(2008). Universal Primary Education among Tribals in Jharkhand: A Situational Analysis. Online Submission The paper is an attempt to understand and analyse the status of universal primary education among tribals in Jharkhand and its challenges. Considering the low literacy among tribals and high drop out rates at elementary and higher levels, there is need of special focus on tribal's education, inclusive of context-specific traditional and innovative interventions. The paper suggests that to make a substantial inroad towards attaining the goal of universal primary education, it is imperative that all interventions should have community participation as a core strategy. In order to ensure universal education and sustainable improvement in the quality of education it is necessary to bring the community closer to the school system. The paper shows that education of tribals has not received whole hearted support of the state and focused effort in this area is still awaited. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure, and 14 footnotes.)… [PDF]
(2008). Passports of Meaning. SchoolArts: The Art Education Magazine for Teachers, v107 n6 p26-27, 63 Feb. The highest quality of learning takes place when students are immersed in the rich cultural heritage of a variety of countries, as they learn from hands-on studio projects, curated museum exhibitions, literacy resources, and elaborate food, music, and costume fiestas to round out their experiences. In this article, the authors describe a program for the South Miami K-8 Center's Expressive Arts Center students at the Lowe Art Museum in Miami. After learning about the indigenous Maya of Guatemala, children created a portrait of a peer, inspired by the art and textiles of Latin America. (Contains 1 resource and 5 online resources.)… [Direct]
(2008). Programmed for Failure? The Colonial Factor in the Mass Literacy Campaign in Nigeria, 1946-1956. Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, v44 n1-2 p107-121 Feb. This paper is an account of the earliest attempt in Africa to make education available to all within the context of what has been called fundamental education or a mass education programme. The paper draws attention to how the demand for mass education during the Second World War years was met by the British government, which, following what appeared to be a revision of its initial policy of exclusion, restriction of access and general hostility to mass education, made an unprecedented "large capital and recurrent grant" available for medical and educational work in its Colonial Development and Welfare Fund, and subsequently published the historic document entitled Mass Education in African Society. Using materials from the archives in Nigeria and Britain, the paper seeks to examine the reasons for the collapse of the promising literacy campaign in that country. In the process, it attempts to address, in particular, the issue of colonial policy and practice towards literacy… [Direct]
(2010). Beyond Bilingual Education: Multilingual Language Education in Nepal. GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, v4 p138-154 Nov. The purpose of this paper is to describe the framework for implementing multilingual language education (MLE) countrywide in Nepal. I outline key tenets of MLE, explain the rationale for implementing it in the Nepali context, and describe the MLE framework that formed the basis of trainer workshops. The framework is divided into 7 topics: 4 of which are specific to MLE, and 3 of which are widely discussed in the literature on bilingual education and therefore not discussed in this paper. I argue that MLE should be implemented in other countries for both educational and socio-political reasons relating to the educational well-being of linguistic minority children…. [PDF]
(2009). Assessing the Personal: Inclusion, Anecdote, and Academic Writing. Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, v2 p40-47. In the School of Education at the University of Adelaide, the use of oral evidence is increasingly common as students engage with reflective practices now dominant in teacher-education programs. These experiences offer both a dynamic perspective and a challenge to academic assessors and raise three questions, each of which are addressed in this paper: How should one regard oral history or personal experience in an academic context? How does one assess an academic argument which uses oral evidence or personal experience? What does it mean to be culturally inclusive in one's teaching? This paper argues that academics must accept the disruptive challenge of alternative constructions of knowledge, including personal histories, if the notion of what it means to be culturally inclusive is to be more than a token…. [PDF]
(2009). First Nations Educational Governance: A Fractured Mirror. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, n97 Dec. The Constitutional Act 1867 established a dual system of education in Canada–provincial authority and federal responsibility for First Nations' education. As a part of its treaty obligations, Canada agreed to provide western schools and services equitable with that provided by provincial systems (Morris 1880/1991). The authors argue that the federal system of education for First Nations children has only a surface similarity with the provincial systems. The fractured federal approach to First Nations education–lack of a governance system, educational policy, limited second level services and funding inequities–contributes to dissimilar educational services and inhibits First Nations' student learning and effective educational outcomes…. [PDF]
(2009). Improving the Representation of Indigenous Workers in the Mainstream Childcare Workplace. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, v34 n1 p2-9 Mar. This article is concerned with the under-representation of Indigenous workers in mainstream childcare services and the associated problem of the under-representation of Indigenous children in such services. Specifically, it focuses on workforce issues that serve as barriers to both attracting and/or retaining Indigenous staff. The research methods included focus groups, community consultations and interviews with key stakeholders in the childcare field, in order to identify Indigenous childcare workers' needs and preferences as well as those of their children, families and communities. An analysis of international and national literature on the Indigenous childcare workforce provided a context for the evidence presented from the focus groups and individual consultations, and as a point of reference to compare existing understandings to those arising from these discussions. The research findings highlight three key issues that serve as significant barriers to Indigenous people… [Direct]
(2010). Aboriginal Students Engaging and Struggling with Critical Multiliteracies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, v54 n4 p257-266 Dec. This article reports on findings from a school-based action research project with aboriginal adolescent students attending an alternative school in Canada. As a Freirean response to these marginalized students' school failures, the researcher engaged students in a critical multiliteracies approach to language and literacy learning. Based on participant observation, video recordings, teacher journals, and field notes, key findings from this study indicated that (a) students were more likely to engage in school literacy projects when rules about how to speak in school and what topics could be discussed in school were suspended, (b) students' literacy levels benefited from a critical multiliteracies project that asked to them to draw on their own cultural funds of knowledge and use and develop the computer technologies skills they were interested in, and (c) students were more likely to engage in critical discussion of social issues when they chose the topic for study…. [Direct]
(2010). "Mullin' the Yarndi" and Other Wicked Problems at a Multiracial Early Childhood Education Site in Regional Australia. Educational Policy, v24 n1 p9-27. In this article, Grint's model of leadership is used to shape discussions of how "problems" are responded to in the context of a preschool in an Australian regional town. Authority styles are described as command, management, or leadership. These authority styles result in approaching problems as "crises," "tame problems" or "wicked problems" and approaching racial difference in terms of computed "essentialism," "evasion," or "cognizance." This article engages with the approach to "wicked problems" by arguing that framing complex issues, such as race differences, as "wicked problems" allows for multiple ways of thinking through issues which are not possible if they are framed as "crises" or "tame problems." In this article, we examine a number of examples from the preschool of how "wicked problems" occur in daily practice. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Poverty and Education Report: Students Are Not to Blame–Understanding the Structural Causes of Family Poverty. BCTF Research Report. Section XII. 2009-EI-01. British Columbia Teachers' Federation In 2006, there were an estimated 181,000 low-income children in the province, with British Columbia (BC) reporting the highest before-tax child poverty rate (21.9%) in Canada (15.8%) for the fifth year in a row. This was the news in the "2008 Child Poverty Report Card" recently released by the First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition. Many of these families lived on incomes that were at least $11,000 below the before-tax low-income threshold. These figures tell that thousands of BC families are struggling economically, whose children are dealing with the effects of poverty. The current economic recession will further intensify the challenges many families face in earning an income sufficient to support their families. Part 1 of this paper discusses why it is important for educators to challenge assumptions and beliefs about the structural causes of poverty. How one thinks, feels, and communicates about poverty makes a difference in how students feel about… [PDF]
(2011). What Works to Overcome Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Learnings and Gaps in the Evidence. Closing the Gap Clearinghouse. 2009-10. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare The Closing the Gap Clearinghouse was established by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to bring together evidence-based research on overcoming disadvantage for Indigenous Australians. The Clearinghouse provides access to a collection of information on what works to improve Indigenous people's lives across the building blocks identified by COAG. The Clearinghouse not only collects, but systematically analyses and synthesises this evidence. This paper provides policy makers with key findings about what works and assesses the gaps in the evidence. It also sets out progress of the Clearinghouse towards its objectives in its first year of operation. Appended are: (1) Summary extracts from issues papers and resource sheets; and (2) Summary of assessed items. (Contains 26 tables, 11 figures and 6 boxes.)… [Direct]
(2007). Devils in Disguise: The Carnegie Project, the Cherokee Nation, and the 1960s. American Indian Quarterly, v31 n3 p465-490 Sum. In this article, the author talks about the experiences of many of the people involved in the Carnegie Project, an effort in the 1960s to establish ties with the "tribal community"–people who spoke Cherokee as their first language and lived in small kin-related settlements spread across five counties in northeastern Oklahoma–and directly involve them in a program to promote literacy in English. The story that emerges is not merely about a squabble between Indians and anthropologists in the state of Oklahoma. Instead it is about how Native and non-Native people engaged in the politics of community, identity, poverty, and power in Cold War America. Historians regard the 1960s as a tumultuous decade in which longstanding assumptions regarding who could speak, about what topics, and through which discursive procedures were called into question. These were years of disillusionment and anger, of divisions that left deep wounds in need of healing. The Cherokee Nation stood at… [Direct]
(2008). Aboriginal Report–Charting Our Path: Public Post-Secondary System. Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development This report provides an update on initiatives, activities and performance information regarding public post-secondary Aboriginal students in British Columbia between 2003-04 and 2006-07. In developing the report, the Ministry worked with its Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education and Training Partners, which includes Aboriginal and First Nations leadership, public post-secondary institution presidents, Aboriginal post-secondary institutions and organizations, and the federal and provincial governments. The report provides public system-level indicator data on Aboriginal participation, student outcomes, transition rates and other information. The data reflect existing data sources, and the report serves as an update to the public post-secondary system and the public on recent key initiatives in Aboriginal post-secondary education. Reported findings include: (1) In 2006-07, 18,254 public post-secondary students identified themselves as Aboriginal, a 23 per cent increase since the Ministry…
(2008). Reflection, Renewal and Relationship Building: An Ongoing Journey in Early Childhood Arts Education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, v9 n4 p339?353. The established place of the arts within early childhood education is rarely questioned. Nevertheless, social, cultural and political shifts in values, beliefs and practices impact on approaches to the arts, as early childhood practitioners grapple with increasingly complex views on how children learn and what factors impact on their learning. This article maps some of these shifts over the past 15 years, at one Early Learning Centre (ELC) in Australia. The centre has created and regularly re-conceptualised its vision for the place of the arts in the lives of young children. Curriculum is informed by a layered and multidimensional theoretical framework, where the arts are integrated into the children's learning, and theories are considered as collections of partial truths. The article documents a number of significant events where the children engaged with the arts as ways of making and communicating meaning, and as a means for inquiry-based learning, for developing their artistry… [Direct]
(2008). He Hui Whakatika: Culturally Responsive, Self Determining Interventions for Restoring Harmony. Kairaranga, v9 n1 p6-12. The time has come for kaupapa Maori ideology and epistemology to move from the margins and claim legitimate space within the discipline of education. Kaupapa Maori ideology provides a dynamic framework within which Maori are better able to make meaning of the world and work for change. Increasingly, kaupapa Maori is being used to inform policies and practices across a range of sectors and initiatives. Research carried out by Bevan-Brown and Bevan-Brown (1999), indicates that for special educational policies and practices to be more responsive to and effective for Maori, there is a need to incorporate Maori values and philosophies. Bishop (1996a) contends that the solutions for Maori do not reside within the culture that has traditionally marginalised Maori; rather, the solutions are located within Maori culture itself. An example of one such solution is the hui whakatika process (Hooper, Winslade, Drewery, Monk & Macfarlane, 1999), a process which is underpinned by traditional… [PDF]