Katja Mikhailovich | University of Canberra (original) (raw)
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The mission of the Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra is to produce gr... more The mission of the Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra is to produce graduates who can practice in a caring, equitable and inclusive way to facilitate sustainable social change. This requires that students themselves experience inclusive education, consider their personal and professional values and be exposed to the diversity of others' values, attitudes and beliefs. The project highlighted in this Showcase Session is a manual for tutors that encourages tutors to provide a safe, supportive yet challenging tutorial environment in which students can explore diversity. Although we will provide examples of the resources developed, we will highlight our awareness that, in order to be most effective, tutors needed first to be provided with a framework in which to clarify their own beliefs and values. Further they needed to consider values education in the wider context of the citizenship, in particular the tension between the right to hold a personal position and the rights of others to be treated as equal citizens. Our Showcase Session will elaborate on the development, structure and rationale for the tutorial manual with a focus on strategies to support tutors as they work towards the valuing of diversity in their learning groups. This project began with the goal of producing a manual of resources for use in the tutorials of the new Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra. In 1998 all courses at the university were restructured to a standard format, and, as a result, the Bachelor of Community Education was born. As the award is subscripted with four specialisations-Adult Education and Professional Development, Community Advocacy, Counselling Studies and Health Promotion-it was essential to develop resources that would add coherency across the whole course. In particular, as a teaching team, we were committed to challenging and supporting students to consider the diversity of their own learning cohort and the wider community. Although there were some resources available, for example a video and handbook on teaching for cultural diversity (Shaddock, 1996), we found none that encompassed the full spectrum of issues of diversity and discrimination. Further we believed that it was essential to provide learning opportunities at a first, second and third year level, not just within a single unit/subject. We believed that it was essential to plan tutorial exercises in a sequential way across the whole course of study. The resultant tutorial manual of resources and exercises is an essential component of the spiralling curriculum of our course. On reflection, it is apparent that initially we had held a simple instrumental view of the manual. We planned sections covering principles for an inclusive issues tutorial; exercise topic sections, eg disability, gender, indigenous and cross-cultural issues; evaluating the inclusive issues tutorial, and an annotated bibliography and resource list. However following the initial consultation process with staff we became aware that teaching about diversity requires the educators to clarify both their own values and beliefs not just about the diverse groups in our community but also about how their own pedagogical/andragogical philosophy affects practice. Building on the earlier work of one of our team in the area of anti-racism (Chambers & Pettman, 1990), we began to reconceptualise the manual's rationale and execution. The ensuing tutorial manual has developed with two clear sections: the first section invites tutors to work through a series of subsections that will help them clarify their own understanding of diversity
International Journal of Lifelong Education, 2014
This article examines the lessons from a collaborative project that worked with women agricultura... more This article examines the lessons from a collaborative project that worked with women agricultural leaders in Papua New Guinea. The project sought to build the capacity of these leaders as trainers in a way that would enable the development of a sustainable community of practice and worked within a critical and place-based pedagogy underpinned by asset-based community development principles. Whilst the process of our collaborative work has a number of salutary lessons, the co-construction of the training course with PNG women farmer leaders did illustrate a particular knowledge design continuum: that is, surfacing knowledge, distilling knowledge, clarifying knowledge and then consolidating knowledge. From this consolidated knowledge, together we were able to design locally valid and locally relevant modules. As the trainers went out to trial their training, they were then engaging in sharing knowledge and reviewing that knowledge which then lead to our collective ability to improve knowledge that will enhance future training in this area.
This article discusses the trial of visual research methods in a socio-economic research and deve... more This article discusses the trial of visual research methods in a socio-economic research and development project with women subsistence farmers and their families in two regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It reports on the benefits and challenges of three visual research methods (drawing, participatory photography, and picture elicitation) to explore the
agricultural practice of women subsistence farmers and their families. The paper discusses the potential of these methods for enhancing community engagement, reducing the power
imbalance between researchers and participants, and promoting dialogue and reflection to better understand the needs and practices of subsistence farmers.
Water security is at the forefront of public attention in Australia. One response to Australia's ... more Water security is at the forefront of public attention in Australia. One response to Australia's current water situation is water recycling; however, community responses to recycling have been contentious.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2011
Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are n... more Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are numerous. Fewer studies have explored the experience of non-drinkers in the university setting. In 2008, 826 students aged 18–29 years responded to an online survey aiming to investigate alcohol use and alcohol related harm at an Australian university. In addition, focus groups were conducted with drinkers and non-drinkers exploring their experience of alcohol exposure at university. This paper reports on the reasons students choose not to drink alcohol and on alcohol related harm witnessed or experienced by non-drinkers and drinkers. The results indicated that most non-drinkers reported health concerns as the main reason for not drinking and reported witnessing a range of alcohol related harm including disturbances to sleep, property damage, verbal abuse, driving after drinking and intimidation of international students. The paper discusses the duty of care implications for university administrators.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 1999
Research concerned with sexual assault in Australian and overseas university populations has prod... more Research concerned with sexual assault in Australian and overseas university populations has produced prevalence data that are highly variable. Definitional dilemmas and methodological differences have made it difficult to estimate the extent of the problem within campus populations. In this study a cooperative multi‐sectoral monitoring data system was developed, providing an efficient and effective way of recording reports of sexual assault on one university campus. This monitoring system produced useful information on the scope and nature of the problem within a particular campus community. This study has wider implications for Australian university campus safety and sexual assault policies and protocols as well as prevention initiatives.
International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, 2001
This study investigates the experiences of lesbian and gay parents seeking health care for their ... more This study investigates the experiences of lesbian and gay parents seeking health care for their children within the Australian medical system. Previously unavailable demographic data was collected on lesbian and gay families, and qualitative information was sought from parents about positive or problematic health care experiences related to sexual orientation and family constellation. Ninety-two lesbian or gay parents responded to a national postal and Web-based survey. Eighty-nine percent of respondents reported a high level of satisfaction with the health care received by their children. Despite overall satisfaction, however, 49 percent of parents identified fear of disclosure of sexual orientation, and 27 percent reported negative or problematic experiences with their children's health care related to sexual orientation or family constellation. This study indicates that fear of discrimination and homophobic attitudes towards lesbian and gay families remain a factor within the Australian health care system.
Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for ... more Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for health care staff who work with overweight children and their families. Anecdotal accounts of the difficulties that may emerge when health care providers communicate that a child's weight is outside of the normal range, were a key stimulus for this review. A local government health department commissioned a review of literature on communicating with parents about childhood overweight and obesity. Literature concerned with communicating a child's overweight to parents was limited and, as a result, this review draws upon a disparate body of literature to examine what is known and what might be helpful for health care providers when discussing a child's weight with the child and parents. This paper identifies a range of factors influencing communication between health care workers and parents and offers a number of practical approaches and strategies for facilitating successful communication between health practitioners and the parents of children.
Journal of Child Health Care, 2007
Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for ... more Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for health care staff who work with overweight children and their families. Anecdotal accounts of the difficulties that may emerge when health care providers communicate that a child's weight is outside of the normal range, were a key stimulus for this review. A local government health department commissioned a review of literature on communicating with parents about childhood overweight and obesity. Literature concerned with communicating a child's overweight to parents was limited and, as a result, this review draws upon a disparate body of literature to examine what is known and what might be helpful for health care providers when discussing a child's weight with the child and parents. This paper identifies a range of factors influencing communication between health care workers and parents and offers a number of practical approaches and strategies for facilitating successful communication between health practitioners and the parents of children.
The mission of the Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra is to produce gr... more The mission of the Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra is to produce graduates who can practice in a caring, equitable and inclusive way to facilitate sustainable social change. This requires that students themselves experience inclusive education, consider their personal and professional values and be exposed to the diversity of others' values, attitudes and beliefs. The project highlighted in this Showcase Session is a manual for tutors that encourages tutors to provide a safe, supportive yet challenging tutorial environment in which students can explore diversity. Although we will provide examples of the resources developed, we will highlight our awareness that, in order to be most effective, tutors needed first to be provided with a framework in which to clarify their own beliefs and values. Further they needed to consider values education in the wider context of the citizenship, in particular the tension between the right to hold a personal position and the rights of others to be treated as equal citizens. Our Showcase Session will elaborate on the development, structure and rationale for the tutorial manual with a focus on strategies to support tutors as they work towards the valuing of diversity in their learning groups. This project began with the goal of producing a manual of resources for use in the tutorials of the new Bachelor of Community Education at the University of Canberra. In 1998 all courses at the university were restructured to a standard format, and, as a result, the Bachelor of Community Education was born. As the award is subscripted with four specialisations-Adult Education and Professional Development, Community Advocacy, Counselling Studies and Health Promotion-it was essential to develop resources that would add coherency across the whole course. In particular, as a teaching team, we were committed to challenging and supporting students to consider the diversity of their own learning cohort and the wider community. Although there were some resources available, for example a video and handbook on teaching for cultural diversity (Shaddock, 1996), we found none that encompassed the full spectrum of issues of diversity and discrimination. Further we believed that it was essential to provide learning opportunities at a first, second and third year level, not just within a single unit/subject. We believed that it was essential to plan tutorial exercises in a sequential way across the whole course of study. The resultant tutorial manual of resources and exercises is an essential component of the spiralling curriculum of our course. On reflection, it is apparent that initially we had held a simple instrumental view of the manual. We planned sections covering principles for an inclusive issues tutorial; exercise topic sections, eg disability, gender, indigenous and cross-cultural issues; evaluating the inclusive issues tutorial, and an annotated bibliography and resource list. However following the initial consultation process with staff we became aware that teaching about diversity requires the educators to clarify both their own values and beliefs not just about the diverse groups in our community but also about how their own pedagogical/andragogical philosophy affects practice. Building on the earlier work of one of our team in the area of anti-racism (Chambers & Pettman, 1990), we began to reconceptualise the manual's rationale and execution. The ensuing tutorial manual has developed with two clear sections: the first section invites tutors to work through a series of subsections that will help them clarify their own understanding of diversity
International Journal of Lifelong Education, 2014
This article examines the lessons from a collaborative project that worked with women agricultura... more This article examines the lessons from a collaborative project that worked with women agricultural leaders in Papua New Guinea. The project sought to build the capacity of these leaders as trainers in a way that would enable the development of a sustainable community of practice and worked within a critical and place-based pedagogy underpinned by asset-based community development principles. Whilst the process of our collaborative work has a number of salutary lessons, the co-construction of the training course with PNG women farmer leaders did illustrate a particular knowledge design continuum: that is, surfacing knowledge, distilling knowledge, clarifying knowledge and then consolidating knowledge. From this consolidated knowledge, together we were able to design locally valid and locally relevant modules. As the trainers went out to trial their training, they were then engaging in sharing knowledge and reviewing that knowledge which then lead to our collective ability to improve knowledge that will enhance future training in this area.
This article discusses the trial of visual research methods in a socio-economic research and deve... more This article discusses the trial of visual research methods in a socio-economic research and development project with women subsistence farmers and their families in two regions of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It reports on the benefits and challenges of three visual research methods (drawing, participatory photography, and picture elicitation) to explore the
agricultural practice of women subsistence farmers and their families. The paper discusses the potential of these methods for enhancing community engagement, reducing the power
imbalance between researchers and participants, and promoting dialogue and reflection to better understand the needs and practices of subsistence farmers.
Water security is at the forefront of public attention in Australia. One response to Australia's ... more Water security is at the forefront of public attention in Australia. One response to Australia's current water situation is water recycling; however, community responses to recycling have been contentious.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2011
Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are n... more Studies documenting the harm associated with excessive drinking amongst university students are numerous. Fewer studies have explored the experience of non-drinkers in the university setting. In 2008, 826 students aged 18–29 years responded to an online survey aiming to investigate alcohol use and alcohol related harm at an Australian university. In addition, focus groups were conducted with drinkers and non-drinkers exploring their experience of alcohol exposure at university. This paper reports on the reasons students choose not to drink alcohol and on alcohol related harm witnessed or experienced by non-drinkers and drinkers. The results indicated that most non-drinkers reported health concerns as the main reason for not drinking and reported witnessing a range of alcohol related harm including disturbances to sleep, property damage, verbal abuse, driving after drinking and intimidation of international students. The paper discusses the duty of care implications for university administrators.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 1999
Research concerned with sexual assault in Australian and overseas university populations has prod... more Research concerned with sexual assault in Australian and overseas university populations has produced prevalence data that are highly variable. Definitional dilemmas and methodological differences have made it difficult to estimate the extent of the problem within campus populations. In this study a cooperative multi‐sectoral monitoring data system was developed, providing an efficient and effective way of recording reports of sexual assault on one university campus. This monitoring system produced useful information on the scope and nature of the problem within a particular campus community. This study has wider implications for Australian university campus safety and sexual assault policies and protocols as well as prevention initiatives.
International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies, 2001
This study investigates the experiences of lesbian and gay parents seeking health care for their ... more This study investigates the experiences of lesbian and gay parents seeking health care for their children within the Australian medical system. Previously unavailable demographic data was collected on lesbian and gay families, and qualitative information was sought from parents about positive or problematic health care experiences related to sexual orientation and family constellation. Ninety-two lesbian or gay parents responded to a national postal and Web-based survey. Eighty-nine percent of respondents reported a high level of satisfaction with the health care received by their children. Despite overall satisfaction, however, 49 percent of parents identified fear of disclosure of sexual orientation, and 27 percent reported negative or problematic experiences with their children's health care related to sexual orientation or family constellation. This study indicates that fear of discrimination and homophobic attitudes towards lesbian and gay families remain a factor within the Australian health care system.
Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for ... more Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for health care staff who work with overweight children and their families. Anecdotal accounts of the difficulties that may emerge when health care providers communicate that a child's weight is outside of the normal range, were a key stimulus for this review. A local government health department commissioned a review of literature on communicating with parents about childhood overweight and obesity. Literature concerned with communicating a child's overweight to parents was limited and, as a result, this review draws upon a disparate body of literature to examine what is known and what might be helpful for health care providers when discussing a child's weight with the child and parents. This paper identifies a range of factors influencing communication between health care workers and parents and offers a number of practical approaches and strategies for facilitating successful communication between health practitioners and the parents of children.
Journal of Child Health Care, 2007
Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for ... more Childhood obesity has reached alarming levels and the problem has assumed great significance for health care staff who work with overweight children and their families. Anecdotal accounts of the difficulties that may emerge when health care providers communicate that a child's weight is outside of the normal range, were a key stimulus for this review. A local government health department commissioned a review of literature on communicating with parents about childhood overweight and obesity. Literature concerned with communicating a child's overweight to parents was limited and, as a result, this review draws upon a disparate body of literature to examine what is known and what might be helpful for health care providers when discussing a child's weight with the child and parents. This paper identifies a range of factors influencing communication between health care workers and parents and offers a number of practical approaches and strategies for facilitating successful communication between health practitioners and the parents of children.