(2016). Knowledge, Internal, and Environmental Factors on Environmental Care Behaviour among Aboriginal Students in Malaysia. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, v11 n12 p5349-5366. This study determined the contribution of predictor factors (i.e. knowledge about the environment as well as internal and environmental factors) on environmental care behaviour among aboriginal students. The knowledge about the environment that was investigated in this research includes environmental knowledge and environmental action knowledge. The internal factors include elements of attitude, personal responsibility, and beliefs, while the elements of environment factors are social influences, information resources, and environmental management facilities. In addition, this study used an environmental knowledge test and questionnaire as research instruments. A total of 445 aboriginal students from the Malaysian state of Pahang were involved in this research. The research data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The research findings showed that the predictor factors (knowledge, attitude, personal responsibility, beliefs, social influences, information… [PDF]
(2016). The Impact of Teacher Professional Development to Reposition Pedagogy for Indigenous Students in Mainstream Schools. Teacher Educator, v51 n3 p230-249. There is a dearth of empirical evidence that examines the impact of teacher professional development for culturally responsive pedagogies, particularly on Indigenous student achievement and teacher practices. Te Kotahitanga was a large-scale professional development initiative for culturally responsive practices for secondary teachers in New Zealand. To study its impact, we used a mixed-methods research approach to gather and analyze data on student achievement outcomes, classroom practices, and perceptions of teachers and students. While results suggested positive changes associated with the program, findings also highlighted ongoing challenges associated with transforming practice for Indigenous Maori students. Specific challenges of analysis are highlighted, along with recommendations for further research and development work in secondary schools…. [Direct]
(2016). Agents of Aspiration: The (Often Unintended) Benefits to University Students Working in Outreach Programmes. Educational Research, v58 n3 p300-318. Background: Universities in many countries increasingly deliver outreach programmes to raise aspirations and encourage participation in higher education. At the University of Canberra in Australia, these programmes target schools that have been identified as having a large number of students from rural/regional, financially disadvantaged and/or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds–groups that continue to be underrepresented in higher education. Involved in the delivery of these programmes are current university students–at the University of Canberra termed "Aspiration Agents"–many of whom come from similar backgrounds to the students with whom they work. Although not the focus of the outreach programmes, the Aspiration Agents themselves also derive benefits from the experience. Purpose: This research aimed to explore the reasons why students choose to become Aspiration Agents, and the perceived benefits of the mentoring/ambassador role. Sample, Design and… [Direct]
(2016). Fostering Remembrance and Reconciliation through an Arts-Based Response. in education, v22 n1 p127-147 Spr. This paper presents the results of study about an urban high school in Ontario that performed a stage play that portrayed the legacy of the Indian residential schools in Canada. We wanted to know the impact this arts-based response had on teachers and students. From the data that we obtained from focus groups, we identify four learning outcomes of the legacy project: reflection on knowledge and identity; fact-finding through the processes of respecting memory; using the arts to remember; and broadening perspectives: remembrance (memory), reconciliation, and memorialization. Our research can assist educators and researchers to implement an arts-based model that honours and respects residential school survivors and their families…. [PDF] [Direct]
(2016). Local Service Learning in Teacher Preparation Program. Online Submission, Journal of Education and Learning v10 n1 p8-14. The local knowledge is simply integrated in education and learning process. This study aims to promote local knowledge in school through service learning. The learning process is employed herbal plants to reinforce students learn how to sustain local knowledge with modern life and 21st century classroom. Participants consisted of 42 pre-service teachers, 11 in-service teachers, and 50 secondary students. Findings revealed that service learning significantly promoted public mind, self-efficacy, learning satisfaction, and learning process in local knowledge…. [PDF]
(2017). Desert-Based Muslim Religious Education: Mahdara as a Model. Religious Education, v112 n5 p529-541. As one of the oldest surviving educational religious models in the history of Muslim education, Mahdara remains a poorly studied desert-based religious institution of traditional learning. In its Bedouin context, the Mahdara produced religious scholars no less competent in the mastery of religious Islamic sciences than graduates of other reputable Islamic learning institutions. This article explores the historical development of the Mahdara, its academic program, social system, and contribution to the Mauritanian community while highlighting the major problems modernity poses to it in its struggle to preserve its sociohistorical position in society…. [Direct]
(2022). Education and New Developments 2022 — Volume 2. Online Submission This book contains the full text of papers and posters presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2022), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (WIARS). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the human being, in the way one thinks, feels and acts. One of the most important contributions resides in what and how we learn through the improvement of educational processes, both in formal and informal settings. The International Conference seeks to provide some answers and explore the processes, actions, challenges and outcomes of learning, teaching and human development. The goal is to offer a worldwide connection between teachers, students, researchers and lecturers, from a wide range of academic fields, interested in exploring and giving their contribution in educational issues. We take pride in having been able to connect and… [PDF]
(2014). An African-Centred Approach to Land Education. Environmental Education Research, v20 n1 p70-81. Approaches to environmental education which are engaging with place and critical pedagogy have not yet broadly engaged with the African world and insights from Africana Studies and Geography. An African-centred approach facilitates people's reconnection to places and ecosystems in ways that do not reduce places to objects of conquest and things to be exploited for profitability and individual gain. Such an approach offers effective critiques of settler coloniser perspectives on the environment and deeper understandings of the relationship between worldview and ecologically sensitised education. Through examples from Africana Studies and Geography, this article provides an introduction to how an African-centred approach can contribute to the development of a Land Education perspective and improve college-level environmental education…. [Direct]
(2014). Issues of Indigenous Representation: White Advocacy and the Complexities of Ethical Leadership. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v27 n4 p509-526. This paper explores the tensions and complexities for two principals as they work towards equity and improved social and educational outcomes for their Indigenous students. Drawing on Foucault's fourfold ethical frame and poststructuralist notions of the subject, this paper presents the different ways the white female principals of Indigenous schools are formed as subjects. We illustrate how the multiplicities of their subject formation are influenced by the historicity and contextual factors of the schools and communities. These factors play a significant part in how these principals work as advocates and differently experience and negotiate the tensions around representation of and for Indigenous schools and communities. In realising equity goals for Indigenous students, the paper draws on Foucault's work to illustrate the imperative of school leaders' cognisance of, and capacity to work with, these factors…. [Direct]
(2014). Commentary. International Journal of Multilingualism, v11 n4 p471-474. The subject of multilingualism in institutions has long been a central interest in sociolinguistics, and it is worth asking why. The answer lies in the role of institutions in the modern nation state, a point made over and over again by Michel Foucault. Institutions control access to all the resources a state can distribute; it distributes them according to criteria which make the distinction between the deserving, included citizen, and the undeserving, excluded other. In the face of persistent diversity, and of conditions which make it harder and harder to erase or unify it, institutions created in the era of industrial capitalism and the modern nation state are having a hard time figuring out how to sustain their legitimacy, but at the same time, are wedded to their structures, their processes, and their values. Whether by marginalising bilingual bodies, or relegating "other" languages (languages of the other?) to spaces where nothing authoritative can happen through the… [Direct]
(2014). Social Theories of Learning: A Need for a New Paradigm in Mathematics Education. Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) (37th, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2014). This paper is theoretical in orientation and explores the limitations of the current field of mathematics education which has been dominated by social theories of learning. It is proposed that the field is approaching its limits for these theories and there is a need for shift that moves from the idiosyncratic possibilities of subjective meaning making and identity formation to a more profound position of "knowledge making." There have been few, if any, advances in equity target group performance so questions are posed as to the viability of social theories for changing the status quo. If equity target groups are to be successful, then success needs to be more aligned with knowledge-making processes…. [PDF]
(2014). Supervision Provided to Indigenous Australian Doctoral Students: A Black and White Issue. Higher Education Research and Development, v33 n5 p1035-1048. The number of Indigenous Australians completing doctoral qualifications is disparately below their non-Indigenous contemporaries. Whilst there has been a steady increase in Indigenous completions in recent years, significant work remains to redress the imbalance. Supervision has been identified as a primary influencer of the likely success of Indigenous doctoral students, yet very little research has been undertaken in this area. This paper examines the experiences of 11 Indigenous Australians who hold a doctoral qualification. It also provides the experiences of five non-Indigenous supervisors who were an integral part of the supervision team of one of the successful doctoral graduates. A best-practice framework for supervision is offered as a guide for how supervisors, universities and national bodies can contribute to building the number of doctoral qualified Indigenous Australians…. [Direct]
(2020). Intercultural Communication Experiences among Students and Teachers: Implication to In-Service Teacher Professional Development. Journal for Multicultural Education, v14 n3-4 p223-238. Purpose: This paper aims to present the qualitative findings on students' and teachers' experiences in communicating and interacting with students and teachers from different ethnic backgrounds in the Malaysian vision schools initiative. Design/methodology/approach: Face-to-face interviews were conducted involving 15 informants comprising of three headteachers, three teachers and nine students. The interviews centred on the informants' experiences and views living and experiencing the reality of the vision schools which is comprising three major races; Malays, Chinese and Indians; which is represented by the three school types which are a national school, Chinese vernacular and Indian vernacular schools. Findings: The interview data revealed that the intercultural communication in the vision schools had triggered intercultural understanding and awareness of cultural diversity in the schools. However, the interview data with experienced teachers showed some drawbacks of the… [Direct]
(2020). Good Practice Note: Improving Retention and Completion of Students in Australian Higher Education. Australian Government Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Good practice notes offer practical advice and examples of good practice to guide operations in regard to specific, higher education issues. The good practice notes are intended to support and promote the quality assurance approaches of providers. This Good Practice Note identifies examples of good practice in Australian higher education providers in relation to increasing the retention and completion of students in their courses of study. Work undertaken by the Higher Education Standards Panel (HESP) in 2017, which included a long time-series analysis of retention in the Australian higher education system, showed that while national retention rates fell between 2011 and 2014, the 2014 rate was similar to the sector rate in 2005. Poor retention has an impact at both the institutional and individual student levels in terms of waste of resources and effort. Students who discontinue undergraduate studies frequently incur student debt. These students often consider that they have gained… [PDF]
(2016). Dialogue Conferences and Empowerment: Transforming Primary Education in Tanzania through Cooperation. Educational Action Research, v24 n2 p300-316. In this article we present and discuss experiences developed through a dialogue conference which we organised as part of a three-year participatory action research project related to primary education and agricultural education in Tanzania. We explore how dialogue conference as a research method can fill a gap between traditional ways of mutual problem-solving in Tanzania and research. Talking and sharing ideas is important for problem-solving, but the research demonstrated the need for a concrete base for the dialogue. After direct exposition to the local school practice, participants became more responsible and responsive to their environment. The participants agreed upon an action plan and distributed the responsibilities to implement the plan between themselves. The results show that the method opened up for uniting cooperative learning and research among participants and enabled the democratisation of knowledge creation and sharing. We argue that taking cultural conditions and… [Direct]