Ghost hunting with lollies, chess and Lego : appreciating the ‘messy’ complexity (and costs) of doing difficult research in education

This paper contributes to conversations about the funding and quality of education research. The paper proceeds in two parts. Part I sets the context by presenting an historical analysis of funding allocations made to Education research through the ARC’s Discovery projects scheme between the years 2002 and 2014, and compares these trends to allocations made to another field within the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences assessment panel: Psychology and Cognitive Science. Part II highlights the consequences of underfunding education research by presenting evidence from an Australian Research Council Discovery project that is tracking the experiences of disaffected students who are referred to behaviour schools. The re-scoping decisions that became necessary and the incidental costs that accrue from complications that occur in the field are illustrated and discussed through vignettes of research with “ghosts” who don’t like school but who do like lollies, chess and Lego.

Reflexivity and aesthetic inquiry : building dialogues between the arts and literacy

Reflection can form the basis for powerful dialogue between the arts and literacy as we seek interpretive and expressive fluency across modes. Through deep, cumulative reflection we make aspects of our world and experiences more perceivable, and open them up for artistic expression and aesthetic inquiry. Such reflections are also the catalysts for self-awareness and identity building. Theories of reflexivity offer a useful lens with which to understand our relationship with the world and the people, texts and things within it. The reflexive process can prompt us to challenge our understandings and change our representations of self and others through text. This paper offers a discussion of reflexivity and the ways in which it can be expressed and performed in discursive and non-discursive ways to develop literacies through and in the arts.

Optimising the education and care experiences of children with 'difficult' temperament

This thesis asked whether more temperamentally reactive or difficult children are more sensitive to Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) environments than less reactive children. The aim was to assess what forms of ECEC provision best support more reactive children. The study analysed data from the national Effective Early Educational Experiences (E4Kids). Children with reactive temperament had less behavioural difficulties in classrooms with higher quality instruction but more when instructional quality was low. The findings underscore the importance of higher quality ECEC environments for temperamentally vulnerable children and the possibility that temperamentally reactive children are "barometers" of ECEC quality more generally.

Commentary: Making sense of identity dialogues

In this commentary an alternative conceptual model of identity construction is proposed. In this model, identity construction is seen as part of a person’s ongoing sense-making. Identity is perceived as a subjective sense of continuity and sameness that renders one’s being in the world meaningful. Drawing on empirical examples provided in the target articles, it is shown how this model, which is built around the notions of rupture, identity dialogues and striving towards meaningfulness, can be utilized to analyse identity dynamics in different space and time contexts. The importance of examining links between an individual’s sense-making and collective meaning field, in which sense-making is embedded, is also highlighted.

Recruiting, Sampling and Data Collection with Difficult Populations: Clients of Male Sex Workers.

Although there are many potential new insights to be gained through advancing research on the clients of male sex workers, significant social, ethical and methodological challenges to accessing this population exist. This research project case explores our attempts to recruit a population that does not typically form a cohesive or coherent 'community' and often avoids self-identifying to mitigate the stigma attached to buying sex. We used an arms-length recruitment campaign that focussed on directing potential participants to our study website, which could in turn lead them to participate in an anonymous telephone interview. Barriers to reaching male sex-work clients, however, demanded the evolution of our recruitment strategy. New technologies are part of the solution to accessing a hard-to-reach population, but they only work if researchers engage responsively. We also show how we conducted an in-depth interview with a client and discuss the value of using secondary data.

Intercultural Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability : Embedding Indigenous Perspectives

Embedding Indigenous perspectives in early childhood education for sustainability (ECEfS) upholds social and political action goals that support a holistic approach to promoting sustainability in educational contexts. Such goals should be responsive to particular contexts and their histories to ensure local issues are a focus of sustainability alongside global areas of concern. This chapter explores how intercultural dialogues and priorities foreground broader themes of sustainability that attend to local issues around culture and diversity, and equity in relations between groups of people. Attending to such themes in educational practice unsettles a standard environmental narrative and broadens the scope and potential for ECEfS in early years settings. Strengthening intercultural priorities in ECEfS requires a commitment to reflective practices that attend to the influence of one's cultural background on teaching and learning processes. Educators committed to reflective practices provide even greater capacity for children to act as change agents (Davis, 2008, 2010) around multiple dimensions of sustainability.

Students' low financial literacy makes understanding fees, loans, debt difficult

Financial literacy in Australia is low, particularly so in those under 25 years of age. What might be surprising is that it is low even among university students.

Agreeable Agreement : An Examination into the Quest for a Solid Consensus in Light of Bilateral Doctrinal Dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics

The purpose of this study is to analyse the development and understanding of the idea of consensus in bilateral dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. The source material consists of representative dialogue documents from the international, regional and national dialogues from the 1960s until 2006. In general, the dialogue documents argue for agreement/consensus based on commonality or compatibility. Each of the three dialogue processes has specific characteristics and formulates its argument in a unique way. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue has a particular interest in hermeneutical questions. In the early phases, the documents endeavoured to describe the interpretative principles that would allow the churches to together proclaim the Gospel and to identify the foundation on which the agreement in the church is based. This investigation ended up proposing a notion of basic consensus , which later developed into a form of consensus that seeks to embrace, not to dismiss differences (so-called differentiated consensus ). The Lutheran-Roman Catholic agreement is based on a perspectival understanding of doctrine. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue emphasises the correctness of interpretations. The documents consciously look towards a common future , not the separated past. The dialogue s primary interpretative concept is koinonia. The texts develop a hermeneutics of authoritative teaching that has been described as the rule of communion . The Anglican-Lutheran dialogue is characterised by an instrumental understanding of doctrine. Doctrinal agreement is facilitated by the ideas of coherence, continuity and substantial emphasis in doctrine. The Anglican-Lutheran dialogue proposes a form of sufficient consensus that considers a wide set of doctrinal statements and liturgical practices to determine whether an agreement has been reached to the degree that, although not complete , is sufficient for concrete steps towards unity. Chapter V discusses the current challenges of consensus as an ecumenically viable concept. In this part, I argue that the acceptability of consensus as an ecumenical goal is based not only the understanding of the church but more importantly on the understanding of the nature and function of the doctrine. The understanding of doctrine has undergone significant changes during the time of the ecumenical dialogues. The major shift has been from a modern paradigm towards a postmodern paradigm. I conclude with proposals towards a way to construct a form of consensus that would survive philosophical criticism, would be theologically valid and ecumenically acceptable.

Aspects of Arminian Soteriology in Methodist-Lutheran Ecumenical Dialogues in 20th and 21st Century

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the key ecumenical dialogues between Methodists and Lutherans from the perspective of Arminian soteriology and Methodist theology in general. The primary research question is defined as: "To what extent do the dialogues under analysis relate to Arminian soteriology?" By seeking an answer to this question, new knowledge is sought on the current soteriological position of the Methodist-Lutheran dialogues, the contemporary Methodist theology and the commonalities between the Lutheran and Arminian understanding of soteriology. This way the soteriological picture of the Methodist-Lutheran discussions is clarified. The dialogues under analysis were selected on the basis of versatility. Firstly, the sole world organisation level dialogue was chosen: The Church – Community of Grace. Additionally, the document World Methodist Council and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is analysed as a supporting document. Secondly, a document concerning the discussions between two main-line churches in the United States of America was selected: Confessing Our Faith Together. Thirdly, two dialogues between non-main-line Methodist churches and main-line Lutheran national churches in Europe were chosen: Fellowship of Grace from Norway and Kristuksesta osalliset from Finland. The theoretical approach to the research conducted in this thesis is systematic analysis. The Remonstrant articles of Arminian soteriology are utilised as an analysis tool to examine the soteriological positions of the dialogues. New knowledge is sought by analysing the stances of the dialogues concerning the doctrines of partial depravity, conditional election, universal atonement, resistible grace and conditional perseverance of saints. This way information is also provided for approaching the Calvinist-Arminian controversy from new perspectives. The results of this thesis show that the current soteriological position of the Methodist-Lutheran dialogues is closer to Arminianism than Calvinism. The dialogues relate to Arminian soteriology especially concerning the doctrines of universal atonement, resistible grace and conditional perseverance of saints. The commonalities between the Lutheran and Arminian understanding of soteriology exist mainly in these three doctrines as they are uniformly favoured in the dialogues. The most discussed area of soteriology is human depravity, in which the largest diversity of stances occurs as well. On the other hand, divine election is the least discussed topic. The overall perspective, which the results of the analysis provide, indicates that the Lutherans could approach the Calvinist churches together with the Methodists with a wider theological perspective and understanding when the soteriological issues are considered as principal. Human depravity is discovered as the area of soteriology which requires most work in future ecumenical dialogues. However, the detected Lutheran hybrid notion on depravity (a Calvinist-Arminian mixture) appears to provide a useful new perspective for Calvinist-Arminian ecumenism and offers potentially fruitful considerations to future ecumenical dialogues.

Phylogeny of a taxonomically difficult group and evolution of host location mechanism

The parasitic wasps are one of the largest insect groups and their life histories are remarkably variable. Common to all parasitic wasps is that they kill their hosts, which are usually beetles, butterflies and sometimes spiders. Hosts are often at a larval or pupal stage and live in concealed conditions, such as in plant tissue. Parasitic wasps have two main ways of finding their host. 1) They can detect chemical compounds emitted by damaged plant material or released by larvae living in plant tissue, and 2) detect the larvae by sound vibrations. Even though pupae are immobile and silent, and therefore do not cause vibration, parasitoids have, however, adapted to find passive developmental stages by producing vibration themselves by knocking the substrate with their antennae, and then detecting the echoes with their legs. This echolocation allows a parasitoid to locate its potential hosts that are deeply buried in wood. This study focuses on the relationships of the subfamily Cryptinae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) and related taxa, and the evolution of host location mechanism. There are no earlier studies of the phylogeny of the Cryptinae, and the position of related taxa are unclear. According to the earlier classification, which is entirely intuitional, the Cryptinae is divided into three tribes: Cryptini, Hemigasterini and Phygadeuontini. Further, these tribes are subdiveded into numerous subtribes. This work, based on molecular characters, shows that the cryptine tribes Cryptini, Phygadeuon¬tini and Hemigasterini come out largely as monophyletic groups, thus agreeing with the earlier classification. The earlier subtribal classification had no support. In addition, it is shown that modified antennal structures are associated with host usage of wood-boring coleopteran hosts. The cryptines have a clear modification series on their antennal tips from a simply tip to a hammer-like structure. The species with strongly modified antennae belong mostly to the tribe Cryptini and they utilise wood-boring beetles as hosts. Also, field observations on insect behaviour support this result.

Gerando eus, tecendo redes e trançando nós: ditos e não ditos das professoras e estudantes negras nos cotidianos do curso de pedagogia

O presente trabalho objetiva compreender como a temática afrobrasileira era abordada nos cotidianos do Curso de Pedagogia, campus I, da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba. A questão norteadora da pesquisa foi descobrir como professoras e estudantes negras se sentem e enfocam essa temática nas suas redes de conhecimentos, práticas e relações. Para tanto, foi preciso adentrar na história do povo negro no Brasil a partir da luta dos movimentos sociais negros buscando entender as noções de raça, racismo, identidade e os limites da educação do/a negro/a ao longo da história brasileira. Neste percurso se dialoga com diversos estudiosos/as como: Santos (2002), Viana (2007), Oliveira (2003, 2006, 2007, 2008), Fernandes (2007), Domingues (2009), Munanga (2002, 2006, 2009), Veiga (2007, 2008)), Pereira (2008, 2009), Gomes (2003, 2006, 2008), Morin (2000), Hall (2003), Moreira e Câmara (2008), dentre outros. Exemplificando a luta e a resistência de mulheres negras são apresentadas as histórias de vida de quatro professoras e quatro estudantes negras, praticantes (CERTEAU, 2007), sujeitos da pesquisa, que expõem o processo de tessitura de suas identidades. Suas narrativas evidenciam indícios de racismo e discriminação que marcaram suas trajetórias, desde o seio familiar, fortalecendo-se na escola, na academia e, para algumas, chegando até o ambiente de trabalho. Uma das professoras é a pesquisadora que, à medida que narra a história de vida das praticantes, tece sua própria história, como mulheres costurando uma colcha de retalhos em que cada estampa retrata os momentos vividos. A metodologia de pesquisa nos/dos/com os cotidianos (ALVES, 2008) foi o caminho percorrido. Além da observação dos cotidianos, foram realizadas conversas (LARROSA, 2003) sobre as histórias de vida (BOSI, 2003; PORTELLI, 1997) e tecidas as narrativas a partir dessas vivências. Estas revelaram que tais mulheres, ao longo de suas histórias, viveram/vivem processos de afirmaçãonegação, visto que suas identidades não são fixas, mas negociações e renegociações (MUNANGA, 2010) que geram alegrias e conflitos. O entendimento do que é Ser Negra é experimentado por cada uma, sem um modelo padrão para suas existências. Elas foram se gerando nas relações com o/a outro/a, em cada contexto familiar, escolar, acadêmico e profissional. São senhoras de suas vidas e mesmo as mais jovens buscam fazer suas histórias com autonomia. São praticantes porque lutaram/lutam para conquistar um lugar na vida, utilizando astúcias e táticas para fabricar (CERTEAU, 2007) meios de enfrentamento das adversidades. As táticas do silêncio, do estudo e do trabalho revelaram que essas mulheres não ficaram invisíveis nem se colocaram como vítimas no espaço social. Assim, urge delinear a superação da visão da pessoa negra a partir dos traços físicos e reconhecer as raízes do povo brasileiro para compreender a história da negritude. A partir da ancestralidade, serão identificadas as origens do povo negro, que poderão trazer o passado de resistência e luta por liberdade, dignidade, cidadania que produzem o orgulho de ser negra. Orgulho que recupera a autoestima e a capacidade de organização e mobilização para combater o racismo e as desigualdades raciais. Os cursos de formação docente precisam abordar essa temática para capacitar os/as futuros/as professores/as nessa tarefa. Essa abordagem envolve o ensinaraprender, em que professores/as e estudantes assumem compromisso com uma educação crítica e inclusiva. A reflexão entre os/as docentes formadores/as nessa perspectiva plural e intercultural poderia ajudar na superação do eurocentrismo ainda presente nos conteúdos e nas mentalidades. Sob essa ótica, tecer um processo de formação docente no Curso de Pedagogia, comprometido com uma educação inclusiva, considera um contínuo fazerdesfazer, na tessitura de um diálogo permanente entre a práticateoriaprática, num movimento de pesquisaintervenção. Isso implica a reflexão da trajetória pessoal e coletiva e a articulação da ação pedagógica com um projeto político de transformação da sociedade excludente em sociedade plural e solidária. Os não ditos necessitam de aprofundamento em trabalhos posteriores, pois os silenciamentos se referem ao passado próximo e as relações interraciais na família, na academia e também nos ambientes de trabalho. Será que não existe mais racismo? Ou este foi naturalizado dificultando sua identificação nos cotidianos? Os limites do processo de introjeção do racismo, que provocam a invisibilidade de algumas praticantes, são novos desafios para estudos futuros. Assim, percebo que colcha de retalhos tecida ao longo desta trajetória não é justaposição como usualmente é entendida. Para além disto, significa a socialização das experiências vividas nos cotidianos das praticantes, a fim de inspirar atitudes de combate ao racismo que se ampliem para o contexto social.