Educational Considerations
Poverty, Access, Resistance, and Resilience: An International Partnership in Experiential Learning and Social Justice
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Allyson Eamer
In May of 2017, professors and students from four post-secondary institutions (two Canadian and two Brazilian) undertook a partnership to develop and participate in a cross-national course in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The course was designed for students and scholars in all four institutions to explore the overlapping inequities resulting from a shared experience of colonialism, as well as a shared history of the marginalizing of Indigenous peoples. Professors from UOIT’s Faculty of Education, Durham College’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Sao Paulo’s Faculty of Education and Universidade Estadual Paulista’s Institute for the Arts partnered to offer the social justice-themed course entitled Poverty, Access, Resistance, and Resilience. Twenty Canadian students travelled to Brazil, the homeland of educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, who’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” was a foundational part of the course content. The Canadian students learned alongside their Brazilian counterparts as they considered how racism, poverty, misogyny, and abuses of Indigenous rights reflected hegemonic social forces in the two nations. The course also explored how students could implement Critical Pedagogy’s calls to action in their respective fields of education, journalism, broadcasting, and visual arts. An additional partnership with The Freire Institute resulted in an opportunity for students to meet Freire’s son who provided an engaging talk on his father’s work, and the historical context from which it emerged. This paper considers the lessons learned as well as challenges and rewards associated with the project.
Challenges in Transnational Education Partnerships in China
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ning Tang, Min Tang
This paper investigates challenges of transnational education (TNE) in China and explores the impact of national policies and institutional responses toward TNE partnerships. It focuses on the Chinese perspective by comparing relevant findings from two TNE research projects conducted in 2006 and 2018 respectively. From 2000 onwards, TNE has taken shape, bringing great challenges to the higher education sectors throughout the world and continuing its transformation (Kosmutzky & Putty, 2016). While TNE has been growing significantly in the global context, China has remained the biggest importing country worldwide. A variety of themes have been explored in TNE research, which focus more on home countries who provide TNE than host countries who are TNE receivers (British Council, 2014; Mellors-Bourne, Fielden, Kemp, Middlehust & Woodfield, 2014). Research only from the perspective of home countries of TNE is not sufficient to depict the holistic development of TNE in the host countries (Knight, 2016, Qin & Alice, 2016), in particular, in examining TNE in China, where TNE policies, regulations, and governance at both national and institutional levels play a significant role (Tang & Nollent, 2007). This paperl addresses the literature gap by looking at TNE partnerships in China: What are the challenges in TNE partnerships in China now as compared with that of a decade ago? Where are the TNE partnership challenges located within the national and institutional policy structures? The analysis and comparison of qualitative data with Chinese higher education institutions highlights the contextual impact on TNE partnerships over the last ten years.
Alternative Education: An Alternative to What?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Andrea Barrientos Soto
Alternative Education is not a new form of education, nonetheless it is not widely known, in part because of its many definitions and manifestations. It is commonly associated with Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, among other methodologies, and inspired by one of its most popular examples the Summerhill School. Alternative Education has since evolved from a modality of education available to wealthy families, to become a tool for social inclusion for the youth of disadvantaged communities. As are the examples of the Barbiana School or Democratic Schools, and documented in several countries, it has become a popular method of providing remedial education to at risk youth since some are designed accommodate educational, behavioral and/or medical needs of youth, which cannot or are not addressed in a traditional school environment. However, there are multiple modalities, some of which are considered as a model for adolescent education since it highlights social and interpersonal skills as well as authentic student participation in the school community. Alternative Education is a concept, a modality as well as a teaching and learning strategy, which contemplates the essence of a learning community and integrated curriculum in a setting that promotes values of peace, civic engagement and social justice, outside of the regular school system. In this session, we will trace the history of Alternative Education and focus on the common strategies of this model as well as explore the results and impact on student retention, graduation and performance.
