Posthumanism as research methodology: inquiry in the Anthropocene

The posthuman turn has radically–and rapidly–shifted what is possible in research methodology. In response, my aim in this conceptual paper is to suggest entry points into posthuman educational research methodology. I outline aspects of posthumanism while recognizing its multiplicity: there are many posthumanisms and each offers different twists, turns, and ways of thinking about methodology. In unfolding the potentials thereof, I locate posthumanism within our current epoch, which some scholars have suggested be renamed the Anthropocene to account for the impact of humanity on the planet. Then, I describe how posthumanism situates, processes, and affirms knowledge in interconnected and material contexts. Next, I consider how non-representational research imagines and animates methodologies that think differently. I conclude by discussing a postdisciplinary future for more-than-critical inquiries. Significantly, this article addresses recent advancements in posthuman research and engages with ongoing theoretical, methodological, and ethical debates.     

Rethinking Vulnerability in the Age of Anthropocene: Toward Ecologizing Education

In this essay, Huey‐li Li argues that, although precariousness has always been embedded in human existence, our human vulnerability has been heightened by seemingly omnipresent and omnipotent risks in the modern era, ranging from the 9/11 terroristic attacks and nuclear meltdowns to infectious disease outbreaks and climate change. Li unravels some of the ambiguities surrounding the conceptualization of vulnerability, pointing out that human vulnerability, to a large extent, is coterminous with the increasingly more vulnerable global–local ecological systems in the age of the Anthropocene. She then connects this formulation of vulnerability to the existential, ontological, and social vulnerability in education and its accompanying discourses. Li questions the wisdom of thinking that human invulnerability is an attainable goal in the modern era and argues further that all protective and preventive efforts are actually counterproductive — that is, that they instead tend to maximize our fears and thus render us more vulnerable. Instead of perpetuating the vulnerable pursuit of invulnerability in formal educational institutions, Li concludes, modern schooling should embrace and engage ecological and human vulnerability. In this way, education might better assume ethical responsibility for mitigating the ongoing ecological decline.     

An autoethnographic inquiry into the role of serendipity in becoming a teacher educator/researcher

In this inquiry, the author inquires into her shifting ‘self’ as a researcher/teacher educator in teacher professional development. The ‘self’ in question is acknowledged as being historically, culturally and locally specific. It is also acknowledged as unfixed or unstable; constructed from and in response to various, and often competing, discourses. As an autoethnographic inquiry, this article presents vignettes of the self/researcher/teacher educator embedded in the messiness and complexity of lived experiences and it represents her attempts to make sense (albeit partial and provisional) of these experiences. Central to the inquiry is an examination of the roles played by serendipity and by writing itself in the processes of sense- and self-making.     

Education in the Anthropocene: Ethico-moral dimensions and critical realist openings

Human-induced changes in planetary bio-geo-chemical processes have tipped earth into a newly-proposed geological epoch: the Anthropocene, which places moral and ethical demands on people regarding who should take responsibility for the well-being of people and planet, how, and why. Drawing generally on critical realist ontology, and more particularly on Roy Bhaskar’s concept of the person as a ‘four-planar social being’ living in the world as a laminated ontological whole, the article examines the dimensions of people’s ethico-moral engagement with the Anthropocene and considers what types of learning processes might enable people to understand, live in, and co-create this period known as ‘the Anthropocene’ in just, care-filled and—where necessary—transformative ways. The article points to the need for a radical re-orientation of education systems in the light of ethico-moral challenges that come to prominence in the Anthropocene, and argues for learning processes that nurture individual and collective moral agency through transformative, even transgressive, learning processes that are relational, humble, interdisciplinary, multi-perspectival, systemic, reality-congruent and contextually responsive.     

The entrepreneurial researcher: Re-formations of identity in the research marketplace

This article seeks to consider the nature and impact of managerialism on Higher Education with particular reference to research. Managerialism will be addressed here primarily as a transmission system of economic rationalism into the body politic of the university, by that it is meant that competitiveness is assumed to improve performance and only the financial calculation of benefit is recognised. This agenda is developed through consideration of the changing management of research work and draws on the wider literature on work and organisations to look at the impact of changing material conditions and social relations on the identity formation of researchers. In general, the article seeks to promote reflexivity both in the style of presentation and in the focus on research and managerialism in Higher Education. The salience of Barry Troyna's strictures about reflexivity (Troyna, 1994) is acknowledged but it is suggested that if we seek to understand how the values and cultures of the public sector are being transformed, in particular through the formation of new subjectivities, then our own experience as workers within higher education offers a valuable and useful resource. It is also possible that subjecting this process to self-critical scrutiny may alert us to its invidiousness and so assist in the retrieval and re-formation of alternative formations of research work. For some of us, including the author, this may extend into consideration of the effects of managerialism on our own identities as managers and on our own management practice.     

The teaching researcher: faculty attitudes towards the teaching and research roles

Results from a survey on faculty attitudes towards the teaching and research roles are presented. Attention is given to: (i) the perceived value of teaching (and teaching achievements) relative to research, (ii) approaches for research and teaching integration, (iii) the satisfaction gained from typical work tasks, and (iv) the importance of various work-life factors. Factors such as academic freedom, an intellectual work environment, flexible work hours, inspirational colleagues, and work diversity are found to be highly valued. Support from peers and colleagues is also seen as a key in learning to manage the different academic roles. A relatively low value is attributed to teaching achievements. Likewise, there is often little utilisation of teaching opportunities to support research work (other than senior-year research projects). Female faculty were found to give marginally a higher importance to teaching recognition and collaborative teaching opportunities. Based on the findings, general recommendations for supporting the teaching researcher are presented.     

Development and Implementation of the Inaugural Anatomy Education Research Institute (AERI 2017)

Education research is increasingly being recognized as a legitimate route for faculty development in universities. However, many anatomy faculty lack the appropriate training and access to experienced mentors who can help them develop their own education research projects. Inspired by the American Physiological Society’s Institute for Teaching and Learning, the coauthors proposed and developed the inaugural Anatomy Education Research Institute (AERI 2017). Funded by an American Association of Anatomists Innovations grant, the five-day institute was held in Bloomington, Indiana in July 2017. The coauthors spent two years preparing the conference schedule, inviting speakers who could discuss education research topics and mentor applicants, reviewing applications, developing assessment instruments for the institute, and hosting the institute. A total of 62 registered participants (applicants and invited speakers) attended AERI 2017. Through a series of presentations and workshops, participants were introduced to many aspects of education research and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, including developing rigorous education research questions, determining appropriate methods to assess these questions, and searching the education research literature. Each day also included regular time devoted to work on their own education research project with help from more experienced mentors. Throughout the conference, participants were encouraged to post information on Twitter, using the hashtag #AERI2017. Participants had strong positive impressions of the conference and strongly requested future AERI conferences be held. Follow-up analyses will assess the institute in alignment with Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Evaluation Model, though preliminary evaluation indicates AERI 2017 met the original aims of the proposal.     

Environmental Education and Children's Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene

During the Anthropocene, the epoch characterized by humans’ destructive actions on earth, a few seminal questions may be raised: What have we done? How can we do better? This type of questioning is of course echoed in environmental education, related educational policy and research. There is, however, a difference between general and educational discourses: in the first instance, the collective ‘we’ refers to mainly adult human beings; in the second, to children. The distinction may seem trivial, but it is in fact quite important: If humans have destroyed the earth and caused children the loss of their futures, then adult humans and children humans cannot be positioned in the same place in terms of humanity and agency. What's more, adults cannot look to children and their agency for hope or for a future. Children's agency thus demands a reorientation and a certain re-theorization. This paper deliberates on the type of children's agency that is promoted by various environmental discourses—human, posthuman and other—and discusses what kind of agency children can possibly attain.     

Problematising the role of the white researcher in social justice research

This article contributes to the debate on decolonising methodologies in qualitative research by considering how a white researcher can try and destabilise white supremacy when explicitly conducting research with social justice aims. It draws on data from a recent ethnographic study of minority ethnic pupils’ experiences in secondary schools in England and interrogates the tensions between the research aim to challenge racial stereotyping in education and issues of race and power emerging from the research process. This article investigates specifically the ways in which interaction is shaped by – frequently hidden, particularly to those privileged by them – structures of white supremacy. Developing an innovative analytical framework which draws on insights from both critical race theory and the work of Judith Butler, the researcher problematises issues of voice and representation in conducting social justice research. It is argued that an approach which engages with elements of both structural and post-structural theory allows a more critical exploration of white supremacy through an understanding of the performativity of race. The author works towards a possible research methodology which not only takes into account, but also tries to destabilise processes of white supremacy in research by both recognising participants’ efforts to do this, and trying to make researchers better able to take responsibility for their own complicity in perpetuating unequal racial structures. It is argued that such a recognition by white researchers will necessarily be an uncomfortable process.     

Re-visioning one's Narratives: Exploring the relationship between researcher self-study and teacher research

This paper is concerned with the relationship of self-study to a non-self-study methodology used in a teacher study. The study was intended to involve 18 kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers in “bringing memory forward” through looking back on their narratives, producing an autobiography and discussing familiar texts in relation to unfamiliar ones. Conceived separately from the researcher's self-studies, this methodology can be traced back to the researcher's own memory work. The paper explores the complex relationship between researcher self-study and teacher research, arguing that one builds on the other but that pedagogical, theoretical, and methodological reasons exist for also keeping them distinct. The primary pedagogical reason is to allow teachers the freedom to acknowledge the stories that have been formative for them and to critically engage those narratives.     

《当代教师教育》创刊十年来载文统计分析

《当代教师教育》是陕西师范大学2008年创刊的教师教育理论研究刊物。从载文、作者、引文以及学术影响力等方面对该刊创刊十年(2008—2017年)所刊载文献的统计分析表明,该刊的载文量和篇幅适中,所载文献学术水平较高,学术影响力持续提高。今后需要在优化作者来源和年龄结构、加强专题研究、鼓励多元研究方法等方面继续努力,以保持并进一步提升该刊良好发展的势头。     

Deconstructing Education for All: discourse,power and the politics of inclusion

The UNESCO World Declaration on Education for All from 1990 sets in motion the new agenda for educational reform that provides basic education for all disadvantaged children and adults in the global context. Since its formulation, a set of consecutive policy texts has been issued by international agencies to monitor, evaluate, and strengthen the capacity of governments to ensure that the goals of Education for All are met by 2015. This paper applies critical theory and discourse theory to provide an in‐depth analysis of the hegemonic ideologies of this global policy framework through the deconstruction of policy texts and discourses. It is argued that Education for All is a modernist project of the new imperialism, structured through the selecting, assembling and underpinning of policy discourses, to expand the ideological project of new capitalism in the global context. Discourse of inclusion is discussed both at the educational and political levels to portray the tensions of the global community in grappling with the issues of justice at the international, national, and local context.     

Facilitating action research in the context of science education: reflections of a university researcher

In this qualitative case study, the author engages in critical selfreflection about her role as a researcher/facilitator of an action research group that explored multiple intelligences (MI) theory (Gardner, 1983) in the context of science education. Her multi-faceted role within the action research group and the nature of the research in terms of the orientation, purpose, and type of reflection are described. Through the process of reflective practice, both as the study was ongoing and after the completion, the author enhanced her understanding of the action research process and how to foster collaborative inquiry within the context of an action research group. In addition, the article reports on how MI theory was applied to classroom practice, the nature of collaboration that emerged and the perceptions of the teacher participants about the efficacy of action research as a form of teacher development.     

Book Review: Transforming mathematics education: from embodied experiences to an ethical commitment. Luis Radford (2021) The theory of objectification: a Vygotskian perspective on knowing and becoming in mathematics teaching and learning

Educational Studies in Mathematics -     

Paul F-Brandwein Lecture 2006: Conservation Education for the 21st Century and Beyond

This paper explores Paul Brandwein’s contribution to the concept of conservation education in America. It examines the evolution of the concept to today’s environmental education. It then identifies some of the weaknesses of current environmental education and presents ideas on how to move past them to a point where conservation education is integrated into every classroom discipline, which brings conservation closer to Brandwein’s concept of conservation education to create a sanative environment. The paper looks at place-based learning as a step in that direction, giving several examples. It concludes with the 24 scientifically based conservation concepts compiled by the Society for Conservation Biology that can serve as curriculum for the 21st Century and beyond.     

社区教育视阈中的公众讲座探微

具有功能教化性、选题灵活性、内容独特性、场景庄重性、视听公益性等特征的公众讲座,是城乡社区教育的有利载体,是时代主题宣示的有效方式,是公众素养教育的有益形式,是构建和谐社会的有力手段。举办公众讲座要遵循导向性、贴近性、序列性、时令性、可听性等原则,采取思想理论引领和各类知识普及相结合、域外讲座资源和域内讲座资源相结合、知名学者和草根人士相结合、固定讲坛与流动巡讲相结合、财政拨款与社会捐助相结合等策略方法。     

Picturing Sex Education: Notes on the politics of visual stratification

This paper addresses the scarcity of research on depictions and layout in sex education materials. It is argued that pictures and layout can inform an analysis of social stratification based on visual access. This process of social organization is located using four theoretical models. However these models do not lend themselves to a close reading of graphical strategies. To illustrate how pictures operate, three European works are subjected to a comparative semiotic analysis: Zeig Mal! (Germany, 1974), Vies is lekker (Holland, 1979), and Questions children ask and how to answer them (UK, 1997). It is concluded that the works examined inform three pedagogical paradigms of sex education: liberationism, post-structuralism, and stratificationism. These paradigms are discussed in relation to three known paradigms of analysing power (sovereign power, discipline, and control) and a newly discussed paradigm of ultrastructural confinement.