Geoff Munns - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Geoff Munns

This thesis explores the use of place in Van Morrison’s songwriting. The central argument is that... more This thesis explores the use of place in Van Morrison’s songwriting. The central argument is that he employs place in many of his songs at lyrical and musical levels, and that this use of place as a poetic and aural device both defines and distinguishes his work. This argument is widely supported by Van Morrison scholars and critics. The main research question is: What are the ways that Van Morrison employs the concept of place to explore the wider themes of his writing across his career from 1965 onwards? This question was reached from a critical analysis of Van Morrison’s songs and recordings. A position was taken up in the study that the songwriter’s lyrics might be closely read and appreciated as song texts, and this reading could offer important insights into the scope of his life and work as a songwriter. The analysis is best described as an analytical and interpretive approach, involving a simultaneous reading and listening to each song and examining them as speech acts. At t...

Confronting Educational Policy in Neoliberal Times, 2019

Exemplary Teachers of Students in Poverty, 2013

Student engagement has rarely been the stuff of youth culture. Indeed, music and film consistentl... more Student engagement has rarely been the stuff of youth culture. Indeed, music and film consistently play out themes of disenchantment and disengagement, with messages ringing out about generation gaps and schools not working for students, especially those from poor and marginalized backgrounds. Think of The Who’s My Generation or Pink Floyd’s The Wall. And these themes echo throughout the research literature. Only occasionally do songs talk of great teachers, successful outcomes and bright futures. In one of these, the American post-punk band Timbuk3 sings about loving classes, things going great and getting better because of a teacher who opens up a future so bright they have to ‘wear shades’ (Timbuk3 1989). The research reported in this book picks up on the themes of engaging teachers, student achievement and possibilities for brighter educational futures. It acknowledges and understands the complex challenges faced by teachers and students in the poorest of schools, but is founded on the belief that there are many teachers who accept these challenges and are able to develop engaging classroom environments that offer better outcomes and brighter futures for their students. This chapter introduces four of these teachers in detail before presenting snapshots of them all

In the first instance this paper offers the findings from research which focussed on the school c... more In the first instance this paper offers the findings from research which focussed on the school curriculum and classroom practices of an Australian inner city primary school with a majority of Koori (Aboriginal) students. In particular it describes how, within the specific school context, Koori students' oppositional behaviour at a whole school and classroom level, and teachers' responses to this oppositional behaviour, result in a curriculum implicated in the continuing educational disadvantage of the Koori students. This disadvantage was particularly pertinent to those literacy learning situations where opposition was most marked. A second aspect of the paper will first examine a predominant theoretical position on how young learners acquire literacy and juxtapose this with the research findings, and second, analyse the dominant discourses of literacy for Aboriginal learners in order to understand why schools' learning contexts fail young Aboriginal literacy learners. ...

There are teachers in schools throughout the developed world who daily respond to a great variety... more There are teachers in schools throughout the developed world who daily respond to a great variety of similar challenges as they seek to engage poor and diverse students in their learning. A consideration of the commonalities and differences in their responses across international contexts is vital to the wider pedagogical project, and is a fundamental purpose for this book. Importantly also, and on the other hand, there is an astonishing range of teaching experiences across low SES communities and this is strongly reinforced in the research. Put simply, not all teachers in low SES schools are dealing with the same issues, and this means their creative contextual responses need to reflect their own personal, professional and pedagogical narratives. This chapter works across these two ideas: common themes and diversity of teaching experiences. As the different teaching and community contexts of these exemplary teachers are introduced, there is an invitation for readers to consider the ways the teachers’ journeys and pedagogies shed light on their own school and classroom challenges, and this consideration works through both likeness and distinction

‘Learning trumps behaviour’. When the Fair Go teachers gathered for the cross-case analysis days ... more ‘Learning trumps behaviour’. When the Fair Go teachers gathered for the cross-case analysis days this was a dominant pedagogical theme to emerge. Now while this is an important idea for the wider engagement project that underpins this book, there is a danger that, at first glance, it might hide some really important work that many of these teachers perform in challenging school and classroom contexts. It might also suggest the writers of this book naively believe that a strong focus on learning and the careful planning of high cognitive, high affective and high operative experiences will easily deliver a classroom full of model students. This is far from the case. Hence some caveats are first entered here about the research and learning and behaviour, before we briefly highlight some common classroom approaches employed among the Fair Go teachers that support those students who exhibit inappropriate behaviours

Monitoring responses to diversity in educational institutions is worthwhile. Careful study of ped... more Monitoring responses to diversity in educational institutions is worthwhile. Careful study of pedagogical relationships developed in schools including their policies and practices offers important insights into those which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice. This paper focusses on the pedagogical relationship established in three differently located Australian primary schools: Greytown, a small to medium sized inner city school in New South Wales, Mungar, a medium to large suburban school in Queensland, and Meiki, a small, rural school in New South Wales. Each school is DSP funded, located in a working class area and has a culturally diverse clientele. The schools’ responses to social and cultural diversity are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcomes from schooling.

New Hibernia Review, 2020

Teaching and Learning, 2012

This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented... more This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented in Australia and Canada, where social justice educators are struggling with issues resulting from reforms that marginalize visible minority and low-income students. The projects envision student engagement in critical democratic ways. Using different strategies, they are informed by approaches that: respect students, educators and teaching/learning processes; connect on emotional as well as cognitive levels; and shift away from narrow notions of schooling to broader visions of education for marginalized students. Transferable to other locations, these programmes provide insights into what is possible when student engagement is enacted in equitable, socially just, and transformative environments.

Curriculum Perspectives, 2015

The article uses research data to highlight how the classroom curriculum is produced in a relatio... more The article uses research data to highlight how the classroom curriculum is produced in a relationship between a community and a school. First, it shows how culturally produced community themes are taken up by the students as they respond to their classroom experiences. Second, it illustrates how teachers have their classroom practices shaped by these responses. Third, it proposes that this culturally produced curriculum is a "cubbyhouse", offering illusionary educational security and reward

Australian Association For Research in Education 2005 Conference Papers, 2015

Fourth International Biennial Self Research Conference Ann Arbor Us 23rd 26th July 2006 Proceedings Self Concept Motivation Social and Personal Identity For the 21st Century, 2015

The theoretical framework for this review has two strands. These are the use of hypermedia author... more The theoretical framework for this review has two strands. These are the use of hypermedia authoring within learning and student engagement within school contexts. The review will consider the relationships between the different factors of school engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive) and the processes used by students when designing and constructing hypermedia texts for an audience of their peers. The work of Mayer (2005) on cognitive theory within multimedia learning, of Jonassen, (2006) on Information Technology mediated cognitive tools and of Durant and Green (2000) on students as Hypermedia authors will be discussed. The review of the students’ learning contexts will draw on the notion of productive pedagogies in the development of the NSW Quality Teaching project. The examination of the school engagement will draw on the meta analysis of school engagement by Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris (2004) and on the MeE framework as described by Munns & Martin (2005)

Journal of Youth Studies, 2015

Aboriginal Studies Making the Connections Collected Papers of the 12th National Asa Conference Bankstown Sports Club Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd November 2006, 2015

Self Concept Motivation and Identity Where to from Here Proceedings of the Third International Biennial Self Research Conference, 2015

This question was posed to a group of teachers working in an urban school with a majority Aborigi... more This question was posed to a group of teachers working in an urban school with a majority Aboriginal student population (Byrne, 2009). In each of their responses it was not long until the word 'relationship' was used. Teachers who have worked effectively with Aboriginal children know how important the development of positive relationships is to their learning (Doyle and Hill, 2008). Building a strong relationship with Aboriginal learners is arguably one of the most fundamental responsibilities a teacher has in the classroom (Docket, Perry and Kearney, 2010). In this chapter we propose that productive relationships between teachers and Aboriginal learners need to operate at two interrelated levels. The first is a 'big picture' socio-cultural curriculum relationship. In this chapter this level of relationship is outlined and illustrated in the REAP (respect, ears, attitude, personalise) framework. The second picture is the pedagogical relationship, produced in the verbal, written and symbolic classroom interactions between teachers and students. The second section of the chapter picks up this relationship through pedagogical case studies of two teachers utilising the Fair Go project's student engagement framework. In presenting these illustrative frameworks, we want to suggest that both these relationships need to operate productively and synergistically to maximise the learning outcomes for Aboriginal students.

Self Concept Motivation and Identity Where to from Here Proceedings of the Third International Biennial Self Research Conference, 2015

Many attempts have been made to implement programs into NSW secondary schools to provide opportun... more Many attempts have been made to implement programs into NSW secondary schools to provide opportunities for Aboriginal students to attain successful completion of Year 12. Despite these initiatives research has found that many Aboriginal students are still more likely to leave school when they reach the legal leaving age. However, there is one initiative that is yet to be evaluated - the implementation of Stage 6 Aboriginal Studies - a Higher School Certificate course introduced into 13 secondary schools across NSW in 1991. This course is postulated to: Provide students with ‘cultural immersion’ where personal knowledge and experience is valued; raise self-concept and confidence to continue onto completion of Year 12; and provide the opportunity to use skills developed in the course to empower Aboriginal students to follow career paths in areas such as law, health and education. In this paper the rationale for evaluating the impact of Stage 6 Aboriginal Studies courses upon the self-concepts and aspirations of Aboriginal students is presented along with a proposed research design to begin to investigate this issue

This thesis explores the use of place in Van Morrison’s songwriting. The central argument is that... more This thesis explores the use of place in Van Morrison’s songwriting. The central argument is that he employs place in many of his songs at lyrical and musical levels, and that this use of place as a poetic and aural device both defines and distinguishes his work. This argument is widely supported by Van Morrison scholars and critics. The main research question is: What are the ways that Van Morrison employs the concept of place to explore the wider themes of his writing across his career from 1965 onwards? This question was reached from a critical analysis of Van Morrison’s songs and recordings. A position was taken up in the study that the songwriter’s lyrics might be closely read and appreciated as song texts, and this reading could offer important insights into the scope of his life and work as a songwriter. The analysis is best described as an analytical and interpretive approach, involving a simultaneous reading and listening to each song and examining them as speech acts. At t...

Confronting Educational Policy in Neoliberal Times, 2019

Exemplary Teachers of Students in Poverty, 2013

Student engagement has rarely been the stuff of youth culture. Indeed, music and film consistentl... more Student engagement has rarely been the stuff of youth culture. Indeed, music and film consistently play out themes of disenchantment and disengagement, with messages ringing out about generation gaps and schools not working for students, especially those from poor and marginalized backgrounds. Think of The Who’s My Generation or Pink Floyd’s The Wall. And these themes echo throughout the research literature. Only occasionally do songs talk of great teachers, successful outcomes and bright futures. In one of these, the American post-punk band Timbuk3 sings about loving classes, things going great and getting better because of a teacher who opens up a future so bright they have to ‘wear shades’ (Timbuk3 1989). The research reported in this book picks up on the themes of engaging teachers, student achievement and possibilities for brighter educational futures. It acknowledges and understands the complex challenges faced by teachers and students in the poorest of schools, but is founded on the belief that there are many teachers who accept these challenges and are able to develop engaging classroom environments that offer better outcomes and brighter futures for their students. This chapter introduces four of these teachers in detail before presenting snapshots of them all

In the first instance this paper offers the findings from research which focussed on the school c... more In the first instance this paper offers the findings from research which focussed on the school curriculum and classroom practices of an Australian inner city primary school with a majority of Koori (Aboriginal) students. In particular it describes how, within the specific school context, Koori students' oppositional behaviour at a whole school and classroom level, and teachers' responses to this oppositional behaviour, result in a curriculum implicated in the continuing educational disadvantage of the Koori students. This disadvantage was particularly pertinent to those literacy learning situations where opposition was most marked. A second aspect of the paper will first examine a predominant theoretical position on how young learners acquire literacy and juxtapose this with the research findings, and second, analyse the dominant discourses of literacy for Aboriginal learners in order to understand why schools' learning contexts fail young Aboriginal literacy learners. ...

There are teachers in schools throughout the developed world who daily respond to a great variety... more There are teachers in schools throughout the developed world who daily respond to a great variety of similar challenges as they seek to engage poor and diverse students in their learning. A consideration of the commonalities and differences in their responses across international contexts is vital to the wider pedagogical project, and is a fundamental purpose for this book. Importantly also, and on the other hand, there is an astonishing range of teaching experiences across low SES communities and this is strongly reinforced in the research. Put simply, not all teachers in low SES schools are dealing with the same issues, and this means their creative contextual responses need to reflect their own personal, professional and pedagogical narratives. This chapter works across these two ideas: common themes and diversity of teaching experiences. As the different teaching and community contexts of these exemplary teachers are introduced, there is an invitation for readers to consider the ways the teachers’ journeys and pedagogies shed light on their own school and classroom challenges, and this consideration works through both likeness and distinction

‘Learning trumps behaviour’. When the Fair Go teachers gathered for the cross-case analysis days ... more ‘Learning trumps behaviour’. When the Fair Go teachers gathered for the cross-case analysis days this was a dominant pedagogical theme to emerge. Now while this is an important idea for the wider engagement project that underpins this book, there is a danger that, at first glance, it might hide some really important work that many of these teachers perform in challenging school and classroom contexts. It might also suggest the writers of this book naively believe that a strong focus on learning and the careful planning of high cognitive, high affective and high operative experiences will easily deliver a classroom full of model students. This is far from the case. Hence some caveats are first entered here about the research and learning and behaviour, before we briefly highlight some common classroom approaches employed among the Fair Go teachers that support those students who exhibit inappropriate behaviours

Monitoring responses to diversity in educational institutions is worthwhile. Careful study of ped... more Monitoring responses to diversity in educational institutions is worthwhile. Careful study of pedagogical relationships developed in schools including their policies and practices offers important insights into those which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice. This paper focusses on the pedagogical relationship established in three differently located Australian primary schools: Greytown, a small to medium sized inner city school in New South Wales, Mungar, a medium to large suburban school in Queensland, and Meiki, a small, rural school in New South Wales. Each school is DSP funded, located in a working class area and has a culturally diverse clientele. The schools’ responses to social and cultural diversity are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcomes from schooling.

New Hibernia Review, 2020

Teaching and Learning, 2012

This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented... more This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented in Australia and Canada, where social justice educators are struggling with issues resulting from reforms that marginalize visible minority and low-income students. The projects envision student engagement in critical democratic ways. Using different strategies, they are informed by approaches that: respect students, educators and teaching/learning processes; connect on emotional as well as cognitive levels; and shift away from narrow notions of schooling to broader visions of education for marginalized students. Transferable to other locations, these programmes provide insights into what is possible when student engagement is enacted in equitable, socially just, and transformative environments.

Curriculum Perspectives, 2015

The article uses research data to highlight how the classroom curriculum is produced in a relatio... more The article uses research data to highlight how the classroom curriculum is produced in a relationship between a community and a school. First, it shows how culturally produced community themes are taken up by the students as they respond to their classroom experiences. Second, it illustrates how teachers have their classroom practices shaped by these responses. Third, it proposes that this culturally produced curriculum is a "cubbyhouse", offering illusionary educational security and reward

Australian Association For Research in Education 2005 Conference Papers, 2015

Fourth International Biennial Self Research Conference Ann Arbor Us 23rd 26th July 2006 Proceedings Self Concept Motivation Social and Personal Identity For the 21st Century, 2015

The theoretical framework for this review has two strands. These are the use of hypermedia author... more The theoretical framework for this review has two strands. These are the use of hypermedia authoring within learning and student engagement within school contexts. The review will consider the relationships between the different factors of school engagement (behavioural, emotional and cognitive) and the processes used by students when designing and constructing hypermedia texts for an audience of their peers. The work of Mayer (2005) on cognitive theory within multimedia learning, of Jonassen, (2006) on Information Technology mediated cognitive tools and of Durant and Green (2000) on students as Hypermedia authors will be discussed. The review of the students’ learning contexts will draw on the notion of productive pedagogies in the development of the NSW Quality Teaching project. The examination of the school engagement will draw on the meta analysis of school engagement by Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris (2004) and on the MeE framework as described by Munns & Martin (2005)

Journal of Youth Studies, 2015

Aboriginal Studies Making the Connections Collected Papers of the 12th National Asa Conference Bankstown Sports Club Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd November 2006, 2015

Self Concept Motivation and Identity Where to from Here Proceedings of the Third International Biennial Self Research Conference, 2015

This question was posed to a group of teachers working in an urban school with a majority Aborigi... more This question was posed to a group of teachers working in an urban school with a majority Aboriginal student population (Byrne, 2009). In each of their responses it was not long until the word 'relationship' was used. Teachers who have worked effectively with Aboriginal children know how important the development of positive relationships is to their learning (Doyle and Hill, 2008). Building a strong relationship with Aboriginal learners is arguably one of the most fundamental responsibilities a teacher has in the classroom (Docket, Perry and Kearney, 2010). In this chapter we propose that productive relationships between teachers and Aboriginal learners need to operate at two interrelated levels. The first is a 'big picture' socio-cultural curriculum relationship. In this chapter this level of relationship is outlined and illustrated in the REAP (respect, ears, attitude, personalise) framework. The second picture is the pedagogical relationship, produced in the verbal, written and symbolic classroom interactions between teachers and students. The second section of the chapter picks up this relationship through pedagogical case studies of two teachers utilising the Fair Go project's student engagement framework. In presenting these illustrative frameworks, we want to suggest that both these relationships need to operate productively and synergistically to maximise the learning outcomes for Aboriginal students.

Self Concept Motivation and Identity Where to from Here Proceedings of the Third International Biennial Self Research Conference, 2015

Many attempts have been made to implement programs into NSW secondary schools to provide opportun... more Many attempts have been made to implement programs into NSW secondary schools to provide opportunities for Aboriginal students to attain successful completion of Year 12. Despite these initiatives research has found that many Aboriginal students are still more likely to leave school when they reach the legal leaving age. However, there is one initiative that is yet to be evaluated - the implementation of Stage 6 Aboriginal Studies - a Higher School Certificate course introduced into 13 secondary schools across NSW in 1991. This course is postulated to: Provide students with ‘cultural immersion’ where personal knowledge and experience is valued; raise self-concept and confidence to continue onto completion of Year 12; and provide the opportunity to use skills developed in the course to empower Aboriginal students to follow career paths in areas such as law, health and education. In this paper the rationale for evaluating the impact of Stage 6 Aboriginal Studies courses upon the self-concepts and aspirations of Aboriginal students is presented along with a proposed research design to begin to investigate this issue