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Chilean society has experienced ongoing social movements demanding socio-political changes since the collapse of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990 (Cox et al., 2022). The radical neoliberal education model introduced during the dictatorship took on a laboratory policy format where Chile was “fundamental for the development and transfer of neoliberal policies around the world" (Inzunza et al., 2019, p. 490). While much has been written about student movements against the neoliberal privatisation of education in Chile (e.g., Bellei et al., 2014), less attention has been given to teacher activism around similar educational matters. Current research on teacher activism tends to be small-scale and interview-based, using an implicit understanding of social justice. This doctoral research operationalises activist research to move beyond traditional Western research methodologies by co-theorising with teacher participants. This research explores the relationship between Chilean teachers' social activism and their pedagogical work towards social justice. The key research question is: How is social justice pursued by school-teachers through pedagogic and activist work in Chile? It is supported by three sub-questions: (1) Why do teachers become activists, and how does their activist work maintain and change over time? (2) How is teacher activism for social justice expressed inside and outside the classroom? (3) What is activist research and how can it be enacted with teachers who identify as activists? […], Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, Full Text

In this chapter, a model for supporting the ongoing process of embedding Indigenous knowledges in initial teacher education (ITE) and teaching practice is discussed. This model was developed out of an Australian Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) project which examined factors that supported the practicum journeys of Indigenous and non-Indigenous preservice teachers, and their school-based supervisors. The model foregrounds and illustrates the relationships and interactions between policy and practice contexts in initial teacher education. Selected vignettes from the participants provide examples of the embedding practices in each context. In this project, we positioned preservice teachers as “future curriculum leaders” and “knowers”. Their curriculum decision-making and practices around embedding Indigenous knowledges are shared to exemplify how the practice contexts in schooling can inform future professional work of all teachers and shape praxis in schools and teacher education institutions.

This study investigated elite volleyball coaching in Iraq from the perspective of players and coaches from four elite level volleyball teams located in northern Iraq. Quality of the coaching experience has been shown to be a critical factor for assisting players to realise their athletic potential, and for improving team performance. Players themselves value certain kinds of coaching approaches and practices and their experience of coaching influences their engagement in sport and sports performance. This case study of elite players in two men’s teams and two women’s teams, along with the perceptions of their male coaches about volleyball coaching and of coaching practices was undertaken using a mixed-method, sequential explanatory research design. For the purposes of this study, the ‘case’ comprised volleyball players and coaching staff of teams competing in an advanced level volleyball competition, from which players were eligible for selection for Iraq’s national and international competition teams. Following the mixed-methods sequential explanatory approach, quantitative data was collected using an internationally validated sports psychology questionnaire, the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP), administered to all players from the four participating teams. Audio-visual recordings were then made of one coaching session for each of the four participating teams (n = 4). The final phase of data collection involved semi- structured interviews conducted with head and assistant coaches from the four participating teams (n = 8) and four players each of the teams (n = 16). Quantitative data collected from the PSPP was analysed using descriptive statistics and single variable ANOVA. Video recorded data was analysed using video observation and notational analysis. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. The theory of practice architectures informed the study’s theoretical framework and assisted with the analysis of qualitative data. Findings, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, Full Text

This thesis sets out to theorise ‘pedagogic mis-governance’, that is, the impossibility of the state to govern entire populations through education reform according to its policy ideals, amidst increased level of contestations, as witnessed in postcolonial Hong Kong. Pedagogic governance embeds an unthinkable gap and openness towards possibilities. However, this openness also inscribes future crises, transgression, and ungovernable consequences which constitute the politics of education reform. The notion of ‘pedagogic mis-governance’ extends Basil Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic device, through the Foucauldian lens of governmentality and power-knowledge relations. Any attempt by the state to govern through pedagogic means inevitably leads to ‘mis-governance’. Paradoxically, the inevitability of ‘mis-governance’ through pedagogic means does not deter the state from education reforms. Ironically, the state accelerates education reforms in an attempt to govern though pedagogic means. The study has two purposes. First, it is intended to contribute to critical studies of education reform, by highlighting the parallel conflicts within and outside school systems – in particular, the tensions in distribution, recontextualisation and evaluation of curricular knowledge. Second, to demonstrate the breakdowns and breakthroughs that are intrinsic to most policy shifts as well as the schizophrenic desires for different subjectivities to be articulated in pedagogic discourses, the study investigates the assemblage of reform initiatives in Hong Kong throughout recent years. This investigation centres around the controversial school subject of Liberal Studies (LS), which was in place since 2009, and its sudden demise after the mass social unrest in 2019. This narrative provides an alternative account of a high-performing East Asian educational regime. Beneath the surface of stellar economic and educational achievement is the crisis-ridden tendency of a neoliberal regime: growing in, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, Full Text

The knowledges and research practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be recognised, respected, and supported as part of the diverse research endeavours of a university and the nation. Systemic and institutionalised racism within educational policies, procedures and structures has imposed barriers to progression for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Institutions fail to recognise and respect the wealth of experiences, strengths, and knowledge that Indigenous people bring to research. Historical exclusion and deficit stereotyping prevent access to research communities and the development of research capital. Universities must find ways to address systemic racism and support initiatives that move beyond tokenism. These initiatives should authentically support the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholars to help them navigate this cultural interface. Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been shown internationally to provide dynamic spaces for people from minority groups to develop research capital and create pathways to careers in research. UREs present an opportunity for the provision of new spaces in Australian institutions that support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research, build research capital, and build communities of undergraduate researchers. UREs as a mechanism to transform tertiary institutions into more supportive spaces for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research have not yet been explored in the Australian context. This thesis explores the phenomenon of a URE designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander undergraduate students at an Australian university. It seeks to understand how this unique URE creates research possibilities, networks, and social capital for undergraduate students. The study employs the lenses of critical race theory, Indigenous standpoint theory, and communities of practice theory in designing an Indigenist phenomenological methodological analytical appr, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, Full Text

Full Text, Thesis (Masters), Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, In recent decades, there has been an influx of Pasifika peoples into Australia via Aotearoa (New Zealand), often motivated by educational and employment opportunities. However, there is a paucity of research in Australia relating to the educational journey of Pasifika students and therefore a lack of evidence to support the development of robust initiatives to increase participation, retention, and success of this student cohort at university. In this study, I have provided some much-needed insights into Pasifika student success: the tensions, ambiguities, and ambivalences of self-efficacy formation as Pasifika students engage in Australian universities in preparation for their intended professions in the global marketplace. The research insights extend Hau’ofa’s metaphor of the Pacific Ocean to these shores: an ocean that Western knowledges assert separates the islands within it, as opposed to traditional Pasifika knowledges that assert the ocean is that which connects them. These perspectives platform diverging narratives and mindsets, feelings and behaviours – one of hopelessness and the other of hope. Narrative inquiry, and its key dimensions of temporality, place, and sociality, was adopted as the methodology for the study, due to its alignment to Pasifika worldviews and its ability to foreground the participants’ stories about their success and self-efficacy. The research was underpinned by postcolonial theory and informed by Pacific epistemology and ontologies. Six Pasifika students and graduates participated in this research – two were university students at the time of the interviews, two were recent graduates (graduating in the year before the interviews), and two were graduates who had been working in management positions in their given industries. Their stories or narratives were presented as a whole and aligned with the research lens of narrative inquiry. Four themes emerged from their narratives: (a) sources of self-efficacy, (b) the impacts of their s

Full Text, Thesis (Masters), Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors which influence First Peoples students’ decisions to access and engage with GUMURRII Student Success Unit, the Indigenous Education Unit at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Higher education plays a critical role in improving socioeconomic outcomes in First Peoples communities; however, First Peoples are underrepresented, with lower participation and higher attrition rates than non-Indigenous students. Engagement with Indigenous Education Units can improve student progression, retention and success; however, the nature of engagement with Indigenous Education Units has not been widely examined. This research adopts an interpretive case study approach using concurrent mixed methods including survey, focus groups, individual interviews, and document analysis to examine students’ engagement with GUMURRII. The incorporation of Nakata’s Cultural Interface and Indigenous Standpoint Theory into the research design privileged First Peoples students’ voices, and allowed experiences to be shared from their perspectives. There were six clear findings identified in this study, indicating that students access and engage with GUMURRII for reasons far beyond seeking traditional forms of support. Findings include (a) making the initial connection to GUMURRII, (b) becoming part of the First Peoples’ student community, (c) understanding the full resource potential of GUMURRII, and (d) knowing how to access these resources. Finally, there were (e) additional factors identified as contributing to student success, and (f) new, creative suggestions from First Peoples students that should be pursued. Through understanding why students initially access and engage with GUMURRII and continue to do so, recommendations surrounding targeted programs and opportunities that contribute to retention, progression and success of students could be made. This research could be used to not only improve First Peoples students’ success and w

Full Text, Thesis (Masters), Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, Mental health issues are prevalent in society and the issue of adolescent mental health is becoming increasingly scrutinised. It is estimated that, during adolescence, one in five young people within Australia will experience a mental health problem (Mission Australia, 2017). As Australia’s young people spend the vast majority of their time within a school environment, educators have a unique opportunity to recognise and help support young people with mental health concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore beginning teachers’ perceptions of their understanding and skills when responding to issues of student mental health. The study further sought to determine the level of perceived competence and mental health literacy among teachers in their first five years of teaching. The conceptual lenses that underpinned the investigation were teacher perceived efficacy and the influence of the environment on a person’s development. These concepts draw on Bandura’s social cognitive theory and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The research focused on one school environment as a single intrinsic case study, generating qualitative data. The school principal, a school psychologist, and five beginning teachers within their first 5 years of teaching were interviewed, and relevant school and government mental health and wellbeing documents were analysed. Three major findings from this research were identified. The first finding encompasses beginning teachers’ perceptions of their role, including responding to concerns and events, referring students appropriately, and responding to the complexities that can develop in the classroom as a consequence of poor student wellbeing. The second finding involves teacher-level challenges, including difficulty accessing information, a lack of specific pre-service teacher training, and the impact on teacher wellbeing. The third finding centres upon school-level challenges, including limitations in school structure and resources

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School Educ & Professional St, Arts, Education and Law, This study investigated the teaching and research work of early career Chinese academics in an elite Chinese university after they completed their doctoral studies in English-speaking countries. In particular, the study focused on how this group of academics brought back discipline-specific knowledge and research methods which they acquired during their overseas research studies. Secondly, the study examined how they translated and appropriated such knowledge and methods throughout their everyday work in the Chinese context. Thirdly, this study explored how the academics exercise their agency and construct professional identities while positioning themselves in the international research community and contributing to the Chinese higher education sector via knowledge recontextualising work. The research problem was contextualised in the policy literature documenting the rapid rise of China in the global higher education arena. This literature noted policies which encouraged Chinese students to complete their research qualifications in the West before returning to work in China. While a number of empirical studies have investigated the experiences of Chinese students who have completed research degrees in the West, these studies have mainly focused on summarising the reasons for their return, the working situations upon their return, the benefits of studying abroad, work challenges encountered, and how they lived up to university expectations. By contrast, this thesis focuses on the specifics of knowledge translation or recontextualisation undertaken by this cohort based on their transnational education experiences. This thesis draws on concepts from the sociology of education, mainly the work of Basil Bernstein (1971, 1990, 1996, 2000) to analyse the empirical data. In addition, it extended Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogic device by incorporating ideas from theories of educational globalisation (Appadurai, 1996, 2000) to understand the increasing flows of knowled

We come to this paper as non-Indigenous teacher educators working as qualitative researchers in postcolonial/decolonial (Mignolo, 2000) times. We explore matters related to schooling in remote Australian Indigenous communities. In this paper, we respond to Delamont’s invitation for qualitative researchers to revisit (Delamont and Hamilton, 1984) and think reflexively (Delamont, 2009) about our field work research methods. In doing so, attention is drawn to research processes involved with observing, narrating and writing lives and experiences. We highlight matters related to sequencing dilemmas (Delamont, 2009), the need to locate the self-as-researcher in the social (Delamont, 2007) and calling out ethical tensions associated with the ‘catch 22’ of confidentiality and acknowledgement (Delamont, 2007). Two separate researcher recounts of field notes are used to render visible our reflexive thinking as we attempt to negotiate Western educational research ethics policies and procedures and ways of knowing and being in Indigenous contexts.

Public inquiry into the embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges in Australian curricula has often mirrored the tumultuous social and political landscape in Indigenous affairs. While commitment to social justice can be a starting point for teachers, our research shows efforts to embed IK on teaching practicum indicates that curriculum transformation must come from a place of deep knowledge. The “Cultural interface” (Nakata, 2002; 2007) was employed to analyse sites of curriculum and pedagogical decision-making between these stakeholders as places of knowledge convergence and productive engagements. Phenomenology (van Manen, 1984) was adapted to direct attention to the experiences and ‘voice’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander preservice teachers and supervising teachers. The research design and dissemination strategy was informed by principles of Indigenous research methodology, such as ‘talkin up the research’ (Fredericks, 2007) with community before beginning, during (with) and after. Findings included that successful embedding examples came from teachers who demonstrated commitment to deepening their knowledge base through sustained and productive relationships with community knowledge sources and through valuing and recognising the IK brought to the practicum setting by pre-service themselves.

Full Text, Thesis (PhD Doctorate), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), School of Education and Professional Studies, Arts, Education and Law, The objectives of this study were to find the prevalence of knee bend at point of contact in the forehand groundstroke and to find the height of the ball when contacted. Both areas are yet to be considered or defined as one. In this thesis, the term "V Position" is used to describe and identify a playing position when these two areas are considered together. The V Position is defined as the use of knee bend and a height of point of contact that is at/around or below a player's hip height and can be used as a visual reference point for coaches. Using notational analysis, 121,770 individual notations were acquired to determine the prevalence of the V Position over 11 variables, in 123 players, ranked inside the top 200 on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), or Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. A theoretical framework for the research problem was derived from a broad canvass of learning theory, including Bruner’s (1961) discovery learning, Bandura’s (1962, 1991) social learning, Vygotsky’s (1980) cognition theory and Gagné’s (1984) conditional learning phases. Concepts were also drawn from an analysis of research literature into the application of learning approaches such as Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) (Wu et al., 2012). Survey (n = 46) and interview (n = 9) data were collected, followed by a thematic analysis, to explain how the best coaches in the world communicate the V Position.

In this chapter we propose that there are certain conditions that enable the agency of pre-service teachers to enact curriculum decision-making within their pedagogical relationships with their supervising teachers as they endeavour to embed Indigenous knowledges (IK) during the teaching practicum. The case study, underpinned by decolonising methodologies, centred upon pre-service teacher preparation at one Australian university, where we investigated how role modelling in urban and remote schools occurred in the learning and teaching relationships between pre-service teachers on practicum and their supervising teachers. This chapter draws from an Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) sponsored project at one Australian university; a full report on this project has been documented (see McLaughlin, Whatman and Nielsen, 2014). We commence with a discussion of decolonising and critical pedagogical spaces as the conceptual framework for the embedding Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in curricula and pedagogy. Our focus then shifts to a contextual overview of the development of Indigenous Knowledges (IK) in Australian school and university curriculum, providing a standpoint from which to consider the unfolding case study.

The space and positioning of Indigenous knowledges (IK) within Australian curricula and pedagogy are often contentious, informed by the broader Australian socio-cultural, political and economic landscape. Against changing educational policy, historically based on the myth of terra nullius, we discuss the shifting priorities for embedding Indigenous knowledges in educational practice in university and school curricula and pedagogy. In this chapter, we argue that personal and professional commitment to social justice is an important starting point for embedding Indigenous knowledges in the Australian school curricula and pedagogy. Developing teacher knowledge around embedding IK is required to enable teachers’ preparedness to navigate a contested historical/colonising space in curriculum decision-making, teaching and learning. We draw one mpirical data from a recent research project on supporting pre-service teachers as future curriculum leaders; the project was funded by the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT). This project aimed to support future curriculum leaders to develop their knowledge of embedding IK at one Australian university. We propose supporting the embedding of IK in situ with pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers on practicum in real, sustained and affirming ways that shifts the recognition of IK from personal commitment to social justice in education, to one that values Indigenous knowledges as content to educate (Connell, 1993). We argue that sustained engagement with and appreciation of IKhas the potential to decolonise Australian curricula, shift policy directions and enhance race relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians .

The imperative for Indigenous education in Australia is influenced by national political, social and economic discourses as Australian education systems continue to grapple with an agreed aspiration of full participation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Innovations within and policies guiding our education systems are often driven by agendas of reconciliation, equity, equality in participation and social justice. In this paper, we discuss key themes that emerged from a recent Australian Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) research project which investigated ways in which preservice teachers from one Australian university embedded Indigenous knowledges (IK) on teaching practicum . Using a phenomenological approach, the case involved 25 preservice teacher and 23 practicum supervisor participants, over a 30 month investigation. Attention was directed to the nature of subjective (lived) experiences of participants in these pedagogical negotiations and thus preservice and supervising teacher voice was actively sought in naming and analysing these experiences. Findings revealed that change, knowledge, help and affirmation were key themes for shaping discourses around Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in the Australian curriculum and defined the nature of the pedagogical relationships between novice and experienced teachers. We focus particularly on the need for change and affirmation by preservice teachers and their teaching practicum supervisors as they developed their pedagogical relationships whilst embedding Indigenous knowledges in learning and teaching.

This report documents the outcomes of the OLT funded project on Supporting Future Curriculum Leaders in Embedding Indigenous Knowledges on Teaching Practicum. This project investigated the learning and teaching relationships between pre-service teachers and their supervisors on practicum, with pre-service teachers who were specifically engaged (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous pre-service teachers studying the Indigenous Studies minor) with embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in their teaching practice. It explored the negotiations of expectations, role modelling and the interactions that occur between pre-service teachers, their supervising teachers and QUT staff involved in supporting teaching practicum. The intent was to design a model to develop long term, future-oriented opportunities for teachers to develop expertise in embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Towards the last decade of the last millennium, Indigenous knowledge was central to international scholarly debates relating to decolonising knowledge. Indigenous scholars, particularly those from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, advanced many of these debates. They argued for Indigenous knowledge to be used as the epistemological standpoint for intellectual engagements and the methodology for resisting colonial constructions of the colonised other (Rigney 1997; Smith 1999, 2005). However, the challenge of engaging Indigenous knowledge to inform research and educational processes, in many respects, is still a contested debate in Western-oriented universities and institutions of higher education. This chapter discusses findings of the Parent–School Partnership Initiative (hereafter referred to as PSPI) project conducted by the Oodgeroo Unit staff and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Focus Group for the Caboolture Shire, in South East Queensland. The state government sponsored initiative examined factors that promote and enhance parent–school engagement with students’ schooling, and contributed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ learning and completion of secondary schooling within the participating schools. We argue in this chapter for the importance of recognising Indigenous knowledge and its place in enhancing parent–school partnerships.