Recognition,inclusion and democracy: learning from action research with young people

ABSTRACT

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people’s social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what ‘counts’ as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowledge democracy in ‘new democratic arenas’. Building upon experiential knowing and creating knowledge and learning through practice, the young people explored their own democratic knowledge production, communication and engagement within a context of shifting discourses of participation, democratic engagement and active citizenship. The increasing preference of young people for more informal forms of participation as lived practice reflects a shift to young people constructing their own modes of participation and ‘remaking democracy’ in their own vision and according to their own needs. By working outside of the confines of normative assumptions of democratic practice and participation, young people exercised their own ‘political’ agency in response to their own priorities, interests and concerns and, in doing so, illustrated that new forms, understandings and practices of knowledge democracy can emerge that reflect the promise of inclusive democratic societies more meaningfully.     

Planning National Curriculum Science

Nigel Carden, deputy head of Kirkleatham Hall School, Redcar, Cleveland, describes how the work of a consortium funded through the Technical and Vocational Initiative (TVEI) has complemented school-based developments, giving rise to a broader but realistic science curriculum.     

Integrated bioprocess design: A case study for undergraduates

This paper presents a case study for use in the teaching of bioprocess design. Taking the production and isolation of an intracellular protein from S. cerevisae , it demonstrates how undergraduates can use a range of data to construct and then to investigate the range of process flowsheet options available for such a process duty. The paper considers the role of newer operations, such as expanded bed technology, alongside more traditional process routes. An integrated view of bioprocess design is developed to demonstrate how unit operations interact and hence enable students to determine the eventual overall process performance that is achieved.     

Pursuing Internationalization as a Means to Advance the Academic Mission of the University: An Australian Case Study

Strategies for internationalization are central to the shape Monash University has taken and the goals it has set for its future. Using Monash as a case study, this article examines issues involved in the pursuit of internationalization through the internationalization of the composition of the student body, the establishment and enhancement of a presence overseas, and the internationalization of the educational experience. The guiding principle stressed throughout is that, in order to remain central rather than marginal, international activities must significantly advance the core academic functions of the university.