The meaning-making affordances of composing print and digital graphic narratives

A classroom-based study with eight- and nine-year-old students included the participants having many opportunities to engage with multimodal print and digital texts, and various technological tools. The data presented in this article focus on one of the specific purposes of the research: to investigate students’ opinions of the affordances of designing print and digital graphic narratives. The content analysis of the students’ reflections about working with a software programme to compose a multimodal ensemble in the medium of comics revealed evidence of critical thinking as they analysed and critiqued the possibilities and constraints for meaning-making. The conclusion features a consideration of the importance of students and teachers developing metalevel knowledge about and a critical stance toward the meaning-making affordances of all texts and compositional tools and devices.     

Four narratives about online international students: a critical literature review

In the current higher education context, offering online programmes is seen as an effective means to recruit more international students. However, supporting online international students studying at a distance is not a simple task for both universities and tutors. The problem mainly stems from a lack of theoretical understanding of online international students and their learning experiences. The present article, therefore, aims to address the gap, by systematically, yet critically reviewing relevant academic narratives about online international students. Our review reveals four types of narratives presented in the literature, describing online international students in particular ways: unspecified others with a rapid increase in their numbers, specific others with deficits, specific others as pedagogical resources and active participants in international learning communities. We discuss the merits and the drawbacks of each type of narratives for online educators seeking pedagogical suggestions about supporting online international students.     

Language and academic leadership: exploring and evaluating the narratives

This paper draws on a study of academic chairpersons’ experiences in one research‐intensive university in New Zealand. The research goal was see if there were recurring threads in chairpersons’ narratives about their experience and management of conflict and challenge. The research revealed that one of the most pervasive stories concerned a set of beliefs about the nature of academia. This tale that was interpreted in a variety of different even contradictory ways was the notion that academia was or should be based on collegiality. This idea was often presented in conjunction with other stories about academia such as autonomy and professionalism and in opposition to the concept of managerialism. A second significant thread was a range of perspectives about the expectation that chairpersons should be managers of resources. This paper discusses these findings in relation to the literature and argues that we need to find new ways of expressing and enacting the values that the term collegiality attempts to capture and a means of integrating them into the current demand for performance, stringent resource management and accountability.     

Morality,religious writings,and entrepreneurship education: An integrative proposal using the example of Christian narratives

Success and failure in entrepreneurship affects not only entrepreneurs but also many participants in their entrepreneurial relationships. Studies have led us to consider the social and moral dimensions within entrepreneurship education. Doubts arise, however, when one asks how moral principles can be included in entrepreneurship education in order to produce more socially responsible graduates. In the current debate, the role that religions may play in providing moral teachings for entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important, and religious narratives as educational tools are growing in significance. In this article we present an integrative proposal using as an example Christian narratives taken from the Epistle of St James.     

Civil defence pedagogies and narratives of democracy: disaster education in Germany

‘Disaster education’ is a fledgling area of study in lifelong education. Many countries educate their populations for disasters, to mitigate potential damage and loss of life, as well as contribute to national security. In this paper, which draws on interview data from the German Federal Office for Civil Defence and Disaster Assistance and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, archival research, analysis of websites and promotional materials as well as relevant academic literature, I examine disaster education and preparedness for national emergencies in Germany. I argue that it is not generally extended to the general public, rather confined to trained experts, decentralised, localised and exclusive. Theorising disaster education as a ‘civil defence pedagogy’, a type of public pedagogy, which contributes to shaping narratives of national identity, I argue that it is unlikely that Germany will develop a more inclusive, universal, formalised nor high-profile campaign in disaster education in the foreseeable future. This, I suggest, is due to narratives of the German democratic nation as secure, federal, peaceful and unified, which originated at the founding of West Germany in 1949, and continue to shape contemporary political narratives.     

Changing policy contexts and teachers´ work-life narratives: the case of Estonian vocational teachers

ABSTRACT

In recent decades, the work of teachers worldwide has undergone deep change. We have seen that teachers have encountered recent challenges differently and adapted to educational changes to a different extent depending on their personal disposition, but also school leadership and workplace support. This study focuses on the example of Estonian vocational teachers that serves as an interesting case for analysing how the interplay of the transitional context and neo-liberal policy trends adopted since Estonia regained its independence in 1991, after 50 years under Soviet rule, have affected the individual trajectories of teachers’ lives. This paper aims to understand how the interplay of the institutional context and individual (work) lives shapes Estonian vocational teachers’ understandings of their work and professionality. We suggest that certain periods of practice are visible in teachers’ narratives and those periods might be considered as enabling different degrees of agency. However, our interviews also revealed that different reform periods have been perceived and responded to differently. In the context of 25 years of the educational reform process, the policies and requirements introduced have been refracted at different levels (Goodson & Rudd, 2017), including that of the vocational field, the schools and individual teachers. Our results confirm that teachers individual, social, cultural and material resources such as competence, career stage, relations and networks, school leadership and prevailing culture at schools have their role in enabling or hindering the agency of teachers.     

Nostalgia in the narratives of vocational teachers as a way of understanding responses to change

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on nostalgia in the narratives of vocational teachers. The aim is to understand the role of nostalgia as a mechanism for adapting to or resisting educational change. The paper is based on the secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews with 30 Estonian vocational teachers. In the teachers’ narratives, the nostalgia for the former vocational education system, which provided more autonomy and empowerment for teachers in their work, was overlaid with the nostalgia for a society with more stable family and work-life patterns and trusting attitudes towards vocational teachers. Although there were examples where the nostalgic narratives were strategically used to legitimize resistance to change, in most cases, nostalgia tends to serve as the mechanism for making sense of the educational changes teachers have been faced with. Nostalgia also contributes to making sense of oneself as a teacher in a new situation and collective identity building. It is argued in the paper that we should acknowledge the positive functions of nostalgia and create support mechanisms to facilitate sense-making and critical reflection upon the changes for teachers. Nostalgia should be recognized as a productive force indicating the contradictions in present reforms and practices and opening up new directions.     

Re-imaging and re-constructing cross-cultural research through critical personal narratives: an examination into fault lines

In this paper, the authors illustrate the impacts of their cross-cultural research in Africa, on their current work in science and STEM education. Through the examination of two research projects in cross-cultural settings in Africa, the authors explore the lasting impacts of this type of work. Specifically, through the use of Critical Personal Narratives and feminist theory, the authors discover fault lines existing in this cross-cultural work and ultimately the shifts in their conceptions of science and STEM education.     

Writing and becoming [a teacher]: Teacher candidates’ literacy narratives over four years

This paper explores narrative inquiry practices in pre-service teacher education program. Written dialogue by teacher candidates provided deep and long term reflection during a 5-year initial teacher education program. This 4-year longitudinal study with 30 teacher candidate participants considers participants’ knowledge formation in becoming teachers, through writing and sharing of letters (with peers) of personal lived educational experiences, and personal stories of theory related to learning, teaching, and teaching practice over a significant period of time. The study discusses letter writing as a narrative inquiry practice in teacher education programs and implications of pre-service letter writing over a significant amount of time.     

Texting as a channel for personalized youth support: participatory design research by city youth and teachers

Most school districts are out to regulate and restrict student texting and fear student–teacher texting as particularly inappropriate. But might this youth-dominated channel in fact be a twenty-first century portal to personalized support for youth struggling in school? This article shares first findings from participatory design research on texting, conducted by youth and teachers in the diverse, immigrant-heavy city of Somerville, MA. In a design research project welcomed by Somerville district and school administration, teachers and students at the district's alternative high and middle school have been testing how one-to-one texting might support students, teachers, and mentors to communicate rapidly about students' personal and academic needs. Their work raises deep questions for city schools considering how to forge supportive student–teacher relationships in the digital age.     

Knowledge of love: narratives of romance told by 12-year-old children

This article reports research on young people's conceptualisations of love and romance through a gender perspective. The data are stories written by 12-year-old girls and boys in Norway who were asked to fantasise about their future love life. Their narratives are explored through discourse analysis and semiotics and analysed within a sociological framework. The article has two major aims. The first is to contribute to the methodology of collecting essays written by young people to gain knowledge of their conceptions of adult life. The second aim is to offer new findings on the specific subject of romantic love in contemporary society, by describing how to do love in young people's fiction.     

Fearful symmetry: Palestinian and Jewish teachers confront contested narratives in integrated bilingual education

The present paper deals with Jewish and Palestinian teachers who work in an integrated school in Israel, and shows the challenges and possibilities from examining these teachers' powerful historical narratives in the context of in-service training sessions. It is shown how these teachers essentially remain firmly rooted in the hegemonic historical narratives of their own community, even when their attitudes are challenged and clearer alternatives are considered to the reigning narratives. The findings highlight predominantly the failures in terms of the potential of educational efforts to help overcome situations of intractable conflict even within contexts specifically devised for this purpose; yet, also some openings become apparent in the process of negotiating competing narratives and inventing new dialogic possibilities. The implications of this work suggest that schools and their historical tradition are difficult places to reach change or produce it—even in integrated schools in which partial structural change takes place—and teacher training may not always be the answer for the need to bring changes. However, it is also indicated that an ongoing agonistics of raising critical issues regarding one's identifications with hegemonic narratives does offer openings to take responsibility for both the challenges and the dialogic possibilities that are created in the process.     

‘When words don't come easily’: personal narratives from adolescents experiencing shyness as an emotional and behavioural problem in the school context

The purpose of this article is to present narratives from 15 adolescents experiencing shy behaviour as an emotional and behavioural problem in the school context in light of narrative understanding. The investigation is intended to generate knowledge about this largely under‐researched phenomenon based on the personal accounts of those who are actually experiencing it. Their narratives are the foundation for a discussion regarding implications for future practice in the context of school in relation to this group.     

Expanding higher education: institutional responses in Australia from the post-war era to the 1970s

The history of universities in the twentieth century is, at least from the perspective of growth, a massive success. Australian higher education is no exception. Prior to the Second World War, Australia had six universities and approximately 10,500 students. Now there are in excess of one million students attending 39 institutions. In each phase of student expansion, governments have sought to make universities accessible to new segments of the community, a pattern that informs contemporary social inclusion initiatives. This paper focuses on two successive periods – the 1940s/1950s and the 1960s/1970s – during which university participation expanded. Comparing two universities which were at that time very different from one another – the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales – I consider the ways both universities approached admissions to understand what each institution hoped to achieve in attracting students beyond the traditional elite. This helps move beyond government strategy and rhetoric to consider what universities believed was at stake as they enabled new students to enter their communities.     

神山文化对城镇景观规划设计的启发

神山文化孕育了独特的自然景观和人文景观,为今日“千城一面”的城市规划和设计理 念赋予了城市景观规划以自然环境保护和人文环境特色两方面的内涵与启发。文章以云南石林彝族自 治县的城市景观规划设计为例,阐明城市特色塑造过程中对民族文化、自然资源、人文因素等的保护、利 用和再创造。     

Interpersonal violence among youth: A challenge for school personnel

Although interpersonal violence in the school setting is not a new phenomenon, the problem has escalated considerably in this last decade. Both urban and rural school systems are being affected. This paper seeks to explore the extent of interpersonal violence and its impact on students and school personnel. The multiple factors that lead to school violence are examined. Select curricula used in school systems to reduce or prevent violence are highlighted. The article emphasizes that student violence is not a problem limited to the school environment, but one that should and must find a solution through cooperation of all the institutions present in the community, family included. Finally, suggestions are presented for developing preventive strategies.     

The edge of messy: interplays of daily storytelling and grand narratives in teacher learning

This paper examines the interplay of daily storytelling and societal narratives of teaching in one student teacher’s experience. Drawing on narrative and post-structural theories, I conducted a case study using narrative inquiry and ethnographic methods to examine the moment-to-moment storytelling of one student teacher across a range of teaching and learning contexts. Using student teacher blogs about pivotal events as a main source of data, findings demonstrate that initial story themes cohered around narratives of experimentation and adaptation as central to effective teaching, but were also complicated by pervasive societal storylines about traditional teacher authority. Implications for teacher educators are discussed.     

Negotiating the complementarian gender ideology of an evangelical student subculture: further evidence from women's narratives

This study is based on a longitudinal, qualitative investigation of a burgeoning evangelical student organisation on a university campus in the USA. In addition to four months of observation, in‐depth interviews were conducted with students in their first and third years of college to understand the gender climate and ideology that characterised the organisation, as well as how students' gender ideologies were altered or reinforced after three years of exposure to the organisation. The findings from the initial study revealed that the evangelical student community was steeped in a complementarian gender ideology; that is, the culture embraced normative masculinity, essential gender differences, and separate roles and expectations for men and women with respect to leadership, modesty, and dating/marriage. A narrative analysis of the longitudinal interview data revealed the diverse ways in which four women negotiated the gender ideology of the evangelical organisation during their college years.