Christopher Speldewinde

Bush kinder in Australia: A new learning ‘place’ and its effect on local policy:

Bush kindergartens are a new practice in the Australian early childhood learning context and one that is rapidly becoming part of the kindergarten experience. Children leaving the confines of the bounded space of a kindergarten has been practised through excursions to outdoor places like zoos but the notion of conducting regular, ongoing kindergarten sessions away from the traditional kindergarten setting is one which is gaining momentum in Australian early childhood education, with possible impacts on future policy. In late 2014, a pilot programme titled ‘Sandy Shores Kids Go Bush’ was established across bush kindergartens in a region on the coastal fringe of south-eastern Australia using five existing sites. Each of these sites has differing characteristics impacting upon the experience of children attending the bush kinder programme. This paper reviews the settings of three different interpretations of ‘bush kinder’ and considers how the learning experience associated with bush kinder varies according to ‘place’ and how bush kinder has impact on both local and broader education policy.

Sustaining School–University Partnerships: Threats, Challenges and Critical Success Factors

The purpose of this chapter is to consider the threats and challenges which impact on the sustainability of a partnership. By identifying elements that contribute to success and underpin the future sustainability of the relationships, an understanding of how the theoretical framing (Interpretive Framework) for university–school partnerships draws together the facilitation and maintenance of partnerships is gained. The focus is a consideration of each of the aspects of the Interpretive Framework, as outlined in earlier chapters, and a discussion of the threats and challenges evident in data drawn from partnership stakeholders including teacher educators, pre-service teachers, teachers and principals. Three key issues drawn from the data are raised and analysed and are presented as sub-themes. These sub-themes are the elements required for: sustainability; measuring sustainability; and threats to sustainability of partnership practices.

Case Studies Exploring the Applicability of the STEPS Interpretive Framework in Other Professions

In this chapter, we consider two case studies where the Interpretive Framework was applied to contexts other than education. The first case study was concerned with improving the professional experience programme for nursing and medical students who undertook placement at a healthcare organisation (HCO). In the second case study, the Interpretive Framework was applied to a project to establish two medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) to better support people with mental health issues to deal with legal problems. The adaptability of the Interpretive Framework becomes evident when, in the first case, it was used to evaluate and improve an existing learning partnership between the university and a HCO, while in the second, it was used to support the establishment of a new partnership between lawyers and mental health clinics. The stakeholders reported that the Interpretive Framework was, with minor adjustments to language, readily adapted to their contexts.

Theory and Practice: The Context of Partnerships in Teacher Education

Due to more accountability for funding and demands of employers for more “work-ready” graduates, the provision of more authentic learning experiences is gaining attention in a range of professions other than teaching and raising questions about the effectiveness of university learning. The literature on Work Integrated Learning (WIL) indicates many of the issues and proposed solutions are common across disciplines and are related to funding and policy changes in the higher education sector. There are common calls for university programmes to be better integrated with authentic work-based experiences and the establishment of learning partnerships with employers to facilitate improved learning outcomes. These criticisms are evident in initial teacher education, through demands for universities to produce more “classroom ready” beginning teachers. The problem stems from the separation of the theory of teaching, as covered at university, and the practice of teaching in real classroom settings. Much of the research has suggested more effective learning for pre-service teachers can best achieved by integrating university studies with the authentic learning in schools through the practicum experience. Partnerships between university and schools have been recommended as an essential element to ensure this nexus between the theory and practice of teaching. Effective partnerships would aide in establishing and maintaining the relationships necessary to improve the quality of initial teacher education. The STEPS Project is a response of a group of science teacher educators operating in this reality who have embedded school-based learning into their primary science education units to provide their pre-service teachers with authentic science teaching experiences. WIL literature suggests the issues of authentic learning and the partnerships necessary to support it are common across many disciplines, which implies that the lessons from STEPS Project may be applicable to other curriculum areas within teacher education and to a range of other professions.

How democracy works; An ethnographic theory of politics, by Marcio Goldman

possibly not an Asmat).’ (166). The final chapter examines how documentary projects influence international perception of Asmat culture. ‘Primordialism’, a tendency for directors to act ‘as though they were the first ever to make a film of uncontacted, primitive stone-age people’ (173) is an issue in National Geographic Magazine and BBC productions, as well as other projects. Stanley nevertheless distinguishes between documentarists and ‘artistic ethnographers’, ‘artists who have sought engagement with local people’ (179). Painter Fons Bloemen directly incorporates design elements from Asmat carvings. Film maker and photographer Roy Villevoye raises questions about Asmat identity through works that include videotaped interaction with Asmat people, Asmat clothing, and staged portraits. Stanley covers some of the complicated issues surrounding Madonna, a life-like sculptural reproduction of master-carver RodanOmomá holding a replica of Villevoye’s infant daughter. In a video, Omomá voices spiritual concerns about his image being copied. Stanley’s conclusion, Dazzling the Anthropologists celebrates outsider influence:

Policy worlds: Anthropology and the analysis of contemporary power, edited by Cris Shore, Susan Wright and Davide Pero

Bolitho, A. 2008. The Ganga and problems of translation. In Water first: Issues and challenges for nations and communities in South Asia, edited by K. Lahiri-Dutt and R. Wasson, New Delhi: Sage, pp. 38–407. Colopy, C. 2012. Dirty, sacred rivers: Confronting South Asia’s water crisis. London: Earthscan. Wohl, E., 2011. A world of rivers: Environmental change on ten of the worlds great rivers. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.