This article reflects on the use of participative techniques with final-year secondary school students in one rural community in Western Kenya as an enabling tool for an outsider to both gain insider perspectives and develop a more insider role in that community by privileging and legitimating participant-driven data. Conclusions put forward the concept of the 'inbetweener' researcher, neither entirely inside or outside, and consider how using such methods allowed the formulation of authentic participative knowledge (co-)construction and construction of meaningful relationships in the field.
This article puts forward the argument for language supportive learning for learners in English medium instruction (EMI) classrooms based on the findings from a mixed-methods study in Rwanda. The article first reviews the relevant literature and research which looks at the concept of language support, focusing on textbooks and pedagogy in Sub-Saharan African EMI countries. The scant literature which exists suggests that current teaching practice and textbook design are not targeted for learners learning in a second language which frequently results in the global language acting as a major barrier to effective learning across the curriculum. The potential of 'language supportive textbooks and pedagogy' for addressing such a barrier is then considered through an analysis of a recent intervention in Primary 4 Rwandan classrooms. Findings suggest that language supportive learning can lead to significant improvements in learner outcomes and more effective engagement with subjects across the curriculum. Conclusions consider implications for bilingual education policies in Rwanda and further afield.
This paper reconsiders urban-rural and modern-traditional dichotomies by exploring the multiple and contested gendered issues that secondary school girls face in rural Kisii, Western Kenya. Findings are drawn from a qualitative case study and explore the ways that gendered norms interact with new ideas of gender equity in and out of the classroom. It is argued that this rural setting offers a highly complex environment for poor girls in secondary schools who often face multiple challenges. Conclusions suggest that these are at risk of being overlooked by assumptions that the rural is timeless, static and isolated. Implications are considered for the reconceptualisation of ideas of gender equity in education to go beyond quantitative measures such as enrolment and parity of attention in class to account for out-of-school challenges and the ways in which girls are treated while in school.
Existing research into the relationship between teaching and research in higher education is mainly normative and atheoretical, resulting in assumptions of a close and beneficial connection between them. We problematise the idea of a nexus by undertaking a critical examination of the concept through the lens of educational ideologies to theorise the changes over time that shape the ways teaching and research are practised. Two hundred seven academic staff in the Humanities and Social Sciences were surveyed in 10 universities in England and Wales; the universities were identified as having strength in teaching, research, or in both. Along with analysis of interviews with senior managers at these universities, findings suggest that systemic forces which separate teaching and research are evident in institutional contexts with implications for the idea of a nexus. While the nexus may exist in theory, in practice, we argue that teaching and research can be pulled in different directions by institutional priorities. Furthermore, in institutions which adopt an enterprise ideology, there are signs of a nascent nexus emerging between research and innovation.
There are millions of children attending English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) government schools for their basic education. The vast majority of these are in countries across the Global South. In these contexts, EMI policy decisions are rarely based on educational arguments while global learning discussions exist with limited engagement with the challenges of EMI. This is despite a significant evidence base that highlights the widespread impact that EMI has both on educational quality and inequalities. A recent British Council position paper suggests that EMI research tends to be descriptive, perceptions-based and lacking in theoretical underpinning. This paper responds to this critique by bringing together critical theories of social and epistemic justice to develop a series of questions that could be used to interrogate the multiple ways that EMI impacts children's basic education in the Global South.
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