Matching training needs and opportunities : the case for training brokers in the Australian agricultural sector

Lifelong learning has been linked by policymakers to economic and social wellbeing. This paper introduces the concept of training brokerage as an efficient way of meeting the needs of learners, industry and education and training providers. It presents findings from a study of the features, processes and outcomes of training brokerage arrangements within the Australian agricultural and natural resource management sectors. The purpose of the study was to identify and promote effective brokerage arrangements and models. The study used multi-method, multi-site techniques, comprising a telephone survey, case studies of good broking practice and stakeholder participation through workshops and a reference group. Training brokers act as facilitators or intermediaries in identifying and matching training needs and opportunities. They have close links with industry, and extensive networks that include reputable training providers. Brokers work with others to identify training needs and engage participants, and to identify, negotiate and plan appropriate training. Evaluation and further training are a key part of the process. Effective broking activity is underpinned by a series of ten generic principles. Brokerage has implications for the agricultural sector in developed and developing countries, in terms of improving the match of training provision to training needs, communication, coordination and collaboration across regions and industries. It also has broader implications for facilitating participation in client-driven lifelong learning, particularly for disenfranchised learners.

Aligning school reform and teacher education reform in the middle years : an australian case study

This paper discusses the development of a new Bachelor of Education (Middle Years of Schooling) at The University of Queensland. The middle years of schooling have increasingly been the focus of education reform initiatives in Australia, but this has not been accompanied by significant increases in the number of teacher education institutions offering specialised middle schooling-level teacher preparation programmes. Considering the rapidly changing social and economic context and the emergent state of middle schooling in Australia, the programme represented a conceptual and practical opportunity and challenge for The University of Queensland team. Working collaboratively, the team sought to design a teacher education preservice programme that was both responsive and generative: that is, responsive to local school contexts and to current educational research and reform at national and international levels; and generative of cutting-edge theories and practices associated with middle schooling, teachers' work, and teacher education. This paper focuses on one component of the Middle Years of Schooling Teacher Education programme at The University of Queensland; namely, the practicum. We first present the underlying principles of the practicum programme and then examine "dilemmas" that emerged early in the practicum. These issues and tensions were associated with the ideals of "middle years" philosophy and the pragmatics of school reform associated with that new approach. In this paper, and within this context, we explore what it means to be both responsive and generative, and describe how we as teacher educators negotiated between the extremes these terms implied.

Critical analysis of action research-based inservice teacher education : four case histories

Changing the nature of institutionalised education is the central theme of the thesis. The potential for radical changes to classroom teaching and to inservice teacher education is considered through four curriculum and teaching reform projects structured by action -research. The problems explored through the thesis are at the levels of teaching, institutional and research practices. It is argued that the professional activity of teachers, administrators, consultants, teacher educators and researchers can be understood to be tightly bound and determined by rules for acceptable professional ways of acting which are often unquestioned and unexamined by educators themselves. It is further argued that institutionalised education is dominated by ways of thinking and acting that are inherently individualistic. The thesis analyses the ideological character of this 'individualistic1 structuring of educational practice, identifying belief systems that hold the lived reality of educators and students in place. The thesis endeavours to show that the bureaucratic character of institutionalised education primarily serves and maintains the interests of dominant groups. The thesis examines the possibilities for radical reform in classroom teaching, the support teachers need when embarking on curriculum and teaching change processes, and the possible outcomes of such reform. The thesis also examines the interaction between the institutional practices of schools, universities and regional offices in the Ministry of Education in Victoria, Australia on these reform processes in classrooms. Finally, the thesis examines the potential of action research as a research and educative process in the professional development of educators who are both critically aware of the ideological nature of institutionalised education and committed to collective social action. From the analyses of the four action research projects the thesis concludes that action research has the potential to transform institutionalised education when its own practice is firstly, developed as a liberating pedagogy and not as research projects structured by individualistic and paternalistic interests; secondly, is driven by a commitment to the political struggle for equity and social justice; and thirdly, is itself an expression of communitarian work. The thesis concludes that the transformative processes associated with action research under these conditions hold the promise of democratising the 'individualistic' character of institutional education.

Chaos rules : an exploration of the work of instructional designers in distance education

This thesis provides an examination of the work of instructional designers in distance education, through the conceptual lens of chaos theory. Chaos theory was chosen as an analytical tool because of its ability to reveal the patterns and processes of complex systems as they move between order and turbulence. Recent work in the social sciences, specifically literary theory, has provided impetus for applications of chaos theory to educational settings. Specifically, chaos theory is used to analyse eight case studies of projects volunteered by instructional designers working in five institutions in Hong Kong and Australia. Data were gathered over a period of months with each participant, chiefly through interviews, but also involving diary accounts, electronic mail and letters. The methodology was thus qualitative, specifically informed by Eisner's vision of the ‘critical connoisseur’. Eisner equates an ‘enlightened eye’ with attainment of the skills of a critical connoisseur. First, an effective qualitative researcher must develop connoisseurship, the art of appreciation. On its own, though, connoisseurship is not enough; it is a private act, and thus needs a public face or presence. Criticism is this link, criticism being the art of disclosure. The critical connoisseur aims to help others to increase perception and deepen understanding of an educational situation or event. In addition to the empirical work, a parallel strand of this thesis investigates the theory and reported practice of instructional design. A brief history of instructional design is presented, along with discussion of acknowledged deficiencies of current theory and approaches. Recent reported investigations of both theory and practice are analysed from the viewpoint of chaos theory. Examination of key contributions in the literature of instructional design and distance education reveals considerable resonance between these contributions and the fundamental properties of chaotic systems. Links are made, in both the theoretical and empirical strands, between instructional design and the behaviour of dissipative structures, attractors and the process of bifurcation. Use is also made of the time-dependent nature of chaos theory as a theory of becoming, rather than one of being. The thesis comprises eight chapters, two appendices and a references section. The introductory chapter explains the research problem, and outlines the structure of the thesis. Methodological considerations are left until after an assessment of instructional design literature and (reported) practice. This deliberately theoretical investigation (Chapters 2 and 3) comprises the first of the parallel strands that are presented. The basic conclusions are that instructional design theory has not been particularly helpful to or used by instructional designers, and that chaos theory might provide an alternative way of viewing instructional design practice. The other parallel strand is the empirical work, which for four chapters outlines the methodology and my findings concerning the role of instructional designers in distance education. The methodology is detailed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 establishes the contexts of the participants, by examining their backgrounds and introductions to their roles. It also investigates their views on their role and status within their institutions and with working colleagues. Chapter 6 is an exploration of the major issues that influenced the work of the instructional designers. These are the issues that arose naturally in the interviews as the participants outlined the development and interactions that took place on a day to day basis. Time emerges as a key influence in their work, and its effects on the projects are outlined and analysed. The ways that instructional designers give advice to those with whom they work is also investigated. The next chapter continues consideration of their work, but this time as they reflect on their role and its demands. This includes their reactions to the various metaphors that have appeared in the literature, along with those that they introduced into our discussions. The links that are established between the two parallel strands are drawn more explicitly in the final chapter, Chapter 8, which is a notion of what a model of instructional design based on my conclusions might resemble. It summarises the evidence that it is not necessarily by striving for order—in fact quite the opposite — during key periods of course development, that leads to creative outcomes. The introduction of uncertainty and turbulence does, in some cases and under some conditions, move the system to a higher level. The image that is offered from chaos theory is that of time-bound dissipative structures, interacting with their open environment at far-from-equilibrium conditions, and transforming themselves from disorder to order through bifurcation. The role of strange or chaotic attractors is highlighted in the process. The first appendix gives background information in terms of the methodology. The second is the heart of the data upon which the thesis draws. That is, the second appendix outlines the case studies of the participants. Most are short summaries, but the final one is a detailed study, tracing the progress of the design and development of a subject in distance education.

Studentship and oppositional behaviour within physical education teacher education : a case study ; and, Between the rings and under the gym mat : a narrative

This thesis represents a part of a program of study that is reaching a closure. The broadest brush that could be applied to my work is that it concerns Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), that it focuses on aspects of professional socialisation, and that it involves various case studies utilising naturalistic inquiry. Whilst it would be impossible and naive to believe that the reading of these texts will produce the meanings that I encourage, or have internalised, nevertheless the order of reading is at least something that I can argue for. Read in the order I suggest throughout the thesis I am hopeful that my subjectivities, and the learning and understandings I have reached may become clear. The purpose of this two part thesis is an exploration of the interplay or dialectic that exists between PETE students, academic staff and the subject matter within PETE. I have had to come to understand the limitations and advantages of insider research as the work has been completed at my University in the School of Human Movement and Sports Science where I have worked for twenty years. This thesis examines the extent to which studentship and oppositional behaviour underlies the dialectic that exists between the students and the various discourses within the program. I have written the study in two very different formats, one, a collection of stories about PETE and the other, an interpretative case study conducted during 1993 and 1994. Within the case study, studentship and oppositional behaviour were viewed as a measure of the extent to which students react and push against the forces of socialisation within their PETE program that is seen to represent dominant discourses, The following broad research questions were considered to enable the above analysis. 1. What is the nature of studentship and oppositional behaviour in a high status subject within PETE compared to a subject that is seen by students to be of little relevance and of low status? 2. How are studentship and oppositional behaviour related to students subjective warrants? 3. How are the studentship and oppositional behaviours exhibited by students related to the pedagogy and discourses reflected in the knowledge, beliefs and practices within the two sites. The starting point for this research was a study conducted as a totally separate research task (Swan, 1992) that investigated the hierarchies of subject knowledge within a PETE site and investigated the influence of such hierarchies upon student intention. A great deal of meta analysis exists about the manner in which a technocratic rationality pervades PETE but very little case study material of what this means to students and academic staff within such institutions is available. The stories in Between The Rings And Under The Gym Mat, which is the second part of this thesis, represent ‘the data’ differently from the case study, but they speak their own truth. At times the nature of the story is indistinguishable from the reality of the case study. Wexler (1992) undertook an ethnographic study about identity formation in three very different high schools, and published the findings in a book entitled Becoming Somebody. His introductory words about the nature of the social story he tells, are significant to this study and story. Social history is recounted by creative intervention that can only be made from culturally accessible materials. Ethnography is neither an objective realist, nor subjective imaginist account. Rather, it is an historical artefact that is mediated by elaborated distancing of culturally embedded and internally contradictory (but seemingly independent and coherent) concepts that take on a life of their own as theory. So, this is not ‘news from nowhere,’ but a theoretically structured story where both the story and its structure are part of my times. (p.6) The case study before you is organised with an analysis of studentship and oppositional behaviour detailed in chapter one. The following chapter conceptualises studentship and oppositional behaviour in relation to particular themes of professional socialisation, resistance to oppression and youth culture. Chapter three locates the case study to the major paradigmatic debates about the value and nature of the subject matter content within PETE, Chapter four outlines the case site, the research process and the research dilemma’s confronted in this study. The remaining three chapters are the case record as I can best understand it. In Between the Rings and under the Gym Mat (part B) the story most directly concerned with studentship and oppositional behaviour, is called Tale of Two Classes’. It takes on a very different reality to the case study (part A) and much can be said about the reality of lived experience which can be portrayed in narrative form as opposed to a clinical case study. Many of the other stories pose similar images that are contradictory and never quite complete. I have written a separate methodological section for the narrative stories. It is my intention that the case study and the series of stories should be viewed as essentially complementary, but also a discrete representation of a part of PETE. As part of the Ed D program I have undertaken four discrete research tasks as the starting point for this research I have referred to the first one (Hierarchies of Subject knowledge within PETE). I also undertook an action research project about ‘Teaching Poorly by Choice.’ A further piece of research was a somewhat reflective effort to draw together what this has all meant to me from a subjective and reflexive perspective. Such efforts are often seen as being self indulgent, as subjectivity in the form of lived experience sits uneasily in academia. A final paper involved an evaluation of Between the Rings and Under the Gym Mat from a pedagogical perspective by PETE professionals around the world. And that's the way things turned out.

Case studies in human rights education and critical educational science

This thesis offers an account of the history and effects of three curriculum projects sponsored by the Australian Human Rights Commission between 1983 and 1986. Each project attempted to improve observance of human rights in and through Australian schools through participatory research (or critical educational science). That is, the research included, as a conscious feature, the effort to develop new forms of curriculum work which more adequately respect the personal and professional rights of teachers, especially their entitlement as persons and professionals to participate in planning, conducting and controlling the curriculum development, evaluation and implementation that constitutes their work. In more specific terms, the Australian Human Rights Commission's three curriculum projects represented an attempt to improve the practice and theory of human rights education by engaging teachers in the practical work of evaluating, researching, and developing a human rights curriculum. While the account of the Australian Human Rights Commission curriculum project is substantially an account of teachers1 work, it is a story which ranges well beyond the boundaries of schools and classrooms. It encompasses a history of episodes and events which illustrate how educational initiatives and their fate will often have to set within the broad framework of political, social, and cultural contestation if they are to be understood. More exactly, although the Human Rights Commission's work with schools was instrumental in showing how teachers might contribute to the challenging task of improving human rights education, the project was brought to a premature halt during the debate in the Australian Senate on the Bill of Rights in late 1985 and early 1986. At this point in time, the Government was confronted with such opposition from the Liberal/National Party Coalition that it was obliged to withdraw its Bill of Rights Legislation, close down the original Human Rights Commission, and abandon the attempt to develop a nationwide program in human rights education. The research presents an explanation of why it has been difficult for the Australian Government to live up to its international obligations to improve respect for human rights through education. More positively, however, it shows how human rights education, human rights related areas of education, and social education might be transformed if teachers (and other members of schools communities) were given opportunities to contribute to that task. Such opportunities, moreover, also represent what might be called the practice of democracy in everyday life. They thus exemplify, as well as prefigure, what it might mean to live in a more authentically democratic society.

Social justice in education in 'new times'

This thesis considers social justice in education in ‘new times’. To facilitate the investigation a number of research questions were pursued. These questions were: • What is meant by the label ‘social justice’? • How is social justice to be understood in contemporary terms? • Are there tensions between traditional and contemporary views of social justice? • How effective are policy developments in delivering social justice via education? • What difference do such policies make at the local level? To answer these questions a critical case analysis of a country community and one of its primary schools was carried out. Data were gathered using a variety of methods. As a researcher who was also a teacher in the school I kept a personal professional journal during 1993 and 1994. During this period I was the teacher in the school with responsibility for curriculum development related to issues of social justice. In 1994 I conducted interviews with twenty students, parents and teachers at the school in relation to social justice issues. I also interviewed the CEO of the town’s Council. A number of relevant Federal and State Government and school policy documents were consulted and an archival search of the local newspaper from 1956 to 1994 was undertaken. Statistical information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well as from school records was used. A number of local history books were consulted as well as the minutes of relevant school committee meetings. Contemporary social theory, more specifically the work of Anthony Giddens, provided the major methodological tool. Giddens structuration theory was selected as it provided a way of interpreting society from both macro and micro perspectives, it provided a way of studying the interconnectedness of the individual and society. In addition to this, a metaphor was used as a way of developing an understanding of the data. The river was chosen as the metaphor as it has significance to the case study community and it also provides a way of understanding interconnectedness. At an interpretive level, both social theory and moral philosophy were drawn on, including the work of Geoffrey Sharp, Anthony Giddens and Alisdair MacIntyre. A review of selected literature indicated three main areas of concern in relation to this thesis. We live in a time of constant and ongoing change, understanding how this change impacts on the lives of individuals and society is important. Such an understanding relates directly to issues of ontology. In addition it was necessary to consider schools in these ‘new times’. The literature revealed that the changes occurring in the wider society were related to the changes currently being seen in schools. Specifically this related to the increasing emphasis on economics and on individualism, emphases also reflected in the findings of this thesis. Finally the literature related to social justice was discussed, the focus here was on distributive theories of justice and the way these are reflected in programs such as the DSP. The data, as expressed in the metaphor of the flowing river, revealed dominant and marginal currents in social justice in education in ‘new times’. The dominant social group are the intellectually trained and the dominant issues were related to technology, globalisation and economic and bureaucratic rationalism. In the marginal currents we find the under-employed and the unemployed and marginal issues relating to housing, the black economy, poverty and the survival of rural communities. The data also revealed a marginal tributary running into the river. This tributary shows that social cohesion is still a part of life in ‘new times’, albeit a marginalised part. The dominant and marginal currents in social justice in ‘new times’ reveal changes at a deep cultural level. Social justice in ‘new times’ is set within the limits provided by economic rationalism. Such a position is closely linked to the rise of liberal democracy as a political ideology. A rise which has been on a global scale. This valorizes the individual as compared with the group, and the family as compared to the social whole, within the context of expanded economic groupings and markets. Such an ideological position sees the role of the state as providing the ‘legitimising muscle’ to advance the cause of individuals and their families as compared to larger social groupings. These perceptions were applied in Australia, even under a Labor Government. In this sense social justice policies in ‘new times’ are ideological, they act as a political lever to legitimate economic restructuring. They are policies designed to carry disparate groups forward and together on a common wave of economic reform. They are used to ‘sell’ economic reform as being ‘good’ for all of society. Against the backdrop of economic rationalism and liberal democratic ideals there emerges a language geared to the production of an economically viable self, self image, self identity, self esteem and self confidence. As a result, the sense of identity as ‘social’ is lost from view. This thesis argues that what is needed is a new way of looking at social justice in education. A way that reaches beyond the solutions forwarded by the political Left and the Right. It is about the development of an understanding of the way in which an assimilation of the hyper individual and the social group can result in the emergence of the socially responsible individual. This is a cultural shift that sees the individual/society dualism presented in a new way. The categories enter into a new relationship where the balance shifts away from the individual towards society. A shift to a culture where the individual’s rights and responsibilities are respected within a social whole. Such a cultural shift would result in a curriculum which would build social identity, promoted socially responsible independent thought and make space for creativity and the aesthetic. A ‘curriculum for social responsibility’ would be a socially just curriculum.

Importance of the contribution of Australians to the penetration of China by the China Inland Mission in the period 1888-1953, with particular reference to the work of Australian women missionaries

Australians, in the main, are unaware of the role which Australia played in the evangelization of China in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Most would never have heard of the China Inland Mission (CIM), the largest of the Protestant bodies which penetrated the Middle Kingdom, and few would know of the contribution that its Australian contingent, which consistently comprised about a tenth of the CIM's numbers, made towards the Christianization of that vast country. This thesis aims to raise the level of awareness in this area. Academic researchers have not totally neglected to examine the proselytization of China, and historians of the stature of Latourette have not let it escape their attention. However, most of the studies which have not merely fleetingly focused on the subject while viewing a larger canvas, have been North American, singling out the efforts of United States and Canadian bodies in introducing Christianity to the Chinese. Here, authors like Amerding, Bacon, Creighton, Gates, Hawkes, Ho, Ko, Mensendiek, Michell and Quale have left their mark. In the case of the present thesis, the outlook from which events played out in China are viewed is firmly based in Australia rather than North America. Earlier Australian research has been scarce, and is dominated by Loane and Dixon. Loane, evidently primarily working from Australasian Council minutes, mainly concentrates on the efforts of the CIM's Home Council, examining its endeavours decade by decade against a backdrop of contemporaneous events in China, and briefly referring to aspects of the lives of a cross-section of Australasian missionaries, without providing much idea about what they actually did in the field or what they achieved there. Because of its preoccupation with the Home Council, which never admitted women into its ranks, Loane's treatise is systemically biased towards men, though the more prominent of the women, like Mary Reed and Susie Garland, are given due recognition. The current thesis looks in detail at what Australians did in the field, the level of success they achieved, and at the particular contribution of Australian women towards the evangelization of China. Dixon took upon herself the formidable task of examining the endeavours of all missions in China which contained Australian missionaries. Because of the magnitude of her task, she could not focus to any great extent on particular missions, nor pursue in any detail the work of individual Australian missionaries. Like Loane, she was unable to explore what they actually did in the field or what they achieved there. Neither could she delve to any depth into the work of Australian women missionaries, though on the basis of the information she had accumulated, she drew the conclusion that Australian women had largely only brought about some unintended feminist consequences amongst Chinese women. This sweeping generalization failed to take into account the other very real social changes for Chinese women the Australian female missionaries quite purposely helped to bring about, and this thesis makes good that omission. This thesis studies aspects of the Australian missionary endeavour which both Loane and Dixon have neglected, thereby breaking new ground, and sets out to correct erroneous impressions which Dixon's dissertation has left on the historical record. One of these impressions concerned the longevity of the effect of the Australian effort in China. She had the View, writing in 1978, that the Chinese Church was moribund (a view shared by Varg and Lacy) , and that therefore the effects attributable to the endeavours of any nationality had proved fruitless, whereas the author is able to show, using modern-day sources, that the church has burgeoned in recent years thanks to earlier missionary endeavours and later neo-evangelistic efforts like Gospel radio, and now has a complement of perhaps 50 million adherents, making it second only to the United States in the size of its Protestant evangelical population. Another impression she left was that the Australian input into the evangelization of China can be largely dismissed because no totally Australian organization emerged, leaving the direction of Australia's effort in other hands. Contrary to that impression, the author shows that the Australian impact in China was significant and that Australians enjoyed more power than Dixon ever imagined. The author also shows that Australians were accepted as the equal of other nationalities in the CIM once they had acquired the necessary field expertise, a factor which doubtless also applied in respect of other missions with Australian components in China. Marchant has suggested that it is a fiction perpetuated by mission periodicals that Christianity spread and progressed in a determined manner in China. This thesis establishes that within the CIM's bailiwick, though there was some patchiness, Christianity progressed steadily and inexorably. One mission alone, the CIM, is concentrated upon, firstly in order to render the data manageable, secondly because it was the largest mission in China and had a sizeable Australian (including female) contingent, and thirdly because it exemplified many of the problems which would have been faced by missions in that country and their Australian components. The methodology employed is multifaceted. The written testimony of the missionaries themselves, contained in CIM periodicals, Field Bulletins, Monthly Notes, Annual Reports, autobiographies, personal files, diaries and letters is used to illustrate various aspects of the CIM's work in which Australians were engaged. This approach is augmented by other sources such as China and Australasian Home Council Minutes, missionary conference reports, Candidates' Books, biographies, and other selected material from archival holdings in Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, America and Canada. Statistics, especially ratio analyses and growth rate comparisons are used to demonstrate the relative success of different missions, missionaries and genders. Also employed are reminiscences of missionaries and descendants obtained by personal interview, and these are aggregated to provide some general conclusions. Data from these various sources have been synthesized to serve the central objective of demonstrating the importance of the contribution of Australians to the penetration of China by the CIM in the period 1888-1953 with particular reference to the work of Australian women missionaries.

Cross-sector social partnerships, leading by example : a case study of reading for life

Some exceptional social integrative alliances can go unrecognised amid the swell of high profile initiatives. This may be dependent upon the propensity of the partnering organisations to seize publicity opportunities or public sensitivity towards an issue. This paper focuses on one such exemplar of best practice of social investment in Australia.

A joint initiative between a major manufacturing organisation (Unilever Australasia) and a social nonprofit organisation (Learning Links) has led to the creation of the Reading for Life program. This initiative aims to advance the literacy levels of children in the formative years of education. The examination of this case provides a broader picture of the Australian alliance marketplace and the effects this one successful relationship has had on encouraging further  partners, additional programs and promoting best practice.

The research aimed to uncover the objectives of each partner along with the management processes used, outcomes (both perceived and actual) and future direction. In-depth interviews were conducted across different levels of the organisational structure of each partner in multiple locations within Australia.

Preliminary findings provided an insight into alliance formation and the overwhelming importance of social investment as a core motive. Twelve core factors were identified as contributing to the successful implementation of this relationship. In particular, regular reporting of successful outcomes was an important implementation factor, not only in driving the relationship to new levels, but also in the recruitment of further investment partners.

This case demonstrates that multiple positive outcomes can be gained from cross-sector collaboration. Unilever Australasia has successfully developed a positive corporate culture amongst its employees and will leave a legacy of social investment. Learning Links, with the help of a private sector partnership, has increased its operational capacity and is now established as a trans-national nonprofit organisation. Together they have made a noteworthy contribution to
the improvement of literacy in hundreds of children’s lives and fundamentally paved the way for demonstrating that social investment can be considered a good business outcome.

This case is being used to inform theory on cross-sector collaboration and build on the findings of Austin (2000) in relation to the alliance marketplace and factors inherent in integrative alliances.

Global education, travel and new imaginaries for teachers' work

This study investigated how teachers‘ knowledge and identities are influenced through their experience of travel. Understanding how teachers make meaning from and respond to travel revealed aspects of knowledge creation and identity formation. Set within contexts of globalisation, the study also investigated global education through analysis of changing definitions and meanings by taking an historical stance.
Through qualitative methodology semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teachers who had recently been on a study tour. The other form of data collection included a collection of four ‗travel‘ stories written by the researcher. The social imaginary was the concept employed to explain and analyse the impact of travel on teachers work and lives.

This small case study of three participants provided a depth of responses to the following three research questions.
1. What is global education?
2. How does the experience of travel shape teachers‘ work and identities?
3. How does teachers‘ work reconfigure global education?
The findings from this study revealed that global education has shifted from a position of marginality in curriculum and teaching practices to a more central location in education policies. The analysis of participants‘ responses to travel as a feature of globalisation, revealed new knowledge, additional teaching pedagogies and greater awareness of stereotypes both held and disclosed from students. The practices and thinking described by participants were consistent with calls for greater cosmopolitan teaching.

This study contributed understanding about how teachers embed global imaginaries in their teaching. This in turn builds understanding around how globalisation is reshaping local contexts and individuals‘ thinking and being. The findings challenge global education as a discrete framework and suggest teachers‘ experiences as influential on education now in a global world. The study confirms that globalisation is reshaping educators‘ work and lives towards a global education.