Gary Pluim
My research agenda is an ongoing inquiry into meanings and expressions of citizen participation in international and education contexts. While “participation” routinely emerges as a recommendation for global problems such as wealth distribution, misguided international development programs and global social injustices, the contexts, definitions and conditions in which citizen participation occurs are frequently obscured. Exploring issues related to citizen participation—cross-cultural interpretations, norms, and worldviews; barriers of language, gender, and class; and the limits and opportunities of participatory institutions—is the focus of my research.
Some examples of this work include my doctoral thesis that examines constructions and conceptualizations of youth participation in the context of the post-disaster, national reconstruction of Haiti; my ongoing contribution to the Democracy, Political Literacy and Transformative Education research project, an initiative that examines how educators perceive democracy and how their perceptions impact their students’ understanding of democracy; and recent research that explores teachers experiences with critical reflexivity in the classroom.
Supervisors: Dr. Karen Mundy, Dr. Bettina von Lieres, Dr. Sarfaroz Niyozov, and Dr. Joel Westheimer
Some examples of this work include my doctoral thesis that examines constructions and conceptualizations of youth participation in the context of the post-disaster, national reconstruction of Haiti; my ongoing contribution to the Democracy, Political Literacy and Transformative Education research project, an initiative that examines how educators perceive democracy and how their perceptions impact their students’ understanding of democracy; and recent research that explores teachers experiences with critical reflexivity in the classroom.
Supervisors: Dr. Karen Mundy, Dr. Bettina von Lieres, Dr. Sarfaroz Niyozov, and Dr. Joel Westheimer
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Papers by Gary Pluim
Cette recherche se concentre sur les programmes d’éducation à la citoyenneté des ONGs en Haïti afin de mieux comprendre les expériences, les résultats et les perceptions des jeunes vis-à-vis de la démocratie. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent comment les programmes des ONGs basées à l’Ouest avec des traditions démocratiques libérales construisent généralement l’éducation à la citoyenneté par rapport au pouvoir individuel des apprenants, alors que les jeunes vivant dans un contexte de fragilité soulignent que la stabilité des structures sociales est un prérequis devant servir de fondation à la citoyenneté. À partir d’analyses multi-dimensionnelles, cet article souligne l’importances des perspectives historiques, la valeur de comparer des sociétés disparates, et la nécessité d’expliquer les localités sociales dans la recherche interculturelle. La proposition finale soutient que le contexte est non seulement important dans la recherche internationale, mais illustre spécifiquement comment le contexte affecte les jeunes participants, soumis à un curriculum émanant d’environnements idéologiquement concurrents. Les questions soulevées ici font partie des principales préoccupations pour l’avenir de la recherche comparative et internationale dans un monde globalisé et diversifié.
university in Ontario, Canada, we illustrate how this sample of future educators demonstrates a normative inclination to embed media literacy in their teaching; however, real barriers exist that can diminish their engagement with controversial issues, alternative media, and, even, democratic education, and education for democracy, itself. This contradiction, we argue, underscores the difference between media awareness
that many teacher candidates possess, and media literacy, a quality that requires greater focus at education institutions. Set against the backdrop of the television news media’s largely imperceptible neoliberal predisposition towards education, education for democracy must necessarily incorporate a critical approach that enables future teachers to identify and
critique the mainstream media’s support of, and entanglement with, the neoliberal cooptation of education. The article ends with several proposals to address the democratic deficits created through limited engagement with media literacy.
Cette recherche se concentre sur les programmes d’éducation à la citoyenneté des ONGs en Haïti afin de mieux comprendre les expériences, les résultats et les perceptions des jeunes vis-à-vis de la démocratie. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent comment les programmes des ONGs basées à l’Ouest avec des traditions démocratiques libérales construisent généralement l’éducation à la citoyenneté par rapport au pouvoir individuel des apprenants, alors que les jeunes vivant dans un contexte de fragilité soulignent que la stabilité des structures sociales est un prérequis devant servir de fondation à la citoyenneté. À partir d’analyses multi-dimensionnelles, cet article souligne l’importances des perspectives historiques, la valeur de comparer des sociétés disparates, et la nécessité d’expliquer les localités sociales dans la recherche interculturelle. La proposition finale soutient que le contexte est non seulement important dans la recherche internationale, mais illustre spécifiquement comment le contexte affecte les jeunes participants, soumis à un curriculum émanant d’environnements idéologiquement concurrents. Les questions soulevées ici font partie des principales préoccupations pour l’avenir de la recherche comparative et internationale dans un monde globalisé et diversifié.
university in Ontario, Canada, we illustrate how this sample of future educators demonstrates a normative inclination to embed media literacy in their teaching; however, real barriers exist that can diminish their engagement with controversial issues, alternative media, and, even, democratic education, and education for democracy, itself. This contradiction, we argue, underscores the difference between media awareness
that many teacher candidates possess, and media literacy, a quality that requires greater focus at education institutions. Set against the backdrop of the television news media’s largely imperceptible neoliberal predisposition towards education, education for democracy must necessarily incorporate a critical approach that enables future teachers to identify and
critique the mainstream media’s support of, and entanglement with, the neoliberal cooptation of education. The article ends with several proposals to address the democratic deficits created through limited engagement with media literacy.
Foundations of Education: A Social, Political, and Philosophical Approach by Jason C. Robinson
Canadian Journal of Education, October 2016
An alluring aspect for many students who take foundations of education is its focus on life's big questions. This is clearly a concern for Jason C. Robinson in his new book, Foundations of Education: A Social, Political, and Philosophical Approach, a succinct foray through central philosophies of education that facilitates a deep exploration of key questions in the field. What is the fundamental source of knowledge? What is the basic nature of humanity? Should children be taught according to their nature, or according to an ideally envisioned society? Who should be privy to a quality education? What and how should students be taught? Such questions implicate teachers throughout our careers, and are but a sample of those that Robinson addresses throughout this reader.
In the first phase this research uses conceptual mapping and cluster analysis techniques to survey and plot the landscape of youth programs operating in Haiti after the earthquake. Of the programs surveyed, a relatively equal distribution emerged between those with local and those with international origins. However, a comparatively large group of those programs with local origins also had a curriculum with a primary social orientation.
In the second phase it draws on qualitative and ethnographic methods to examine social constructions of participation in three case study programs with activities ranging
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from rural farming and entrepreneurship, to democratic education and debate competitions, to human rights and radio broadcasting. The findings suggest that geography and language have a bearing on who participated, that programs naturally provide different facets for what youth could actually participate in, and that important distinctions exist between the perspectives of program recipients and those of practitioners on why youth participate.
In the third phase the research employs a vertical case study analysis to explicate and compare conceptualizations of participation along four levels of the international aid chains associated with each case study program. These findings reveal that funders and policy makers were inclined to conceptualize participation as motivated by the individual agency of Haitians, while youth in these programs tended to focus on the need for social structures to enable their participation in Haiti.
This research has implications for how and why citizen participation is embedded as a value and a learning outcome in international education that are relevant for the fields of comparative and international education, youth and democratic learning, and citizen participation in the Global South.