Positive emotions: passionate scholarship and student transformation

This paper challenges the practical and conceptual understanding of the role of emotions in higher education from the twin perspectives of transition and transformation. Focusing on the neglected area of positive emotions, exploratory data reveal a rich, low-level milieu of undergraduate emotional awareness in students chiefly attributed to pedagogic actions, primarily extrinsically orientated, and pervasive throughout the learning experience. The data conceive positive affect as oppositional, principally ephemeral and linked to performative pedagogic endeavours of getting, knowing and doing. A cyclical social dynamic of reciprocity, generating positive feedback loops, is highlighted. Finally we inductively construct a tentative ‘emotion-transition framework’ to assist our understanding of positive emotion as a force for transformational change; our contention is that higher education might proactively craft pedagogic spaces so as to unite the feeling discourse, the thinking discourse (epistemological self) and the wider life-self (ontological) discourse.     

The complexity of Chinese pedagogic discourse

This is one of X commentaries on Wu’s ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective’ (JCS, 43(5), 569-590). It highlights the paper’s demystification of Western pedagogic discourse and recovery of the meaning of Chinese traditional pedagogic discourse as a response to the long-lasting debates on the Chinese–Western/traditional–modern dichotomies seen in China’s modernization. However, the paper overlooks the complexity of Chinese pedagogic discourse: it over-emphasizes the formal or linguistic dimension of pedagogic discourse, and presumes the dichotomy of Chinese–Western discourses and the discontinuity of traditional–modern cultures. After elaborating the ends, substances, methods, and teacher roles found in Chinese pedagogic discourses, this study argues that contemporary pedagogic discourses are essentially inhabited in indigenous traditions, and actively entangled with Western discourse. The meaning of Confucian traditional pedagogy should not (and cannot) be ‘recovered’ from the past, but be ‘found’ in the present.     

Mathematics engagement in an Australian lower secondary school

The importance of actively engaging in mathematics discourse in order to learn mathematics is well recognized. In this paper, I use Basil Bernstein’s concepts of pedagogic discourse to document and analyse academic learning time of students in Years 8 and 9 at a suburban lower secondary school: in particular, for what proportion of class time students reported being academically engaged, their explanations for this engagement and how they felt about the discourse. It was found that many students had disengaged from mathematical endeavour as a result of the failure of the instructional discourse either to engage students or to serve the purpose of developing discipline-specific content knowledge. The reasons for this relate to the overemphasis on mundane mathematics resulting in some students lacking the cognitive tools to engage with the concepts and having neither the intrinsic nor instrumental motivation to persist with secondary school esoteric mathematics. The implications for mathematics curriculum development are discussed.     

OP-ED Approaches to international comparative research on curricula and curriculum-making processes

This is the second of four essays discussing Wu’s ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective’ (JCS, 43(5), 569-590). The essay is interesting against the background of recent debates, both inside and outside China, about the relationship between the Chinese and Western traditions of curriculum and pedagogy. The essay helps one to understand that there is no clear divide between the so-called Chinese and Western traditions. The modern Chinese language as well as its pedagogical discourse have been hybridized with something western, with the implication that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. However, the paper falls into a trap of cultural judgement: it (re)interprets the Confucian ‘authentic’ texts as ‘desirable’ and attributes many ‘contemporary’ pedagogical practices and/or the discourse of the so-called ‘Confucian heritage’ to the influence of the West.     

Sociological tools in the study of knowledge and practice in mathematics teacher education

In this paper, we put Basil Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse to work together with additional theoretical resources to interrogate knowledge and practice in mathematics teacher education. We illustrate this methodology through analysis of an instance of mathematics teacher education pedagogic practice. While the methodology itself is our focus, the particular example provides a compelling story at the heart of which is the problem of integration of knowledge(s) within a pedagogic practice. Here, a constructivist pedagogy is at work, but differentially with respect to teaching/learning mathematics and teaching/learning mathematics teaching. The example illuminates mathematics and teaching, and their co-constitution in a particular pedagogic context.     

The Regulation of Pedagogic Discourse: Relationships between the State and Intellectuals after the Cultural Revolution in China

Based on the theoretical model of pedagogic discourse proposed by Basil Bernstein, this paper proposes two notions, elaborated ideological orientation and restrictive ideological orientation, to understand the new relationship between the State and intellectuals in China, which is crucial to understanding intellectual practices after the Cultural Revolution in China. The reform has made it possible for the production of discourse in education which is not directly derived from Marxism and Maoism. Such diversification of legitimate positions does not amount to an autonomous discourse in education. This paper chooses the case of an influential journal, Jiaoyu Yanjiu (Educational Research) to illustrate the ways in which the editors of the journal have taken up the role of mediator between the State and authors.     

A fragile autonomy in a performativity culture? Exploring positions in the recontextualising field in a Norwegian rural municipality

Internationally, the autonomy of schools and teachers is under pressure. In Norway, recent policies emphasise output control through national testing, combined with holding schools and teachers accountable for students’ results. Whereas recent research documents that the autonomy of schools and teachers is weakening in Oslo, there is little research on the rural parts of Norway. Recent political intentions aim to improve the results by establishing a better learning environment and classroom management. These intentions are related to the regulative discourse, ‘the rules of social order’, which is crucial to control as it dominates the instructional discourse. Two different projects were implemented in a rural municipality. Analysing their positions on three levels (author, actor and identity) this study finds considerable autonomy from the state in the pedagogic recontextualising field. However, this autonomy may be fragile as the teachers seem to have surrendered personal values. If teachers are disciplined, then the state may effectively reduce the potential discursive gap by reducing the autonomy of key agents in education. Investigating teachers’ rationalisations is imperative if we are to understand the relations between interests, ideology and class, and thereby the potential for autonomy in the recontextualising field in a performativity culture.     

Beyond motivation: history as a method for learning meta-discursive rules in mathematics

In this paper, we argue that history might have a profound role to play for learning mathematics by providing a self-evident (if not indispensable) strategy for revealing meta-discursive rules in mathematics and turning them into explicit objects of reflection for students. Our argument is based on Sfard’s theory of Thinking as Communicating, combined with ideas from historiography of mathematics regarding a multiple perspective approach to the history of practices of mathematics. We analyse two project reports from a cohort of history of mathematics projects performed by students at Roskilde University. These project reports constitute the experiential and empirical basis for our claims. The project reports are analysed with respect to students’ reflections about meta-discursive rules to illustrate how and in what sense history can be used in mathematics education to facilitate the development of students’ meta-discursive rules of mathematical discourse.     

Changes in school mathematics knowledge in Greece: a Bernsteinian analysis

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the changes that took place in school mathematics knowledge for pupils aged six and seven (first grade of Greek elementary school) and its pedagogical approach, which took shape following the reforms of the mathematics curricula in 1982 and 2003. Our analysis is based on Bernstein’s theoretical framework on pedagogic discourse and Dowling’s theoretical framework on textual domains. The results showed that there are differences between the 1982 and 2003 reforms, in terms both of the content of mathematics knowledge, as well as of the forms of pedagogic interaction between the teacher and the pupil.     

Thinking with certainty or with doubt: a Lacanian theorisation of discursive knowledge in teacher education

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a theorisation of pedagogic knowledge formation, as a continuous attempt to understand the positions in discourse we occupy. The paper documents some participatory practitioner research by teacher educators centred on a course development initiative for student teachers of English, at an English university. Students researched their experiences of becoming a teacher within a course that was largely school-based, whilst their tutors researched their own involvement in the process (the main focus of this paper). Drawing on Lacanian theory, tutors are depicted as learning subjects having more or less certainty or doubt about the knowledge they possess. In attempting to understand this interplay of certainty and doubt, tutors arrive at stronger conceptualisations of learning. Through this approach, the paper provides a theoretically informed conception of professional knowledge, as involving a process of renewing ideas about learning, in meeting or resisting external demands.     

Comparative analyses of discourse in specialized STEM school classes

ABSTRACT

The authors detail the discourse patterns observed within mathematics and science classes at specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high schools. Analyses reveal that teachers in mathematics classes tended to engage their students in authoritative discourse while teachers in science classes tended to engage students in dialogic discourse. The authors examined variations in the type of discourse in relationship to the discipline being taught, the educational level of the teacher, and course requirements were also explored.     

Time past: impacts of ICT on the pedagogic discourse in the Interactive project

The ‘pedagogic discourse’ can describe the power relations and fields of influence within schools. This article extends the approach to include ICT-mediated learning in schools by considering evidence from the InterActive project, undertaken by the University of Bristol, England, in 2000–04. The article also considers how the pedagogic discourse can complement post-Vygotskian sociocultural models of learning. ICT is presented as a ‘recontextualising field’ that exerts influence by weakening the classification and framing of the discourse. Successful uses of ICT tend to favour ‘invisible’ pedagogies: collaborative modes of active working with shared competences, in lessons containing elements of ‘discovery’. Tensions can arise if the dominant discourse is a ‘visible’ pedagogy that favours individual performance, with the teacher as the voice of authority and controller of the discourse. These tensions can lead to ICT being marginalised or discredited by teachers or lead to new modalities of pedagogy.     

Discourse analysis as theory,method, and epistemology in studies of education policy

ABSTRACT

Discourse has featured in studies of educational policy as an analytic and methodological tool, theoretical frame, realm of implication, and even a foundational definition of educational policy itself (e.g.) Despite the centrality of discourse as a frame for exploring educational policy and its implications, the ways that discourse is defined or operationalized in educational policy research are often left implicit which can lead to murky relations to larger onto-epistemological questions of how we construct findings from data as well as the nature of policy. In this interpretive analysis, we synthesize a corpus of 37 peer-reviewed journal articles that bring together educational policy and analyses of discourse from varying theoretical and methodological perspectives in order to better understand the breadth and scope of how discourse is defined and operationalized in studies of educational policy, including in ways that are sometimes incommensurate with authors' stated theoretical and methodological positions. After first laying the theoretical groundwork for analyses of discourse in the field of educational policy, we then illustrate how discourse analysis is used differently, and sometimes inconsistently, within contested paradigmatic landscapes. We conclude with an argument for discussions across theoretical frameworks and methodological paradigms about how the concept of discourse lends itself to different epistemological vantage points on educational policy.     

Disrupting neoliberal discourse in critical sustainability education: a qualitative analysis of intentional language framing

While education for sustainability is a critical task that is gaining ground in a plethora of educational contexts, it is frequently rendered ineffective in the face of neoliberal practice and discourse. Here we examine the pervasive impacts of neoliberalism on education for sustainability, looking specifically at discursive formations that shape our understandings of humans in and as nature. Throughout ecological texts, root metaphors carry forward specific cultural histories that serve neoliberal agendas by positioning nature as commodity and humans as consumers. We sought to systematically understand how manipulating a root metaphor in the creation of instructional texts might disrupt neoliberal discourse and foster critical sustainability. Using a thought-listing technique to explore student response patterns qualitatively allowed for insights into the power of discourse in educational contexts. Data support the notion that intentional framing may be a powerful tool in education for sustainability. We argue that language and discourse are necessary and effective grounds for change if sustainability is to take root.     

Mathematics teacher change in a collaborative environment: to what extent and how

This article reports on a study into how collaborative contexts influence the professional development of an early-career primary teacher, Julia. We describe the process of change by which Julia manages to make her planning to teach mathematics more flexible so as to adapt to student difficulties, and we analyse the role that joint reflection plays in promoting this change. In order to understand the how of this influence, we carried out an analysis of the interactions within the group from Julia’s point of view, following a dialogical approach to discourse. We believe that it is in and through the interactions that Julia constructs her interpretation of the opinions, critiques and suggestions expressed. This interpretation conditions the extent of her involvement and moulds the influence of the context on her professional development. The presence of skilled collaborators proved decisive in promoting this development.     

A systematic form of Japanization in Okinawa: Japanese identity construction through a Japanization discourse in textbooks and a textbook guide

This research examines some modes of Japanization through education in Okinawa where Japanese influences on education have permeated after Japan’s annexation. I investigate how a book excerpt entitled Mizu no Tōzai, included in high school textbooks in Okinawa, constructs Japanese identity. Mizu no Tōzai functions as nihonjinron discourse, which is characterized by ‘Japanese culture,’ ‘Japanese uniqueness,’ and ‘Japaneseness.’ The ‘East-West’ dichotomy, depicted in this nihonjinron discourse, induces students to choose ‘Japan’/‘Japanese culture’ and become ‘Japanese.’ Practice sections of Mizu no Tōzai in textbooks as well as a textbook guide operate to be complicit in this Japanese identity construction. Through a critical analysis of discourse, I reveal that the nihonjinron discourse operating as official knowledge, in collusion with the other discursive texts, produces a position subjected to the discourse of Japanization within which Okinawans become ‘Japanese.’ I problematize these discursive texts as a systematic form of Japanizing Okinawans’ minds through education.     

Video game discourses and implications for game-based education

Increasingly prevalent educational discourses promote the use of video games in schools and universities. At the same time, populist discourses persist, particularly in print media, which condemn video games because of putative negative effects on behaviour and socialisation. These contested discourses, we suggest, influence the acceptability of games and limit critical analysis of their effectiveness as pedagogic tools. This article focuses on the representation of video games in media discourse. We present insights from a small-scale study of the construction of video game discourses in the UK print media in 2013, and discuss three areas that emerged. First, the assumptions inherent in the representation of the ‘video game’; second, the implied lack of agency in the behaviour of ‘the gamer’; and third, the way in which blame is manipulated. Finally, we consider the implications for game-based education.