Indigenous knowledge and the machinist metaphors of the bricoleur researcher

This paper explores the intersection between critical methodologies and Indigenous knowledge. It is especially concerned with the ways in which the metaphors associated with the bricoleur researcher – tools and production – conceptualize Indigenous knowledge to that of an ecology and environmental work. This limits the appreciation for and engagement with narrative, and the ways in which “ecological” knowledge is embedded in narrative practices and interpretive processes. The author puts the work of Anishinaabe novelist and theorist Gerald Vizenor in conversation with the writings of J. Kincheloe as a way not only to contrast the central metaphors in critical and Indigenous methodologies, but similarly to highlight the differences between a bricoleur language of research and an Aboriginal language of survivance.     

Rhetorical analysis in critical policy research

Rhetorical analysis, an approach to critical discourse analysis, is presented as a useful method for critical policy analysis and its effort to understand the role policies play in perpetuating inequality. A rhetorical analysis of Character Matters!, the character education policy of a school board in Ontario, Canada, provides an illustrative example of the method’s contributions to the field. I identify rhetorical appeals of Character Matters! texts that aim to persuade the policy’s audience to support a predominantly traditional approach to character education. I then present contributions of rhetorical analysis for critical policy research and possibilities of rhetorical analysis for democratizing policy processes. I conclude by considering possible implications for York Region if the rhetoric of Character Matters! successfully convinces its audience to support the traditional approach to character education it advocates.     

Historicizing in critical policy analysis: the production of cultural histories and microhistories

The practice of critical policy analysis often emphasizes the importance of historicizing the present. However, there is very little guidance for critical policy analysts on the methodical production of histories. In this paper, I meet this need by arguing for the use of methodologies embedded in the production of both cultural histories and microhistories. I show how the historical narratives that are produced by critical policy analysts must be able to reveal patterns of long-term social interactions and domination, while simultaneously showing how people on a smaller temporal scale still disrupt and bend these social structures to their needs. Most importantly, I argue that using such methodologies allows critical policy analysts to practice a form of historicizing that explicitly adheres to an epistemological stance that emphasizes the social construction of knowledge through power relationships.     

Learner agency and the curriculum: a critical realist perspective

Abstract

Agency, understood as the capacity to act independently and to make one’s own choices, is considered central to children’s development. Thus, education, and hence education curricula, have a role in the development of learner agency. While curriculum development is a key focus for educational theory, research, policy, and classroom practice, the potential implications of curriculum content selections for learner agency remain underexplored. Theoretically, this paper engages with critical realism, explaining how it can provide theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive view of learner agency and, by implication, more balanced curricula. Empirically, the paper draws on the findings from a content analysis of the national curriculum documents of four countries with relatively high scores in international comparative tables, England, Australia, Hong-Kong, and Canada, to develop a new typology of primary curricula. Based on the extent of emphasis placed on knowledge versus skills, values, and attitudes, three types of curricula were identified: knowledge-based, skills-oriented, and learner-centred. Due to its significant theoretical and practical influence globally, we focus on the knowledge-based model and its likely impact on students’ agency. We conclude by highlighting the importance of making learner agency a key orientation of the curriculum and suggesting directions for future research.     

Role of transnational and national education policies in realisation of critical thinking: the cases of Sweden and Kosovo

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the push from the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development for competence-based curricula, this article problematises the complexity of developing twenty-first century skills, such as critical thinking, by addressing the role transnational and national policy contexts play in realising critical thinking in the national contexts of Sweden and Kosovo. The article distinguishes between policy-critical thinking and civic-critical thinking. Relying on analyses of curriculum and policy documents, it is concluded that while in the Swedish context critical thinking competence (or ability) seems to be much more implicit than explicit, in Kosovo, the national curriculum makes explicit references to thinking competences as a form of policy-critical thinking and civic competencies as a form of civic-critical thinking. Thus, students in both contexts have opportunities to develop critical thinking skills. Furthermore, Sweden emerges as a divergent case and Kosovo as a convergent case with regard to transnational policy flow research paradigms.     

An exploration of the use of disruption as a pedagogic intervention

This article describes a journey of exploration in which I take a hitherto unexamined aspect of my teaching practice, the use of disruption, and subject it to interrogation. The journey is an exercise in auto‐ethnographic research in that I am my own subject, located within the context of the classroom. My purpose is to surface the beliefs that underpin this pedagogic strategy and to locate it within theories of teaching and learning in higher education, so that that which is known but not yet thought becomes available for reflection and challenge. The article is structured in such a way as to trace the thought processes that shaped the direction of the journey; it follows a logic dictated by the heuristics of recognition and association. Throughout the journey I draw on students’ reflective reports to illustrate my conclusions that disruption is a metaphorical strategy that uses associative logic to promote transformations in students’ underlying belief systems and is an artefact of a relativist ontology. It assumes a political stance about the challenging of power relationships and of collusion. I conclude by identifying some ethical issues that are raised by this teaching strategy. I highlight the importance of a relationship of trust between teacher and student that is based on a shared commitment to each other’s potentiality.     

走向专业成长的大学生创业教育

走向创业是大学生成功的重要标志,也是大学专业教育的意义所在。然而,当前的大学生创业教育往往脱离了专业知识基础,创业教育形式化、空洞化。这种课堂创业教育的后果之一就是,大学生闯入社会后目标模糊,只能成为游闯社会的“闯业”一族。加强专业教育与创业教育之间的联系,立足于专业教育来深化创业教育,开拓专业知识中的市场价值,让创业思维在专业教育中得到滋养和发展,这应当是未来创业教育的新模式,即走向专业成长的创业教育。这就要求教师要强化创业案例研究,在理论联系实际的教学中进一步加强与创业案例的联系,培养学生基于专业的创业精神与灵感。     

Evaluating the Intersection Between WorldCat Local and Student Research

The College of St. Benedict and St. John's University Library have used WorldCat Local as a discovery tool since 2008. After four years of use and numerous anecdotes about the difficulties encountered with this product, a committee was formed to test the tool's usability and effectiveness. Seven female and six male students were asked to find appropriate materials within WorldCat Local for a mock research assignment. The students’ research and thought processes were recorded and studied. The recordings were analyzed by the committee, and the search strategies as well as the materials selected by the students were evaluated and scored. Although the sample size limits generalizability, the videos provided an in-depth look into the students’ research processes and their evaluation of what they found. Students generally fared well when asked to identify suitable books for their research topic, but they encountered many difficulties interpreting article records and identifying appropriate articles. Some WorldCat Local interface features appeared to be either the source of student problems or were not used effectively. Anyone wanting to replicate this study in his or her own evaluation of a discovery tool will want to be aware of the issues encountered in this evaluation of WorldCat Local.     

A Review of “Fields of Green: Restorying Culture,Environment, and Education”

This essay describes an educational initiative that used environmentally themed (green) hip-hop to stimulate learning in an environmental science classroom. Students were then challenged to compose their own green hip-hop and their lyrics demonstrated skills that have thematic consistency around what is called a Critical Ecological Literacy (CEL). An analysis of more than 200 creative pieces collected from eight runs of this curriculum over four years shows that CEL can be used as a guiding concept for the creation of curriculum targeting urban areas and racially diverse learners. Several examples of this student-produced green hip-hop are shared to delineate elements of CEL that can help educators evaluate student learning as well as their own teaching materials.