Diet of disparagement: the racial experiences of black students in a predominantly white university

As an unintended consequence of the Civil Rights Movement and the integrationist vocabulary that it engendered, otherwise progressive thinkers have been unable to describe the adverse impact of actions, attitudes and policies that are not necessarily intended as racist, but function that way nonetheless. Because racism has come to be popularly understood as the product of individual irrationality—aberrant behavior that society abhors—supposedly race neutral actions, attitudes and policies that systematically and predictably benefit whites and adversely impact people of color escape effective critique. This has created a problem on college campuses, where many black students continue to feel alienated and mistreated because of their race. This article argues that issues of race and racism remain important considerations in the lives of black students on predominantly white campuses.     

Teacher research in Dutch professional development schools: perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context,process and outcomes of research

This study aims to provide deeper insight into participants’ (e.g. school principals, teachers and student teachers) perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context, process and outcomes of practice-based research through teachers-as-researchers at Dutch professional development schools. We interviewed eight school principals, 10 teachers, and six student teachers from four professional development schools in the Netherlands. A trend displayed across all types of participants was their focus on the context dimension of research. Moreover, respondents often focussed in rather general terms on the process of conducting teacher research within the school and the content of this research. A major difference exists between perceptions of the actual and preferred situation related to the effects of teacher research on pupils’ outcomes: despite the central focus of research on pupil learning and learning results, according to participants effects on pupil level were not (yet) reached at this moment. These results suggest that in Dutch professional development schools increased attention is needed both by researchers and practitioners on the process and outcome dimensions of doing teacher research.     

Images of thinking in feminist materialisms: ontological divergences and the production of researcher subjectivities

Qualitative feminist studies are much challenged by the contemporary critique of social constructionist postmodernism, as well as the renewed search for the body and materiality. The result is (at least) two diverging research accounts: a renewed feminist materialism, relying on some foundational ontologies and what has been called a new materialist feminist account that constitutes radical ontological rewritings. The aim of this paper is to investigate what kind of researcher subjectivities these different accounts produce for qualitative inquiry. This investigation will be unfolded using an example from a collaborative research process involving 10 PhD students. The example is woven into Deleuze and Guattari’s discussions on the Image of Thought and the three images of thinking outlined in A Thousand Plateaus. The investigation shows that although the aim of our collaborative process was to resist the assumed Cogito/“I” of philosophy and qualitative inquiry, we still got caught up in taken-for-granted images of thinking and doing analysis. A deterritorializing of habits of thinking and practicing in order for new and other researcher subjectivities to emerge required collaborative efforts that put to work a rhizomatic image of thinking and operated from within an ontology of difference.     

History Reproduces Itself: The transmission of symbolic capital at a private liberal arts college in the USA

This paper describes a number of ways in which a small group of gay higher educators draw upon their sexuality in their teaching. It considers three main themes (teaching from the outside; teaching as performance; and teaching as a (gay) person) to illuminate a discussion of how sexuality and teaching can be brought into productive relation. Whilst not wanting to imply a monolithic view of gay sexual identity and its relationship with teaching, the paper explores how the approaches to teaching described disrupt dominant pedagogies and the masculinities which underpin them. The paper concludes by inviting research into the ways in which heterosexual men use their sexuality positively in teaching and learning situations in higher education.     

Performers and postulates: the role of evolving socio-historical contexts in shaping new teacher professional identities

In this article we investigate the generative causes of variation in the professional identity of new teachers. Building on previous work that has shown a link between professional identity and socio-political context, we argue that the context experienced in late adolescence and early adulthood is particularly significant in shaping how beginning teachers think of themselves as teachers. This finding suggests that the linear response to neoliberal education reform described in much of the critical literature may be too simple to account for the range of ways teachers interact with the system. There is, therefore, a need for greater diversity in research approaches to work with the complexity of social systems in and around schools. To support this call for methodological diversity, we borrow the life story model of identity as a theoretical framework and use a computer-assisted phenomenographic analysis technique to find new ways into the research data.     

A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing: Factors Influencing the Increased Identification of Special Educational Needs from the Perspective of Education Policy-makers and School Practitioners

This article considers the increased identification of special educational needs in Australia’s largest education system from the perspectives of senior public servants, regional directors, principals, school counsellors, classroom teachers, support class teachers, learning support teachers, and teaching assistants (n = 30). While their perceptions of an increase generally align with the story told by official statistics, participants’ narratives reveal that school-based identification of special educational needs is neither art nor science. This research finds that rather than an objective indication of the number and nature of children with special educational needs, official statistics may be more appropriately viewed as a product of funding eligibility and the assumptions of the adults who teach, refer, and assess children who experience difficulties in school and with learning.     

Active social policy meets the discipline of the Australian marketplace: the outcomes of mobile policies

Many advanced market democracies pursue social justice by bundling together a range of programmes represented as active social policy. Northern European exemplars sanction employment as an economic and social citizen’s civic obligation, promote lifelong learning and place welfare payments as a last resort. In the United States, market-based post-school education financed by guaranteed student loans was developed as a policy alternative. Australian politicians have embraced elements of both, resulting in a massive reduction in public delivery of vocational education and training in favour of multimillion dollar, stock exchange-listed private providers. The resultant amalgam of active labour market policy and free market principles positions standard setting as a regulatory mechanism and in support of cross-jurisdictional market operations. This paper explores the interaction between active policy and demands of the market while speaking to wider issues that arise when a government first creates and then intervenes in markets.     

Research and/or learning and teaching: a study of Australian professors' priorities,beliefs and behaviours

This paper presents findings from an empirical study of key aspects of the teaching and research priorities, beliefs and behaviours of 72 professorial and associate professorial academics in Science, Information Technology and Engineering across four faculties in three Australian universities. The academics ranked 16 research activities and 16 matched learning and teaching (L&T) activities from three perspectives: job satisfaction, role model behaviour and perceptions of professional importance. The findings were unequivocally in favour of research in all three areas and remarkably consistent across the universities. The only L&T activity that was ranked consistently well was ‘improving student satisfaction ratings for teaching’, an area in which academics are increasingly held accountable. Respondents also indicated that their seniors encourage research efforts more than L&T efforts. Recommendations include that higher education rewards for quality L&T are maintained or improved and that recognition of L&T research domains is further strengthened.     

Widening participation in nursing through progression agreements between a university and two further education colleges: a case study

The School of Nursing, part of the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences within Kingston University/St George's, University of London, has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the widening participation agenda. The student life‐cycle underpins the framework for the university's widening participation strategy and activities. This article provides a case study of the development and implementation of one such initiative, a Progression Agreement project between the School of Nursing and two colleges of further education (FE). The FE colleges provide Access to Nursing/Access to Health and Social Care Professions courses and the university, in partnership with these colleges, has drawn up Progression Agreements to enable successful completers of these access courses to be admitted onto nursing programmes at the university. The article explores the policy issues and literature related to widening participation, how these influenced the development of Progression Agreements, the evaluation of these initiatives and how Progression Agreements have contributed to changes in admission processes for nursing programmes in the university.     

Embodying pre-tense conditions for research among teacher educators in the Australian university sector: a Bourdieusian analysis of ethico-emotive suffering

Interviews conducted as part of the Work of Teacher Education (WoTE) project in Australia highlight emotional and ethical suffering embodied by teacher educators who find their research aspirations thwarted in the context of high-stakes research assessment exercises. We argue that government-run assessments, such as Excellence in Research for Australia, and localised institutional strategies developed in response, provoke “pre-tense” conditions that unsettle institutions of the Australian university sector regarding future claims for research status. Drawing on interviews with an early- and a mid-career teacher educator, both of whom evidence significant research aspirations, we portray and analyse their ethico-emotive sufferings, linked to contemporary pre-tense conditions in which they work, which thwart their dispositions to do research. We conclude by reflecting on the need for systemic response within the field of teacher education to ensure its research future, including an ethico-emotive politics that mobilises across generations of academics, with particular responsibilities for senior researchers.     

Comprehensive Guidance and Counselling Programmes in the Primary Schools of Hong Kong: Teachers' Perceptions and Involvement

This article describes teachers' and Life Education Coordinators' perceptions of, and involvement in, the guidance and counselling activities in primary schools in Hong Kong. Respondents who completed a survey questionnaire comprised 367 class teachers and 66 Life Education Coordinators from 82 primary schools. The results indicated that guidance and counselling activities (including guidance curriculum, individual planning, responsive services, and system support) were being implemented in their schools to some reasonable extent. Some differences between teachers and Life Education Coordinators in terms of their involvement and perceptions are discussed. The survey identified a major weakness in the present guidance system in that many teachers who are involved in, and responsible for, implementing a guidance curriculum do not have any training in guidance work. Implications are discussed.     

Dancing in the ditches: reflecting on the capacity of a university/school partnership to clarify the role of a teacher educator

This paper used the data collected from reflective diaries, semi-structured interviews and surveys to identify and examine common themes identified in the roles required and/or perceived for teacher educators by both teachers and teacher educators. Collaboration, discussion and critique enabled personal reflection as teacher educators worked as partners to schools in a state-sponsored teaching and learning skills project. We have termed the collaboration in such an interactive project as one of ‘dancing in the ditches’, often requiring both groups to get out of their comfortable spaces and engage with each other in constantly moving situations. The teacher educators were required to be change agents at the interface of theory and practice and their experiences reflected individual journeys, but their reflections have ongoing implications for clarifying and professionalising the role of teacher educators.     

Neo-democracy in educational policy-making: a critical case study of neoliberal reform in Massachusetts

This paper explores changes to the educational policy-making arena through case study analysis of a Massachusetts law passed in 2012 that limits seniority-based job protections for public K-12 teachers. I use data from interviews with policy stakeholders, observations of public meetings, and policy artifacts to explore struggles over democratic engagement in what unfolded as a highly undemocratic policy development process. Using the policy cycle framework, I explore the ways that political pressure and political discourses shaped the policy development process through various contexts of political struggle. Ultimately, I argue that the case is indicative of what I am calling ‘neo-democratic’ decision-making, in which high-level interest group conflict leads to narrow forms of democratic engagement.     

Presidential address: Power and privilege in education: The perpetual problem of social class

Abstract

... white settlers require native servants, they can only ensure a continuous supply by seeing to it that the servants are kept in a state of decided educational inferiority. To educate them ... (would) inculcate such mischievous and intolerable ideas as democracy, the brotherhood of man, human freedoms and the like (Wellington, 1967, p. 391)

In 1990, after sixty‐seven years of apartheid rule Namibia gained independence from South Africa. The quote above illustrates the influences of political, socio‐economic and ideological factors on the development of Bantu education in Namibia [and South Africa], which sought to entrench and maintain the system of apartheid. The paper will explore the influences of these macro‐factors, specifically on teaching and learning, on the Bantu and other phases of education throughout Namibian history i.e. indigenous education, missionary education and education for all.     

Improving interaction in teacher training programmes: the rise of the social dimension in pre-service teacher education

This paper studies the social side of pre-service teacher education and draws on social network analysis to explore the relation between the social capital of pre-service teachers and their academic and professional success. An online survey was applied to a sample of 321 students enrolled full time either in Preschool Education or Primary Education programmes at the Ramon Llull University-FPCEE Blanquerna in Catalonia, Spain. The instrument consisted of a combination of social network questions and rating scale attributes. Findings allow us to understand the relationship between aspects of the cohort’s social network and key development constructs and demonstrate the importance of considering informal interactions within the programme to improve the performance of pre-service teachers.     

Learning to teach STEM disciplines in higher education: a critical review of the literature

ABSTRACT

Enrolments in STEM disciplines at universities are increasing globally, attributed to the greater life opportunities open to students as a result of a STEM education. But while institutional access to STEM programmes is widening, the retention and success of STEM undergraduate students remains a challenge. Pedagogies that support student success are well known; what we know less about is how university teachers acquire pedagogical competence. This is the focus of this critical review of the literature that offers a theorised critique of educational development in STEM contexts. We studied the research literature with a view to uncovering the principles that inform professional development in STEM disciplines and fields. The key finding of this critical review is how little focus there is on the STEM disciplines. The majority of studies reviewed did not address the key issue of what makes the STEM disciplines difficult to learn and challenging to teach.     

Education for citizenship in South Australian public schools: a pilot study of senior leader and teacher perceptions

Preparing students for informed and active citizenship is a core goal of education and schooling in Australia. The ways schools educate and prepare young Australians for citizenship involves a range of processes and initiatives central to the work of schools, including school ethos, mission, extracurricular activities and community-based participation. With regard to the formal curriculum, the recent introduction and implementation of the first ever Federal Australian Curriculum includes provision for a new subject – Civics and Citizenship. Research evidence from other nations suggests that schools understand, approach and enact education for citizenship in a multitude of ways, yet how Australian schools construct this aspect of their work is currently under-researched. In this context, and drawing on data from interviews with school leaders and teachers of Years 6–8 (11–14 year olds) students in a small sample of South Australian primary and secondary schools, we explore perceptions and current approaches to education for citizenship. Our findings suggest (1) that while school leaders and teachers value education for citizenship, they do so for different reasons; (2) that schools place values as central to education for citizenship; and (3) that community involvement is typically understood as occurring within rather than beyond the school.     

Technological pedagogical content knowledge in teacher education: in search of a new curriculum

The aim of this study was to explore the ways in which teacher education institutions (TEI) prepare pre-service teachers for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in their classroom practise. Specifically, a multiple case study was conducted to examine the ways in which the development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) was promoted in the existing curriculum of three TEI in Flanders. In the three cases, data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the heads of the department and the ICT coordinators. Focus group discussions collected the perspectives of pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The results indicate that (1) the three institutions are moving from ICT as a ‘stand-alone’ course towards embedding ICT across the curriculum and (2) three approaches were adopted for developing pre-service teachers’ TPACK, each representing different ways of understanding the place of ICT in the curriculum. The discussion will focus on the challenges and opportunities inherent in understanding how to develop pre-service teachers’ TPACK in the curriculum of TEI.     

Placement-based learning and learner engagement: findings from a new university in the UK

This paper addresses the potential for engaged learning among final-year undergraduate Education Studies students at a new, post-1992. It discusses a case study analysis of a ‘Directed Experiential Learning’ (DEL) intervention in the final year of an education studies degree designed to engage and motivate students and emphasise the links between theory and practice for them. Implementation took place in 2012–2013 with a cohort of 37 students and quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed afterwards to investigate the perspectives of students (online questionnaire and interview with 2 students) and tutors (4 individual interviews) on the DEL approach applied. The study described should be of particular interest to those teaching on and designing third level education studies programmes as well as related disciplines that might participate in integrated working arrangements in practice (e.g. nursing, social care).