From ‘no’ to ‘yes’: postcolonial perspectives on resistance to neoliberal higher education

Various scholars have suggested ways to resist neoliberal conditions in higher education (HE). In analysing current neoliberal policies and practices in HE, I suggest that postcolonial theories of resistance can enhance our ability as faculty and administrators to understand and ‘resist’ these policies and practices. In this article, I review four modes of postcolonial resistance as described by David Jeffress (2008), mobilizing a critique of resistance as writing and cultural practice and challenging the reactionary nature of subversion and opposition. I argue that we need to place emphasis on transformational resistance, or the creation of new ways of being, knowing and doing in HE in order to transform the academy.     

From ‘ritual’ to ‘mindfulness’: policy and pedagogic positioning

Schools and professionals respond to statute in different ways. However, professional activity is more than mediated response to policy. Versions of pedagogy are not simply envisaged on high and enacted in the workplace. This paper examines how professional views formulate policy imperatives. It proposes that to understand pedagogy requires an understanding of the ways in which professional selves are realised in relation to the policy formation process. To do this, positioning theory is used to describe how practice produces policy. Accordingly, the paper examines the dynamic interplay between: first, the story lines unfolding within and outside school; second, the positions adopted by individuals in the course of pedagogic decision-making. Third, the illocutionary (that achieved in saying something) and perlocutionary (that achieved by saying something) effects of language. Following this ‘positioning triad’, the paper proposes ‘pedagogy as ritual’ and ‘pedagogy as mindfulness’ and how these are representative, respectively, of limiting and delimiting pedagogic discourses.     

Becoming a PI: From ‘doing’ to ‘managing’ research

While achieving research independence by becoming a principal investigator (PI) is a key aspiration for many postdocs, little is known of the trajectory from PhD graduation to first PI grant. This interview-based study examined how 16 PIs in science, technology engineering, mathematics or medicine, in the UK and continental Europe, prepared for and dealt with this career transition. Individuals demonstrated commitment to lengthy periods of postdoctoral work in a range of institutions (often involving international mobility) to achieve PI-status. Their emotionally laden journeys required resilience and self-belief, since getting a grant was conceived as partly luck. Once individuals had their grant they faced new challenges that distanced them from actively researching. Still, individuals navigated their intentions in a sustained fashion to create a distinct intellectual profile in the face of challenging circumstances. The results highlight the centrality of emotion in the journey, as well as curricular imperatives for both doctoral and postdoctoral learning.     

When ‘we wish they knew’ meets ‘I want to know’

ABSTRACT

The tension between mandated curricula and students’ interests is evident throughout the history of science education. Societal expectations for student learning often lead to standards and curricula that leave little room for students to explore their own individual interests. Occasionally, however, an event can capture the interest of so many students that teachers feel compelled to respond. The Ebola outbreak of 2014 was such an event. This article discusses findings from a study of teacher decision-making; specifically, it explores how high school science teachers in the U.S. decided whether and how they should address Ebola during the 2014–2015 school year, when the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was at its peak. Approximately 2500 teachers of science responded to an online questionnaire that addressed their Ebola-specific instruction. In comparing the decisions of those who taught about Ebola and those who did not, the study found that teachers weighed various factors, in particular student interest but also curriculum standards, time, and availability of resources for teaching about Ebola. The article concludes with implications for future urgent health-related issues.     

The ‘Historical-investigative’ approach to teaching science

The paper describes the author's experience in using the history of science in teaching physics to science teachers. It was found that history becomes more useful to teachers when explicitly combined with investigative experimentation, which, in turn, can benefit from various uses of the history of science.     

‘Hard’ decisions and ‘tough’ choices: the business approach to university decline

This paper critically examines the solutions to university decline that emphasize selective cutbacks, in which certain areas are phased out to protect others. The experiences of two Canadian universities show that these kinds of hard decisions generate a considerable amount of political conflict. While the business perspective recommends decisive action, it provides little advice about how these actions can be implemented. It may even intensify conflict and worsen an already difficult situation. The paper argues that we need to learn about the management of both conflict and collegiality, as well as the conditions which make tough choices necessary, before we can successfully tackle decline.     

The Failed Feminist Challenge to ‘Fundamental Epistemology’

Despite volumes written in the name of the new and fundamental feminist project in philosophy of science, and conclusions drawn on the strength of the hypothesis that the feminist project will boost progress toward cognitive aims associated with science and rationality (and, one might add, policy decisions enacted in the name of these aims), the whole rationale for the project remains (after 20 years, plus) wholly unsubstantiated. We must remain agnostic about its evidentiary merits or demerits. This is because we are without evidence to test the hypothesis: certainly, we have no data that would test the strength of the hypothesis as asserting a causal relationship between women and cognitive ends. Thus, any self-respecting epistemologist who places a premium on evidence-driven belief and justification ought not to accept the hypothesis. By extension, there is no reasoned basis to draw any definitive conclusion about the project itself. No matter how self-evidently correct.This article originated as a lecture for the Fifth International Conference of the German Society for Analytic Philosophy and is published by MENTIS in the GAP.5 Volume (2004).     

Using Robotics to Motivate ‘Back Door’ Learning

This paper suggests that robotics can provide a vehicle for guiding primary and secondary school children toward an effective understanding of programming and engineering principles. It observes that children find robotics stimulating and motivating, and that their interest in, and focus on, making the robot do what I want leads them via the back door to learn about programming and engineering in a way that is both well-grounded and generaliseable.These observations arise from empirical studies of children participating in robotics competitions: we conducted observations and interviews with all the participating teams at two robotics events (one regional, one international), and we followed one young robotics team in a case study. The children had almost all built their robots using LEGO MindStorms for specific competitions, with soccer, rescue and dance events. The children typically worked in teams, building robots as an extra-curricular activity supported by a teacher/mentor. The children came from a variety of educational and social backgrounds.The paper considers what makes robotics motivating to children, including children who are not considered technically oriented. It describes learning that has emerged from children's experiences in building and programming robots. It describes examples of children learning subjects that they previously considered difficult and inaccessible, in order to solve problems in robotics. It describes examples of children identifying and understanding principles, concepts, and elements of practice that are fundamental to programming and engineering. It describes further how secondary school students working in teams learned that this programming and engineering knowledge has a social context.     

Notes on the Chart ‘Aids to Communication’

There is nothing new about the use of audio and visual aids to communication. Speech and gesture and demonstration are the oldest forms; drawings very early ones, developing to hieroglyphics and ultimately to alphabets and written language. What is new is the multiplicity of media. The invention of papyrus was perhaps the earliest important fillip to mass communication—the drawings on walls were of fixed location, and clay tablets not exactly easy to transport. Then the invention of movable types with paper and printing presses made possible the vast movement of ideas leading to the ‘New Learning’ and the Renaissance in the West. Visual development was slower: drawings had to be laboriously engraved on wood or metal, in order to be reproduced by letter-press printing. This lasted until after the middle of the 19th Century. Then the tempo quickened; the inventions of photography, photo-etching, lithography, kinematography followed one another in fairly rapid succession and with the enormous improvements in the speed of printing presses, mass media in the form of newspapers, illustrated magazines, books, illustrated or otherwise, poured from the presses.     

Scientific ‘Laws’, ‘Hypotheses’ and ‘Theories’

Some commonly held erroneous notions about the terms laws, hypotheses and theories are pointed out with specific examples from different branches of science.     

‘知’‘信’‘行’德育三部曲

所谓德育 ,就是按照特定时代、特定社会的道德规范来培养塑造个体的道德意识、信念和行为习惯。它具有三层意义 :第一 ,首先必须使受教育者知晓和理解社会的行为规范 ,并发展其道德认识能力 ,道德判断能力和道德选择能力 ,这便是德育中的“知”。第二 ,要使受教育者相信“知”的内容 ,把其道德认识内化 ,升华为道德信念和道德理想 ,这就是德育中的“信”。第三 ,德育的最终目标就是使教育者将道德认识与道德信念转化为道德行为 ,并培养良好的习惯 ,这是德育的“行”。因此 ,由未知到知、由知到信、由信到行是德育工作有机的三个环节 ,构成了…     

‘亲戚’就是‘父母’

讲《廉颇蔺相如列传》,我说:“臣所以去亲戚而事君者,徒慕君之高义也”一句中的“亲戚”,其义如同“父母”。有人跟我指出:“你讲错了,‘亲戚’并非     

‘三个面向’与‘高分低能’

去年本刊发表了天门县大面积提高语文教学质量的经验,转载了秦牧同志赞扬该县成为一九八三年“全国高考状元”的文章,各地闻讯到天门取经者络绎不绝。此后,我们听到反映说:“天门能上去,主要经验是教师拼命地灌,学生死命地背,把课本记得滚瓜烂熟,所以能对付高考。如果考能力,肯定赶不上城市学生。”一九八四去年高考试题测重于考能力,天门县高考的录取人数,北一九八三年还要多,又居全省各县之首,高达一千馀人。由此可见,他们在培养能力上也是成绩显著的。本期我们编发了一组文章,介他绍们如何更新教学思想、改革教学方法、开辟第二教学渠道、不断开拓学生知识面和培养能力(包括培养创造能力)的经验,请大家看看,择其善者而从之。此外,我们还编发了一组沔阳县的文章。沔阳与天门是邻县,与天门不相上下,他们的语文教学成绩也很显著。现在这两县正在总结经验,以期进一步改进各科教学,为大面积提高教学质量作出贡献。     

Examining Teachers' Hurdles to ‘Science for All’

The goal of this research is to identify science teachers' beliefs and conceptions that play an important role in shaping their understandings of and attempts to enact inclusive science teaching practices. We examined the work products, both informal (online discussions, email exchanges) and formal (papers, unit plans, peer reviews), of 14 teachers enrolled in a master's degree course focused on diversity in science teaching and learning. These emerging understandings were member-checked via a series of interviews with a subset of these teachers. Our analysis was conducted in two stages: (1) describing the difficulties the teachers identified for themselves in their attempts to teach science to a wide range of students in their classes and (2) analyzing these self-identified barriers for underlying beliefs and conceptions that serve to prohibit or allow for the teachers' understanding and enactment of equitable science instruction. The teachers' self-identified barriers were grouped into three categories: students, broader social infrastructure, and self. The more fundamental barriers identified included teacher beliefs about the ethnocentrism of the mainstream, essentialism/individualism, and beliefs about the meritocracy of schooling. The implications of these hurdles for science teacher education are discussed.     

‘树人’与‘树木’

学校组织青少年学生参加植树造林,意义在于把「树木」和「树人」结合起来。在活动中,让学生接触自然,开阔视野,寓教于动,有利于陶冶学生情操,然而,生活中也有不尽然的情况发生。据笔者所知,今年植树节,为了迎报检查团,上级把清理某干线路边花池杂物的任务交给附近的某所中学。师生热情很高,立即行动起来。     

‘采’和‘采’

“采”和“采”是音、形、义都不同的两个字。“采”音cǎi,小篆写作“采”,上面从爪,下面从木,表示用手(爪)摘取树上的果实。“采”字八笔。写“采”的时候,不要把“爪字头”中间的点和木字中间的竖连接起来。用“采”作声旁的字有:睬、踩、彩、菜。     

Response to Mary Lou Rasmussen’s ‘Beyond Gender Identity’

When I was contacted by the editors of Gender and Education to see whether I wanted to respond to this article, I was not particularly keen to do so. I generally believe that critique is a good thing, and that direct responses have a tendency to come over as precious, petulant, and petty. However, having read the article several times, and having re‐read the paper to which Mary Lou Rasmussen refers, I feel that I have to.