CREEW seminar schedule 2005
March 18
Tom Stehlik, Pam Carden & Peter Willis: Communities of practice & CREEW
research culture
This session refers to work in progress of two related projects.
The first is the edited collection of research and practice essays
around communities of practice now collecting essays from contributors.
The second is a special case study of work being pursued by Pam Carden
and Peter Willis in using some of the theoretical approaches in communities
of practice and situated learning to develop a research culture in CREEW.
March 24
Silke Hellwig, University of Konstanz
Vocationalism and the competency debate in Germany
April 1
Alan Reid: Reflections on possible future directions for senior secondary education
After his recent experiences with the SACE Review, consulting students, educators, employers, and
industry and community representatives, Alan Reid will outline what he believes are some of the issues
facing senior secondary education. He will propose some possible ways to address these in curriculum and
organisational terms.
May 20
Jeannie Daniels: Lifting the curtain and finding the voice: confronting
the framework of VET in women's education
Jan Coker: Using narrative 'readings' in interpretative research
June 3
Roger Harris: The VET consortium research project
June 17
Bruce Johnson, Sue Howard & Jenny Carter: The PhD experience
July 21
Tim Leonard: The tact of teaching: Fostering reverence in pedagogic practice
This seminar looks at approaches to educational practice that look at its relational dimensions
and seeks to understand the foundations of respect for learners and ways to promote this in the
education of educators.
Tim Leonard is a lecturer in education in Cincinnati, previously in Chicago. He is in Australia as a key resource person for the CREEW mythopoetic pedagogy project.
August 5
Jenny Carter: Educational policy analysis: The 'problem' as I see it
Halia Senu: Project team commitment and its impact on projects when it is
missing
August 19
Deb Tranter: Why not university? Students from disadvantaged schools and
the university experience
Helen Raduntz: Critique of Brosio's book on philosophical scaffolding for
constructing a critical democratic education
In her presentation on 19 August Helen Raduntz intends to demonstrate the critical method at work based
on Marxian-Hegelian principles which she formulated for her critical review essay of the book by well
respected US Marxist/Deweyan educator, Richard Brosio, entitled Philosophical Scaffolding for the
Construction of Critical Democratic Education. What the critique shows is that, while Brosios book is
intended to offer a practical guide particularly for those teachers working in the US public school
sector who are interested in actively changing the social inequalities endemic in the system, it in
actual fact presents a set of ideas not founded on a rigorous analysis not only of his philosophical
assumptions but also of the external as well as the internal dynamics shaping the system.
What Brosios proposals therefore represent is a set of ideal principles and situations to which teachers
might aspire but which are of little assistance in helping them to get from the reality to the realisation of the ideal.
Helen hopes that her thesis will stimulate a lively debate not only on the pros and cons of her review but particularly on the practical effectiveness of the method of critique she employs. For those interested Helens review 'Constructing a Critical Democratic Education: Is it possible?' can be downloaded from the website of the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies Volume 3, Number 1 March 2005 http://www.jceps.com/
September 2
Glenna Lear: Learning in the third age in rural communities
Catherine Hall: The law curriculum in Bachelor of Nursing: What is taught
and learnt
September 16
Ann Lawless: Caring for the democratic spirit
Sharron King: Emotional dimensions on radical change
October 7
Colleen McLaughlin: Spectators in school bullying
Colleen McLaughlin is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge University.
She has worked in secondary schools and an LEA. She is a practitioner, researcher and academic
in the areas of personal, social and emotional development, care and counselling in education.
She is also interested in dialogue and the student voice. Recent research and development work
has been in the areas of alternatives to school exclusion and school/university partnerships -
particularly using action research. She teaches in the above areas and also supervises M.Phil.
and Ph.D. students in these areas. She is editor of the journal Pastoral Care in Education and
Chair of the National Association of Pastoral Care in Education.
Rebecca Spence, University of New England
Building relationships across deep divisions: the challenge of achieving social sustainability in war torn societies
How do communities and individuals locked in or emerging from deep conflict re-learn the art of building relationships across the divide? During this presentation I will explore the many creative ways in which people have re-constituted their lives and their communities. Drawing on examples from Northern Ireland, The Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and other countries recently emerged from armed conflict, I will demonstrate how associational life can be reactivated. The presentation will focus on how the processes involved in strengthening relationships can enhance adult learning, vocational education and capacity building processes. I will argue that many of the current approaches to capacity building and adult education in conflict and post conflict societies are so task oriented that they miss the opportunity to contribute to the relationship building processes that are vital to achieving and sustaining longer term peace. Dr. Rebecca Spence is Senior Lecturer in Peace Studies, at the Centre for Peace Studies, in the School of Professional Development and Leadership, University of New England, Armidale, NSW.
October 21
Dieter Sczesny: Learning in the pub
Tom Short, University of Auckland
Aligning workplace learning with business strategy: a fanciful dream of
HRD professionals or absolute reality?
Over the last 25 years much has been written about the importance of training and development in the
workplace and its critical role in contributing to business success but despite this rhetoric a number
key realities remain and these look unlikely to change in the near future.
This presentation reports on a study currently being conducted in New Zealand manufacturing organisations to
examine the current practises in human resource development. The investigation is oriented towards an appraisal
of training and learning, in the context of how human resource development (HRD) activities may be aligned so the
learning generates longer-term success for the enterprise.
Tom Short is currently a provisional PhD candidate with the University of South Australia, School of Education.
He is director of the Performance Improvement Centre at the University of Aucklands Faculty of Education in New Zealand.
November 4
Lisa Davies: The challenges of qualitative research
This seminar will describe the papers which I presented recently at two different conferences in the
United Kingdom. Of particular interest to me were the differing reactions to the papers, which, albeit
with a different focus, both were essentially, discussing some of the results that have emerged from my
research? The first conference centred on qualitative methods. The second, on quantitative.
1. 'If I offered pizzas and beer after work, they might come to it: Understanding Challenges to education about depression in the workplace'.
24th International Human Sciences Research Conference, Theme: Are there values which bind us as human science researchers?, University of Bournemouth, August 2005.
Given the current social and economic impact of depression on the Australian workforce, I interviewed people in the deregulated sector of Information Technology in South Australia about their accessibility to work based education about depression and to ask their opinions regarding the merit of such education. As I also wanted to conceptualise what is understood about depression I also sought insight into what their understandings are of the prevailing attitudes in their workplace about workers with depression. I drew upon a methodological perspective from the field of organisational behaviour and undertook a qualitative, interpretive method of analysis. A dichotomy emerged: most respondents expressed personal, sympathetic views towards people with depression but were disquieted by them in the workplace wherein they were described as a frustrating liability to business.
2. 'Disquiet, dismay and disrepute: Contemporary stigma and ignorance about employees with depression in some modern Australian workplaces'.
International Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry, Theme: Mental Health and the Millennium Development Goals, How can improving mental health and increasing mental health awareness contribute to achieving the MDGs by the target date?, London, UK 31 August-2 September 2005.
It emerges that despite increasing media attention and associated dissemination of information about depression, some people are undereducated about it. Some employees in the deregulated sector of Information Technology in South Australia, a microcosm of the modern workforce, exemplify this lack of relevant knowledge. Workers and employers alike stigmatise depression, leading to denial of its validity or existence; this in turn leads to the perpetration of discriminatory behaviours and allied human rights violations against sufferers. The pragmatism with which employees are regarded is justified by personnel employees who cite the restraints associated with the demands of economic rationalism. In so doing, they utilise stigmatising language which further reflects a generalised ignorance about depression.
Peter Willis: Mythopoesis and mythopoetic pedagogy
November 11
Rob Pattenden, Macquarie University
Artists do the big picture: Arts practice as cultural re-imagining