Learning at boundaries

In the literature on boundaries, it is sometimes falsely assumed that learning naturally evolves from a co-location of diverse practices and perspectives. Empirical studies indicate that this is not self-evident. The aim of this article is to understand the challenge of learning at the boundary. In the light of this aim, the article interprets empirical findings from two previous longitudinal studies of academic projects, in which educational scholars, with diverse cultural backgrounds and different academic perspectives, collaboratively conduct research and encounter boundaries during interaction. The case studies show that (1) boundaries that people encounter can easily stay implicit during ongoing negotiations, and (2) when people do identify boundaries and explicate them during collaborative processes, dialogical engagement is triggered. On the basis of the findings, I argue that explicitly identifying boundaries enables learning since it creates a collective need to take more into account some unfamiliar perspective or practice.     

How can I develop a theory of critical self‐reflection?

Although much of the literature on educational action research is rich in recommendations to self‐reflect, it is impoverished in examples of self‐reflective practice. This constitutes a theory‐practice gap; for how is it possible to recommend a particular form of practicewithout living up to that recommendation, and still claim that the practice has integrity? Such a contradiction is particularly serious when the issue is self‐reflection, since self‐reflection is put forward as the main constituent of moral practice, and its denial has deep implications for the practitioner's own moral standing.

In this paper I ask why there is such slippage between the theory and practice of self‐reflection? Iassume that many people either do not perceive such slippage,or choose to ignore it. Either way, this is a serious matter, and involves issues of legitimation—for by what right do we consider ourselves to be exempt from engaging in those self‐same practices that we require of others?

I challenge the separatist view that it is acceptable for some to say what others must do, without first doing it themselves. I apply the same critique to myself, and I aim to show the process of my own self‐reflection by critically analysing what I am doing as I do it. This, I hope, sets the scene for an emergent theory of critical self‐reflection.     

Design principles for addressing wicked problems through boundary crossing in higher professional education

To an increasing extent, society requires professionals to cross boundaries in order to deal with wicked problems. However, little is known about how interventions in higher professional education (HPE) foster learning through boundary crossing in the context of addressing wicked problems. Drawing upon the three-dimension model of wickedness by Head and Akkerman and Bakker’s model of the dialogical learning mechanisms of boundary crossing, this study aims to generate conjectures for design principles for the design of educational practices that will foster students’ skills for addressing wicked problems through boundary crossing. This study applied a multiple case study design addressing six existing practices in HPE. The research questions were: (1) What characteristics of wicked problems are present in the selected educational practices? (2) How does the boundary crossing take place in the selected educational practices? (3) How is student learning during boundary crossing fostered in the context of dealing with the characteristics of wicked problems? Data were derived from document study, semi-structured interviews, and observations. The study conjectures that learning experiences at boundaries in the open-ended, joint effort of addressing wicked problems should be fostered and elicited by balancing and leveraging constructive tension and by making use of boundary objects and brokers.     

Education research Australia: a changing ecology of knowledge and practice

Processes of national research assessment, such as Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) are a type of audit technology that confronts and steers established institutional identities and traditions. This nexus between policy and practice drives boundary work that diffracts prevailing policy logics, organisational practices, and habits of mind. We use this notion of ‘boundary work’ as an analytical lens for understanding the nature and effects of ERA in the Australian educational research space. This paper explains the methodology that informed the AARE–ACDE research reported in Strategic Capacity Building for Australian Educational Research. It documents the policy logic of ERA and the way it cuts across the established ecology of educational research, revealing social and symbolic work that is remaking the boundaries of educational research. We report on the historical trajectory of Australian educational research, the way ERA codes research outputs, and how educational researchers are repositioning in this shifting research space. We argue that there are specific loci of boundary work where capacity building in Australian educational research can make a difference to future educational knowledge building.     

‘Radically different learning’: implementing sustainability pedagogy in a university peer mentor program

Framed in Michele Foucault's theories of discipline and technologies of the self, this paper explores the possibilities for teaching and researching across disciplinary boundaries within the academy. In Foucault's studies of systems of thought, he conceptualized practices – like sexuality – to be instances of what is possible to be, think, and do within a historical moment. In the ethnographic study reported on in this paper, we examined perceptions and practices of discipline-based academics seeking to work across traditional scholarly boundaries as instances of what was possible to be, think, and do in transdisciplinary teaching and research in higher education. Connecting transdisciplinary knowledge production with possibilities for critically engaging with sustainability as a social movement and imperative, we identify questions about and the promise of higher education as a place where this work can be done.     

Action research and narratives: ‘Finely Aware and Richly Responsible’ 1

This paper explores the central place of stories and narratives in action research practices and accounts to argue that it is hard to imagine how we might do or write about action research in a non‐storied way. The paper argues that good stories help us to think well and more wisely about ourselves and our practice. An historical example is chosen to illustrate the compelling potential of stories about real people and real lives, followed by a teasing out of six methodological issues that arise.     

Re‐theorising the student dialogically across and between boundaries of multiple communities

Both cognitive and sociocultural traditions have customarily theorised learning in terms of processes of progression within single communities. More recently, educational scholars have started to focus on learning as a horizontal process of boundary crossing between multiple communities. A problem of this approach is that boundaries are often laid out analytically on a system level, without explaining whether and how boundaries relate to discontinuities at the level of an individual student's learning process. The latter requires theoretical elaboration on how an individual learner can, simultaneously, be part of more than one practice. By drawing on a dialogical approach to self, we intend to theorise learners as participants in practices, and as transcendent selves. In doing so, we point out that boundaries are dynamically evolving discontinuities that mediate or obstruct potential hybridisations of school and everyday life experiences in learning.     

The shaping of communication across boundaries

This article will consider the formative effect of boundaries between activities in directing and deflecting the attention of actors who are seeking to develop innovatory practice at these boundaries. Specific attention will be directed to practices of communication at these boundaries and also to the way in which these boundaries shape the practices of communication themselves. The concept of boundary strength will be developed and discussed. Its utility will be illustrated through reference to an investigation of the consequences of 3 very different examples of attempts at boundary crossing as Local Authorities in England attempt to develop integrated Children's Services from traditional collections of single service agencies (e.g., Education, Health, Social Services). The data will be drawn from a 4 year study of professional learning in and for interagency working directed by the authors and funded within the UK Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme.     

Labor market frictions and production efficiency in public schools

State-specific licensing policies and pension plans create mobility costs for educators who cross state lines. We empirically test whether these costs affect production in schools – a hypothesis that follows directly from economic theory on labor frictions – using geocoded data on school locations and state boundaries. We find that achievement is lower in mathematics, and to a lesser extent in reading, at schools that are more exposed to state boundaries. A detailed investigation of the selection of schools into boundary regions yields no indication of systematic differences between boundary and non-boundary schools along other measured dimensions. Moreover, we show that cross-district labor frictions do not explain state boundary effects. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that mobility frictions in educator labor markets near state boundaries lower student achievement.     

International online collaboration as a boundary crossing activity for vocational educators

Vocational educators cross boundaries between practices in schools, colleges and workplaces, renegotiating their identities as professionals in a particular vocation and as educators. In order to support learners to enter the global workforce, they also require opportunities to cross boundaries through international practices. However, opportunities for international and intercultural learning are often limited, particularly for trainee vocational educators. This paper highlights an online collaborative process (COLIGE) designed to develop competencies for global education. The COLIGE process has been evaluated through the lens of boundary crossing. Participants were trainee vocational educators undergoing their professional teaching qualification in Scotland and Finland. Action research was undertaken during this three-year project to explore participants’ experiences and evaluate the learning mechanisms observed during the activities. Findings suggest activity though all four learning mechanisms (identification, coordination, reflection, transformation), although they were not universally experienced. Difficulties faced by learners are discussed and point to the potential for transformation of practice without sequential engagement with all learning mechanisms.     

The writing on the wall: Classroom context,curriculum implementation,and student learning in integrated,community‐based science projects

In this study we examined curriculum integration in new ways by exploring the link between classroom context, the implementation of community‐based, integrated science projects, and the subsequent student learning. The literature is inconsistent regarding the benefits of an integrated approach to curriculum. The research design was a multiple case study conducted in two classrooms in different schools. We employed a “worldly interpretive framework” that recognizes and embraces the importance of context in framing curriculum practices and outcomes. We found that similar projects in the two classrooms produced distinctly different (and equally valid) outcomes—focused either on bounded discipline‐specific knowledge or, alternatively, on issues and problems that transcended disciplinary boundaries. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 857–880, 2008     

The work of women teachers in primary literacy education: knowing and doing

This paper provides a retrospective account of three decades of my work as a literacy educator and researcher. Taking key insights from feminist sociologist, Dorothy Smith, including women's standpoint, the everyday world as problematic, institutional capture, a sociology for the people, I revisit my research on literacy, poverty and schooling. I argue that understanding better the effects of what we do in educational institutions, through collaborative research with teachers, can lead us to generate positive alternative equity‐driven practices.     

The Origins of Children's Growth and Fixed Mindsets: New Research and a New Proposal

Children's mindsets about intelligence (as a quality they can grow vs. a trait they cannot change) robustly influence their motivation and achievement. How do adults foster “growth mindsets” in children? One might assume that adults act in ways that communicate their own mindsets to children. However, new research shows that many parents and teachers with growth mindsets are not passing them on. This article presents a new perspective on why this is the case, and reviews research on adult practices that do instill growth mindsets, concluding that a sustained focus on the process of learning is critical. After discussing key implications and promising future directions, we consider the topic in the context of important societal issues, like high‐stakes testing.     

Organizational learning facilitated by instructional leadership,tight coupling and boundary spanning practices

Three organizational learning mediation processes are proposed as mechanisms for organizational change in this article. These include instructional leadership, tight coupling and boundary spanning. Whilst each of these processes has received attention in the research literature, we propose that their power arises from their particular combination rather than the occurrence of each in isolation. We illustrate the ways in which these processes might combine to create an organizational learning environment required for the kind of changes needed to raise student achievement. We do this with reference to a case study of a New Zealand school that dramatically improved the learning outcomes of students in reading. We describe the practices of a new principal, who was relatively inexperienced in school management but experienced in curriculum leadership. The case study illustrates how through her instructional leadership the principal was able to span the boundaries of her organization so that within a relatively short space of time the school became a more tightly coupled system that learnt to improve the learning outcomes of its students.     

Sweating the small stuff in educational psychology: how effect size and power reporting failed to change from 1969 to 1999, and what that means for the future of changing practices 1

Methodologists have written for years about the importance of attending to important details in quantitative research, yet there has been little research investigating methodological practice in the social sciences. This study assessed the extent to which innovations and practices are adopted by researchers voluntarily. In particular, I use the case of power analysis and effect size reporting as the primary example, but I also examine other reporting behaviours. Results show that while observed power and effect sizes in the educational psychology literature tend to be strong, researchers do not seem eager to adopt practices such as reporting effect sizes and power, and neither do they tend to report their testing assumptions or the quality of their measurement. There is room for much improvement in how we attend to the basics of quantitative research, and it does not appear that persuasion and professional communication are effective in changing practice.     

Teachers' Subject Philosophies Related to their Assessment Practices

This paper explores the relationship between the subject philosophy of English teachers and their assessment practices. The research is contextualised within the wider debate about the validity and reliability of course work‐based assessment in English. It examines the history of that debate and then looks at ways in which practitioners and exam boards have sought to grapple with the issue of reliability and validity within English assessment. The research contributes to the debate by suggesting, through a small‐scale indicative study, that English teachers are not influenced by their subject philosophies when assessing pupils' course work but by their understanding or ‘construct’ of grade boundaries.     

An Australian Proposal for Doing Critical Literacy Assessment: The Case of Writing

In this article we present current thinking and practices in Queens land, Australia, about how to do critical literacy assessment in the English classroom. In taking this focus, we propose and discuss a framework that brings together interest in text analysis and social practices. Then, we apply the framework showing how it can be used to generate writing tasks and assessment criteria that are consistent with critical pedagogy. Finally, the challenges of moving to a socially critical, discourse‐oriented approach to assessment are considered.     

Utilizing Performance Technology to Improve Evaluative Practices of Instructional Designers

Although it is clearly established that an effective instructional systems design (ISD) process requires evaluation, previous studies provide evidence to show that everyday practices of instructional designers do not include sufficient or appropriate evaluation. Research suggests that organizational barriers and lack of support for evaluation are a leading cause of its inadequate usage. Without appropriate and sufficient evaluation practices, it is impossible to maintain the integrity of the systematic quality of ISD and threatens to undermine the entire concept of instructional design. This article first examines the purposes and importance of evaluation. Second, it reviews research that describes the less‐than‐optimal performance of practitioners as it relates to conducting evaluation, along with identifying causes for this performance deficiency. Third, it proposes using a model of human performance technology for improving the environment leading to implementation of evaluation.     

Reading aloud in Lewisham: an exploration of adult reading‐aloud practices

This paper analyses initial findings of a qualitative pilot study of the reading‐aloud practices of 17 adults in the London Borough of Lewisham. Although the dominant contemporary image of reading is that of a silent activity and within literacy provision it is frequently assumed that reading aloud is not a ‘natural’ ‘real life’ adult practice, anecdote suggests that adults do indeed read aloud, but these practices are overwhelmingly undocumented. This study is the first stage in developing a better understanding of contemporary adult reading‐aloud practices. Semi‐structured interviews were used to ask adults whether, what, where, how and why they read aloud. Initial findings reveal the ubiquitous nature of reading aloud in adult life, across a range of life domains (spiritual life, family life, work and learning) and for different self‐selected purposes (to memorise, to understand, to write and for fellowship). Initial findings reinforce the importance of expanding our definitions and conceptualisations of reading to recognise the diversity and changing nature of real life practices, and suggest implications for our understanding of the role of reading in adult life, for literacy education and for future research.     

Secondary school students' stance-support strategies in online discussion: implications for the composition classroom

Taking a stance and supporting it are intrinsic acts in expository/argumentative essays. One question of interest to English teachers is how to improve the development and expression of support arguments in students' essays. This paper offers an answer by examining students' stance‐support strategies in informal argument, and identifying the associated lexico‐grammatical features that they use and do not use to realise those strategies. The paper will show how research findings on students' argument practices and use of language resources in an informal context can inform the process of deciding what thinking skills and language forms to teach in composition classes.