Abstract: This study aimed to change the behaviour of adult international students in a business studies class through the use of dialogic teaching to reduce the level of reticence and improve their engagement. Dialogic teaching is the ability to harness the power of talk. Based on qualitative traditions the case study method with a constructionist epistemology was used to examine the roles of identity and culture. Among others, the empirical study noted that some students were not very comfortable with some aspects of dialogic teaching, for example its free-flowing nature. Analysis showed that there was good evidence of certain elements of dialogic teaching, such as extended contribution, encouragement of free expression of views, cued elicitation, and provision of authoritative explanation in the lesson sessions. Being a case study, this report offers a basis for future studies only.
Abstract: Drawing on identity work theory and social capital theory, this qualitative study explores how Canadian university faculty on fixed-term contracts construct their professional identities in response to the opportunities and limitations associated with their employment. Study participants generally appreciate their remuneration, relative professional autonomy, the control they have over the products of their labour, and the opportunity to teach at the postsecondary level. Positive aspects of their employment, however, were undercut by various professional limitations. These limitations include job precarity, little acknowledgment of their contributions to their fields or to their universities, limited access to research funding, and the challenge of building bonding (i.e., intra-institutional) social capital. The perceived disconnect between participants’ professional qualifications and the precarity of their employment situation further undermines their ability to cultivate positive professional identities. Participants negotiate the contradictory tensions of their employment via one or more of the following adaptive strategies: 1) pursuing research as best they can given prevailing obstacles; 2) making teaching the focal point of their professional identities; and 3) utilizing bridging social capital to create opportunities and forge connections beyond the university. Future research directions are discussed.
Abstract: This paper proposes an interdisciplinary use of literary texts in informing contemporary pedagogical thought. Though “soft skills” have always been a part of teachers’ expected repertoire, only fairly recently have these skills, now almost exclusively referred to as “dispositions,” become a major focus in university teacher preparation programs. As teacher preparation programs wrestle with the complexities of defining and assessing teacher dispositions, we propose that it is helpful to look to the humanities to assist with this navigation, in particular, literary texts. As an example of this process, we analyze Homer’s Iliad for dispositional insights. In the epic, Homer depicts various teacher dispositions, commenting upon both their effectiveness and their limitations in ways that can further elucidate contemporary discussions and concerns regarding their utility.
Abstract: Focusing on census data of U.S. doctoral recipients during the last 10 years, we examined PhD production and undergraduate origins with a particular emphasis on institutional selectivity. Specifically, this study had three overarching goals: (1) examining STEM PhD production with an emphasis on the selectivity of doctoral programs; (2) examining the selectivity of undergraduate origins among STEM PhDs from highly selective doctoral programs; and (3) examining whether the patterns of STEM PhD production and undergraduate origins differ by race/ethnicity. This study found significantly different patterns in PhD production overall versus PhDs from top 10 doctoral programs and in the selectivity of undergraduate institutions that produce the number of PhDs overall versus PhDs from the top 10 doctoral programs. We further found that PhD production across varied selectivity of doctoral program and its association with the undergraduate origins differ significantly across different racial/ethnic groups. Implications for policy, programs, and future research are discussed.
Data-driven decision making as an extension of test-based accountability policies for educational reform and improvement promises new insights into efficient and effective leadership. An examination of the context surrounding the implementation of this decision making model, particularly relationships of power that serve to enframe the discourse surrounding education, reveal fundamental problems with the implementation of data-driven decision making models. This paper contends that under current contexts the practice at best constitutes a form of illiteracy, and at worst may undermine the public and democratic purposes of education. It is concluded therefore that what is needed in education is not data-driven decision making, but rather principled leadership and a moral framework for the use of information by educators. This leadership should be informed by the application of a logic model for program evaluation, and a democratic discourse led by educators.
The lifespans of North American public school students are on course to intersect with emerging dystopian realities of human pain and suffering brought about by climate change and its effects. Are schools well-disposed to engage students earnestly about the worlds that scientific consensus advises us they will encounter? This essay of critique suggests that they are not. It suggests that a set of interrelated tendencies, fundamental to the philosophy and functioning of schools, precludes their doing so. It names and discusses these tendencies as the problem of overwhelming school allegiances to a self-help ethos of vacant positivity, the structural infantilization of young people as a function of school power relations, and the allegiance to short term economic imperatives and individualism over environmental sustainability and communitarianism in determinations of the meanings and purposes of education. The essay concludes that on the current course, schools are miseducating students and encouraging them on a path toward unsustainable futures.
The purpose of this paper is to review the development of green universities in China from the perspective of education for sustainable development (ESD), and to assess the significant factors influencing their development. This paper reveals the significance of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) in the development of green universities in China. In the past two decades, a series of initiatives taken by the MoHURD has been critical in promoting the construction of green campuses. However, the overemphasis on the green infrastructure also poses significant challenges for the development of ESD in Chinese universities. Analysis suggests that the responsibilities of MoE in guiding the environmental research and curriculum planning are critical to continuing and strengthening efforts in Chinese green universities over the longer term.
Although the concepts cultural capital, symbolic power, and pedagogical action were originally applied to describe how education reproduces social relations in France, Bourdieu’s sociological framework can be applied to illustrate the pervasive connection between language and colonialism in Canada. When applied to an analysis of the history of Canadian settlement andeducation practices between 1755 and until the present, these concepts demonstrate how colonial relations are reproduced through policies, educational programming and practices thatinflate the value of English as the official language of Canada. While Bourdieu’s concepts provide an analytical framework to illustrate how colonialism operates and why language continues tohave an impact on the economic outcomes of Indigenous People and immigrants, the framework on its own tends to be socially deterministic and requires decolonizing strategies to supportinterventions that will encourage equitable language policy, programming and practice.
Increasing levels of human-made crises in postsecondary institutions require that educational leaders constantly respond to and manage the impact of these crises. These leaders provide direction and take critical decisions. They are sometimes exposed to the traumas associated with crisis response, especially, when responding to suicides, murders, and school shootings. This paper employed a qualitative study to explore the mental health and self-care strategies utilized by postsecondary leaders during and after crises response. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine postsecondary leaders. Findings from the study revealed that postsecondary leaders were not always as skilled or attentive to taking care of themselves. Without proper self-care and mental health, postsecondary leaders could be susceptible to emotional triggers that could activate depression, fear, mental health concerns, and sadness. Establishing protocols for personalized self-care and mental health care could prepare educational crisis leaders to deal with the next crisis they will most likely face.
This paper examines the relationship between gender and making within an educational context, a topic which is not thoroughly addressed in existing empirical studies. By reviewing literature from these two distinct fields it answers the research question: What factors are identified in the research as influencing gender equity in educational makerspaces? The conceptual framework for educational makerspaces guides an examination of themes in current literature. The people who use the space, the activities that occur there and the means that are available are interconnected aspects which can all have an impact on gender equity. The Self-determination Theory in relation to makerspace continuance outlines the basic psychological needs that must be met in order for a user to be intrinsically motivated to continue using a makerspace. Finally, recommendations are made for future research regarding barriers to participation, the use of e-textiles and design of the physical environment.
Abstract: Teacher education’s dominant narrative is often one that accentuates sure-fire methods in the attainment of curriculum goals and objectives. We offer grace as an orientation that could serve to accentuate the profoundly relational generative space of teaching and learning, and to afford opportunities for taking time and making space in the classroom for inquiry into the living disciplines as a means to further understandings of self, other and curriculum matter. In this paper we explore and interpret Richard Wagamese’s essay “On the wings of eagles” as a portrayal of moments of grace and put it into conversation with our own experiences in teacher education and curriculum theory. Although it is not in the nature of this project to conclude or profess definitive results or methods, our aim is to keep open questions of what it means to be graceful, and to act gracefully in relation to our students and to subject matters. We believe that grace is a way to be in the world that could be transformational for current pedagogical practices.
It was a lovely summer day in Athens when I welcomed Alishba, Sahar, Mahdia, Sakineh, Fatima, Khadija, Mahboubeh, Heba and Rahima in my poetry workshop. We shared tea and coffee, cakes and fresh fruit. The room was filled with laughter and vivid conversation in English, Greek, Arabic and Farsi. The women looked happy and relaxed, as we were ready to explore the poetry of the Nobel Laureate Odysseus Elytis (1911-1996). Selected poems from his Orientations (1940), Sun the First (1943), The Sovereign Sun (1971) and Maria Nefeli (1978) transformed the place into a hothouse of ideas and creativity. With the wings of our imagination, “we walked in the fields” and the sun found us “again on the sandy shores” untangling the nets of dreams. We “drank water” from the springs of ancient villages and heard sublime hymns as the wind loitered “among the quinces.” 1
ABSTRACT: Critical pedagogy thinkers (e.g. Paulo Freire) critique the dominant education systems for what is known as reproducing inequality and oppression in society. They propose a kind of educational system aiming to help learners critically understand their socio-historical condition to gain confidence and be active agents in history. Undoubtedly, realizing the pitfalls of formal education is not unique to Paulo Freire. Similarly, Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi, a thirteenth-century Sufi poet, repudiated the formal madrasa education and called for emancipatory knowledge to help people liberate themselves. Considering the differences both thinkers might have on the subject, this paper attempts to bring them into a dialogue on the subject of ‘emancipatory knowledge’. It concludes that Freire’s idea of critical pedagogy acknowledges the wider social structure perpetuating oppression, while Rumi’s focus is on personalized internal barriers preventing liberation while overlooking the role of social structure outside.
ABSTRACT: Suicide on post-secondary campuses is a pressing concern, with many students in Canada demanding that post-secondary institutions improve their policies and procedures for supporting students with suicidality. The past decade has shown an increase in research and literature on students with mental health illnesses including depression and anxiety, while research specifically on the prevention of and response to suicide at post-secondary institutions is lacking. This article expands upon current literature on suicidality in post-secondary institutions and provides recommendations including further areas of research, addressing risk factors, promoting educational awareness, and increasing help-seeking behaviour to future researchers and post-secondary professionals seeking to improve guidelines for practice in supporting students experiencing suicidality.
ABSTRACT: The application of professional learning communities (PLCs) is a well-known strategy in North American school systems. These communities are meant to bring about school change by having educators work collaboratively to improve student learning. A qualitative study utilizing a case study methodology was used to examine four participants across two sites in order to address how PLCs were being utilized to assist teachers in improving their instructional practices via assessment for learning strategies. Formal interviews, classroom observations, and physical artefacts, were triangulated and the following findings emerged: 1) Time that was provided was not used to discuss student learning. 2) Most participants could not identify any support that was provided. 3) Participants could not identify the “essential” work of PLCs. It is imperative that schools and school districts find away to provide time, within the school day, so teachers can embrace the collaborative work required to improve instructional practices.
