There is no place of nature; there is only the nature of place: animate landscapes as methodology for inquiry in the Coast Salish territory

Indigenist scholars have been attending to the research process in ways that highlight the move toward inquiry, the beginnings of the research journey. The energies that animate imagination and inquiry need to be respected and accounted for. If we recognize that place and the consciousness of landscape contain the primordial elements for the Indigenous mind, then it follows that respectful Indigenous research methods should engage with the landscape as the beginning point for inquiry. Centering place and place-ness as containing the ontological meaning of Indigenous methodology is also a way to excavate the specific effects of colonization on Indigenous landscapes and communities. Much Indigenous thought radiates from an invocation of a sentient topography, a land that is aware of human presence. This writing considers what a methodology of place, specifically in the Coast Salish territory, might consist of.     

Indigenous students' persistence in higher education in Australia: contextualising models of change from psychology to understand and aid students' practices at a cultural interface

The need to address the substantial inequities that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in higher education is widely recognised. Those factors that affect the performance of Indigenous students in tertiary education have been reasonably well documented across different institutions, disciplines, and programme levels but there has, to date, been less consideration of the processes by which Indigenous students either persist or desist in higher education. This paper aims to present a conceptual understanding of academic persistence that can inform the delivery of tailored academic support interventions to Indigenous students who are at high risk of leaving higher education.     

Conversations on cultural sustainability: stimuli for embedding Indigenous knowledges and ways of being into curriculum

While Australian higher education agendas and literature prioritise Indigenous knowledges and perspectives across policy, curriculum and pedagogy, enacting this in practice remains problematic and contentious. Often the result is the inclusion of simplified Indigenous knowledges, rather than sustained engagement with and embedding of multiple and ‘messy’ ontological and epistemological positions. This paper explores ways of engaging with this ‘messiness’. Taking messiness as a focal point within our own context of teacher education at a regional university, this agenda and tension inform an ongoing dialogue about ways of assuring a conscious approach to cultural sustainability to embed, value and foreground Indigenous knowledges and ways of being and doing in curriculum. This endeavour can be conceptualised as a heuristic project, an ongoing conversation in response to multiple stimuli rather than a fixed endpoint or framework. In response to this exploration, this paper presents the stimuli for our conversation: situated, plural and reflexive knowledges that work together in inherently relational ways to nourish the cultural sustainability of Indigenous knowledges.     

Muskrat theories,tobacco in the streets,and living Chicago as Indigenous land

In this paper, we aim to contribute to ongoing work to uncover the ways in which settler colonialism is entrenched and reified in educational environments and explore lessons learned from an urban Indigenous land-based education project. In this project, we worked to re-center our perceptual habits in Indigenous cosmologies, or land-based perspectives, and came to see land re-becoming itself. Through this recentering, we unearthed some ways in which settler colonialism quietly operates in teaching and learning environments and implicitly and explicitly undermines Indigenous agency and futurity by maintaining and reifying core dimensions of settler colonial relations to land. We describe examples in which teachers and community members explicitly re-engaged land-based perspectives in the design and implementation of a land-based environmental science education that enabled epistemological and ontological centering that significantly impacted learning, agency, and resilience for urban Indigenous youth and families. In this paper, we explore the significance of naming and the ways in which knowledge systems are mobilized in teaching and learning environments in the service of settler futurity. However, we suggest working through these layers of teaching and learning by engaging in land-based pedagogies is necessary to extend and transform the possibilities and impacts of environmental education.     

Rethinking the role of Indigenous knowledges in the academy

This paper is an invitation critically to engage in the discussion of ‘Indigenous knowledges’ and the implication for academic decolonization. Among the issues raised are questions of the definition and operationalization of Indigenous knowledges and the challenges of pursuing such knowledge in the Western academy. The paper draws attention to some of the nuances, contradictions and contestations in affirming the place of Indigenous knowledges in the academy. It is pointed out that Indigenous knowledges do not ‘sit in pristine fashion’ outside of the effects of other knowledges. In particular, the paper brings new and complex readings to the term ‘Indigenous’, maintaining that different bodies of knowledge continually influence each other to show the dynamism of all knowledge systems. It is argued that when located in the Euro-American educational contexts, Indigenous knowledges can be fundamentally experientially based, non-universal, holistic and relational knowledges of ‘resistance’. In the discussion, the paper interrogates the notions of tradition, authenticity, orality and the assertion of Indigenous identity as crucial to the educational and political project of affirming Indigenous knowledges.     

Indigenous graduate research students in Australia: a critical review of the research

Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous graduate research students in Australia, yet research and pedagogy has not kept pace with changes underway in the sector. From an extensive search of literature published between 2000 and 2017, 15 papers (representing 10 research projects conducted by seven teams or authors) were identified that addressed Indigenous graduate research student experience. Overall, the literature tends to focus on identifying barriers to completion, noting in particular the impact of financial difficulties, social isolation and racism. A research degree is a key site for the assertion and legitimation of Indigenous knowledges, and it is here that Indigenous students are navigating tensions between legitimated disciplinary practices of the centre and the peripheral status of Indigenous knowledges. We, therefore, adopt Herbert's ‘centre–periphery’ model to interpret the research, arguing that this framework explains the focus on barriers, the neglect of pedagogy centred on academic excellence and student strengths, and research relationships between students and Indigenous communities. Our review identifies the need for a systematic research agenda specifically focused on Indigenous student success at the graduate research level, and looking internationally in order to assess the performance and strategies of Australian higher education providers in comparison to international institutions meeting the aims of First Nations research communities. This approach, we suggest, should move beyond an analysis of the nature of enablers and barriers to focus on Indigenous Higher Degree by Research success.     

Transitioning to higher education: journeying with Indigenous Maori teen mothers

Young women giving birth to children or teen mothers are often on the fringes of society. To facilitate the journeys of these young women towards higher education, a number of organisations have been established. Taking Indigenous knowledge as our theoretical lens, our qualitative data were based on interviews with Indigenous Māori teen mothers and teen parent organisations. Our empirical study investigated organisational practices which support teen mothers in their quest for higher education. We make a dual contribution, firstly by extending and enriching scholarship on teen mothers, specifically Indigenous teen mothers, to facilitate understandings of their journey; and secondly we develop a model representing the challenges and successes of their journey and present organisational practices to enhance transitioning to higher education. We suggest that the integration of Indigenous knowledge opens up new avenues for a more sophisticated understanding of organisational practices intertwined with the journeys of teen mothers.     

高等职业教育面临知识经济的挑战

进入21世纪,高等职业教育面临知识经济的挑战.其一,知识经济社会需要大量的实用型技术人才;其二,知识经济要求高等职业教育培养更高层次的人才;其三,知识经济要求高等职业教育不断改进创新.     

Negotiating knowledges abroad: non-Western students and the global mobility of knowledge

Taking the Institute for Housing Studies in Rotterdam as a case study, this paper aims to theorise the ways non-Western, international students construct and negotiate knowledges in Western institutions of higher education. It describes the types of knowledges these students identify as characteristic of their learning abroad, distinguishing between the curriculum, knowledge of cultural Others and ‘critical thinking’, and the strategies of incorporation, avoidance and resistance with which students negotiate these knowledges. These knowledges, if contested, are then theorised to facilitate these students’ entry into, and mobility within, globally dispersed epistemic communities.     

Institutionalizing the intangible through research and engagement: Indigenous knowledge and higher education for sustainable development in Zambia

Universities have an integral role in the development of communities. This is underpinned by the notion that universities possess a social responsibility to be agents of change in relation to society’s socio-economic, political, and environmental issues. In Africa, the quest for sustainable development necessarily engages a consideration of the different forms of knowledge available. This is as a result of the rich and varied patterns of beliefs, behaviour, and values that permeate the continent and have persisted despite colonialism. In this paper, we assert that there is much to be gained from engaging Indigenous knowledge through scholarship and public responsibility. Through a qualitative case study design based on relational dialogues with academic researchers and university managers, we emphasize the attributes associated with constructing and acting upon Indigenous knowledge at one university in Zambia and the ways in which Indigenous knowledge can contribute to sustainable development through a community engagement remit. This work also seeks to centre African research and researchers in the discourse on higher education in Africa.     

Land education: Indigenous,post-colonial,and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research

This editorial introduces a special issue of Environmental Education Research titled ‘Land education: Indigenous, post-colonial, and decolonizing perspectives on place and environmental education research.’ The editorial begins with an overview of each of the nine articles in the issue and their contributions to land and environmental education, before outlining features of land education in more detail. ‘Key considerations’ of land education are discussed, including: Land and settler colonialism, Land and Indigenous cosmologies, Land and Indigenous agency and resistance, and The significance of naming. The editorial engages the question ‘Why land education?’ by drawing distinctions between land education and current forms of place-based education. It closes with a discussion of modes and methods of land education research.     

The River of Learning: building relationships in a university,school and community Indigenous widening participation collaboration

In this article, findings of a qualitative study of an Indigenous widening participation program are presented. The program, River of Learning, has been in existence since 2010 and represents a powerful collaboration between a rural high school in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, a metropolitan university, Indigenous Elders and non-Indigenous community members. An analysis of the narrative data generated through individual and group interviews with stakeholders provided findings with respect to the program including how it has contributed to the building and strengthening of university and community relationships and how important the interaction with Indigenous Elders and school and university staff is in development of confidence to engage in higher education in the Indigenous students. These findings are discussed and the article concludes with reflections on the learnings generated through such university, school and community collaborations and what these may mean in ensuring greater Indigenous representation in higher education in Australia in the future.     

Building positive relationships with Indigenous children,families and communities: learning at the cultural interface

Drawing on the work of Martin Nakata, this paper brings into focus the everyday complexities involved in the cultural interfaces that educators, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, negotiate in order to promote children’s engagement with formal education processes. Analysis of emergent data from a recent evaluation of a preschool education programme operating in 35 rural and remote Indigenous communities in Queensland, Australia, revealed that educators struggle to situate their own knowledge and experiences in relation to the knowledge and experiences of others in both the educational and cultural contexts in which they work. A series of composite vignettes reporting the experiences of early childhood educators across these communities is used to examine the pedagogical opportunities available to educators when they are able to recognise the value of the knowledge and experience of all those involved in a child’s educational success.     

Eco-heroes out of place and relations: decolonizing the narratives of Into the Wild and Grizzly Man through Land education

Eco-heroic quests for environmental communion continue to be represented, mediated, and glorified through film and media narratives. This paper examines two eco-heroic quests in the Alaskan ‘wilderness’ that have been portrayed in two Hollywood motion pictures: the movies Grizzly Man and Into the Wild. Both films vividly document and re-inscribe heroic status to the stories of Timothy Treadwell (Grizzly Man) and Christopher McCandless (Into the Wild), their tragic encounters with nature, and the pivotal experiences that gave them both eco-heroic identities in the American imagination. As is often the case for Greek and Shakespearean dramas, each hero met a tragic, unnecessary death in Alaskan ‘wilderness’, but in the process reiterated a settler colonial narrative. We argue that an Indigenous-focused Land education and its counter-narratives of holistic relations are sorely needed. It is Indigenous Land education that can break the cycle of Eurocentric celebrations of solitary heroism, rugged individualism, and ignorance of place. In order to forge Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in our cultural imaginations and to address compounding environmental struggles, we need to turn to Indigenous stories and teachings that are already in place, in deep relation with the Land, water, animals and plants on Indigenous territory. We need to turn to Land education that is currently not in place or acknowledged in environmental education.     

Nationalisation, Localisation and Globalisation in Finnish Higher Education

This article analyses and discusses the interplay between the social processes of nationalisation, localisation and globalisation in a single European nation state. The view of nationalisation put forward draws on a national case study based on historical and sociological research findings. The second part of the article presents a case study of the nature of globalisation and localisation in an average Finnish university. The article shows that nationalisation of Finnish higher education has created a cultural understanding of higher education institutions important for competition with other nations. As for localisation, on the one hand higher education institutions support their local communities and provinces to gain social and economic benefits. On the other hand, local communities and provinces support their higher education institutions in the hope of benefiting from them. The case studies also suggest that economic globalisation creates new dynamics within higher education institutions both through strategic alliances between higher education and commercial enterprises and through the emergence of alternative new funding sources for research.     

Preparing teachers as allies in Indigenous education: benefits of an American Indian content and pedagogy course

The study explores relationship building and improvements in knowledge, skills, and dispositions of pre-service teachers enrolled in an Indigenous education content and pedagogy methods course. The Teaching American Indian Students in the Elementary Classroom course stands alone from other diversity education offerings at the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a required learning experience. Pre-service teachers are provided with essential knowledge and learning opportunities that facilitate success in working with Indigenous students, and helping mainstream students learn about Native history, peoples, and communities. The evaluation study was conducted by an Indigenous faculty member interested in learning how non-Native teacher education students felt they were achieving target knowledge, skills, and dispositional goals. Three separate groups of teacher education students completed both pre and post online surveys as a part of a three-year mixed methods evaluation study. The study shows significant gains made by pre-service teachers in each of the target areas, and affirms that methods coursework in American Indian education can lead to more interculturally competent teacher candidates. Helping teacher education students develop the requisite abilities and dispositions to fulfill Native American education objectives is contributory to developing future teachers as competent professionals and allies in Indigenous and diversity education.     

The effective integration of ICTs in universities: the role of knowledge and academic experience of professors

Despite the fact that investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs) in universities has increased dramatically, there is no clear evidence that ICTs have been incorporated effectively in the process of teaching and learning. This article investigates the knowledge that university professors need in order to integrate ICTs into their teaching practices. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model has been frequently used for this purpose, but its application in higher education has been limited. The objectives of the study are both the confirmation of the applicability of the model in universities, and the study of the key variables of professors for effective technology integration. A self-assessment questionnaire was administered to 113 professors of three different university schools. The results of this study confirm the usefulness of the model and revealed significant differences regarding the previous academic experience of the teacher. The investigation thus contributes to studies that aim to foster the effective integration of technology in teaching and learning.     

Perspectives on knowledge management capabilities in universities: A qualitative identification of organisational factors

Prior research has had a limited approach to identifying organisational factors related to knowledge management (KM) practices of higher education institutions (HEIs), the centre for knowledge creation. This qualitative study explored such factors affecting KM capabilities from the perspectives of 30 full-time academics in public universities, and identified the dimensions of the KM capabilities framework. Results revealed that physical conditions, budget, human and technological resource management, division of labour, workload, time management, communication, bureaucracy, structural differentiation, motivation, individualism, and organisational behaviour affect KM infrastructure capabilities; bureaucracy, KM teams, institutional platforms, organisational structure, knowledge maps, vision, individual attitudes, academic collaboration, process management, budget, decision-making processes, sustainable academic KM, transparency, labour force, knowledge security, organisational culture, accessibility, and archiving affect KM process capabilities. These results contribute to identifying the organisational factors influencing KM that are critical to guiding practitioners and administrators of HEIs in developing more effective KM strategies and practices.     

Ambivalence and the politics of knowledge: The struggle for change in German higher education

This article argues (a) that universities are profoundly ambivalent institutions; (b) that this ambivalence explains a great deal about their behavior that would otherwise remain inexplicable; (c) that one of the most striking manifestations of this ambivalence can be found in universities’ attitudes towards change; and (d) that this ambivalence has its roots in a fundamental tension in modern society about the university’s purposes. There is good reason to believe that this set of observations holds true for universities everywhere, albeit to different degrees and in different ways. As a case in point, this article focuses on the process of change (and non-change) in German higher education over the past ten years.     

Management and leadership in UK universities: exploring the possibilities of change

This paper considers the case for reform of management structures in UK universities and offers proposals for change. The model of top-down, performance-led management that characterises many institutions is both outmoded and ill-suited to the challenges of an increasingly turbulent higher education sector. Drawing on the experiences of a university that introduced a new scheme of performance management, I explore alternative approaches to leadership and management, collaborative or partnership working designed to improve employee voice and the need to re-evaluate approaches to Human Resource Management. I conclude with a five-point model for change.