(2015). Dewey in Hawai'i–1899. Educational Perspectives, v47 n1-2 p28-33. As a Native Hawaiian educator whose kuleana (responsibility, obligation, privilege) is to facilitate increased college enrollment, persistence, graduation, and transfer/career entry for Native Hawaiian students at Leeward Community College, Aulii Silva has honored her personal and professional vocations by investigating how Hawaiian students' cultural well-being intersects with her college's teaching and learning structures. She has eagerly sought out accounts of the development of teaching and learning in Hawai'i that have been told via the voice, worldview, and most importantly, the lived experience, of Hawai'i's aboriginal people. It is because of this same kuleana that this article focuses on what led to John Dewey's six-week visit to Hawai'i in 1899, and what effect, if any, it had on Hawai'i's school system. Through letters, newspaper accounts, and secondary sources, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that through the relationships he had with the American missionary… [PDF]
(2015). Women's Fashion Shows as Feminist Trans-Formation. Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, v27 n2 p79-99 Mar. This article has emerged from a research partnership between Filipino activists and an academic researcher and ally. In this discussion, we explore a unique arts-based feminist popular education project that used the format of a fashion show (not usually associated with women's emancipation) to tell stories about the colonization of the Philippines, its history and present neo-colonial realities, and the relationship between this history and Filipino women's exploitation. In 2004, 2005, and 2008, the Philippine Women's Centre of British Columbia (PWCBC), one of the longest-standing feminist organizations in Vancouver, created and launched three political fashion shows. Framed by feminist perspectives of transnationalism and global capitalism, as well as feminist approaches to popular education, we dialogue about three scenes/dresses from these shows, selected as examples of the power of visual and performative art to tell about, wear, and learn about colonial history and neo-colonial… [Direct]
(2015). Restlessness, Resoluteness and Reason: Looking Back at 50 Years of Maori Education. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, v50 n2 p177-193 Nov. The growing recognition of Maori education approaches and ways of knowing can be seen both as a response to the erosion and loss of traditional knowledge philosophies through the processes of colonialism and internationalism, and as a means of reclaiming and revaluing Maori language, identity and culture. Improving the educational success of Maori learners and their whanau contributes to ensuring that the goals identified as being critical for Maori advancement, are accomplished. This paper explores the last 50 years of education provision for Maori, starting with historical touchstones that have influenced the recent past, a critique of the recent past itself, and observations of the present cultural drivers–those that harbour promises of a modern story that is authentically inclusive, and responsive to local and global obligations…. [Direct]
(2008). The Green Primitives of the Himalayas Revisited. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v2 n4 p295-301 Oct. In environmentalist discourse, there is often an assumption that certain non-industrial peoples, usually called "traditional" or "indigenous" live in more "harmonious" relations with nature. The general argument is that instead of treating these communities as "backward" or "uncivilized," the modern world has much to learn from them in terms of living with the environment. Helena Norberg-Hodge's "Ancient Futures" is an influential book that has defined the ecological culture of Tibetan Buddhist peoples. In this essay, "Ancient Futures" is juxtaposed in the light of a critical framework called Agrarian Environments presented in a collection of essays edited by Agrawal and Sivaramakrishnan (2000)…. [Direct]
(2019). Dancing with the "Other": Experiential and Reflective Learning of African Neo-Traditional Dances through Dance Education Study Abroad Programs. International Journal of Education & the Arts, v20 n2 Jan. The increase in internationalization of education has set off a proliferation of educational models. Study abroad has emerged as one of the educational approaches through which universities can support students to internationalize their experiences, hone their skills and knowledge bases, sharpen professional proficiencies, and broaden their cultural perspectives. What meanings do foreign students who participate in study abroad programs in African dances in local African communities construct? This article engages the theory of experiential learning and concept of Orientalism to provide a critical examination of the meanings that the students from the U.S who took part in dance education study abroad to Uganda constructed from participation in neo-traditional dance activities. A hermeneutic phenomenological research paradigm was applied to collect data from six students from the U.S who took part in the Dance Education study abroad program to Uganda. The findings reveal how the study… [PDF]
(2019). Using a Wellbeing Framework to Recognise, Value, and Enhance the Broad Range of Outcomes for Learners in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Programmes. Teaching and Learning Research Initiative Aotearoa New Zealand's attention to adult literacy and numeracy (L+N) education arose from the results of the OECD / Statistics Canada International Literacy surveys begun in the mid-1990s, when, as a nation, the country achieved unexpectedly low results for L+N proficiency. The Government responded with an adult L+N strategy (Ministry of Education, 2001) that spellt out initiatives in building professional capability for delivery, improving the quality of the system, and ensuring that larger numbers of learners could access L+N learning. Over the next 10 years, further measures were included, such as credentialising tutors, expanded funding for educational provision, a national literacy centre housed in the University of Waikato, a national set of L+N learning descriptors, and a standardised, skills-based national assessment tool. In this context, Literacy Aotearoa, a partner on this project and the nation's largest adult literacy provider, serves approximately 8,000 adult L+N… [PDF]
(2017). Family Knowledge and Practices Useful in Tongan Boys' Education. set: Research Information for Teachers, n2 p49-56. Pasifika students' cultural knowledge and practices have long had low value in New Zealand schools. It has been argued that culturally responsive teaching practice is a priority for improving the achievement of Pasifika students. Teachers who are culturally responsive in their practice know how to capitalise on the key learnings of Pasifika students that are linked to their cultural values and beliefs. This article seeks to share some cultural knowledge and practices valued by Tongan "kainga" (extended families), which may help teachers think about how Tongan males operationalise learning in New Zealand schools…. [Direct]
(2017). Socialisation, Culture and the Foundations of Expertise in Elite Level Indigenous Australian Sportsmen. Sport, Education and Society, v22 n7 p852-863. This article reports on an ongoing study that investigates the development of expertise in rugby league and Australian football by Indigenous Australians as a socially and culturally situated process of learning. Focused on the sampling phase of the Development Model of Participation in Sport (6-12 years of age), it combines narrative inquiry and grounded theory methodologies to identify the important role that participation in a range of different sports and in informal games plays in the participants' development of expertise, as a process of socialisation…. [Direct]
(2017). Ethnic Tourism and the Big Song: Public Pedagogies and the Ambiguity of Environmental Discourse in Southwest China. Educational Philosophy and Theory, v49 n5 p480-500. The article examines two forms of public pedagogies in a rural region of Southwest China-tourism and ethnic songs-to illustrate their contested roles in transforming local relations with natural and built environment. While tourism development daily alters the village landscape by spatial intervention, demolition, and construction, the "landscaping" is both a visual and conceptual device that produces a pleasurable environment as the "other" and signifies what is tourable and what is to be seen. On the other hand, the echoes of the environment and human-nature relations are central elements in ethnic songs that have been sung for centuries as a major music genre to transmit ancestral, historical, and cultural understandings. Indigenous worldviews and ecological awareness are expressed in songs through imitation of nature and worship of various nonhuman forms of life. The paper argues that a nascent environmentalism and ecological significance of the ethnic songs… [Direct]
(2017). Ripples of Learning: A Culturally Inclusive Community Integrated Art Education Program. Art Education, v70 n6 p20-27. This article explores the beginning of a longitudinal study of a suite of programs, specifically culturally diverse Community Based Art Education (CBAE) programs, designed by and for art educators, to extend the learning pool for art education. The authors highlight specific elements within the programs that offer cultural understandings, practical art skills, and professional practice. This is followed by an analysis of both explicit and implicit learning evidenced in the results of the programs. The implications of these programs are discussed as well as the intended trajectory of these projects into the development of the further ongoing suites of interrelated programs…. [Direct]
(2017). Participatory Action and Dual Lens Research. Qualitative Research Journal, v17 n4 p283-293. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea that, in the last few decades, collaborative inquiry methods have evolved along a similar trajectory to dual lens research. Dual lens research, known in various contexts as both ways, two-eyed seeing Old Ways New Ways, and Koodjal Jinnung (looking both ways), is designed to generate new knowledge by exploring a theme through Aboriginal and contemporary western lenses. Participatory action research and a dual lens approach are considered in a number of projects with a particular focus on the issues such work can raise including conceptual challenges posed by fundamental differences between knowledge sets. Design/methodology/approach: The authors hypothesize that a dual lens approach will become a branch of participatory action research, as such, a robust description needs to be developed and its ethical implications are considered. Existing work in this direction, including principles and processes, are collated and discussed…. [Direct]
(2016). What's the Place of Queer Theory in Studies of Gender, Sexuality, and Education on the Periphery?. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, v38 n1 p73-84. This article is an exploration of the problem of theorizing gender and sexuality of people who Raewyn Connell might describe as coming from the global periphery, but whose lives and futures are also enmeshed in the politics, policies, and pedagogies of the metropole. Elizabeth Povinelli has done extensive research on Indigenous people in the Belyuen in northern Australia. The author Rasmussen, read Povinelli and Connell together because they have both sought to problematize the proper objects of research on gender and sexualities. Both have also been critical of identity politics related to gender and sexuality. Both researchers also interrogate gender and sexuality in relation to settler colonialism. Finally, both Connell and Povinelli attend to the ways in which intimate relations are governed by political and economic discourses related to neoliberalism (Connell and Povinelli) and late liberalism (Povinelli)…. [Direct]
(2016). Lifelong Learning Theory and Pre-Service Teachers' Development of Knowledge and Dispositions to Work with Australian Aboriginal Students. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, v11 n1 p1-9. This article draws on previous research by the authors and others as well as lifelong learning theory to argue the case for providing pre-service teachers with deep and meaningful experiences over time that help them to build their personal capacity for developing knowledge and dispositions to work with Australian Aboriginal students, their families and communities. These experiences, provided in partnership with the Aboriginal community, demonstrate how opportunities for deepening cultural understanding could help pre-service teachers to become key stakeholders in the partnership and to embrace the joint responsibility for working towards improving educational outcomes for Aboriginal students. The "Healthy Culture Healthy Country Programme" was developed by Dr. Shayne Williams of the New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) for practicing teachers and modified for pre-service teachers by its author. It was found from an exploration of the experiences… [Direct]
(2019). Exceeding Expectations: Teachers' Decision Making Regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students. Journal of Teacher Education, v70 n5 p512-525 Nov-Dec. Although Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers, administrators, and educational policy makers have made efforts to improve Indigenous educational outcomes, slow progress limits the opportunities available to Indigenous learners and perpetuates social and economic disadvantage. Prior Canadian studies demonstrate that some teachers attribute low ability and adverse life circumstances to Indigenous students, possibly influencing classroom placement. These findings were the catalyst for an Australian-based study assessing the influence students' Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status had upon teachers' placement decisions. Teachers allocated fictional students to supplementary, regular, or advanced programs. Study findings revealed that teachers' decisions were based upon assumptions regarding the perceived ability, family background, and/or life circumstances of Indigenous learners. The research tool designed for this study provides a way for teachers to identify the… [Direct]
(2020). Opportunities for Education in a Changing Climate: Themes from Key Informant Interviews. New Zealand Council for Educational Research New Zealand Council for Educational Research's (NZCER's) research project "Educational policy and practice for a changing climate" explores what kinds of changes or adaptations the education systems may need to make in the immediate and short-to-medium-term future in response to climate change. This report outlines findings from one component of the project: in-depth interviews with 17 individuals with a range of viewpoints on climate change and education in Aotearoa New Zealand. Everyone interviewed shared at least one thing in common–they were all concerned about climate change and its impacts for Aotearoa New Zealand, and believed it was important for the education system to be responsive. The perspectives and practice examples shared in this report suggest there is scope for growth and development in the way that schools and wider education systems in Aotearoa New Zealand engage with, and respond, to climate change. The practice stories shared by key informants suggest… [PDF]