Amy McPherson | Australian Catholic University (original) (raw)

Papers by Amy McPherson

British Educational Research Journal, 2020

Despite ongoing disagreement about what kinds of evidence are most valuable to education, there c... more Despite ongoing disagreement about what kinds of evidence are most valuable to education, there continues to be an increasing push to make a narrow group of scientific methodologies the basis of educational policy and practice. This has created a growth in the use of randomised control trials (RCTs), which are considered an exemplary example of scientifically rigorous research design. Yet despite the increase in both the prevalence and status of RCTs, this article will argue that the ethics informing this research orientation remains underdeveloped, with the specific need for an agenda that grapples with assent in RCTs in both a philosophical and a methodological way. As a corrective to this, we engage with Biesta’s observation of a lack of explicit engagement with the values informing our decisions about the direction of education practice. We begin by examining assent in existing education research literature, focusing on some of the ways that qualitative and praxis‐oriented resea...

Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education

Whilst there is significant research examining the pedagogical development of pre-service teacher... more Whilst there is significant research examining the pedagogical development of pre-service teachers’ knowledge and skills after their internship experience, there has been little examination of their experience of ethical tension and little investigation into ways to further enhance pre-service teachers’ ethical reasoning. This paper documents some of the ways that pre-service teachers reason about ethically charged situations. It aims to extend conceptions of the moral imagination and its place in the teaching of ethics to pre-service teachers by discussing findings from a teaching project pilot study designed to investigate the ways in which pre-service teachers experience and respond to ethical tensions. Whilst recognising common difficulties in responding to ethically charged situations, our analysis utilises pre-service teacher dialogue in the form of an assessment strategy based on a ‘community of inquiry’ model and examines the ways in which pre-service teachers utilise the mo...

Rethinking School Violence, 2012

Whether we like it or not, computer-generated realities are networked into our everyday lives. Fr... more Whether we like it or not, computer-generated realities are networked into our everyday lives. From simple financial transactions and communicating via email to participation in social networking sites, writing personal blogs, video posting on YouTube and the formation of avatars to navigate online or as new identities for virtual worlds such as Second Life, digital communication and online participation is ubiquitous. The popularity and currency for young people of having an online presence suggests that there is something motivating them to shift their social space and relationships into the virtual. Whilst often these connections or networks offer opportunities for friendships to flourish, they also provide a platform for negative and distressing relationships, sometimes dominated by persistent and aggressive communication — or cyberbullying.

Policy Futures in Education, 2015

This article describes ways in which the equity agenda, as outlined in the Bradley Review of High... more This article describes ways in which the equity agenda, as outlined in the Bradley Review of Higher Education (Bradley et al., 2008), is translated into action in one Australian university. Drawing on the conceptual work of Ahmed (2012) to elaborate institutional life, we investigate the effects of the widening participation policy. Ahmed (2012) provokes us to consider institutional commitment as a non-performative in order to examine the association between names and effects as central to institutional cultures. This is achieved through a focus not only on what documents circulating within institutions say but what they do from the perspective of those working with them. The paper draws on three statements of commitment made by various Australian universities in the form of publicly available mission statements and strategic plans to explore how universities value, construct and authenticate their role in widening participation. It then proceeds by supplementing these texts with qu...

Purpose: As education continues to expound the virtues of digital technologies much less attentio... more Purpose: As education continues to expound the virtues of digital technologies much less attention has been paid to the social and political implications of this increasingly digital life. We offer this paper as a starting point for dialogue around the intersection of digital identity and the political in the context of education as a way to re-think 'Being' and technology in more explicitly political terms. Design/Methodology/Approach: The argumentation in this paper is developed through a critical examination of constructions of youth identity, education and digital culture. Through a specific focus on the work of Haraway (1991) we begin to develop a space for researching the political dimensions of being Cyborgs, a space necessary if we are to explore the possibilities for radical democratic education in a technologically saturated world. Findings: Alternate conceptualizations of digital identity are possible which offer ways of understanding and politicizing what happens when we impose computer-generated realities into people's lives. The quest to change the relationship between individuals as political beings and technology has at its foundation recognition of the stake we all have in the technology/politics connection. We offer the position that the cyborg is a worthy starting point for a posthuman interrogation if education and its current purposes and the imposition of ICT in the lives of young people.

Global Studies of Childhood, 2014

The discourse of the non-traditional classroom has found itself fundamentally intertwined with th... more The discourse of the non-traditional classroom has found itself fundamentally intertwined with the rationalities of creating learning relevant for the future-orientated twenty-first century. In such an imaginary the idea of the conventional classroom – with its four walls, blackboard, ‘closed’ door, teacher-centred pedagogy and student learning conceptualised through the logics of the industrial era – is being renegotiated. This article focuses on an empirical examination of some of the changes to student classroom practice enabled by the material conditions of non-traditional learning spaces. In particular, it highlights the ways in which non-traditional learning spaces have become complex settings through which students negotiate increased learner autonomy, co-operative learning, acceptable classroom behaviour and fluid relations with teachers and peers. The article presents a discussion of the discourse of ‘twenty-first-century learning’ and focuses on non-traditional classrooms ...

pesa.org.au

The signing of Melbourne Declaration by Australia's state and federal education ministers in... more The signing of Melbourne Declaration by Australia's state and federal education ministers in December 2008 has set the agenda for Australia's educational future. The Melbourne Declaration seeks the creation of an educated citizenry and the investment in ...

The problem of research that genuinely engages with/from a rural perspective was realised in our ... more The problem of research that genuinely engages with/from a rural perspective was realised in our review of the literature. In the review we found many youth related articles didn't genuinely engage rural youth, and similarly many rural articles didn't engage youth. Referencing our pre-existing work, less than 5% of Australian education research in the last 25 years meets our requirements for genuine rural research. This makes the identification of evidence-based programs and strategies to improve the well documented challenges of rural students rather difficult. The diversity of rural places Rural communities are diverse and are changing. We cannot conceive of the issues impacting rural youth as uniform. Instead, local contexts significantly influence experiences, and future possibilities. Perhaps the only uniform experiences are distances from major centres and the services available there, and the changing nature of employment in the broad rural sector because of technology. Manual farm work is rapidly declining due to larger machinery and larger properties, and that work is itself changing to be more technologically orientated. Here 'Ag-Tech' is a major area of growth that connects the breadth of rural industries and associated value chain. Understanding the diversity of rural places, and the need for differentiated and targeted intervention, can be a major contribution for VFFF. Three examples of diversity of rural NSW: Far West: Isolation due to expanse and distance. Geographically larger agricultural enterprises, arid land, few jobs and minimal industry, smaller locations more sparsely spread, higher proportion of First Nations peoples, central importance of the Darling River 'Barka'yet water licences being moved north. Limited immediate opportunities. Opportunities include tourism, caring for country, Indigenous cultural enterprises, solar farm installationthis is an interesting and unexplored potential to make land of limited value very valuable, and showcase the far west's contribution to the city (in terms of electricity generation). North West: Isolation by distance only. Large agricultural properties with high carry capacity or cropping capacity. Less jobs in Agriculture due to greater scale of properties and modern machinery. Significant growth of resource extraction, leading to growth of associated industries and subsequent community economic development. Increasing skills shortage. Conflict exists over the environmental impacts and short and long-term benefits. Opportunities to support technological skill development for the broad rural sector value chain, and skill development for resource extraction and environmental monitoring and remediation. Figure 3. The diversity of rural places needs to be considered. South East: Isolation due to topography. Forestry, grazing and fishing industry dominate. Smaller agricultural enterprises dominate with number of jobs declining. Expanding tourism sector on the coast and mountains. Significant opportunities with Snowy Hydro 2.0. Immediate threats to forestry post 2019-20 bushfires and associated industry. Political shifts Over the last decades there have been significant political shifts in rural Australia. This is evidenced by the rise of rural independents in politics and the shifting of votes to other populist parties (see for instance Gabrielle Chan's 'Rusted off' in the Australian context). A similar trend has been noted worldwide. The challenges for creating a vision for the flourishing of rural communities and participatory democracy, which empowers Australia's' First Nations peoples, have increased since the 1980's and the rise of social and economic policies that focus on resource efficiency. By virtue of population distribution and spatial geography rural areas are inherently disadvantaged. The confluence of a perceived lack of voice and lack of national recognition combine to create a significant barrier with communities and youth 'opting out' of participation. There is a significant need to develop a new avenue for these voices to be heard.

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2013

This article offers a consideration of the ways that the politics of normative childhoods are sha... more This article offers a consideration of the ways that the politics of normative childhoods are shaped by discourses of happiness predicated on heteronormativity. Responding to the work of Cristyn Davies and Kerry Robinson (2013, this issue), the authors argue that non-normative families and in particular, non-normative parenting, are obliged to secure, protect and police their children's perceived entitlements to normative ‘happy’ childhoods in order to achieve social legitimacy. Such obligations, they contend, locate non-normative parents and families, rather than societies, as responsible for the effects of discriminatory social norms to which they are subjected. Informed by the work of Jonathan Silin, the authors support a politics of childhood that gives discursive legitimacy to children's voice and experience regarding the ways in which normativity is enforced at their and their families' expense.

The Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 2017

In this paper we critically examine the role of rural schools as community hubs through the examp... more In this paper we critically examine the role of rural schools as community hubs through the example of sustainability and natural resource scarcity. Drawing upon the first phase of a twoyear project exploring education and sustainability in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) of Australia, the paper examines different understandings of community and their impact on community cohesion. A key finding has been that while both community members, and schools, regard sustainability as very important and report high levels of commitment to its pursuit, there are very different understandings of its meaning and implication for communities. The different understandings that emerged potentially creates conflict and makes the pursuit of sustainable community futures difficult. The differences observed reflect debates about community in rural areas, as well as sustainability in the research literature.

Encyclopedia of Teacher Education

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Initial teacher education and experiences of the professional cultures of teaching contribute to ... more Initial teacher education and experiences of the professional cultures of teaching contribute to teachers' understandings about how to engage with parents. Drawing on qualitative research data, and informed by Michel de Certeau's theory of culture and everyday life, this paper explores how everyday beliefs and professional practices that shape relationships between teachers and parents can remain relatively stable despite changing expectations of policy-makers and communities. The paper argues that equipping pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers and school leaders with research-based understandings about these cultural dynamics is crucial to informing professional practices that support meaningful and effective parent-school engagement.

Critical Studies in Education

The policy and educational ideal of parent-school engagement rests on assumptions about effective... more The policy and educational ideal of parent-school engagement rests on assumptions about effective communication with parents about children’s educational progress and well-being. Yet communication ...

Global Studies of Childhood

This introductory commentary on the special issue 'Contemporary ethical tensions: Situated cases ... more This introductory commentary on the special issue 'Contemporary ethical tensions: Situated cases of ethical tensions when working with children and young people in educational contexts' focuses on elaborating educational ethics as an emerging disciplinary area within the field of education and teacher education. In this context, we are using the term 'educational ethics' as a term to refer to a specialist area of applied ethics encompassing the study of the ethical complexity of working with children and young people across varying educational settings such as schools, early childcare, digital spaces, universities, civic places and research environments. Work by those arguing for and about educational ethics conceptualise the emerging subdiscipline to embrace, the history and development of educational policies with a particular focus on its potential or actual ethical implications for school administration, teachers, school students, school communities and others; the analysis and articulation of teacher ethical obligations including but not limited to codes of conduct and ethics in teaching; research relating to ethical conduct, manner and the moral life of schools, the investigation of models and theories of ethical beliefs and decision-making in relation to tertiary, school and child care education; and pedagogical dimensions, interventions or curriculum for teaching and learning professional ethics with initial and in-service teachers. (https://educationalethics.org/) Educational ethics as a concept was discussed by Jerrold Coombs just over two decades ago to bring together a 'field' of ethics for education that encompassed an array of studies from teacher professionalism to the ethics of education. At that point, Coombs (1998) argued that educational ethics was defined by two approaches: it either sets forth an ethical theory or set of ethical principles for educators to follow and instructs them on how these principles are to be applied, or attempts to improve the reasoning educators engage in when deliberating about ethical problems. (p. 555

Curriculum Inquiry

ABSTRACT “Ability” is one of the most common concepts underpinning education. Generally, “ability... more ABSTRACT “Ability” is one of the most common concepts underpinning education. Generally, “ability” is central to notions of a meritocratic society. More specifically, schools are allocated the right to define, categorise and label students according to their ability. While there has been ample discussion of the role of ability in the creation of curricula, teachers’ concepts of “ability” have remained relatively unstudied. Using semi-structured interviews with 236 primary and secondary school teachers, we examined how teachers use concepts of “ability”, identify its conceptual components in their discourses (its anatomy), and show how the internal structure of the concept relates to specific institutional functions. Teachers’ uses of “ability” prompted us to recount a too-often forgotten perspective – the reframing of our understanding of schools as institutions. Recognising the internal anatomy of ability, as it is used in schooling, helps us better understand its capacity to survive within a broader ecology of schooling, and the degree to which schools are designed to limit learning and legitimise consequent social exclusion.

Educational Philosophy and Theory

Abstract This paper considers the ‘knowledge economy’ as it is used in education rhetoric to esta... more Abstract This paper considers the ‘knowledge economy’ as it is used in education rhetoric to establish social and educational consent for significant changes both to the spatial organisation of classrooms and their affective economies. We draw on ethnographic data from a study of ‘non-traditional classroom spaces’, where the spatial organisation of schooling emerged as a potential fulcrum through which the imaginary of the conventional primary classroom was being reconceptualised. Traditionally configured classroom spaces and the learning that takes place within them were being challenged and replaced by notions of twenty-first century learning in ‘agile’ learning environments. In the context of this reform agenda, these open-plan spaces were seen as offering new prospects for participation in a globally connected and competitive economic world that requires students to continuously adapt, innovate and respond creatively to a range of different problems. We consider how these everyday moments function as conceptual encounters between affective, embodied experiences and educational reform discourses that rationalise the implementation of non-traditional classroom spaces in ways that have very little to do with children and their futures. This cultural approach takes a step aside from numerous, and necessary, critiques of recent educational policies per se, in order to consider what might be learned from the uncanny spectres of child bodies that haunt them. The paper draws attention to examples of children’s affect in non-traditional classrooms and what that may tell us about current educational reform when sacrifice forms part of the missing account of educational reorganisation for the knowledge economy.

In this paper we describe the state of pla ng the use of ICT in

Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 2014