Knowledge Hierarchies In Transnational Education

Transnational education seeks equivalence in standards and/or relevance of outcomes through the transfer of Western theories, concepts and methods. Utilising a critique-interpretative approach, Jing Qi argues that equivalence/relevance-oriented approaches to transnational education assume the legitimacy of the global knowledge hierarchy. Euro-American educational theories are imposed as defaults in non-Western educational communities of imagined consensus. Grounded in a study of a five-year transnational teacher education and community capacity-building program in Northern Chile, the book investigates the relationships between theoretical knowledge, knowledge hierarchies and critique. Transnational education communities are recognised as sites of critiques where conflictual and conceptual ‘dissensus’ disrupts global and local knowledge hierarchies. Critique is deployed by educational actors in their everyday engagement in transnational education to stage dissensus, which constantly re-draws the lines of possibility for knowledge co-construction. A matrix mapping system is designed to chart and theorise the Chilean educational actors’ critiques along the trail of concept translation, learning, application and innovation of knowledge hierarchies, which operate at and across global, transnational, local and the newly-created local-global levels. This book examines how these critiques modulate the ascendancy of knowledge hierarchies to enfranchise non-western educational actors for theoretical knowledge production that addresses local needs. Knowledge Hierarchies in Transnational Education will be of key value to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of international education, teacher education and globalisation.

A series of conceptual and empirical chapters critically explore the nature and consequences of the dominant onto-epistemological, methodological, and ethical orientations characterizing CIE research and practice, and suggest possibilities for change.

This volume is the first major production of the globalisation research strand of the Centre for Educational Research at Western Sydney University. This book makes a significant contribution to the theory of and research in globalisation and education, and tackles the topics of superdiversity and supercomplexity. The book’s thesis is that the effects of globalisation on education can only be understood if the specific yet complex conditions of globalisation in education are investigated. The book takes an international approach to understanding globalisation and does not restrict itself to just one methodological or theoretical plane of investigation. Education is one of these frontline domains in which the effects of superdiversity cannot be dismissed, minimized or denied. The continuously increasing complexity of learning environments is raising critical issues at every level, from description over analysis to theoretical generalization, and this book is a first and fruitful attempt at charting these waters. This pioneering book will remain a key text for many years to come. Jan Bloomaert Professor of Language, Culture and Globalization and Director of the Babylon Center Tilburg University, the Netherlands. This provocative collection works from two premises: that today there is superdiversity in our globalised world and related is a supercomplexity of theoretical and methodological approaches. The collection proffers multifarious challenges for educational theory, research and practice in working with, through and across these two premises. As such, Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Education is essential reading for all educational researchers, whatever their interests or location. Professor Bob Lingard The University of Queensland, Australia. This is a highly imaginative book that stops ‘flat earth’ and convergence arguments dead in their tracks. Its genius is to bring super-complexity and super-diversity into a conversation with each other and with education, and in doing so shed light on the numerous and unexpected ways in which global processes are shaping education in revealing and compelling ways. Any scholar concerned with globalisation and education will find Super Dimensions in Globalisation and Education a’ must have’ on their reading list. Professor Susan Robertson Director of the Centre for Globalisation, Education and Social Futures University of Bristol, UK. This is an absorbing and compelling collection. It takes readers on a kaleidoscopic journey through various intricate expressions of the nexus between globalisation and education. And it offers multiple ways that such expressions can be thought and rethought. In transcending conventional categorisations it invites educators to do so too. Professor Jane Kenway, Australian Professorial Fellow – Australian Research Council, Education Faculty, Monash University, Australia.

The increased movement of people globally has changed the face of national and international schooling. Higher levels of mobility have resulted from both the willing movement of students and their families with a desire to create a better life, and the forced movement of refugee families travelling away from war, famine and other extreme circumstances. This book explores the idea that the complex connections created by the forces of globalisation have led to a diminishing difference between what were once described as international schools and national schools. By examining a selection of responses from students attending international schools in Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Philippines and Switzerland, the book discusses key issues surrounding identity and cosmopolitan senses of belonging. Chapters draw from current literature and recent qualitative research to highlight the concerns that students face within the international school community, including social, psychological, and academic difficulties. The interviews provide a rich and unique body of knowledge, demonstrating how perceptions of identity and belonging are changing, especially with affiliation to a national or a global identity. The notion that international students have become global citizens through their affiliation to a global rather than a national identity exhibits a changing and potentially irreversible trend. Global Identity in Multicultural and International Educational Contexts will be of key interest to researchers, academics and policy makers involved with international schooling and globalised education.

International service learning (ISL) programs are growing more popular with students looking to advance their skills and knowledge to become global citizens. While the benefits of these programs among students are well documented, little is known about the implications they have on host communities themselves. This volume explores the impact of ISL programs on members of host communities (e.g. host families and local partner NGOs) who are increasingly influenced by the presence of international students in their lives. Drawing upon post-colonial, feminist and other critical and decolonizing theories, it examines the complicated power relations between North American ISL students and host communities in East and West Africa, the Caribbean and Central America. It stresses the importance of developing trusting relations between ISL students, faculty and individuals in the host communities to create mutually engaging learning experiences.

This volume brought together scholars from various parts of the world to provide the readers with the latest research in transnational higher education and transcultural learning and teaching theories, as well as findings, best practices, and emerging trends. Practitioners will find best practice cases that they can cross-culturally adapt to develop, implement, and assess their own courses and programs. This book can serve as a good companion for faculty, administrators, and leaders in postsecondary institutions to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate programs and courses related to transnational higher education and learning. The book includes conceptual and theoretical frameworks that can inform studies to provide leaders and administrators in colleges and universities with research-based support to make decisions related to transnational education in a systemic way. Topics include, but are not limited to: • Definitions of transnational higher education• Theories on transnational higher education• Delivery models• Transcultural learning• Critical pedagogy for transnational education and learning• Transcultural consciousness in transnational education• Inter-institutional/joint degree curriculum experiences• Issues and topics in transnational higher education requiring further research

Transformative learning is a compelling approach to learning that is becoming increasingly popular in a diverse range of educational settings and encounters. This book reconceptualises transformative learning through an investigation of the learning process and outcomes of International Service-Learning (ISL), a pedagogical approach that blends student learning with community engagement overseas and the development of a more just society. Drawing upon key philosophers and theorists, Bamber offers an integrated, multi-dimensional approach, linking transformative learning to the development of the authentic self, and analysing the aesthetic, moral and relational dimensions of ISL in an increasingly globalized world. Chapters explore rich empirical data to provide a timely framework and ethical ecology of transformative learning, detailing the challenges facing the approach, and how it can be embedded at the levels of practice, institutional ethos and partnership. Transformative Learning through International Service-Learning will appeal to academics, researchers, teachers, instructors and leaders in the fields of service-learning, international education, character education and in adult learning and education. It will also be of interest to practitioners working in international education, development education, volunteering, service-learning and community engagement.

This book focuses on Indigenous participation in postgraduate education. The collaborating editors, from the contexts of Australian, Canadian and Nordic postgraduate education, have brought together voices of Indigenous postgraduate students and researchers about strategies to support postgraduate education for Indigenous students globally and to promote sustainable solution-focused and change-focused strategies to support Indigenous postgraduate students. The role of higher education institutions in meeting the needs of Indigenous students is considered by contributing scholars, including issues related to postgraduate education pedagogies, flexible learning and technologies. On a more fundamental level the book provides a valuable resource by giving voice to Indigenous postgraduate students themselves who share directly the stories of their experience, their inspirations and difficulties in undertaking postgraduate study. This component of the book gives precedence to the issues most relevant and important to students themselves for consideration by universities and researchers. Bringing the topic and the voices of Indigenous students clearly into the public domain provides a catalyst for discussion of the issues and potential strategies to assist future Indigenous postgraduate students. This book will assist higher education providers to develop understanding of how Indigenous postgraduate students and researchers negotiate research cultures and agendas that permeate higher education from the past to ensure the experience of postgraduate students is both rich in regard to data to be collected and culturally safe in approach; what connections, gaps and contradictions occur at the intersections between past models of postgraduate study and emerging theories around intercultural perspectives, including the impact of cultural and linguistic differences on Indigenous students' learning experiences; how Indigenous students’ and researchers’ personal and professional understandings, beliefs and experiences about what typifies knowledge and research or adds value to postgraduate studies are constructed, shared or challenged; and how higher education institutions manage the potential challenges and risks of developing pedagogies to ensure that they give voice and power to Indigenous postgraduate students.