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This article proposes a three-part conceptualisation of the use of Facebook in ethnographic research: as a tool, as data and as context. Longitudinal research with young adults at a time of significant change provides many challenges for the ethnographic researcher, such as maintaining channels of communication and high rates of participant attrition. Facebook offers a resolution to such challenges as a measure of maintaining research interest and relationships, alongside its potential as a unique research tool and rich source of data on students' reading and writing practices. Despite significant methodological and ethical issues arising from the use of Facebook in the research study presented, this article argues that the benefits of using Facebook, such as its potential for maintaining communication, providing context and generating data, override any such issues and offers valuable insights and commentary on facilitating online-offline longitudinal research with young people.

This paper outlines an exploratory study conducted within the Sport & Exercise Sciences department at a higher education institution in Wales. Prior to the study it was identified that personal tutors were spending an increasing amount of time dealing with pastoral issues. This research sought to investigate the implementation of the Student Assistance Program, a peer-support group, to reduce the pastoral burden on staff and improve retention and to assess any changes in student behaviour. At the end of the programme students were asked to evaluate the experience by means of a simple questionnaire that also gave them the opportunity to add some open-ended responses. In addition, the facilitators were also given the opportunity to comment on the programme using a similar open-ended questionnaire. Data were analysed using qualitative analysis. The results were encouraging and changes occurred within the students who participated in the pilot study. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)

Applied theatre often draws upon critical pedagogy and constructivist methodology as a way to bring participants into direct engagement with their own learning experiences. As learners, adults bring a wealth of perspectives that further affect how they interact with an applied theatre experience. "Drama for Schools" (DFS) is a professional development programme that partners graduate students and academics with teachers in elementary and secondary education. DFS hopes to shift the learning culture of classrooms through the use of drama-based instructional methods (e.g. interactive games, improvisation, and role playing). This article investigates how DFS facilitated change in (1) teacher identity; (2) pedagogy; and (3) teacher perceptions of their students. Data sources in this study included monthly written reflections and focus groups by DFS participants. Results varied across the research. Teacher's did not appear to change their views substantively over the course of the year. However, instructional strategies shifted in distinct ways, often reflecting the critical pedagogical nature of the drama-based strategies. Furthermore, teachers reported that DFS strategies facilitated risk-taking by all members of the classroom. As a result, the roles of teacher and learner in the classroom became more fluid during drama-based instruction. Implications for this work include a discussion of how DFS, as an applied theatre professional development model, is a vehicle for potential positive change in the learning culture of classrooms. (Contains 2 figures, 2 tables and 2 notes.)

This paper reports the results of a small-scale narrative study of men and women who grew up in mid-twentieth-century rural Wales, and their reminiscences regarding women and education. Although the dominant image of Wales during that era is that of a male-dominated society, all of our participants remembered influential independent women and educational aspiration for both girls and boys. We use Bourdieusian notions of types of cultural capital and the role of women in transmitting this to illuminate our participants' narratives. Accounts of family life disclosed themes of sacrifice concerning education, poverty during childhood and the role of school teaching as a career for women. Yet at the same time, there were forms of exclusion in operation. In conclusion, we suggest that in many ways, the women remembered by our participants could be seen as forerunners of the second wave of feminism. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper explores the conflicting philosophies within the widening participation debate. Two categories of inclusive educators are identified, "meritocrats" and "democrats". Among the democratic educators, a subgroup, "transformative" educators, exists, which seeks to invoke changes in society and the education system. The positions taken by some of these authors are weakened by their neglect of sociological theory. For the debate to progress and for inclusion to be successful, a renewed understanding of sociological theory is needed. This will help those contributing to the debate to grasp fully the political and economic constraints on students and institutions that have limited inclusion.

Here, the narratives of a group of non-traditional students who entered traditional UK universities are examined. A number of participants felt there was a kind of romance or exotic quality to the sights, sounds and smells of traditional institutions, which constituted part of the attraction. The process of becoming a student at an elite or traditional institution involved an oscillation between anxiety and ambition. Occasionally, students would become disillusioned with particular traditional universities, usually due to an act of rudeness--for example, a "snotty letter" that deflected them. Yet their choices remained within the traditional sector. The participants subscribe to what Bourdieu called the "doxa" or the largely unwritten rules of the overall game. The results confirm the recent interest in intra-class differences and affirm the need to make sense of how individuals' habituses can be transformed to accommodate the changes accompanying the move to university. (Contains 1 table.)

There has been a growth of scholarly interest in the experiences of people with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds as they seek to access tertiary education in resettlement. While gender is frequently identified as a key factor that impacts equitable participation in tertiary studies, the educational challenges for women with forced migration experiences (WFME) are often incidentally identified, rather than a targeted focus of inquiry. Here, we map the scholarly literature that explicitly focuses on the tertiary educational experiences of WFME, using a scoping study methodology (Arksey and O'Malley 2005) to explore current understandings and suggest future research directions. In analysing WFME-focused literature spanning the last ten years, we consider what is known about the barriers and facilitators to engagement, and the ways in which gendered experiences intersect with issues of language, culture, and socioeconomic and visa status to create particular constellations of gendered disadvantage that are specific to WFME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an increasing number of students from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds (SRABs) entering universities in settlement countries such as Australia and Germany have necessitated the establishment of a variety of supports, both as formal programs and informal ad-hoc networks. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the organisational conditions surrounding such supports. This study thus examined these conditions through the conceptual lens of organisational memory loss. Based on the two illustrative cases of Australia and Germany, it was described how building durable and responsive supports for SRABs is undermined by structural, ideological, and temporal imperatives that erode the possibilities for a sharable organisational memory. Furthermore, it was argued that similar to global arguments for durable pathways to settlement, universities need to develop and deliver lasting expertise and durable student supports by focusing on preserving organisational memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of gifted education in Victoria, Australia. It discusses implementation of the Bright Futures Policy and Program in 1995, the special gifted programs, and the Bright Futures Professional Development Package designed to improve gifted identification, develop awareness of school-based program options, and encourage school-wide programs. (CR)

Although the importance of developing students' academic literacies has been well-established, academic oracy has been forgotten. There is a paucity of attention to oracy in higher education, despite the key role played by students' oral communication in academic achievement and graduate employability. This study offers a scoping review of the international scholarly literature that does exist, to explore how oracy has been framed and discussed in higher education, and whether connections have been made with the equity agenda to widen participation to traditionally under-represented groups. Following Arksey and O'Malley's framework for scoping studies, the 31 papers reviewed suggest that oracy is framed in disparate ways, reflecting disconnected understandings of the range, breadth and possibilities for oracy teaching. An oracy as product perspective prevails in the studies, with oracy predominantly explored through monologic, monoglossic activities, assessments, and graduate attributes. The review has highlighted the need to recognise an oracy for learning perspective; to establish shared understandings of the features of oracy; and to embed the teaching of oracy practices that support all students, regardless of linguistic and educational background, within their disciplinary learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the equity/widening participation policy landscape in Australia, scholarly exploration of alternative pathways into higher education is becoming increasingly important to inform innovative pedagogies, answer complex questions, and improve outcomes and experiences for students. This article focuses on one alternative pathway, 'enabling' education, which has a 45-year history in Australia but has, for a variety of reasons, remained on the periphery of mainstream discourses about higher education. In this article, we offer a meta-scoping study of a selection of 88 journal articles and research reports focusing on Australian Enabling education. Through an analysis of who is writing, what is written and how it is written, we attempt to unite enabling education scholars in a conversation about our field and suggest ways forward to better connect with broader conversations about higher education in Australia and move enabling programs, practitioners and the students they serve into the centre stage of Australia's equity in higher education agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]