The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Feb 1, 2016
Our goal in this article is to contribute to the discussion of how schools and universities can f... more Our goal in this article is to contribute to the discussion of how schools and universities can form practice-relevant, research-rich partnerships to address issues of student learning outcomes in high poverty, culturally and linguistically diverse school communities. The discussion focuses on three aspects of such partnership work. First, we consider the possibilities of school-university partnerships as change drivers in the broader context of global education policies that emphasise international and national standardised testing as a key performance indicator of student learning and teaching quality. Second, we aim to shift attention away from teachers as those bearing sole responsibility for school improvement, who, as recipients of professional learning, are expected to 'shape up'. Rather, we examine the generative knowledge work that is possible when researchers and teachers engage in design-based research grounded in a collaborative inquiry (co-inquiry) model of school improvement. We advocate that this model of collaborative learning for teaching, based on co-inquiry and design-based research interventions, can make a significant difference to student literacy outcomes. Finally, we discuss an example of one such partnership and describe its impact on the learning of teachers, students, and researchers.
Teacher quality has emerged as a powerful construct over the last 20 years at a global level. In ... more Teacher quality has emerged as a powerful construct over the last 20 years at a global level. In Australia, it is a major discursive term in government-initiated inquiries, policy statements and enactment strategies. The quality discourse, driven by standardisation and large-scale testing, acts as a major force re-shaping teacher identity, narrowing teaching practices, and re-forming the teaching profession and professionalism. This technical framing of teaching under the mantra of quality has a significant effect on teacher education—what teachers are expected to learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate achievement of learning. Governance of education through the mantra of quality restricts teacher education at the same time as teacher educators’ perspectives are marginalised. Critical analyses are needed to map workings of the term in the policy landscape. This chapter, framed within the research field of critical policy studies, identifies the distinctive contribution of teacher educators in the most recent Australian inquiry into the teaching profession and challenges the regimes of truth that constrain teacher education at both local and global levels.
In this paper, the argument that we make is that public education emerges from when democracy is ... more In this paper, the argument that we make is that public education emerges from when democracy is put into practice in education. For the purposes of this paper we use pedagogic rights as proposed by Basil Bernstein as a way to frame and support this ‘putting into practice’. Democracy, we argue, has to be practiced in two senses: 1) it does not ‘exist’ but has to be continually renewed and brought to life between people, as such it is precarious and fleeting; 2) one might become better at democracy by trying to ‘do it’ more often and that education is where this ‘trying’ might occur. We draw on Rancière’s work on democracy that focusses on democratic acts or moments; on the ‘fracturing’ of sense (what is sayable, seeable, thinkable) – when people whose only part (including in education) is none, take one. A process of ‘becoming public’, we suggest, is instituted in these events. To this end, our proposal for public education is adversarial to contemporary formations of education. Con...
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2021
The emergence of ‘post-truth’ is often associated with the rise of conspiracy theories and the la... more The emergence of ‘post-truth’ is often associated with the rise of conspiracy theories and the lack of trust in scientific knowledge. This article attempts to theorise the complex division of labour in this regime of ‘post-truth’, with reference to the COVID-19 pandemic/infodemic. First, we argue that the ‘post-truth’ condition mirrors what Foucault called the ‘will to truth’, and that this challenges the procedures and systems by which truth and knowledge are ordered. Second, through Basil Bernstein's extension of Foucault's work, we argue that the era of post-truth has two features regarding the condition of knowledge: (1) that conflicts in the field of knowledge recontextualisation, that is, the pedagogisation of knowledge, are becoming more intense and visible, and (2) that greater exposure to high-stakes, uncertain scientific knowledge, which grows at exponential rate, increases social anxieties and leads to biopoliticisation of neoliberal responsibilisation.
This is a conceptual article arising from, and grounded in, research with a government-funded pri... more This is a conceptual article arising from, and grounded in, research with a government-funded primary school serving high-poverty communities in Queensland, Australia. It is one response to the last 10 years of participatory research work led by the three authors of this article (the school principal and two academics). In this article, we write about three concepts that have emerged out of our joint work: (1) communities-in-formation, (2) emerging equalities, (3) material participation. We discuss how and why we have undertaken this kind of partnership and conceptual research and offer some suggestions for others who are interested in undertaking similar work.
The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Feb 1, 2016
Our goal in this article is to contribute to the discussion of how schools and universities can f... more Our goal in this article is to contribute to the discussion of how schools and universities can form practice-relevant, research-rich partnerships to address issues of student learning outcomes in high poverty, culturally and linguistically diverse school communities. The discussion focuses on three aspects of such partnership work. First, we consider the possibilities of school-university partnerships as change drivers in the broader context of global education policies that emphasise international and national standardised testing as a key performance indicator of student learning and teaching quality. Second, we aim to shift attention away from teachers as those bearing sole responsibility for school improvement, who, as recipients of professional learning, are expected to 'shape up'. Rather, we examine the generative knowledge work that is possible when researchers and teachers engage in design-based research grounded in a collaborative inquiry (co-inquiry) model of school improvement. We advocate that this model of collaborative learning for teaching, based on co-inquiry and design-based research interventions, can make a significant difference to student literacy outcomes. Finally, we discuss an example of one such partnership and describe its impact on the learning of teachers, students, and researchers.
Teacher quality has emerged as a powerful construct over the last 20 years at a global level. In ... more Teacher quality has emerged as a powerful construct over the last 20 years at a global level. In Australia, it is a major discursive term in government-initiated inquiries, policy statements and enactment strategies. The quality discourse, driven by standardisation and large-scale testing, acts as a major force re-shaping teacher identity, narrowing teaching practices, and re-forming the teaching profession and professionalism. This technical framing of teaching under the mantra of quality has a significant effect on teacher education—what teachers are expected to learn, how they learn, and how they demonstrate achievement of learning. Governance of education through the mantra of quality restricts teacher education at the same time as teacher educators’ perspectives are marginalised. Critical analyses are needed to map workings of the term in the policy landscape. This chapter, framed within the research field of critical policy studies, identifies the distinctive contribution of teacher educators in the most recent Australian inquiry into the teaching profession and challenges the regimes of truth that constrain teacher education at both local and global levels.
In this paper, the argument that we make is that public education emerges from when democracy is ... more In this paper, the argument that we make is that public education emerges from when democracy is put into practice in education. For the purposes of this paper we use pedagogic rights as proposed by Basil Bernstein as a way to frame and support this ‘putting into practice’. Democracy, we argue, has to be practiced in two senses: 1) it does not ‘exist’ but has to be continually renewed and brought to life between people, as such it is precarious and fleeting; 2) one might become better at democracy by trying to ‘do it’ more often and that education is where this ‘trying’ might occur. We draw on Rancière’s work on democracy that focusses on democratic acts or moments; on the ‘fracturing’ of sense (what is sayable, seeable, thinkable) – when people whose only part (including in education) is none, take one. A process of ‘becoming public’, we suggest, is instituted in these events. To this end, our proposal for public education is adversarial to contemporary formations of education. Con...
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2021
The emergence of ‘post-truth’ is often associated with the rise of conspiracy theories and the la... more The emergence of ‘post-truth’ is often associated with the rise of conspiracy theories and the lack of trust in scientific knowledge. This article attempts to theorise the complex division of labour in this regime of ‘post-truth’, with reference to the COVID-19 pandemic/infodemic. First, we argue that the ‘post-truth’ condition mirrors what Foucault called the ‘will to truth’, and that this challenges the procedures and systems by which truth and knowledge are ordered. Second, through Basil Bernstein's extension of Foucault's work, we argue that the era of post-truth has two features regarding the condition of knowledge: (1) that conflicts in the field of knowledge recontextualisation, that is, the pedagogisation of knowledge, are becoming more intense and visible, and (2) that greater exposure to high-stakes, uncertain scientific knowledge, which grows at exponential rate, increases social anxieties and leads to biopoliticisation of neoliberal responsibilisation.
This is a conceptual article arising from, and grounded in, research with a government-funded pri... more This is a conceptual article arising from, and grounded in, research with a government-funded primary school serving high-poverty communities in Queensland, Australia. It is one response to the last 10 years of participatory research work led by the three authors of this article (the school principal and two academics). In this article, we write about three concepts that have emerged out of our joint work: (1) communities-in-formation, (2) emerging equalities, (3) material participation. We discuss how and why we have undertaken this kind of partnership and conceptual research and offer some suggestions for others who are interested in undertaking similar work.
Objectives
The paper explores current policies on teaching quality and student learning attainmen... more Objectives The paper explores current policies on teaching quality and student learning attainment suggesting that two categories of education reform appear to have gained the attention of education policy actors, not only in Australia, but across the globe. On the one hand, ‘accountability reformers’ (Goldstein, 2014: 178) advocate an entrepreneurial approach to reforming public schools: ‘charter schools, business-style accountability for teachers and principals, and merit bonuses for top performers’ (Russakoff, 2014:2). On the other hand, ‘broader, bolder approaches’ to educational reform call for the ‘local control of schools, decreased emphasis of standardized tests, expanded services and facility upgrades’ (Russakoff, 2014: 3), and suggest that attention needs to be paid to ‘health care, preschool and parenting skills if students are to succeed at school’(Williams & Noguera, 2010: 1). But as Goldstein (2014) argues these prescriptions for public school reform are not new, rather they have been successively recycled over the last two hundred years with each new moral panic around public schooling and quality teaching. The paper explores an alternative model of schooling reform by revisiting and building on Basil Bernstein’s (2000) critique of compensatory education and theory of pedagogic rights to explore what constitutes powerful forms of research and pedagogic interventions for teachers working in public schools servicing high poverty communities. Specifically, it explores the ways in which a cohort of classroom teachers talk about their professional learning around assessment codes, and in turn how this learning impacts on the redesign of curriculum codes (Muller & Hoadley, 2015). Theoretical framework Critical education scholars have raised concerns about the adverse educational effects of national standardised testing. Specific concerns have been raised about the impact of the testing movement on teacher professionalism and the school curriculum. Critical scholars argue that testing regimes and teaching audits are reducing teachers’ professional autonomy to design curriculum responsive to the needs of learners. Instead, teachers are increasingly teaching to the test. This paper challenges some of these assumptions and explores teachers’ agency and professionalism in learning assessment codes and designing visible curriculum codes to improve student learning attainment in schools servicing high poverty communities. Methods and data sources The paper draws on empirical data collected from two research projects, an ARC Linkage and a Commercial Research Partnership. In each of the projects, data was generated by classroom teachers, and used to focus professional conversations around designing pedagogic interventions to improve learning attainment. This paper analyses the focus group data collected from teachers about their professional learning. Results and significance Teachers participating in the research projects reported an increase in their own capacity to work with evidence to enhance classroom instruction, and a confidence in designing differentiated learning interventions to meet the learning needs of students.
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Papers by Parlo Singh
The paper explores current policies on teaching quality and student learning attainment suggesting that two categories of education reform appear to have gained the attention of education policy actors, not only in Australia, but across the globe. On the one hand, ‘accountability reformers’ (Goldstein, 2014: 178) advocate an entrepreneurial approach to reforming public schools: ‘charter schools, business-style accountability for teachers and principals, and merit bonuses for top performers’ (Russakoff, 2014:2). On the other hand, ‘broader, bolder approaches’ to educational reform call for the ‘local control of schools, decreased emphasis of standardized tests, expanded services and facility upgrades’ (Russakoff, 2014: 3), and suggest that attention needs to be paid to ‘health care, preschool and parenting skills if students are to succeed at school’(Williams & Noguera, 2010: 1). But as Goldstein (2014) argues these prescriptions for public school reform are not new, rather they have been successively recycled over the last two hundred years with each new moral panic around public schooling and quality teaching. The paper explores an alternative model of schooling reform by revisiting and building on Basil Bernstein’s (2000) critique of compensatory education and theory of pedagogic rights to explore what constitutes powerful forms of research and pedagogic interventions for teachers working in public schools servicing high poverty communities. Specifically, it explores the ways in which a cohort of classroom teachers talk about their professional learning around assessment codes, and in turn how this learning impacts on the redesign of curriculum codes (Muller & Hoadley, 2015).
Theoretical framework
Critical education scholars have raised concerns about the adverse educational effects of national standardised testing. Specific concerns have been raised about the impact of the testing movement on teacher professionalism and the school curriculum. Critical scholars argue that testing regimes and teaching audits are reducing teachers’ professional autonomy to design curriculum responsive to the needs of learners. Instead, teachers are increasingly teaching to the test. This paper challenges some of these assumptions and explores teachers’ agency and professionalism in learning assessment codes and designing visible curriculum codes to improve student learning attainment in schools servicing high poverty communities.
Methods and data sources
The paper draws on empirical data collected from two research projects, an ARC Linkage and a Commercial Research Partnership. In each of the projects, data was generated by classroom teachers, and used to focus professional conversations around designing pedagogic interventions to improve learning attainment. This paper analyses the focus group data collected from teachers about their professional learning.
Results and significance
Teachers participating in the research projects reported an increase in their own capacity to work with evidence to enhance classroom instruction, and a confidence in designing differentiated learning interventions to meet the learning needs of students.