Valerie Harwood

Representations of autism in Australian print media

The mass media provides a frame for discourse around important health issues, and it has been widely demonstrated that the development and reinforcement of stereotypes of minority groups are strongly influenced by the news and entertainment media. An extensive search of academic databases failed to locate any studies which examined the representation of autism in the news media, although there were a number of articles on the media role in the autism and MMR debate. This paper reports on an examination of the extent, and nature, of coverage of ‘autism spectrum disorders’ in the Australian print media between 1996 and 2005. Key findings include a relatively limited amount of factual information and a dual stereotype of people labeled as having autism as either dangerous and uncontrollable or unloved and poorly treated. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the nature and tone of this coverage of autism and its potential impact on individuals described as ‘autistic’, their families and carers and the community in general.

Developing capabilities for social inclusion: engaging diversity through inclusive school communities

The effort to make schools more inclusive, together with the pressure to retain students until the end of secondary school, has greatly increased both the number and educational requirements of students enrolling in their local school. Of critical concern, despite years of research and improvements in policy, pedagogy and educational knowledge, is the enduring categorisation and marginalisation of students with diverse abilities. Research has shown that it can be difficult for schools to negotiate away from the pressure to categorise or diagnose such students, particularly those with challenging behaviour. In this paper, we highlight instances where some schools have responded to increasing diversity by developing new cultural practices to engage both staff and students; in some cases, they have responded to decreasing suspension while improving retention, behaviour and performance.

Scrutinizing sexuality and psychopathology: a Foucauldian inspired strategy for qualitative data analysis

This article discusses a Foucauldian‐inspired strategy applied to the analysis of the production of truths about psychopathology, sexuality and young people. Drawing on an interpretation of Foucault’s genealogical tactics, this strategy involves the deployment of four angles of scrutiny: discontinuity, contingency, emergences and subjugated knowledges. The authors discuss how these angles can be drawn on to scrutinize those practices that diagnose young people with behavior disorders—or that make essentialist claims about a young person’s sexual identity. Drawing on examples from their own research in education relating to the construction of psychopathology and sexualities, the authors consider how these angles of scrutiny can be applied to critiquing essentializing truths, and thereby inform the task of qualitative data analysis.

The place of imagination in inclusive pedagogy: thinking with Maxine Greene and Hannah Arendt

Conceptualising difference is a key task for inclusive pedagogy, and vital to the politics of inclusion. My purpose in this paper is to consider the place that imagination has in helping us to conceptualise difference, and to argue that imagination has a key part to play in inclusive pedagogy. To do this I draw closely on the work of Maxine Greene and Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s work provides a means to conceptualise difference whereby difference is itself at the very heart of what constitutes our humanity. Greene’s work on the arts has outlined the value of the imagination, and has argued for the place of the arts in education and pedagogy. What is needed, however, is a careful account of how the imagination is connected to politics. In this paper I take up Greene’s call to ‘release the imagination’ and, drawing on Arendt, develop an account of the relationship between the imagination, thinking, and politics and how this can be used to argue the place of imagination in inclusive pedagogy.

Mobile asylums: Psychopathologisation as a personal, portable psychiatric prison

Psychopathologisation, broadly understood as processes that lead to the effects of being psychopathologised, can have considerable consequences for isolating students from education. This can be especially the case for children and young people affected by the racialisation of behaviour and/or socio-economic disadvantage. Drawing on Foucaults analysis of the relationship between the psychiatrist and the asylum in his lectures ‘Psychiatric Power’, the argument is made that these effects can be tantamount to being institutionalised in a mobile asylum. Portrayal of the asylum in the American television series House MD is used to highlight how, if we rely on classic depictions of the asylum–psychiatrist couplet, we risk missing – or minimising, the mobile asylum that some young children experience when they are psychopathologised in schooling.

Shifting the blame in higher education – social inclusion and deficit discourses

ABSTRACT The principles of social inclusion have been embraced by institutions across the higher education sector but their translation into practice through pedagogy is not readily apparent. This paper examines perceptions of social inclusion and inclusive pedagogies held by academic staff at an Australian university. Of specific interest were the perceptions of teaching staff with regard to diverse student populations, particularly students from low socio-economic (LSES) backgrounds, given the institutions reasonably high proportion of LSES student enrolment (14%). A mixed-method approach was utilised: (i) in-depth interviews with a representative sample of academic staff and (ii) an online survey targeting all academic staff across the institution. The results point to the dual responsibilities of students and institutions in enacting inclusivity in order to move beyond reductive standpoints that simply apportion blame.

Connection, Challenge, and Change: The Narratives of University Students Mentoring Young Indigenous Australians

In this article, we highlighted the stories of university student mentors who are involved in the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME). The AIME program works with young Indigenous school students, at primary and secondary school levels, to encourage continued participation in education and to consider university as a viable life goal. The AIME program is explored from the perspective of the university students who are selected to mentor young Australian Indigenous school students. Adopting a narrative inquiry approach, the article presents richly descriptive insight into the motivations of these mentors and highlights how this experience has impacted upon them. While the research presented focuses on narratives of mentors, the data indicate that the AIME program employs an innovative approach to mentoring that enhances cultural understanding for mentors.

Finding education: Stories of how young former refugees constituted strategic identities in order to access school

Educators in resettlement countries are grappling with ways to adequately engage and meet the needs of newly arrived refugee students. In this article we argue that to fully meet the needs of refugee students a deeper understanding of their educational experience as ‘a refugee’ prior to resettlement is vital. In particular we foreground the stories of three young former refugees and explore the ways in which they actively constructed new identities in order to access school in their host countries, prior to resettlement. This article discusses how the negative discursive positioning of ‘the refugee’ in the world today has limited the resources and access to education for young refugees. It concludes by arguing that as these students move into education in Australia there is a danger to quickly relabel young former refugees with deficit terms rather than opening up a discourse to include the intricate complexities of each refugee experience.

AIM(E) for completing school and university: analysing the strength of the australian indigenous mentoring experience

Abstract Purpose Generally, theory and research investigating the effectiveness of mentoring has offered little resounding evidence to attest to mentoring programmes being a strategic initiative that make a real difference in reducing the educational inequities many minority students endure. In contrast to this existing research base, the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) has often been cited as one of the most successful mentoring initiatives within Australia. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine how AIME may impact on the educational aspirations and school self-concept of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Methodology A series of multi-group analyses were centred around Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling techniques that sought not only to explore the psychometric validity of the measures utilized within this study, but also to identify how the measures may be related after accounting for background variables (e.g. gender, parental education). Findings The results found that the measures utilized held strong psychometric properties allowing an increased level of confidence in the measures used and the conclusion that may be drawn from their use in analyses. Overall, the results suggested that AIME is an effective tool for increasing not only the educational aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students but also their levels (and utility) of School Self-concept and School Enjoyment. Implications The implications suggest that not only is AIME an essential tool for closing the educational gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal students, but also our understanding of mentoring must be extended well beyond simplistic notions of role-modelling.

Subjugation and disqualification: Critiquing the discourses of psychopathological behaviour used in education

Abstract This article proposes that Foucaults notion of subjugated disqualified knowledge can be drawn on to provide a methodological tool for analysing psychopathological discourses of behaviour in education. In so doing, the paper presents a study of Ben, a young man diagnosed with ‘conduct disorder’. As a mental disorder, conduct disorder functions as an influential knowledge that can subjugate and disqualify a young person. Through the discussion of Bens experiences, the paper shows how subjugated disqualified knowledges can indicate the existence of dominating knowledges and argues that the perspectives of young people such as Ben can be of strategic value for analysing the use of psychopathological discourses of behaviour in education.