On Becoming a Qualitative Researcher: The Value of Reflexivity

Learning how to conduct qualitative research may seem daunting for those new to the task, especially given the paradigm ’s emphasis on complexity and emergent design. Although there are guidelines in the literature, each project is unique and ultimately the individual researcher must determine how best to proceed . Reflexivity is thus considered essential, potentially facilitating understanding of both the phenomenon under study and the research process itself . Drawing upon the contents of a reflective journal, the author provides an inside view of a first project, making connections between theory and practice. This personal narrative highlights the value of reflexivity both during and after a study, and may help to demystify the research process for those new to the fiel

The Urgency of Visual Media Literacy in Our Post-9/11 world: Reading Images of Muslim Women in the Print News Media

A decade after the 9/11 attacks, educators concerned with social justice issues are faced with the question of how media representations powerfully constitute the subjectivities of teachers and students. The roles of Muslim women in society are often narrowly construed and projected via media cultures – an unofficial curriculum of the everyday much more influential than the formal curriculum on offer in our schools. Given that much of what we “know” about Muslims we learn from the mass media, it seems urgent that as educators we become more attuned to how they are being portrayed and how such depictions are complexly taken up and/or resisted. In this paper I analyze how dominant meanings about Muslim women are produced in print news media sites, stressing connections in-between local and global contexts. I am particularly interested in visual epistemologies and how meanings produced via media images come to be attached to the bodies of North American Muslim women. I then propose three pedagogical strategies for taking up media images in the classroom to disrupt dominant meanings that reproduce binary understandings of self and other. Drawing upon relational theories of identity and learning, I argue for a need to interrogate and negotiate identities in ways that move us beyond simplistic understandings of self and other towards more complex, embodied meanings

A heart of wisdom: Life writing as empathetic inquiry

This exquisite collection of creative non-­‐‑fiction expands possibilities for education through its rich and provocative articulation of life writing as curriculum inquiry. “A Heart of Wisdom: Life Writing as Empathetic Inquiry” (2012) is a companion volume to the editors’ previous work, “Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos for our Times” (Hasebe-­‐‑Ludt, Chambers & Leggo, 2009)

Relighting the fire : visualizing the lesbian in contemporary India

This article revisits the controversy surrounding Deepa Mehta's Fire (1996), India's first publicly released film depicting female same-sex desire. The film has become a touchstone for discussions of the representation of queer and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lives in India. While the majority of critical accounts of the film have rejected the use of “lesbian” on the basis of its Anglo-American specificity, this article seeks to recast lesbians at the heart of Fire by filtering them through the lens of transnational protest, and by offering a close reading of the film's own play on religious and cultural symbolism. Viewed almost two decades after its release, in the light of the Delhi rape case of December 2012 and subsequent events, including the upholding of a law criminalizing gay sex in November 2013, the film now more than ever seems to offer a fantasy of the future, rather than a viable reality in the present day. Within Fire, the circumnavigation of heteronormative power and desire is certainly queer, but the film's labeling as “lesbian” subsequent to its release in India opened up an important public forum for a debate about female desire and independence that continues to resonate today. This article does not attempt to offer a conclusive argument about the use of the term “lesbian” to label the relationship between women that is depicted within the film, but it does examine the way in which the film itself visualizes desire between women, and in particular the use of Hindu narratives, imagery and motifs. The film's interpellation into lesbian politics is facilitated by the strong emphasis on a female-centered desire that is not defined by motherhood, that cannot be contained, and that demands to be seen

Visiting and teaching internationally, the pleasures, pitfalls and sustainability

Overall aim, to stimulate critical reflection on the benefits and pitfalls of international teaching, is it cross culturally appropriate and what is it’s sustainability in the current financial and political climate?’ ‘Globally there exists inequality in nursing education provision. In many countries following initial qualification there is little if any opportunity for nurses to benefit from continuing professional development (CPD). This ultimately can lead to stagnation and ritualistic nursing based upon nursing knowledge that is now outdated. Whilst the WHO document ‘Scaling Up, Saving Lives (Global Health Workforce Alliance 2008) focuses upon initial training little is mentioned about CPD provision, however, the International Council of Nursing sees this as a fundamental right of all nurses (ICN 2001) The ‘push-pull’ effect of higher salaries and better working conditions abroad often mean that vitally needed staff are lost to the country that trained them due to a lack of further development opportunities. For those unable to travel abroad, visits from nurse educators and other health care professionals can provide much needed updates. But this is costly in both resources and time and many now question if finances are best used in ways which environmentally also can be seen as detrimental. There is a fear that these visits only perpetuate ‘paternalistic’ attitudes and reflect an unspoken ‘we know best’ attitude. A better way to share knowledge and experiences could be by the many new technologies such as on line discussion forums and virtual tutorials. However, beneficial as these maybe can they ever really replace the interaction that occurs between two or more individuals in a shared face to face interaction? This paper aims to discuss such issues as the authors share their experiences of teaching overseas in a variety of countries and positions.’ Three intended outcomes: • to recognise some of the benefits and potential pitfalls of teaching international • to identify the need for cultural safety to ensure any teaching is culturally appropriate • to understand how international education can be sustainabl

Promoting cohesion, challenging expectations: educating the teachers of tomorrow for race equality and diversity in 21st century schools

Survey evidence suggests that newly qualified teachers tend to feel relatively ill-prepared to engage with pupils of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) heritage or to respond to potentially challenging issues related to race equality in schools. Of key concern is how the teaching work force - predominantly white, monolingual, female and middle class - can be enabled to be more effective and culturally competent in teaching an increasingly diverse pupil population in terms of ethnicity, culture, language and economics. Preparing teachers to support schools’ role in promoting social cohesion remains of vital relevance in a period of increasing austerity and social change. A research team from the University of Edinburgh and Manchester Metropolitan University interviewed 31 lecturers involved in teacher education in Scotland and England, to find out how they are dealing with race equality issues

Video Production in Elementary Teacher Education as a Critical Digital Literacy Practice

This article reports on a two-year, funded, qualitative inquiry into the challenges and possibilities of integrating video production into pre-service teacher education as a critical digital literacy practice. This includes the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that lead to ability to critique and create digital texts that interrogate the self, the other, and the world (Ávila & Zacher Pandya, 2013). Video making holds out enormous potential given our increasingly diverse classrooms and the growing need to have students connect and collaborate within their own communities and globally (Dwyer, 2016; Ontario Ministry of Education, 2015, 2016; Spires, Paul, Himes, & Yuan, 2018; Watt, 2017, 2018; Watt, Abdulqadir, Siyad, & Hujaleh, 2019). Video is especially significant in light of the fact that it is replacing print text as a dominant mode of communication (Manjou, 2018). Multimodal composing such as video production is, in fact, considered by some to be the essential 21st century literacy (Miller & McVee, 2012), but much remains to be done to bring digital technologies as literacy into the elementary classroom. Qualitative data includes a focus group, questionnaires, observations, and content analysis of teacher candidate videos and instructional plans. This study considers how video production can be integrated into teacher education programs to engage cross-curricular expectations and critical digital literacy perspectives. It responds to the pressing question of how to do teacher education differently in the digital age