Perspectives on British expatriate science teachers in a Caribbean context

In this article, I report on the findings of a qualitative critical analysis of student, teacher and administrator accounts of the employment of British expatriate science teachers in a given Caribbean context. I utilise the complicity/resistance construct of postcolonial theory as the analytic framework for this inquiry, foregrounding the meanings that research participants attached to the geographic origins of science teachers. These meanings place the expatriate teachers in complicated positions of privilege that elicit certain responses from students, colleagues and the expatriate teachers themselves. I discuss the implications of participant insights that reinforce a call for further postcolonial critique of the employment of Western expatriate teachers in once-colonised settings.peer-reviewe

Learning to Enhance Community-Responsiveness in an Out-of-School Club Program

This article describes a methodology and method that can be adopted by informal education leaders who are interested in establishing or developing a community-responsive focus for out-of-school club programming. Based on an adaptation of Dewey’s Laboratory School model, a university research team partnered with a community-based science club provider (the STEM Academy) to establish a model club space where ways of enhancing community-responsiveness could be explored. The overall aim was to scale up an iterative practice of research-informed adaptations into a program of over 20 clubs. The partnership was focused on a two-phase process, equipping the STEM Academy to continue an ongoing research practice in the absence of university influence. The first phase of the study involved gathering information regarding science needs, wants and preferences of a new community context. The second phase established a model club space and sought community feedback on the efficacy of the club in meeting community desires. The research approach used to establish the club and gather ongoing data is described in this article which ends by proposing a schema that can be adapted to suit other out-of-school clubs and programs

Exploiting the Qualitative Potential of Q Methodology in a Post-Colonial Critical Discourse Analysis

This conceptual article describes an approach I have taken when exploring the discourse associated with the teaching and learning of high school science in a given Caribbean location. Using a lens of post-colonial theory to guide the entire project, I employed an adaptation of the standard interpretation of Q methodology as part of a critical discourse analysis. In this article, I support and extend Shinebourne's (2009) representation of Q methodology as a means of “expanding the repertoire of qualitative research methods” (p. 93), as described in a previous issue of this journal. Given the challenging nature of the research theme and the analytic perspective that I employed as a researcher, the standard Q methodology protocol was augmented, whilst retaining the essential attributes of Q technique. This approach proved engaging for participants and was fruitful in providing insight into the tensions between shared and particular participant perspectives. The resultant research strategy described in this article would be of particular interest to researchers from a qualitative background, particularly those working within a post-foundational framework, who would value support in conducting a critical discourse analysis

Giving STEM a Context: The Beauty of STEM(S)

A review of this special issue:  Dialogues on beauty through STEM educatio

Cultivating Disciplinary Expectations for Engineering Education Research in Canada

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. The final authenticated version is available online at: doi.org/10.1007/s42330-020-00078-7Engineering education research in Canada is, in many ways, still establishing itself as a discipline, yet much is already being asked of it. The diversity of career pathways for engineering graduates, along with the increased complexity of global engineering challenges and the ramifications of technological opportunities, is raising important questions about current engineering education foci and practices. This paper brings together issues surfaced through the process of compiling a Special Theme on engineering education research in Canada, positioning the collection of papers in terms of the challenges and opportunities faced by this maturing Canadian research community. We seek to reconcile how this research can incorporate the theoretical and methodological depth valued in the social sciences while honoring the focus on effective instructional practices that has become an important strand of inquiry in engineering education. Challenges to the growth of engineering education research, such as funding and graduate student inclusion, are also discussed. In addition, we explore the emergence of teaching stream engineering faculty and problematize the role of research and scholarship in their career trajectories. Finally, we call for more strategic thinking to guide the evolution of engineering education research in Canada. We hope that, collectively, this editorial and the other four papers in this Special Theme will help to stimulate discussion about how we define and recognize excellence in the domain of engineering education research in Canada

Postdoctoral scholars in a faculty of education: Navigating liminal spaces and marginal identities

The last decade has seen a slow but steady increase in the number of postdoctoral scholars employed in faculties of education. In this article, seven postdoctoral scholars who worked in the same Canadian faculty of education explore their past positionings within the postdoctoral space. We share personal narratives related to issues of agency and identity in our relatively ill-defined positions. Similar to other early career academics, our reflections expose key concerns surrounding clarity of expectations, workload and work/life balance, and issues related to community and collegiality. In addition, we identify institutional or structural constraints that need to be reconciled in order to support postdoctoral scholars in their aspirations for success on personal and institutional levels. We provide recommendations and invite dialogue with regard to this emerging role in faculties of education