fear and an unpredictable nature. WT utilises outdoor travel and living practices during therapeutic intervention and health promotion although empirical justification for its use of wilderness for therapy is not yet established. This paper provides three cultural perspectives on wild places in relation to WT. These national perspectives are informed by local practices, historical and societal understandings of wilderness and supported by related literature from Canada, Norway and Australia. The authors (1) illustrate a number of contemporary western assumptions about wilderness enshrined in the WT and outdoor adventure literature, (2) cautiously propose core purposes for using wild places for therapy and (3) encourage further development of WT practice and research within national, regional and even across organisational contexts.     

Trainee teachers,gender and becoming the ‘right’ person for the job: care and authority in the vocational habitus of teaching

Drawing on a qualitative study of 32 UK student teachers, this paper asks what constitutes the vocational culture of teaching by exploring contradictory discourses of care and authority as they are presented to, and interpreted by, trainee teachers along their journey to becoming newly qualified teachers. Introducing the concept of ‘vocational habitus’ in relation to teaching, ‘ideal teacher narratives’ recounted by respondents are examined and mismatches between the expectations of individuals, institutions and wider policy contexts are explored. The later part of the article focuses specifically on three trainee teachers who struggled more than other research participants with their new roles as teachers. Their experiences suggest that simultaneous and gendered notions of caring and commanding respect can present considerable obstacles for the acquisition of a ‘successful’ vocational habitus. In light of proposed changes to teacher training in England, this paper argues that for government teacher education policies to be successful, they need to demonstrate an awareness and consideration of these contradictory notions.     

Between ‘pedagogy’ and ‘Pädagogik’: a critique of lived pedagogy

The present paper is an analysis of the recently formulated concept of Lived Pedagogy. With roots in phenomenology and narrative research and research on ‘student voice’, the concept is coined as a way to research participants’ experience of practical pedagogy in school. The main theoretical and methodological challenges in Lived Pedagogy stem from the use of relational theory (i.e. phenomenology and narrative theory) while a priori maintaining a number of divisions that challenge this relational logic. Having outlined these problems, a suggestion is made to inform Lived Pedagogy by way of the German Pädagogik with its central focus on purpose(s) of education. Specifically, I employ Løvlie’s educational transformation of Habermas’s discourse ethics as a framework for structuring the deliberation of what is educationally desirable.     

Paragogy and flipped assessment: experience of designing and running a MOOC on research methods

Abstract

This study draws on the authors’ first-hand experience of designing, developing and delivering (3Ds) a massive open online course (MOOC) entitled ‘Understanding Research Methods’ since 2014, largely but not exclusively for learners in the humanities and social sciences. The greatest challenge facing us was to design an assessment mechanism that was (i) rigorous yet practicable at scale, vis-à-vis over 60,000 students from highly diverse backgrounds; (ii) compatible with the pedagogical orientation of the MOOC provider; and (iii) meaningful to the nature of the course subject. Based on a network analysis of forum interactions and a qualitative analysis of a random sample of 116 research questions proposed by students, we explore how participants’ understanding of research methods developed through a series of carefully sequenced ‘e-tivities’ and ‘open peer assessments’ over the duration of the course. The aim of this study was to consider a model of ‘flipped’ assessment, drawn from elements of ‘paragogy’ and the IR Model that acknowledges and exploits peer learning opportunities that are not routinely captured by completion statistics.     

Dogma before diversity: the contradictory rhetoric of controversy and diversity in the politicisation of Australian queer-affirming learning materials

Abstract

This paper discusses contradictory imperatives in contemporary Australian pedagogy – the notions of ‘controversy’ and ‘diversity’ as they relate the subjects of genders and sexualities. It is a common view that both gender and sexuality are important organising features of identity, society and politics. Consistent effort is made in the Australian educational context to combat discrimination, prejudice against sexually, and gender ‘diverse’ people. However, the state’s commitment to diversity policies must be balanced with a secondary focus on appeasing those who are hostile to non-heteronormative expression, or who view such expression as inherently ‘political’ in nature and therefore inappropriate for the school setting. Australia has arguably demonstrated this dilemma recently in two notable controversies: an intervention in planned school screenings of Gayby Baby, a documentary exploring the experience of children in same-sex families, and media furore over the trans-positive All of Us teaching kit. Using these case studies, this paper explores the competing imperatives of controversy and diversity, commenting on the tendency for the lives and experiences of LGBTIQ people becoming consequently politicised. To do so, is arguably detrimental to the meaningful participation of LGBTIQ people as social citizens.     

Measures for inclusion: coping with the challenge of visual impairment and blindness in university undergraduate level language learning

This paper develops from previous research ( Orsini‐Jones et al., 2005 ) and reports on the experience of three students, two visually impaired and one blind, reading languages at Coventry University, on the adjustments made to meet their needs and on the challenges encountered on their learning journey both from their point of view and from the point of view of the staff involved. It focuses on three students' experience of their languages course and considers the challenges they met in each of their years of study. It concludes by evaluating these students' language learning journey at Coventry University, reporting on their feedback on their experience and on whether or not they feel that staff have successfully catered for their individual needs. It is argued here, as in the previous related work ( Orsini‐Jones, et al., 2005 ) that ‘there still exists some tension between the reasonable anticipatory adjustments that lecturers can put in place and the necessary ad hoc ones that will be needed for a disabled student with very specific needs’.     

Narrative analysis: exploring experiences of observational drawing and dyspraxia

Narrative analysis offers a powerful and accessible means of understanding the ways in which individuals experience learning across a range of educational sites. Drawing on a recent study that explored ‘dyspraxic’ pupils' experiences of drawing from observation, this paper offers an insight into the potential that narrative analysis has for enhancing our understanding of the ways in which individuals experience complex contexts for learning, where the fields of art education, ‘special’ education and inclusion intersect. I argue here that a narrative approach can enhance our understanding of pupils' experiences of learning by a capacity to resist the compartmentalization of experience. The ‘natural’ drive to use narrative as an interpretive procedure for explaining departures from the ‘norm’ is also discussed, with the concepts of ‘breach and exception’ offering a useful frame for exploring the spaces between centres of practice in art education and the potentially ‘de-centred’ ‘dyspraxic’ learner.