‘Looking for the perfect beat’: the power of black student protest rhetorics for academic literacy and higher education

Drawing on three modes of inquiry—personal narrative, teacher research and historical work on black student protest in higher education—this article describes the writer's experience first as a college student and then as a teacher in a classroom where a student activist shaped the social consciousness of his peers. The politics of the student activist is set in the context of a historical continuum that goes back to the black student protests of the 1950s. A distinct set of black student protest rhetorics is used to locate deep‐rooted political critiques of higher education. These rhetorics are critical for re‐imagining vernacular and discursive possibilities in the academy and encompass very different notions of language and literacy from standard tropes of academic discourse as access.     

Becoming a youth activist in the internet age: a case study on social media activism and identity development

This paper draws on a case study of one youth activist, and explores connections between social media activism, identity development, and critical education. Justin Rodriguez, a 17-year-old high school student in Newark, New Jersey, leveraged social media and texting as organizing tools and garnered support for a school walkout to protest education budget cuts. Drawing on the Listening Guide interview method and Justin’s narrative of his experiences, the study explores the question: Does social media activism have implications for how we understand the development of youth activist identities? The findings suggest Justin’s development as a youth activist was mediated, not produced, by social media activism; and Justin developed as a youth activist through various forms of interaction that included social media and face-to-face relationships. The paper also explores the supports provided by adult mentors that were important in Justin’s development as an activist, including education for critical consciousness and opportunities for Justin to participate in civic venues.     

Environmental Education as Critical Education: how teachers and students handle the challenge

Previous research studies suggest that environmental education for social change has to be considered as critical education rather than as nature study. In a participatory research approach, classroom projects with teacher teams in five senior high schools were initiated and in‐service seminars were offered. A theorising debate about environmental education resulted in a critical environmental education concept based on human action in local social systems and the questioning of the norms and value judgements of the people concerned. Classroom projects were analysed with respect to locally constructed critical knowledge and in view of the teaching/learning culture. This study shows that teachers are most concerned about ways of handling a complex and value‐laden process. It is concluded that reflection on processes and methods is essential if teachers are to understand their students’ critical exploration of social issues.     

#Eduresistance: a critical analysis of the role of digital media in collective struggles for public education in the USA

From Facebook-coordinated high-school walkouts to compelling Internet-based protest art that has accompanied recent teacher strikes, grassroots education activism in the USA has gone digital. Despite the proliferation of research on the mediatisation of education policy, few studies have explored the ways in which activists for public education engage with Web 2.0 technologies. This paper makes a contribution to this under-researched area by exploring selected activist accounts including Parents Across America, United Opt Out National, and the PS 2013 campaign in New York City. I draw on critical, feminist, and cultural studies theories of education and social movement media to analyse activist media practices in a policy and political milieu dominated by corporate media and neoliberal governance structures. The analysis reveals that progressive education activists strategically deploy digital media to amplify voice, build collective identity, and disseminate alternative knowledge to enable direct action. A situated analysis also reveals significant differences in activist media practice which are shaped by particular political histories and geographies. The paper concludes with a discussion about future lines of inquiry into the role of digital media in collective struggles for public education.     

Global English, Hegemony and Education: Lessons from Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci and his concept of hegemony are often invoked in current debates concerning cultural imperialism, globalisation and global English. However, these debates are rarely cognizant of Gramsci's own university training in linguistics, the centrality of language to his writings on education and hegemony, or his specific engagement with language politics in his own day. By paying much greater attention to Gramsci's writings on language and education, this article attempts to lay the groundwork for an adequate approach to the current politics of global English.
While Gramsci may have left formal education and his studies in linguistics at Turin University as a young man to become a full time journalist and political activist, he certainly did not 'jettison' his study of language as is commonly implied. It has been widely accepted that Gramsci had an expansive conception of education which would curtail any suggestion that 'education' must be limited to formal schooling or university. Likewise, this article demonstrates the importance of Gramsci's lifelong analysis of language, its role in education and the development of hegemony. It argues that Gramsci's writings on language policy in Italy, specifically la questione della lingua [the language question] and his concern with linguistics, are an integral part of his approach to education and hegemony.     

Identity and Environmental Education

In exploring the relevance of 'identity' and its politics to environmental education research, this article describes how issues pertaining to personal identity might be understood, both conceptually and empirically. Second, it emphasizes how the postmodern phenomenon of 'identity-seeking' in a steadfastly consumer culture is relevant to unresolved questions about the critical aspirations of environmental education. It concludes with recommendations for research, curriculum and pedagogical development about how the 'intelligent body' might be utilized in inquiry to clarify the connections of the politics of identity processes and the environmental problematic.     

‘It’s a life-changing point for me’: critical consciousness,collective empowerment and global awareness as activist identity change in ‘popular education’

The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme for young, diverse, international, labour movement activists, run by the International Federation of Workers Education Associations in Cape Town, South Africa. In this mixed method study (N = 47), we draw on the Social Identity Approach to Education and Learning. We propose that the participatory, peer-to-peer learning during YGAP leads to activist identity change, where critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness develop as group norms. The first longitudinal questionnaire study found significant increases in activist identity and critical consciousness, which predicted increased collective empowerment. In the second focus group study, data were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis and two themes provide compelling evidence of learning during YGAP as identity change processes. Participants’ commonalities and differences enhanced activist identities with global awareness. Simultaneously, new knowledge, passion, hope and connection to a global activist community created collective empowerment.

     

Doing the Work: A Portrait of an African American Mother as an Education Activist

In recent years, much research has documented the benefits of parent involvement and offered strategies on how educators can encourage parents’ participation in their children’s education. While the literature has brought much needed attention to school-family relationships, little is known about parents who are activists for educational improvement beyond their own children’s schooling and who concern themselves with district policymaking and governance. This article offers a portrait of one African American mother who is an education activist in Boston, Massachusetts. Drawing on social movement and Black feminist theories, the portrait documents how and why she has devoted her life to educational reform and equity with an emphasis on racial equality. The article concludes with a discussion of two possible factors that contribute to the making of an education activist: the development of a political racial identity and educators’ support for education activism.     

Autonomous participation. An activist ethnography in Maranya Youth Club

ABSTRACT

In this article there is a discussion about the results of an activist Ethnography carried out in Benicasim (Spain). The study is focused on the culture of youth participation in leisure spaces that contribute significantly to the education of young people as critical citizens. During 3 years of fieldwork as an activist in the Youth Club (YC) we carried out an investigation based on biographical, narrative, participatory and observational tools. Particularly, we try to understand which elements can turn a participatory structure into a tool for a model of participatory progression and offer the possibility of creating personalised participatory trajectories. Our results suggest that structuring participation in a youth club can be beneficial if we care for aspects like commitment, responsibility, availability, leadership and the sense of membership. Adapting these elements to the characteristics of each youth will boost participation to more autonomous levels, thus enabling an empowering and autonomous learning process.     

基于微观史学新视域之教育史研究的传承与超越

通过分析微观史学的方法,认为它是以缩小的世界为观察的对象,是一种深入细致分析历史问题的策略。日常生活批判理论、文化人类学理论和马克思历史学理论是微观史学的三大理论基础。微观史学的三大特点在于注重史料的精确性,关注一般民众的行与为,综合运用多学科尤其是人类学和心理学的研究方法。在微观史学的视角下,教育史研究应拓宽传统教育史的研究范围、开辟新的研究领域和主题、拓展史料的采纳范围、深挖日常生活的教育信息并且综合考察教育史具体问题。     

后现代主义观照下的比较教育研究：内容与质疑

自从20世纪七八十年代以来,后现代主义以其批判和解构的姿态进入比较教育领域,其理论和主张一直处于争论中。针对比较教育领域内两位后现代主义者的文献进行的分析表明,一方面,后现代的比较教育研究不可避免地具有反讽性：（1）其对传统元叙事的完全否定使精确描绘世界成为不可能的任务,从而导致比较教育研究丧失了必要的立足点;（2）其极端的相对主义态度使比较教育研究失去了实质性内容和意义,从而颠覆了学科本身的合法性。而另一方面,后现代的批判姿态为现代化的比较教育研究范式提出了启示：比较教育研究的理性应该重返现实生活;比较教育研究活动应该承认关于教育的知识的多元化和复杂性,而在面对这种多元化和复杂性时,人的理性存在一定的局限性。     

Myths of Environmental Education

Abstract

A review of environmental education literature reveals a paucity of constructivist-based research. To support the case for this approach, the author reviews theoretical aspects of science education research of this type. It first situates different approaches to educational research in relation to different epistemologies and then reviews constructs used in constructivist science education research. Issues associated with the adoption of this epistemology—topics deemed worthy of research, importance given to the learner's pre-instructional knowledge, and perspectives on learning and understanding—are considered. The article concludes with proposals for constructivist research in environmental education across the educational commonplaces.     

The Activist Professional and the Reinstatement of Trust

Public sector reform in the field of education has been ongoing and relentless. Whether in the UK, Europe, the USA or Australasia, there has been an expectation that the education 'industry' can be managed in the same way as any other commercial enterprise with an emphasis upon forms of accountability which require less and less professional judgment on the part of practitioners. In this article we examine the growth of the 'audit society' and its consequences for professional practice in education. We indicate that there are two responses to bureaucratic surveillance: to act as an entrepreneurial professional or as an activist professional. We argue that the latter is achievable when trust is reinstated through the community of professional practice itself. We illustrate our case using issues surrounding the establishment of professional standards for teachers and we develop strategies for activist professionalism in education.     

The intellectual landscape of critical policy analysis

What counts as critical policy analysis in education? Over the past 30 years, a tightening of national educational policies can be seen in the USA and across the globe. Over this same period of time, a growing number of educational policy scholars, dissatisfied with traditional frameworks, have used critical frameworks in their analyses. Their critical educational policy work has contributed to a unique intellectual landscape within education: critical policy analysis. This article presents a qualitative exploration of the critical policy analysis approach to educational policy studies. Participants included scholars known to utilize critical theoretical frameworks and methods in their research. Through a historical approach that makes use of oral history interviews with educational policy, we developed an understanding of the critical approach to policy studies, its appeal among critical education policy scholars, and the rationales driving its use.     

Recognising Women in Environmental Education Pedagogy and Research: toward an ecofeminist poststructuralist perspective

In the past, women have been overlooked in most environmental education programmes through being subsumed into the notion of ‘universalized people’. However, women have a distinctive contribution to make to environmental education pedagogy and research which needs to be foregrounded. This article reports on research into the gaps and silences present in policies, pedagogy and research in environmental education from a feminist perspective. This research has been inspired by feminist critiques of critical pedagogy and the potentialities of feminist poststructuralist methodologies. In particular I focus on the silencing of marginalized perspectives in environmental education policy development, as well as in research conducted from the perspective of the dominant positivist research methodologies, and argue for the possibilities for new directions when poststructuralist pedagogies and research methodologies are used in environmental education.     

Gerontological Education in Undergraduate Nursing Programs: An Australian Perspective

Literature reveals difficulties in preparing nurses to care for older people. This article reports a study that aimed to facilitate positive changes in gerontological education in an undergraduate nursing program by identifying barriers and effective actions. A critical research approach was applied to the study. Data were mainly collected through focus groups. A total of five barriers were identified in gerontological education in an undergraduate nursing program. Actions which may address these barriers were explored. Critical reflection on educational practice based on partnerships between education and service sectors has the potential of leading an educational reform in gerontological nursing.     

Using Television Critically in Environmental Education

This article is a shortened version of one prepared as background to a presentation which the author was invited to give at the International Conference on Environmental Education held in Guangzhou in December 1994. It uses video extracts about environment and development issues in China to explore how television can best be used with interactive teaching techniques to further the aims of a critical education which promotes sustainable development. The article introduces some of the central concepts of media education and describes classroom activities which environment and development educators have borrowed and adapted from this field. Readers may be frustrated by not having the video extracts to watch as they read the article, but their interest may be increased by knowing that the Guangzhou Environmental Protection Board censored the author's presentation on his arrival at the conference. The original article was cut from the proceedings and the interactive presentation was taken out of the programme.     

Learning communities and fair trade in doctorates and development: report of a collaborative project

This article reports the second stage of a study examining an academic partnership in which Bangladeshi doctoral students in a western university focus their research in the grounded context of Bangladesh and investigate the processes for change. After briefly outlining the previous published stage which examined the academic trade in higher education with developing countries, the article builds on the concept of fair academic trade to critically reflect on the development of a doctoral learning community, a publication project and three specific doctoral studies. The methodological approach is one of participatory action research, with focus on critical reflection on practice.     

Our School at Blair Grocery: A Case Study in Promoting Environmental Action Through Critical Environmental Education

Despite wide agreement on the goals of environmental education (EE), the promotion of action is still considered contentious. Critical environmental education (critical EE) teaches students to combine critical reflection with the ability to engage in local action to address social/environmental problems. This article examines a critical urban farming school in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward for how student action is addressed. Results found that critical learning within an egalitarian, youth-centered community located in a disadvantaged area produces students who are more enlightened and empowered to create change. However, concerns regarding funding and safety led staff to not adhere to maintaining an egalitarian ethic, undermining the individualism and unpredictability that critical EE thrives upon and producing “disconnects” in students’ education.