Alternative Education

Re-framing education as a thirdspace: neonarratives of pedagogy, power and transformation

by Janice Jones

Jones, Janice Kathleen (2011) Re-framing education as a thirdspace: neonarratives of pedagogy, power and transformation. [Thesis (_PhD/Research)]

Educational practices are ideologically informed, socially framed, and culturally contested. Historically, these... more Educational practices are ideologically informed, socially framed, and culturally contested. Historically, these forces have impacted upon how far and how swiftly education can respond to national and global challenges. In the 21st century the tension between Platonic and Aristotlean philosophies of education, and how those dissonant epistemologies are embodied in curriculum and pedagogy continues to inform contemporary debate about the purposes and practices of formal education. Platonic beliefs in education as a means of strengthening the state are consistent with Firstspace ideologies of testing and reporting, benchmarking and competitive practice. This is in contrast with Secondspace ideologies that emphasise education for the individual, and for cooperative communities.

This study is situated in the troubling and troubled borderland or Thirdspace between two ideologies. They are Firstspace ideologies and practices of education that seek to create a skilled but malleable workforce for a competitive economy, and Secondspace ideologies that promote individual learner autonomy for lifelong and life-wide learning and global citizenship. Transformative or critical pedagogies are described by both ideologies as pivotal: for governments they are presented as strategic to the achievement of a competitive edge in a global economy, and for postcolonial theorists they are the means for subverting epistemologies of difference and inequities of power.

The organising argument of this study, that critical pedagogy has the capacity to democratise and subvert dominant and colonising ideas and practices of education, is balanced by two supporting arguments. They are, first, that reflective, critical and transformative pedagogy belongs to a Thirdspace epistemology, whose purpose is to trouble, rather than to serve beliefs and practices of education that re-inscribe the dominant culture. Second, that the dominant culture employs bureaucratic and hegemonic force to subvert the potential for change that results from critical and transformative praxis. Hence, the transformative educator seeks to effect change in fields that are inherently resistant to change.

A bricolage of narratives gathered over a three-year period informs this study of transformative praxis in the context of education. The data are constituted from notes, diaries, children‘s and pre-service teachers‘ writings and feedback, and films and interviews gathered by the researcher and participants. Narratives from an alternative play-based community primary school, undergraduate pre-service primary educators and self-as-teacher-educator constitute ‗tales from the field‘, locating participants in the study as post-colonial voices.

The process of writing upon writing reveals and re-presents the views of participants as subtexts from the field. The findings of the study are presented as neonarratives, indicating shared perceptions between the school community, pre-service teachers and the researcher of dissonances between contemporary theories of education and constraints impacting upon transformative pedagogy in practice. These findings have implications for the researcher‘s personal and professional practices of pedagogy as an educator of pre-service teachers as well as more broadly for government policy, the implementation of change within established systems; and for parents seeking a transformative education for their children.

Holistic education: An analysis of its pedagogical application

by Lucila Rudge

Rudge, L. (2010). Holistic education: An analysis of its pedagogical application. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing.

This book is a theoretical and interpretative study, in which I analyze and evaluate the pedagogical application of... more This book is a theoretical and interpretative study, in which I analyze and evaluate the pedagogical application of the philosophical ideas advocated by the holistic education movement in four approaches to schooling.
Holistic education is an eclectic and inclusive movement, which emerged in the mid-1980s as a response to the then-dominant worldview of mainstream education. It is an educational paradigm that integrates the idealistic ideas of humanistic education with spiritual and philosophical ideas, incorporating principles of spirituality, wholeness, and interconnectedness along with those of freedom, autonomy, and democracy. Holistic education theorists assume an integration of spirituality and humanistic ideals, a combination that most progressive and democratic movements in education have attempted to keep separate.
While these principles may be combined philosophically into an ideal of education, I questioned whether they could be jointly applied in an approach to education. The question I ask in this study, therefore, is as follows: is it possible to apply pedagogical principles of spirituality, along with principles of freedom and democracy, into a single approach to education?
To carry out this study, I selected four approaches to schooling that draw on holistic educational ideals, and explored the pedagogical application of the principles advocated by the leading theorists in the holistic education movement. I then examined some of the tensions that arose as I compared the application of these holistic principles in different approaches to schooling.
In the following sections, after I discuss the field of holistic education, I provide a more detailed account of this study’s nature, purpose, and mode of inquiry.

Caring is Not Enough: A Critical Systematic Review of Recent Research on Alternative Education

by Susan Glassett

Presented at the Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association, April 13-17, Vancouver, Canada.

The achievement gap is not just a gap in standardized test scores.  It is a graduation rate gap, a discipline... more The achievement gap is not just a gap in standardized test scores.  It is a graduation rate gap, a discipline gap, a data gap – an “opportunity gap” (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Alternative schools play a pivotal role in all of these gaps. This paper is a critical, systematic review of recent alternative education empirical research in the United States.  After a rigorous selection process, current research is synthesized to (a) define alternative schools, (b) describe the students who attend them, (c) document their systemic role and the impact of suspensions and expulsions, and (d) identify characteristics of effective programs.  The research indicates that alternative education is expanding and operating as a hidden, parallel system, providing a separate but often unequal education to many “at-risk” students.

The invisibility of the alternative alternative: an exploratory discussion of factors that stop us seeing educational alternatives in their vital otherness from the mainstream of educational practice

by Helen E Lees

Submitted as a paper for a conference.

This paper considers a theoretical lack of understanding in education that operates to exclude the possibility that... more This paper considers a theoretical lack of understanding in education that operates to exclude the possibility that 'alternative education' is very alternative from mainstream education. The argument considers usage of the 'term' alternative in mainstream education and how, when 'alternative' means theoretical and practical educational 'otherness', it is marginalised by some theorists to mean just another aspect of education meant as a whole and complete field. I argue that this is not possible based on empirical data collected and theoretical lines followed that show forms of education such as democratic schooling and autonomous home education function in many ways as a Kuhnian other world.

Case Study of a Countywide Aimhigher Programme: Aimhigher Research Report

by Katy Vigurs

This report draws on data collected using the following research
methods:
o Interviews (nine) with key... more This report draws on data collected using the following research
methods:
o Interviews (nine) with key stakeholders including representatives at a strategic and operational level
o Visits to 2 schools in the area: an 11-18 school situated in the
coastal strip in Lincolnshire, a deprived area with very little long
term employment and an 11-16 school with a shared sixth form,
situated in an urban area. At both schools individual interviews
were held with the following: senior members of staff (4),
Aimhigher coordinators (2) and support staff (2). Group
interviews were also conducted with male and female pupils who
had taken part in Aimhigher activities: Year 10 (3), 11 (9), 12 (9),
13 (4)
o Telephone interviews (13) with parents of pupils involved in
Aimhigher activities at the 2 schools of whom were subsequently
interviewed.

The evaluation also draws on research conducted by the IAS with a further 3 secondary schools and one Pupil Referral Unit involved in the Peer Mentoring and Robot Competition initiatives. Members of the research team visited these institutions and interviews were conducted with staff members and pupils involved. Telephone interviews were also conducted with project team members involved in the Robot Competition initiative.

Due to budget constraints the case studies were restricted to 2 of the 37 schools involved in Aimhigher activities. However, it should be emphasised, that the qualitative approach used has allowed the research team to collect more in-depth and richer data from this small sample. Additional interviews with key stakeholders, as identified above, have allowed different perspectives on the programme to be explored. As a final point, it should be noted that the case studies were conducted in March 2006, and as a result some pupils would not yet have experienced all the activities.

The Power of Positive Energy

by Poppy Valentine

This thought paper is about the importance of positivity and mindfulness in our lives and for society and what we can... more This thought paper is about the importance of positivity and mindfulness in our lives and for society and what we can do to increase our energy and make this world a better place together. Love and Peace to All! :)

Natural Medicine for Common Ailments

by Poppy Valentine

This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses. This is a collection of non-synthetic health tips for common illnesses.

Expressing the Self: Critical Reflections on Choral Singing and Human Rights in Prison

by Stuart Paul Duncan

Co-authored with Mary Cohen

Re-curating Testimony: Toward a New Pedagogy for Learning from the Past

by Monica Eileen Patterson

Co-authored with Erica Lehrer

The last few decades have seen an upsurge among anthropologists (and others) of critical attention to memory in its... more The last few decades have seen an upsurge among anthropologists (and others) of critical attention to memory in its various manifestations. Simultaneously, there has been a proliferation of museums, memorials and media-based interventions seeking to represent and remember past atrocity. Experimenting at the intersection of these trends, we have developed a “curatorial pedagogy” that engages students in both critical thinking and creative production around the question of what it means for public audiences to “learn from the past” in the face of ongoing global violence.

Keeping the Doors Open: 5 Ways to Stimulate Growth in Your Tuition Driven School in a Down Economy

by Tim Stafford

Every day we hear about another Christian/tuition-driven school which is struggling to survive or even closing their... more Every day we hear about another Christian/tuition-driven school which is struggling to survive or even closing their doors in the tough economy that the country is currently facing. For many Christian schools there have been many sacrifices made and many difficult decisions loom in the distance. Christian schools are closing everyday; is there no relief in sight? I believe that it is time for some radical actions and shifts in our thinking that will test our faith and refocus our purpose for
being in Christian Education. Consider the following not merely as suggestions but as a clarion call to change the way that we think about the business of school.

Filmic Texts and the Rise of the Fifth Estate

by Virginia Kuhn

Published in the International Journal of Learning and Media, Spring–Summer 2011, Volume 2 Issue 2-3
doi: 10.1162/IJLM_a_00057

Filmic Texts and the Rise of the Fifth Estate maps the use of a documentary film as a main text in an undergraduate... more Filmic Texts and the Rise of the Fifth Estate maps the use of a documentary film as a main text in an undergraduate course, explaining its practices and elaborating its theoretical underpinnings before gesturing toward some of the more salient unresolved issues that offer avenues for further research. Based on the premise that digital technologies endow films with the same infinite patience that books possess—their segments, like pages, are constant and so can be analyzed in a sustained fashion—Filmic Texts maintains that in a highly mediated world, facility with all of the available semiotic resources is integral to the type of large scale literacy necessary for a flourishing democracy. This argument gains strength as its concepts are also enacted; it is created in Scalar, a platform that allows one to speak with rich media in addition to words.

''Dipping Our Toes...': A Qualitative Interview-based View of UK Architecture Graduates in Practice'

by Anna Holder

Co-authored with Tessa Baird and James Wakeford.

Published in Field: Volume 2, Issue 1 (October 2008)

This paper uses graphical diagramming to examine interviews with a number of Masters (Part II) architecture graduates... more This paper uses graphical diagramming to examine interviews with a number of Masters (Part II) architecture graduates in the UK. The intention of the project was to instigate a critical environment where experiences of graduates re-entering architectural practice, at this very particular stage in their career, could be shared and analysed. This process was undertaken in order to actively describe the position of graduates in the profession, in particular looking at the values and frustrations they experience or ascribe to mainstream architectural practice.

Theories of Failure and the Failure of Theories: A Cognitive/Sociocultural/Macrostructural Study of Eight Struggling Students

by Phillip Wilder

co-authored with Mark Dressman & Julia Johnson Connor

In this study we investigated the lives and academic histories of eight students enrolled in an alternative-school... more In this study we investigated the lives and academic histories of eight students enrolled in an alternative-school program in a mid-sized Midwestern city. Through the triangulation of inter- views, fieldnotes, local newspaper articles, artifacts such as student work and information pro- vided in cumulative folders, and a battery of measures of cognitive performance in reading, we constructed a case history of each student and an ethnographic portrait of the middle-school program in which they were enrolled. We then compared and contrasted these case histories and the program portrait to cognitivist, socioculturalist, and macrostructuralist explanations of school failure. Our findings suggest that no single explanation comprehensively accounts for the range or complexity of each or of all eight students’ life histories or current patterns of school behavior. Our observation of instances of engaging and disengaging instruction for the students in the alternative program also provided some insight into how to approach the development of cur- riculum and instruction for students who struggle in school for a wide variety of reasons.

Wireless Technology and the Prospect of Alternative Education Reform

by Phillip Wilder

Dressman, M., & Wilder, P. (2007). Wireless technology and the prospect of alternative education reform. In J. Albright & A. Luke (Eds.), Bourdieu and literacy education (pp.113-135). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

In this chapter we examine the data from a two-year study of the impact of wireless technology on the students,... more In this chapter we examine the data from a two-year study of the impact of wireless technology on the students, teachers, and school curriculum of an alternative middle school in an Midwestern, mid-sized city in the United States. The middle school students at this alternative school all shared a common history of struggle in school and yet, as we noted in a previous study (Dressman et al., 2005), the nature of those struggles and the ways in which those struggles manifested themselves in their learning and social behavior varied quite widely and significantly.

Democratic Education: A Library Pathfinder

by Michael Ernest Jones

A library pathfinder serves to assist researchers on a particular topic - in this case, the topic is "Democratic... more A library pathfinder serves to assist researchers on a particular topic - in this case, the topic is "Democratic Education." This pathfinder will probably be a good primer for doing literature review on this or related topics such as: de-schooling, alternative education, public good, civil society, social capital, the purpose of education, issues related to learning, critical pedagogy, school reform, etc.

The Social Movement of Spiritually Engaged Alternative Education in Thailand Against the Background of Reform and Globalization

by Michael Ernest Jones

The abstract and Table of Contents to my dissertation.

Kanavu - where learning happens

by Alex M George

published in "Economic and Political Weekly" 2005

A discussion of the ethnography of an alternative school/commune, Kanavu in Wayanadu district of Kerala. It explores... more A discussion of the ethnography of an alternative school/commune, Kanavu in Wayanadu district of Kerala. It explores the diverse learning spaces and methodologies that have been incorporated into its system, where learning happens for children who participate.

english & hindi versions of i: kanavu where learning happens - Article 3 in the index

by Alex M George

Coloring Outside the Bubble: An Alternative Education Manifesto

by Aaron Friar

In this commencement address for St. Herman of Alaska Christian school, I argue that education is ultimately life and... more In this commencement address for St. Herman of Alaska Christian school, I argue that education is ultimately life and not a carefully controlled scientific experiment conducted under the strictly regulated confines of a public school laboratory.

My image for this is "coloring outside the bubble", a specifically educational adaptation of the classic business metaphor of "thinking outside the box". It is ultimately a tribute to the educational advances of a school to whom I owe so much of my academic formation.

More at www.sainthermanschool.org.