Social capital: A vital ingredient for retaining foreign language teachers

Introduction A major source of concern across a number of English-speaking countries is the loss of language teachers from the profession. In a global era where the ability to engage across languages and cultures is seen as vital for international engagement, this poses a significant problem as teacher shortages continue to challenge the efficacy of language education programs. And yet, there are very few large-scale studies which investigate the career attrition of foreign language teachers. The Australian mixed methods study reported here investigated the relationship between social capital and the career retention of 227 foreign language teachers. Results The findings expand our understanding of language teacher attrition, by showing that teachers who felt professionally valued and who had strong relationships with their colleagues and administrative leaders were less likely to leave language teaching. It was also found that social bonds with other foreign language teachers were an important form of social capital proactively sought by many language teachers, to help them overcome their professional isolation and thus maintain their professional standards. However, these strong social bonds were found to play a role in promoting language teacher attrition, as they provide teachers with a ladder to other career opportunities. Conclusions This study concludes that some language teachers are lacking in social capital, and that this lack of social capital is a key driver in career attrition. Therefore, there is a need to develop policies, and engage in practices, which facilitate and encourage the further development of language teachers' social capital. The conclusion of this paper explores ways to move forward to improve the retention of language teachers

Language teacher supply: A content analysis of newspaper coverage across the 'Anglobubble'

In the monolingual English-speaking world referred to as the ‘Anglobubble’, governments are finally recognising the advantages of a citizenry able to engage in and between multiple languages and cultures. As a result, increased efforts are being made to introduce and expand educational programs to teach languages. Thus, now more than ever, an appropriate language teacher supply is needed to support the internationalisation process of citizens. However, a language teacher supply crisis is emerging. The content analysis study reported here, explored how the issue of language teacher supply was portrayed in print-based newspaper media from six English-speaking countries between 2010 and 2015. The findings indicate that there is an ongoing crisis with the supply of language teachers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Further, in areas where language education is being propelled by top-down political agendas, sustainable progress is limited. Attention is focused on a small number of ‘popular’ languages, with indigenous languages all but forgotten. In contrast, in areas where grass-roots community movements are present, actions are being undertaken to find genuine and sustainable solutions. This is also bringing a more positive media discourse, and, as such, increased social awareness of and value for language education

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From romance to rocket science: Speed dating in higher education

Muurlink, OT ORCiD: 0000-0002-8251-9521This article is the first comprehensive review of speed dating in the tertiary sector. While speed dating has its origins as a networking technique to connect singles, it has only more recently made its way into the academy. Since 2005 universities world-wide have begun to adopt speed dating protocols as a tool for building research culture. An extensive review of the brief history of speed dating in university settings indicates that the motivation for organising events tends to fall into six clusters. Each motivation is discussed here, as well as two potential as-yet-unexplored outcomes for research students in academe: increasing wellbeing through improving social relations and aiding the conceptualising of theses. Finally the authors raise the need for further research in this area to establish its real impact and to identify best practices

Framing multicultural capital to understand multicultural education in practice

Educational institutions are agents that can support culturally and linguistically diverse communities and promote transformative change to prepare global citizens. The degree of preparedness of citizens to deal with the new multicultural reality that constitutes modern life has real economic implications for a nation’s success. By adopting a multicultural capital framework that synthesises current capital theories across fields, we seek to understand how educational institutions can prepare students for a world in which the ability to move across cultures and languages significantly determines an individual’s ability to succeed. Early adolescents need to be prepared to succeed in a global and diverse world. Middle schooling has been increasingly identified in educational literature as an identifiable stage in schooling that spans traditional notions of primary and secondary schooling and that holds distinct characteristics and needs. Drawing upon ethnographic data from a qualitative, exploratory study, this paper maps educational practices (both pedagogic and institutional) across six middle schools in urban Australia. By mapping these practices to the proposed multicultural capital framework, we identify how culturally proactive school communities productively draw upon multicultural capital to foster and promote a distinctly Australian perspective of what constitutes multicultural education

Language policy literacy for language teachers: How important is it?

This article provides a foundation for developing language teachers’ policy literacy. As educators, language policy has a direct impact on our work. By building our knowledge of language policy, we can be more actively involved in the process itself, becoming policy influencers rather than passive policy consumers. In this way, we can help to bring about the change that we want to see in our classrooms. The article begins with a basic introduction to language planning and policy, before delving into a brief history of language policy and its impact on language education in Australia and Queensland. It then analyses current Queensland policies and presents ways for teachers to be more connected to the political process. Finally, a call is made for all language teachers to be empowered through knowledge, activism, and collectivism

Multicultural Capital in Middle Schooling

This paper introduces the new notion of 'multicultural capital', drawing on economic theory and sociology to illuminate empirical data from middle schools. This paper identifies five types of capital (physical capital, human capital, natural capital, social capital, and cultural capital) from the literature. Further, the authors integrate these five types of capital with notions of "culturally problematic" and "interculturally proactive" schools (Hickling Hudson, 2003) to assist the assessment of multicultural assets of schools. This qualitative, exploratory study reports three major findings. First, each school has its own unique multicultural capital and this influences whether a school can be described as "culturally problematic" or the degree to which it is "interculturally proactive". Second, principals and teachers play an important role in the conceptualisation of a school's multiculturalism. Third, analysis indicates that the multicultural capital of each school influences the pedagogic choices made thereby affecting how the school enacts what we see as a form of multicultural education. Finally, the article acknowledges the study's major limitation, which is the small size of the sample and its urban nature. Therefore further research is recommended to continue the discussion on multicultural capital initiated here.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Languages and LinguisticsFull Tex

A higher degree of stress: Academic wellbeing

Postgraduates and professional academics are unique in that they are more or less ‘free’ to engage in research that is not tightly constrained by an employer. This freedom comes ata price. This article provides evidence that the high levels of stress observed in academia is related to the lack of clarity in academic roles and chronic overwork caused by changinguniversity structures and expectations. The article reviews evidence of stress and a broad definition of wellbeing, focusing on the postgraduate student and university teachers, and concludes with evidence that universities are beginning to embrace the challenge of wellbeing

From romance to rocket science: Speed dating in higher education

This article is the first comprehensive review of speed dating in the tertiary sector. While speed dating has its origins as a networking technique to connect singles, it has only more recently made its way into the academy. Since 2005 universities world-wide have begun to adopt speed dating protocols as a tool for building research culture. An extensive review of the brief history of speed dating in university settings indicates that the motivation for organising events tends to fall into six clusters. Each motivation is discussed here, as well as two potential as-yet-unexplored outcomes for research students in academe: increasing wellbeing through improving social relations and aiding the conceptualising of theses. Finally the authors raise the need for further research in this area to establish its real impact and to identify best practices