Anne Chapman

Dilemmas in the formation of student identity in offshore higher education: a case study in Hong Kong

This paper explores the impact of the internationalization of higher education on the formation of student identity. It does so in the context of increasing developments in offshore education and the rapid emergence of the professional doctorate in Australia and overseas. Drawing on data from a larger qualitative study of student experiences of offshore education, the focus is on professional doctorate candidates located in Hong Kong. Identity is characterized by a series of dilemmas experienced by the students as they seek to become members of the academic community. These dilemmas centre on a range of inter‐related issues, including sense of belonging, educational goals, learning style preferences and relationships with supervisors.

Surviving the Assault? The Australian Disability Movement and the Neoliberal Workfare State

This article provides an analysis of the key areas of struggle for the Australian disability movement during the Howard years of government. After providing a brief overview of the Australian disability movement and its historical development, we then move to situate the struggles of the Australian disability movement within the broader context of welfare to work, one of the central tenets of neoliberal social policy restructuring. From here, three sites of struggle emerge that have been central to the Australian disability movements struggles for representation, recognition and redistribution and principally include state restructuring of disability open labour market supports, state legitimation of disability sheltered workshops and, finally, the pensioner-categorization of disability within social security law and policy.

Students ‘at‐risk’ policy: competing social and economic discourses

Within a context of global reform agendas that promote economic ideologies in education the discourses surrounding ‘school failure’ have shifted from ‘individual risk’ to ‘a nation at‐risk’. Enhancing the quality of schooling through improving educational outcomes and standards for all, and thereby reducing ‘school failure,’ is simultaneously constructed as enhancing both social justice and a nation’s economic advantage in the global marketplace. Within this broader context, this research explores the complexity of issues related to policy for students at educational risk through an analysis of the Education Department of Western Australia’s ‘Making the Difference: Students at Educational Risk Policy.’ This research adopted a theoretical framework of a ‘policy cycle’ (that allowed for an exploration of power relations within the policy process. Primarily, consideration is given to the competing social and economic discourses found within the policy text and subsequent tensions reflected and retracted throughout the policy process from macro (system), to meso (district) and finally to micro levels within the schools and classrooms.

Towards a Model of -Language Shifts in Mathematics Learning

This paper reports on a study of the relationship between language and learning in school mathematics. In an empirical investigation of the spoken language of teacher and learners in a Year 9 mathematics class, discourse analysis of transcripts provides a descriptive account of language practices characteristic of school mathematics. It is argued that learning mathematics requires transformational shifts between “less mathematical” language and “more mathematical” language. A model is proposed where mathematical meanings are constructed within the shift towards increasingly mathematical language.

Outcomes approaches to assessment: comparing non-government and government case-study schools in Western Australia

A key feature of recent curriculum reform in post-industrialised liberal economies has been the ascendancy of outcomes-based education policies. A 1995 review conducted in Western Australia (WA) recommended an outcomes-based approach, and in response, the Curriculum Framework (CF) was released in 1998. The same year, the WA State government mandated that all schools, both non-government and government, demonstrate compliance with the outcomes-based CF for Years K–10 by 2004. This article compares case-studies of non-government and government schools in analysing assessment and reporting issues in relation to the enactment of outcomes-based curriculum policy in the mid-2000s. With significantly different localised contexts, including different degrees of institutional autonomy and different approaches to curriculum, assessment and reporting, interesting contrasts and commonalities arose as each school engaged with the new policy. The research draws on a hybrid approach to policy analysis, incorporating both critical theory and post-structuralism with their different conceptualisations of power relationships. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine and analyse the views of participants at each site. Although there is no intention to generalise from individual case-studies, cross-case analysis reveals the emergence of meta-level themes – such as market choice, accountability and teacher professionalism – which are associated with ‘bigger picture’ issues of power and which may well provide insights for explorations of curriculum reform in other contexts.

Transference of Skills in a post-compulsory vocational teacher education course in Western Australia

This paper emanates from the findings of a longitudinal qualitative study of Australian senior high school students’ (aged 16–17 years) experiences of their participation in the Study of Teaching post‐compulsory vocational programme designed to allow students with an interest in teaching to consider this profession from a new perspective and to make an informed decision about selecting teacher education as a career path. The focus of this paper is on the transference of skills from the Study of Teaching programme to subsequent tertiary studies in teacher education. Transference of skills was found to occur along three dimensions: theory and practice; authentic learning experience; and academic discourse.

Overview of Findings

This chapter presents an overview of findings from the qualitative data analysis according to the research questions. The aim of this overview is not to provide answers to the research questions, but to provide a voice for design leaders’ experiences in transitioning to design leadership and management positions in Singapore and to generate theory on this phenomenon.

Project-based learning for academically-able students: Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore

This book explores the dynamic approach to student-centred learning known as project-based learning, or project work. It addresses both the concepts and practical application of project-based learning to enhance teaching and learning. It describes empirical case study research into the impact of research-based project work on independent learning for academically-able secondary school students at Hwa Chong Institution, a premier independent school in Singapore. The research investigated how students dealt with an innovative project-based learning curriculum built on a social constructivist approach designed to foster independent learning attitudes. The students had to research and initiate their own projects, and see through the entire process with guidance from their teacher mentors. The case study findings give rich insights into student perspectives and experiences as they engage in projects and respond to real-life challenges and problems. A new theory of project-based learning is presented in the form of theoretical propositions. The research has implications for the professional development of teachers as project work mentors to help prepare their students to be ‘future-proof’ in dealing with 21st century study, work and social challenges with confidence. The book highlights compelling reasons for schools to include some form of research-based project work within their curricula, thereby allowing students to engage in collaborative, authentic research.

The recruitment of religious as teachers : a case study from 1960s Australia

Historical expositions on the teaching religious in Catholic schools can be seen as constituting models aimed at promoting reflection on the possibility that teaching can be influenced by discourses of ‘vocation’ and ‘the giving of service’, every bit as much as it can be by ‘industrial’ and ‘labour’ perspectives. This paper is offered as one contribution to opening up debate on the matter. It provides an overview of the work of the teaching religious in the English‐speaking world from the middle of the 1850s to the latter half of the twentieth century. Particular practices adopted by the Church aimed at recruiting young males and females to join the ranks of the teaching religious are then outlined. Finally, a film entitled Profession in Christ, which was produced by the (Irish) Christian Brothers Order in Australia in the early 1960s for use by their special ‘recruiting agents’ as they traveled around Catholic schools ‘questing’ for recruits, is analysed.

Case Study Findings

This chapter presents the analytic findings of the three case studies, which are Case Study 1: Design Managers, Case Study: 2 Design Consultants and Case Study 3 Design Entrepreneurs. The case studies portray design leaders’ experiences in transitioning to design leadership and management positions.