(In)validation and (mis)recognition in higher education: the experiences of students from refugee backgrounds

Students from refugee backgrounds face unique challenges within higher education. This article reports analysis from a systematic review of qualitative research which aimed to explore these students’ experiences. Four databases were searched, inclusion/exclusion criteria applied and the remaining studies subjected to a quality assessment, leaving eight studies. The research adopted meta-ethnography as a method of data synthesis. An overarching theme of invalidation was identified within our synthesis of the research literature. We express this as a line-of-argument synthesis comprising seven metaphors, which aim to illustrate the ways in which refugee-background students’ higher education experiences can be understood as (largely) invalidating. Drawing on a range of literature, we argue that despite education’s potential for being an egalitarian, empowering and validating environment, the experiences documented in the research literature are conceptualised as relationally inegalitarian and an instance of ‘misrecognition’ of a group of students. This misrecognition appears to occur within and across the various micro, meso and macro social systems in which the students are situated. The implications of these findings for education are discussed.     

Developing a Collaborative Research Strategy with Teachers for the Study of Classroom Computing

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on a three‐year study of computers in high school classrooms undertaken by members of an education faculty. By reviewing the process we followed, we hope to encourage another iteration in the development of a model of educational research which respects the needs and abilities of teachers, while at the same time striving to achieve theoretical insights which can enrich education as both an academic discipline and a professional practice.

In designing a collaborative research strategy for a study of computers in high school classrooms, a number of difficult decisions had to be faced. Choices had to be made between styles of ‘research’ and ‘evaluation'; among competing methods of data gathering and analysis; and among many different ways of relating to the participants in the study.

In making these difficult choices, we were guided by the basic ethical and epistemological demands of a social constructionist perspective, and by the central imperative of providing a ‘fair trade’ to all the parties involved. By adhering to these guiding principles we were able to fashion a research strategy which moved beyond the technical issues of computer implementation, to provide a story of action within a theory of context.     

East Reflects on West,East Meets West!: South Korean Media Responses to London 2012

London 2012 was a contradiction of Kipling's meretricious couplet about East and West. What was the response of the East, specifically the South Korean media, to London's selection as the host city of the 2012 Olympics? Furthermore, what were the various viewpoints of the South Korean media regarding the significance of London hosting the Olympic Games hard on the heels of the Beijing Olympics? Answers to these questions can provide insights into the geopolitics and politics of modern South Korea, which has very different relationships with China and Britain. An analysis, macroscopic and microscopic, in terms of politics, economics and culture, of media reactions in South Korea to the Olympics of the two nations can provide illuminating insights into a sports mega-event as an instrument of soft power.     

Introduction: Eurocentric Lens Removed: Wilsonian Impetus

The rise of the West to a position of dominance is one of the most important developments in world history in recent centuries. All writing about the world in recent times has to take into account the rise of the West. However, from its zenith at the beginning of the twentieth century, Europe's hold over Asia was dramatically weakened. The twenty-first century is increasingly ‘The Asian Century’. It is time to remove the Eurocentric lens through which much of recent world history has been viewed. The removal of this lens is the purpose of London 2012. Will a new Wilsonian Moment now occur? Will the ambitious vision of Woodrow Wilson be realised at last in sport if not politics? Will the world experience a Neo-Wilsonian Moment in sport with the nations of the East celebrating the full fruits of full national equality, recognition and acceptance in a long delayed post-1919 harvest earned in recent global sports mega-events? Will future Olympic Games fully embrace the histories, values and traditions of both West and East? Will the Eurocentric lens remain in place?     

Book review

A.K. Dickinson, P.J. Lee and P.J. Rogers (eds.), Learning History (London: Heincmann Educational Books, 1984) Pp.x + 230. £5.95.

William Boyd, School Ties (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1985). Pp.144, £8.95.

Randy Roberts, Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes (New York: The Free Press/London: Collier Macmillan, 1983). Pp.274.

John Burrowes, Denny: The Life and Times of a Fighting Legend (London: Fontana, 1984, first published Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company, 1982). Pp.xii + 277. £1.95 (paperback).

J.K. Anderson, Hunting in the Ancient World (Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 1985). Pp. xiii + 192. £29.95 (hardback).

Thomas G. Bergin, The Game: The Harvard‐Yale Football Rivalry, 1875–1983 (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 1985). Pp.xiii + 367. £19.95.

John Harding, Football Wizard. The Story of Billy Meredith (Derby: Bredon

Books, 1985). Pp.240. £4.95.

Charles E. Funnell,By the Beautiful Sea: The Rise and High Times of That Great American Resort, Atlantic City (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1983). Pp.209.

J.R.L. Anderson, High Mountains and Cold Seas (London: Victor Gollancz, 1982), Pp.366. £10.95.

Gerald Pawle, R.ES. Wyatt—Fighting Cricketer (London: George Allen & Unwin 1985). Pp.xvii + 278. £12.95.

Peter Wynne‐Thomas, ’Give Me Arthur’: A Biography of Arthur Shrewsbury (London: Arthur Barker, 1985). Pp.xi + 163. £9.95.

Michael D. Smith, Violence and Sport (Toronto: Butterworth, 1983) Pp.vii + 215. £20.00.     

Economic aspects of citizenship education: an investigation of students' understanding

In 2002 education for citizenship will become a statutory requirement in English secondary schools for the first time. Broad guidelines which have been issued to schools include some elements of economic understanding, although this aspect of citizenship has attracted little attention in public debate. Moreover, relatively little is known about students' current thinking on these aspects of citizenship. Our article addresses this gap in current knowledge through reporting results from a large-scale (over 1000 responses) survey of 15- and 17-year-old students. A draft survey was trialled in May 2000 and revised in the light of students' responses and discussion at a research seminar in July 2000. The questionnaire focuses on students' understanding of, and attitude towards, aspects of taxation, government spending, employment and inflation. These results may usefully inform planning for programmes of citizenship education and they can also provide a point of reference for subsequent evaluation of those programmes.