Encountering the Creative Museum: Museographic creativeness and the bricolage of time materials

The aim of this article is to trace some lines of thinking towards a conceptualization of the uniqueness of the creative work of museums, the mode of creativeness that belongs exclusively to museums, or at least that museums are capable of by virtue of the types of materials and forms as well as activities unique to what will be referred to as museography. This is linked to the question of what it is that constitutes the uniqueness of museum work as a professional field. The article characterizes the uniqueness of museum professional knowledge primarily in terms of a mode of creativeness, or bricolage in Levi-Strauss’s sense, mediated through the museographic form, and applied to the chance assemblies of materials to generate museum-specific modes of engaging questions—across science, culture, and society—particularly through creating unique temporal arrangements, or durations, that provoke thought, learning, and engagement on museographic terms. Museography’s originality, it is argued, consists in a bricolage that works through the museum’s unique material and form to create learning resources and encounters, museographic assemblages that depart from a conception of linear time as the space of evolutionary narrative to facilitate the experience of Bergsonian durations.     

Parents’ Metacognitive Knowledge: Influences on Parent–Child Interactions in a Science Museum Setting

Despite science learning in settings such as science museums being recognized as important and given increasing attention in science education circles, the investigation of parents’ and their children’s metacognition in such settings is still in its infancy. This is despite an individual’s metacognition being acknowledged as an important influence on their learning within and across contexts. This research investigated parents’ metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge, a key element of their metacognition, related to (a) what they knew about how they and their children thought and learned, and (b) whether this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children during their interaction with a moderately complex simulation in a science museum. Parents reported metacognitive procedural and conditional knowledge regarding their own and their children’s thinking and learning processes. Further, parents were aware that this metacognitive knowledge influenced their interactions with their children, seeing this as appropriate pedagogical action for them within the context of the particular exhibit and its task requirements at the science museum, and for the child involved. These findings have implications for exhibit and activity development within science museum settings.     

The work of academic development – occupational identity,standards of practice,and the virtues of association

Abstract

The paper addresses the questions of identity, ethics and organization for academic developers ('AD’ is used as an umbrella for academic staff development plus a number of other academic‐related professional university roles). It inquires into the degree of role differentiation between this occupational cluster and others that resemble it, outside as well as inside the universities. It argues, following Clark and Boyer, that ‘AD’ is both a scholarly and an academic pursuit, and adds that it is characterized uniquely by its focus on change and development, and that the nature of its ‘discipline’ is somewhat problematic. The paper examines the occupational freedoms of AD people and their special knowledge‐base, and argues for a ‘temptations‐based’ rather than a ‘virtues‐based’ approach to creating an ethical schema. It concludes with observations about how to achieve a firm professional identity for AD and recommends new organizational machinery to both politicize and defend the distinctive AD role in academia.     

Interrupting the gaze: on reconsidering authority in the museum

Thinking about the museum’s engagement in educational programmes is increasingly adopting a more critical perspective on the implications of a programme in authorizing and defining particular knowledge. While objects are still invoked to define history and culture and to underscore their authority, the museum’s claim to educational purposes is being questioned by the museum itself. This has resulted in changes to the ways in which student learning occurs within the museum. Using data gathered during a year‐long study of the changing role of a Canadian regional history and ethnology museum, this paper argues that the changing role of the museum prompts reconsideration of their roles not only as sites of knowledge but also as sites of knowledge‐production.     

Practice Theory: Viewing leadership as leading

Abstract

Inspired by Theodore Schatzki’s ‘societist’ approach—in which he advocates a notion of ‘site ontologies’—in this article, we outline our theory of practice architectures (a theory about what practices are composed of) and ecologies of practices (how practices relate to one another). Drawing on case studies of four Australian primary schools, we examine how practices of leading relate to other educational practices: professional learning, teaching, student learning, and researching and reflecting. We find ‘leading’ not only in the work of principals and other formal leadership positions, but also in the activities of teachers and students. We show that changing leading practices requires changing more than the professional practice knowledge of individuals; it also requires changing the practice architectures (cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements) in sites where leading and its interconnected practices are conducted. In order to study practices of leading, we adopt a philosophical-empirical enquiry approach, i.e. we conduct our research as a conversation between practice philosophy and theory and the empirical cases of leading we study. We study practices in the mode of research within practice traditions, sometimes described as ‘practical philosophy’, as a contribution to the self-reflective transformation of the practices we are studying.     

Adult learners in France in the 1960s: a socio‐historical approach to ‘the relationship to knowledge’

This paper uses a socio‐historical approach to explore the emergence in French theoretical literature in the mid‐1960s of a new notion, the ‘relationship to knowledge’ (rapport au savoir), and its success in the emerging field of professional adult education within the Complex of Nancy, France. The increasing use of this notion, first, in the research on adult pedagogy, and then, more generally, in educational research, will be used as a starting point in this paper to question the effects in France of the said research on the shift from teaching to learning from the late 1960s onward. Finally, this paper will present an attempt to compare ‘relationship to knowledge’ with ‘way of knowing’.     

What is distinctive about museum pedagogy and how can museums best support learning in schools? An action research inquiry into the practice of three regional museums

It seems uncontroversial to claim that museums are unique places of interest with the potential to inspire learners, yet what this means and how it is managed are complex questions. Museum educators’ work is currently shaped by accountability requirements typically expressed as visitor targets. Centralised teaching and learning initiatives are presented as ‘good practice’. In opposition to these factors, the action research inquiry discussed here set out to enable the participants to research and reflect upon the challenges of their individual contexts, and to develop ideas for practice that were ‘bespoke’. Deliberation on particular predicaments raised important issues, such as the relationship between schools and museums; the educational value of museums to schools; and the distinctive nature of museum pedagogy. A group of museum educators began with the question: ‘How can we support teachers in integrating learning in a museum, with the school curriculum, to help raise pupil attainment’? The paper tells the story of the project and includes reflections on the use of action research as a method of personal professional development and organisational problem-solving.     

Violence and Subjectivity in Teacher Education

Caught between the demands of the normative (what they believe they ought to be and value) and normalisation (what professional others tell them that they should be and value), teacher candidates often experience themselves as belated even though they are newcomers to the profession—simultaneously heirs to a history and new to it. In this paper we illustrate and explore the tensions that result between ‘new’ and ‘old’ in teacher education. Drawing on Lyotard's concept of the différend, we examine the narratives of a practicum triad—one student teacher and his two mentors—as they each attempt to make sense of their irreconcilable differences. We conclude by discussing how the profession might fulfill its obligation to judge the adequacy of new teachers while remaining hospitable to the difference they introduce.     

Thinking about principals: How they cope with external pressures and internal redefinition of their role

Looking at recent changes in the educational policy context, it is difficult to underestimate the central role of the principal. Principals must simultaneously perform different roles and implement activities of a varied nature. As an ‘instructional leader’, he or she must be able to create supportive links between the school and the classroom level. Individual learning and teachers’ professional development must be linked to, and supported by, an appropriate organizational development. As a ‘project manager’, the principal is expected to develop and implement a specific plan in order to solve particular problems indicated by the inspectorate. Both tasks — instructional leader and project manager — are illustrated in this chapter.     

Assessing Professional Know‐How

This article considers how professional knowledge should be assessed. It is maintained that the assessment of professional know‐how raises distinctive issues from the assessment of know‐how more generally. Intellectualist arguments which suggest that someone's giving an account of how to F should suffice for attributing to them knowledge of how to F are set out. The arguments fail to show that there is no necessary distinction between two kinds of know‐how, namely the ability to F and knowing that w is a way to F, such that the latter is more fundamental. The consequences of this failure for our understanding of professional assessment are then considered. The issue of the assessment of tacit knowledge is then addressed. It is concluded that there is no context‐dependent codifiable or articulable propositional knowledge of how to F which could be substituted for being able to F and that therefore tacit knowledge can only be assessed in performance. The parallel with Gettier cases is reviewed and it is concluded that the provenance of accounts of and justifications for the attribution of know‐how are not matters of indifference to its assessment. Finally, the question of evaluability or what Ryle would have called the applicability of intelligence epithets is discussed in relation to its relevance to our procedures for assessing practical knowledge. Once again, it is concluded that excellent performance is necessary to attribute excellence in know‐how. However, the ability to give an account of how and why an agent would do something in hypothetical circumstances is also very important for the assessment of professional knowledge.     

The Professional Approach to Moral Education

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer a definition of the professional approach to moral education and to contrast it with what will here be called the commonsense approach. The labels ‘professional’ and ‘commonsense’ are to be taken as evaluatively neutral. They are chosen simply for convenience; what is important is the two conceptually distinct ways of approaching moral education to which they refer. As will be emphasized later, they are not alternative conceptions of moral education. The commonsense approach, in some form, is necessarily part of moral education in any context; the question is whether, in schools, we move beyond it and become professional as well..     

Enhancing learning at doctoral level through the use of reflection?

The EdD (Doctor in Education) is a professional doctorate that provides a framework for experienced professionals to examine and develop their practice through research and engagement with relevant theoretical perspectives and professional academic literature. This type of doctorate provides the opportunity for professionals to develop their capacity for critical, professional agency, often achieved through the use of reflection for the integration of academic and professional knowledge. This paper explores doctoral students’ perspectives on the nature and value of reflective statements in terms of a product of learning and a process of reflection. The analysis of EdD students’ responses from one university in the UK reveals a connection between the process of reflection and the development of professional knowledge and contribution to practice—major goals of professional doctorate programmes. This small‐scale study has highlighted implications for the role of reflection in EdD programmes for the development of critical, professional agency. At the metacognitive level of the EdD student clarity is lacking regarding the process of reflection—the nature, scope, object, purpose, value and development—which raises the very important question of ‘what counts as adequate reflection and on what grounds’. This study has identified the need to build capacity, first, in the reflective practice of EdD students and second, in the pedagogic demands of the tutors and supervisors and, third, the assessment demands required of examiners.     

Risky forms of knowledge: configuring pedagogical practices and their excesses in a sexuality education programme in South Africa

Within the context of sexuality education as an HIV prevention strategy, much attention has been given to what content should be taught and the effectiveness of that content in achieving desired goals. While some research has problematised how curricular content is understood or taken-up, what remains largely unquestioned is a pedagogical imaginary of knowledge as a fixed and stable object that can be transmitted from teacher to learner. This paper builds on feminist readings of pedagogy, and in particular the work of Elizabeth Ellsworth, to interrogate what might happen within sexuality education by thinking about knowledge as continually being made. Drawing on data from a year-long ethnographic research study conducted with loveLife, a national HIV prevention programme for young people in South Africa, the paper problematises the perceived boundaries of what is taught and explicitly engages the pedagogical approach as a constitutive part of what can/should/must be known as well as what kind of relation is offered to that knowledge. The question then is how sexuality education might be re-articulated to engage with ongoing and power-laden struggles within configurations of knowledge, and how a pedagogical approach might open those configurations to ways of knowing, and being known, that are more just for more people.     

Advancing educational diversity: antifragility,standardization, democracy,and a multitude of education options

This essay is a response to a paper by Avery and Hains that raises questions about the often unintended effects of knowledge standardization in an educational setting. While many K-12 schools are implementing common core standards, and many institutions of higher education are implementing their own standardized educational practices, the question is raised about what is lost in this effort to ensure regularity and consistency in educational outcomes. One such casualty may be local knowledge, which in a rural context includes ancestral knowledge about land, society, and cultural meaning. This essay explores whether or not efforts to standardize crowd out such knowledge, and decrease the diversity of knowledge within our society’s complex ecosystem—thus making the ecosystem weaker. Using antifragility as a useful idea for examining system complexity, the essay considers the impact of standardization on innovation, democracy, and the valuation of some forms of knowledge (and its bearers) above others.     

When mere knowledge is not enough: the potential of bildung as self-determination,co-determination and solidarity

How can higher education educate graduates who know more than ‘just knowledge’? Such an education includes developing in students an awareness of the limits of their knowledge, an ability to discern what kinds of knowledge are appropriate in a given situation and a sensitivity to different forms of knowing. When is scientific rigour appropriate and when is another type of knowing appropriate? When should one set aside own preferences in favour of the needs of others? This paper rethinks ‘bildung’ as a source of ideas on aims for teaching students. Making the arguably ephemeral ideal of bildung work in practice can be an obstacle. This paper, however, takes it as a positive challenge, exploring ways in which bildung might be appropriate in professional education. If bildung can be helpful even within this most applied part of higher education, implications in terms of the development of more readily applicable and fully inclusive notions of bildung would benefit not only professional education but also higher education more generally. Drawing on work by Wolfgang Klafki, the authors argue the value of updated notions of bildung. Klafki's three-part conception of bildung as self-determination, co-determination and solidarity helps reconnect the importance of personal development with that of peer communities (e.g., professional bodies) and action for others. Klafki's framework facilitates working with ethical-epistemological questions such as these.     

Social trajectories or disrupted identities? Changing and competing models of teacher professionalism under New Labour

Since the 1988 Education Reform Act, the teacher’s role in England has changed in many ways, a process which intensified under New Labour after 1997. Conceptions of teacher professionalism have become more structured and formalized, often heavily influenced by government policy objectives. Career paths have become more diverse and specialised. In this article, three post‐1997 professional roles are given consideration as examples of these new specialised career paths: Higher Level Teaching Assistants, Teach First trainees and Advanced Skills Teachers. The article goes on to examine such developments within teaching, using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to inform the analysis, as well as Bernstein’s theories of knowledge and identity. The article concludes that there has been considerable specialization and subsequent fragmentation of roles within the teaching profession, as part of workforce remodelling initiatives. However, there is still further scope for developing a greater sense of professional cohesion through social activism initiatives, such as the children’s agenda. This may produce more stable professional identities in the future as the role of teachers within the wider children’s workforce is clarified.     

Imagining a transformed UNESCO with learning at its core

This paper argues that key aspects of UNESCO's organizational culture are a major impediment to the realization of its important educational agenda. Drawing upon sustained observations over a four-year period, the paper describes the nature and consequences of UNESCO's highly ritualized and ‘inward-oriented’ work activities, especially the weak links between what happens at Headquarters and the realities on the ground in formal and non-formal educational frameworks worldwide. By establishing a more open, interactive and egalitarian organizational milieu, focused on collaborative learning and knowledge creation, accumulation and dissemination, this paper argues that these linkages can be tightened. A genuine learning-oriented culture at UNESCO would encourage professional empowerment, independent thinking, human resource development, greater dialogue and critical debate, and the creation and dissemination of quality publications. Thus, for UNESCO to regain its leadership role in the education world and effectively serve as a broker of innovative ideas and effective programs, it must overcome the stultifying tendencies of its current organizational culture and find ways to develop dynamic learning cultures both from without and from within.     

An ethical analysis of how ESL teachers construct their professional identities through the use of information technology in teaching

While there is growing recognition of the mutually shaping relationship between teaching with information technology (IT) and teachers’ beliefs, skills and self-efficacy, there has been a paucity of research attention on the construction of teacher identity during actual IT-assisted in-class teaching and out-of-class networking with students, in a full institutional and social context. This study investigates how a group of secondary school English as a second language (ESL) teachers regulated their teaching and practices and constructed their identities in relation to governmental requirements for the use of IT in teaching. Teachers from seven government-subsidised schools in Hong Kong were interviewed about their experiences of using IT in teaching. We frame the reported practices of these teachers as a process of construction of identity, formed in the context of the ‘governmentality’ supporting current examination-oriented educational policy. Observing from the perspective of what has been termed ‘governmentality’ and an ethical framework for self-formation of personal identity makes it possible to see these teachers’ professional identities constructed through the use of IT practices within the contradictory conditions of professional/personal demands, compliance/resistance, school promotion/peer non-cooperation, advantage/disadvantage in use of IT, use of IT/content and pedagogical knowledge. This study has implications for developing a more supportive and rational environment for the use of IT in teaching, in which more autonomy and identity options—rather than constraints—can be provided for teachers in the digital era. This study also informs practitioners and policy makers in other educational settings experiencing a similar IT boom in teaching.     

Against the Unchallenged Discourse of Homelessness: Examining the Views of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers

Abstract

Because of the link between teacher training and higher‐quality classroom practice, early childhood researchers and professional organizations have placed an increasing emphasis on all early childhood teachers—including those in early care and education (ECE) settings—obtaining a minimum of a Bachelor's degree as part of their professional development. Given the differing licensure requirements for ECE teachers, the variety of settings early childhood teachers work in, and the creativity needed to respond to the changing roles teachers play in those settings, however, this paper offers an additional perspective that is sometimes left out of the discussion regarding what teachers need: that of the early childhood practitioner. Using conversations with both a certified, public school teacher and a non‐certified teacher in a private ECE setting in New Jersey, this article reports on these teachers’ professional development experiences, as well as the implications of their experiences for future considerations of what teachers need in order to enhance their growth as educators.