Teacher leadership, power, and the gendered space of teaching: intersections and discourses

Relying on critical feminist understandings of power, this study explores how the gendered expectations and intersectional identity of women teachers impacts their negotiation of power in the practice of teacher leadership and social justice advocacy. This study takes a critical stance towards the existing body of literature and challenges the current feminized and patriarchal understanding of teacher leadership. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, a group of practicing teacher leaders examined their lived experiences as teacher leaders. The participants reported experiencing gendered expectations in their teaching contexts of support/nurturing, passivity, collaboration, normative gender expression, and all-encompassing teacher identity. Practicing teacher leadership in this gendered environment was a balancing act that required the ability to be a “chameleon.” The complexity of teaching and intricate nature of connections and networks allowed teachers to pick and choose a variety of strategies and resources with which to negotiate power. The study finds that much of the work of teacher leadership involved negotiating the interpersonal and cultural domains of power in order to develop coalitions of diverse stakeholders to resist the oppressive forces found in the structural and disciplinary domains. The teachers reported often having to “play against” negative assumptions of their ability to be leaders based on race and gender. The study concludes that the scholarly understanding of the practice of teacher leadership must be redefined to include the social justice focus of much of its practice, the intricacy of teachers’ networks, an understanding of power as multidirectional and multidimensional, the nuance of gendered norms found in teaching, and the unresolved paradoxes that teacher leaders face every day

More Than a Silhouette: African American Women’s Graduate Student Experience

African American women have been silhouetted. They have been reduced to a one dimensional version of themselves and defined by societies White – male hegemonic background. Currently, limited research exists on the experiences of African American (AA) women graduate students from an Afrocentric perspective. Despite the increase enrollment of AA women in higher education, barriers to degree completion still persist as evidenced by the lower rates of graduation. The lack of AA women in higher education demonstrates that the literature holds a minority position not unlike that of AA women in society. Subsequently, the accomplishments, challenges and overall experiences of these students are missing. To date, both scholarly literature and educational praxis have dimensional voids in addressing the needs of women of African descent in the academy. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and understand the experiences of African American women graduate students by elevating their voices. The two mechanisms of Black Feminist Thought: Matrix of domination and intersectionality were used to understand the women’s experiences in the context of being Black first, gendered a woman second and then the issues that arise from a textured life where intersections of identity occur. This study addresses the gap in research by not only drawing attention to statistical outcomes as reported by National reporting agencies on student academic success but also brings to the surface the lived experiences of AA women graduate students with respect to how they see their epistemological selves. The researcher used both a survey and interviews to highlight the ways institutions further marginalize AA women graduate students. Finally, this study provides recommendations rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu to affirm these women and thus affirm our own humanity. Recommendations are shared in relation to faculty and staff working with AA women graduation students, institutional policy and practice, and reconceptualizing human rights

Manufactured Scarcity: Countering Artificial Information Vacuums through Grassroot Risk Communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only revealed medical disparities between countries in terms of access to vaccines but has also unveiled huge rifts in knowledge and information flow regarding the pandemic and vaccination amongst the general public. With this in view, we will interrogate how grassroot communicators and social networking sites have worked alongside each other to disseminate information about the pandemic that counters the narratives provided by the state. As scholars of rhetoric, we intend to trace the ways in which professional communication and state disinformation produce information vacuums amongst citizens while also illuminating how localized resistance and social justice activism taking place through coalition building on social media, can disrupt and dismantle deficiency narratives and furthermore provide grassroot material support to those in dire need. In other words, drawing upon Ding’s Critical Contextualized Methodology, the proposed chapter will present a case study on Nepal by incorporating the petite narratives--after Lyotard--of “non-western cultural actors” (Ding, 2014, p. 30) in order to study the process and impact of alternative information flows during the time of risk and disaster, especially during the ongoing global pandemic

Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning

 Drawing on Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology and Certeau’s heterological science to investigate individual and extra-individual dimensions of Australian PLT practitioners’ engagements with scholarship of teaching and learning, this thesis identified obstacles and opportunities for recognition of professional legal education and training as emergent professional practice in law and education

Making sense of critical literacy: interpreting and enacting educational policy in one Scottish local authority

Scottish education is currently undergoing a period of significant change, with the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence in early years establishments, primary and secondary schools. This study focused on how educators in one Scottish local authority interpreted and enacted 'the important skills of critical literacy' (Building the Curriculum 3, Scottish Government, 2008). Critical literacy theory foregrounds issues of social justice, challenge, critique and action for transformation of inequalities in language and social practices; however this thesis posits that dominant government constructions of 'information and critical literacy' and 'higher order thinking skills' effectively remove social justice concerns from critical literacy.This study aimed to add a Scottish perspective to the international literature on critical literacy pedagogies, by investigating the knowledge and beliefs of engaged, informed practitioners who experienced a particular model of critical literacy professional development, which was run in partnership between their local authority and the University of Edinburgh. Interviews were conducted with five teachers and one librarian who participated in the first year of the professional development model, as well as one of the university lecturers who designed and delivered the training and the local authority manager who instigated and facilitated it. I used a critical framework which foregrounds issues of access and power to analyse participants' understandings of the terms literacy and critical literacy and what it means to be literate and critically literate; the resources they identified as useful in developing these understandings; their beliefs about what was distinctive or different about a critical literacy approach; and their descriptions of critical literacy practices in their classrooms and contexts. Considerable complexity was evident in participants' declarative understandings of what it means to be literate and critically literate. Participants defined critical literacy as a natural acuity which should be fostered from the early years of education, rather than a 'higher order skill'. They also identified being critically literate as a capacity to protect children from 'being manipulated' by texts, particularly social media, which subverts the notion of certain texts as potentially harmful and instead posits that lack of awareness of how they might challenge, critique and act to transform such inequalities is the real issue. An overview of critical literacy practices identified by participants is discussed within a framework of how they performed their understandings (Perkins, 1998) of critical literacy theory; I discuss in some detail five critical literacy practices enacted by participants, still within the critical analytical framework which gives prominence to intersections of access and power.The study concludes with a reflexive discussion of the research design and process and proposes several implications for policy and practice in light of the findings. I argue that mainstreaming critical literacy in the nursery, primary and secondary sectors requires that we address the importance of critical pedagogical approaches in the early years; embed critical capacity within dominant constructions of what it means to be literate; and reconstruct prohibition, protectionism or censorship of texts as the development of critical analytical skills. I suggest that Scottish policy makers and enactors look to the adult education curriculum in Scotland, in which critical literacy is embedded, as a model of good practice; and that the critical literacy practices which the participants in this research study have developed are shared more widely with other practitioners attempting to make sense of critical literacy. I conclude with a final reflection on access and power as they relate to this research study and to the wider issue of 'the important skills of critical literacy'

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Transborder Identity Development: A Photovoice Constructivist Grounded Theory Study of Transfronterizx Students in Postsecondary and Higher Education at the San Diego-Tijuana Border Region

The purpose of this photovoice constructivist grounded theory study is to illustrate the intersections and developmental processes of a transborder identity among Transfronterizx students in postsecondary and higher education institutions at the San Diego-Tijuana border region by examining the psychosocial and cognitive-structural factors that influenced their social identities. To generate the findings of this study, I conducted 11 photovoice focus groups and 20 one-on-one photovoice interviews in three grounded theory data collection and analysis phases, consisting of 691 photos with 32 current and former Transfronterizx students in postsecondary and higher education institutions at the San Diego-Tijuana border region. The intersections and developmental processes of a transborder identity are illustrated in a model grounded by the thoughts, feelings, and experiences participants shared about their academic trajectories, transborder performances and salient social identities at the San Diego-Tijuana borderlands. Transborder identity is defined by five in-vivo themes representing the meanings Transfronterizx students ascribed to themselves in relationship to others and their environment at the San Diego-Tijuana borderlands: (1) We Speak English, We Speak Spanish, We Speak Spanglish, (2) Soy De Aquí y Soy de Allá (3) Building Bridges, Not Walls, (4) We Have to Adapt to Live in these Situations and (5) Las Ganas de Salir Adelante. The findings also illustrate the current realities lived by Transfronterizx students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for future research, practice and policy centered on fostering the development and success of Transfronterizx students in postsecondary and higher education institutions at the San Diego-Tijuana border region are addressed

Supervision of Sex Counseling in Counselor Education: a Phenomenological Study from a Sex Positive and Multiculturally Sensitive Perspective

While existing literature indicates the importance of supervision in counselor training (Bernard & Goodyear; 2003; Harris & Hayes, 2008; Lofrisco, 2013) and counseling efficacy with sexual topics (Bidell, 2005; Harris & Hayes, 2008), counselor educators’ role with supervising client sexual issues is unknown. Currently, 50% of American Counseling Association (ACA) members report uncertainty in how to address sexual concerns with clients (Blount, Booth, Webb, & Liles, 2017). As supervision is paramount in counselor training (Bernard & Goodyear, 2003) and Counselors in Training (CITs) increasingly inquire about working with sexual topics, a study in supervisor experiences with sexual topics is timely. Supervisors’ role in increasing student comfort and efficacy could be crucial, as often times supervision is the only opportunity for graduate students to speak about practicum and internship experiences that include client sexual topics. Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) programs include extensive supervision training but with the lack of training specific to sexuality in both masters and doctoral programs, the experiences of supervision of sexual topics is not yet understood. This dissertation study addresses the gap in the literature through the phenomenological examination of 13 counselor educators about their supervision experiences with sexual topics. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Resulting eight themes were managing conflicting emotions, creating conditions, values, advocacy, student focus, language, multicultural competency and student autonomy. Findings suggest participant experiences include working with process rather than focusing on content expertise in human sexuality. Participant tools include checking student reactions, the origins of reactions, helping students access empathy, and encouraging students to reflect on the tension the client might be experiencing, to move the supervision conversation into a process focus when it comes to human sexuality topics. Future research suggestions include closer examination of the research themes, to help supervisors develop specific tools and perhaps a supervision model, to assist with human sexuality supervision

Teaching with Feminist Judgments: A Global Conversation

This conversational-style essay is an exchange among fourteen professors—representing thirteen universities across five countries—with experience teaching with feminist judgments. Feminist judgments are ‘shadow’ court decisions rewritten from a feminist perspective, using only the precedent in effect and the facts known at the time of the original decision. Scholars in Canada, England, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, India, and Mexico have published (or are currently producing) written collections of feminist judgments that demonstrate how feminist perspectives could have changed the legal reasoning or outcome (or both) in important legal cases. This essay begins to explore the vast pedagogical potential of feminist judgments. The contributors to this conversation describe how they use feminist judgments in the classroom; how students have responded to the judgments; how the professors achieve specific learning objectives through teaching with feminist judgments; and how working with feminist judgments—whether studying them, writing them, or both—can help students excavate the multiple social, political, economic, and even personal factors that influence the development of legal rules, structures, and institutions. The primary takeaway of the essay is that feminist judgments are a uniquely enriching pedagogical tool that can broaden the learning experience. Feminist judgments invite future lawyers, and indeed any reader, to re-imagine what the law is, what the law can be, and how to make the law more responsive to the needs of all people

Teaching with Feminist Judgments: A Global Conversation

This conversational-style essay is an exchange among fourteen professors-representing thirteen universities across five countries-with experience teaching with feminist judgments. Feminist judgments are \u27shadow\u27 court decisions rewritten from a feminist perspective, using only the precedent in effect and the facts known at the time of the original decision. Scholars in Canada, England, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, India, and Mexico have published (or are currently producing) written collections of feminist judgments that demonstrate how feminist perspectives could have changed the legal reasoning or outcome (or both) in important legal cases. This essay begins to explore the vast pedagogical potential of feminist judgments. The contributors to this conversation describe how they use feminist judgments in the classroom; how students have responded to the judgments; how the professors achieve specific learning objectives through teaching with feminist judgments; and how working with feminist judgments-whether studying them, writing them, or both-can help students excavate the multiple social, political, economic, and even personal factors that influence the development of legal rules, structures, and institutions. The primary takeaway of the essay is that feminist judgments are a uniquely enriching pedagogical tool that can broaden the learning experience. Feminist judgments invite future lawyers, and indeed any reader, to re-imagine what the law is, what the law can be, and how to make the law more responsive to the needs of all people