Beyond deficit models of learning mathematics : Socio-cultural directions for change and research

Major paradigmatic changes in mathematics education research are drawing attention to new perspectives on learning. Whereas deficit models were previously in the foreground of research designs, these have been replaced by a wide variety of theoretical directions for studying diverse approaches to learning mathematics. There is now an acceptance of the need for richness and variety in research practices so that approaches can be studied, compared and mutually applied and improved. Psychological and quantitative approaches and methods are now increasingly complemented, or even replaced, by new directions that rely on social and anthropological theories and methods. Rather than reviving ideas about deficit research in mathematics education, the aim of this chapter is to present some socio-cultural perspectives of mathematics learning, and to show how these perspectives go beyond the deficit model of learning. Framing the main traditional markers of discrimination in school mathematics—gender, social class and ethnicity—in a perspective of social justice, the chapter concludes with a reflection on equality in terms of the democratic principle of meritocracy in mathematics education.

Mono-cultural approach in multicultural education: mapping the contours of multicultural early childhood education in New Zealand

There has been an increase in research activities in multicultural early childhood education in New Zealand. This article provides a critical review of these activities. This is an attempt to unravel the aspirations and complexities associated with the educational policies and practices with children of culturally diverse backgrounds. The conclusion from this literature review is that despite the multicultural principles that support democracy and equitability in education in New Zealand, a monocultural approach is still pervasive in multicultural early childhood classrooms.

The diversity and complexity of settings and arrangements forming the ‘experienced environments’ for doctoral candidates : some implications for doctoral education

A significant feature of contemporary doctoral education is the continuing trend for research and research education to migrate beyond discipline-based institutional teaching and research structures. The result is a more diverse array of settings and arrangements for doctoral education linked to an increasingly global research enterprise. Recognising the complexity of what is a distributed environment challenges some commonly held assumptions about doctoral education and its practice. Drawing on data gathered in an Australian study of PhD programme development in Australia carried out in 2006–2009, the article describes the fluid and complex arrangements forming the ‘experienced environments’ for doctoral candidates, an environment that can afford them varying opportunities and challenges for completing their candidacy. Some implications for doctoral education are discussed.

Space, place and race: Ethics in practice for educational research in ethnically diverse rural Australia

Research in Australia’s ethnically diverse rural and regional communities requires an approach that is informed by notions of space, place and culture, and which recognises race as a relational social construct mediated by social and political discourse and context, and prone to change overtime. This critical review examines how teacher education researchers connect culturally competent research and rural ethics with the view to improving education systems, addressing rural teacher workforce issues, informing the preparation of pre-service teachers, and, most importantly, ensuring that rural students have access to educational opportunities that are engaging and meet their needs. It focuses specifically on researcher positionality on the insider-outsider continuum and how this informs ethical research in diverse rural communities, particularly those in which visible new migrants reside. Peer-reviewed journal articles that discuss how education researchers negotiate working in rural space are examined and considered in relation to discourse about ethics in practice and the insider/outsider continuum. Scholarship reflected in the literature spanned the fields of rural/research ethics, inclusive education, education research methodology and research with new migrants, minority and marginalised groups.

“Becoming” teacher education researchers in diverse rural communities

Rural research practice is the focus of a project exploring how two teacher education researchers prepare to partner with ethnically diverse rural school communities in Australia. Through critical conversations and engagement with the literature, the authors unpack their own located identities cultural and academic – and reflect on “becoming” rural teacher education researchers. They explore the ways in which professional identity, worldviews, and location influence their engagement with rural school communities and how this in turn influences their contribution to teacher education. In this work new understanding is considered as an important part of self-study requiring collaboration with others. The authors examine their attempt to deepen their awareness of what has influenced their own worldviews and informed their understanding of what constitutes ethical practice in teacher education research.

The power of play: preparing international higher education students for practicum

With an increased number of international students undertaking higher education courses (degrees), Australian universities are challenged to prepare international students with the necessary understandings, knowledge and skills to effectively participate in the workplace. For many students, understanding Early Childhood Education in Australia is a new way of viewing teaching and learning from their own cultural perspective. In order to facilitate successful engagement during pre-service teacher practicums (placements) and in response to concerns raised by mentorteachers in the workplace, a pilot program was run at Deakin University in 2015 for students to undertake before placement. The program focused on ‘play’ as an innovative model of teaching. This paper situates itself as part of a wider study Improving work placement for international students, their mentors and other stakeholders. It draws on narrative reflection, classroom observation, questionnaire and interview data from the early childhood strand within the Master of Teaching course at Deakin University. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis the data was analysed and coded into two emerging themes: building confidence and competency skills and connecting to the early childhood context. Generalisationscannot be made to other educational institutions or context however; the findings reveal that ‘play’ can be used as a powerful tool to empower students to make connection with early childhood settings. It is hoped that the findings may provide a platform for further dialogue with other universities regarding how best we can prepare international education students at Australian universities for their practicum experience.

The politics of disagreement in critical education policy studies: a response to Morsy, Gulson and Clarke

This paper engages with Morsy, Gulson and Clarke's response to the recent special issue of Discourse (Vol. 34, No. 2) that examined evolutions of markets and equity in education. We welcome Morsy, Gulson and Clarke's supplementation of the special issue with the genealogical analysis they provide of private school funding in Australia and the attention they draw to elisions of race, ethnicity, Indigeneity and whiteness in contemporary framings of equity in policy and research. We also clarify and expand on some of the aims and arguments that framed the special issue. However, we feel that any response adequate to the ‘event’ that Morsy, Gulson and Clarke hope to stage – that is, a ‘debate redux’ and politics of dissensus in education as an antidote to depoliticisation – must extend beyond the rehearsal of pre-existing positions; it cannot stop at endorsing or critiquing the points raised in their paper, or reiterating the rationales and arguments of the special issue. We therefore respond by gesturing towards possibilities for ‘disagreement’, in the sense that Jacques Ranciere gives this term, about the political vocation of critical policy sociologists, and the modes of doing and being that can be seen as ‘critical’ and ‘political’ in academic education research. We do not disagree with Morsy, Gulson and Clarke in the usual sense; for that reason, we engage seriously with their call for a politics of dissensus in education.

Invested truth in World Bank education policy: The exclusion of educators' perspectives in the future of education

The objective of the paper is to critically review the positioning of teachers in the World Bank's Education Sector Strategy 2020. The review is framed through the lens of Habermas' communicative action theory (CAT) to show how teachers' truth, rightfulness and truthfulness are obfuscated in the new policy. Habermas centres notions of democratization and participation as key requirements for representative systems. However, as the new strategy takes shapes, what is more apparent is the further marginalization of educators and education scholars from education reforms. The review suggests that education and teachers' work is becoming further embedded in broader social and economic systems. This is despite extensive consultations that are a feature of the new strategy and its development. The paper raises questions about the work of teachers and their place within education systems whose development is influenced by agencies such as the World Bank. As more of the analytical and intellectual tasks associated with education and teachings are being taken over agencies and organisations, t...