Review of: Helping doctoral students write: pedagogies for supervisio

Review of Helping doctoral students write: Pedagogies for supervision by Barbara Kamler and Pat Thomson, Routledge, London and New York, 2006, 173 pages, ISBN 0 415 34684 3, AUD74.00 (paperback)

Looking at literacy learners: making sense of observations

Teachers' observations of students in literacy classrooms have long been regarded as important components of 'good' literacy teaching. Nevertheless, recent research has argued that the 'lens' that is used to view students as literacy learners can make a considerable difference to what is seen. Drawing on data from a study that investigated the literacy learning of itinerant farm workers' children, this paper considers narratives told by two teachers about a middle-years student in a North Queensland primary school. In showing the contrasting meanings assigned by the two teachers to the one student, this paper highlights the importance of thinking beyond what has been seen and considering the meanings that are given to teachers' observations, as these may have important consequences for students’ literacy learning

Cultural geography. Different encounters, encountering difference

In the first half of this paper it is argued that cultural geography is a dynamic and diverse field that extends well beyond a single branch of human geography. The boundaries between it and other sub-disciplines are often blurred. People have «different» encounters with cultural geography depending on their sub-disciplinary convergences. People also have different encounters with cultural geography depending on where they live and work. «Place matters» in the construction, production and representation of cultural geography. It takes different forms in different places. In the second half of the paper it is argued that as cultural geography continues to encounter «difference» in many guises, four possible future trends are likely: first, it is probable that there will be continued growth in cultural geography; second, there may be mounting recognition that cultural geography needs to be critical offering possibilities for radical critique and reflection; third, cultural geographers are likely to continue with their efforts to think about what, if anything, might lie beyond representation; and finally, cultural geographers are likely to deepen their reflections on the politics of knowledge production leading to more multi-language publishing practices in this area

Meeting the minimum standards of the Palermo Protocol: The case of South Africa

Magister Legum - LLMThis research is aimed at evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the legal framework dealing with human trafficking in South Africa. To achieve this purpose, a comprehensive overview of the punishment, prevention of human trafficking in South Africa was looked into as well as victim protection. An overview of the history of slavery and an analysis of the modern conceptualisation of human trafficking indicate that human trafficking is a highly complex concept, and that there are various approaches to the understanding of the concept of human trafficking. There are various definitions of trafficking found in international instruments of which the most important has been identified as that contained in the Palermo Protocol. The definitions vary also because trafficking is closely related to the phenomena of migration, slavery and smuggling of humans. The study further identifies some significant root causes of trafficking The research concedes that although common-law crimes, statutes and transitional legislation can be utilized to challenge some trafficking elements, these offences are not comprehensive enough to amply deal with the crime’s complexities and provide only a fragmented approach to combating the crime. The study shows that South Africa has adopted specific legislation, namely the Trafficking Act. The research further establishes also that international, regional and sub-regional instruments on trafficking and related aspects of trafficking provide guidelines for developing effective strategies to deal with trafficking within the region. The counter-trafficking strategies as found in treaties, protocols, declarations and resolutions, which focus specifically on combating trafficking and those with a human-rights focus, obliges States to prosecute traffickers, protect those who are vulnerable to trafficking as well as those already trafficked and establish measures for prevention. This research further highlighted the importance of preventing human trafficking which starts with government but non- governmental organisations play a vital role in this element as well

Student mobility: moving beyond deficit views

This paper discusses issues that relate to student mobility and implications for teachers and guidance officers. Whilst there has been a tendency to locate problems associated with mobility in the children themselves or in their families, it is argued that this is not a particularly productive approach. Taking lessons from recent literacy understandings and using data from a study about the children of itinerant fruit pickers, this paper takes a broader perspective, recommending that school personnel widen their focus to include an examination of school practices and to consider equity implications for mobile students

Gone Bush

2017 essay contest winner Robyn Milhauser\u27s Gone Bus

When whiteness is invisible to those who teach: Teacher training, critical professional development, and the intersection of equitable education opportunities

Background Non-White teachers comprise 18% of the teaching force with faster burnout rates than White teachers. Teachers of Color (ToC) are exhausted. Institutionally, pre-service teacher education (TE) and inservice teacher professional development (PD) neglect the experiences and perspectives of non-White teachers. Critical Professional Development (CPD) “frames teachers as politically-aware individuals who have a stake in teaching and transforming society; dialogical; honors relationality/collectivity; strengthens racial literacy; recognizes critical consciousness & transformation as an ongoing process” (Mosely, 2018, p. 271). Q1: What type of critical TE and PD is needed to transform the racialized education system? Q2: What are the benefits of transformational critical TE and PD for educators? Methods I did a systemic literature review of TE and PD in peer-reviewed journal articles. Results The results of the literature review found several themes including a lack of any racial or structural analysis; recruitment of ToC happens simultaneously with the enabling and reifying of racist beliefs; there is no education for ToC helping them navigate the racist educational system and conversations; there is no safe space in schools or the academy, e.g., “White space is unsafe – all schools are white space”; ToC experience racial violence every day in schools. Conclusions White teachers and administrators should listen to and believe ToC; critically and reflectively question their assumptions and biases; become an accomplice, a co-conspirator, not just an ally; become more observant of the ways that race and racism are operating in schools and classrooms; and engage in tough conversations about inequity at work.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1055/thumbnail.jp

The re-historicisation and increased contextualisation of curriculum and its associated pedagogies

Curriculum has traditionally been an historical and technical field. The consequence has been to view curriculum and its associated pedagogical practices as neutral entities, devoid of meaning - in essence arising ex nihilo. However, this naïve assumption has fatefully resulted in revisiting the same swamps over and over again. Standardised curriculum and pedagogy function invisibly to reproduce class and inequality and to institutionalise cultural norms. Despite lingering attempts to maintain this technocratic approach that ignores subcutaneous meanings, a strong movement has emerged to reconceptualise curriculum in terms of its historical and sociopolitical context. While it is conceded that this is a step into a larger quagmire, it is a necessary one if true progress is to be made. Nevertheless, this large quagmire provides the possibility of escape, unlike the fatal determinism of forever returning to the swamps. Expectedly, this move to reconceptualise curriculum has its critics. Their arguments are also addressed, in particular the perceived tendency to separate theory and practice. Although curriculum and curriculum practices can be contextualised in many ways, this paper focuses primarily on key political concepts and concealed constructs such as hegemony, reproduction and resistance, resilience of the institution, the non-neutral nature of knowledge, the inclusion/exclusion principle, slogan systems and the hidden curriculum. Only by understanding the complex historical and political nature of curriculum can teaching professionals understand the hidden meaning of their practices. This is the first step for professionals to take in order to achieve Giroux's (1979, 1985, 1992) vision of teachers as transformative professionals (particularly through collaborative frameworks like the IDEAS project) in a climate of standardised curriculum and testing

Reading and the digital revolution

Response to Maryanne Wolf's article in which she pondered the digital revolution’s potential to ‘unravel 5000 years of learning’ in relation to reading ('Will kids lose skill to think?', HSun, 20/10/07)