Guest Editor’s Introduction to Special Theme Issue: Part 1 Pedagogical Meanings Emerging in Practice

Abstract

The principle goal of education is to create men [and women] who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done - men who are creative, inventive and discoverers.Jean Piaget(cited in Malek, 2007, p. iv)IntroductionThis is the first part of two issues of the International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning in 2008 both of which relate in a variety of ways to the theme of meanings emerging in practice. This theme was the major focus of the Third International Conference on Pedagogies and Learning in Brisbane, Australia in 2007 and several articles were post-conference submissions. In this issue, Part one, there are nine anonymously peer reviewed articles. As a cluster they consider pedagogical issues and impacts on both learners and teachers, and indeed relate to a range of meanings emerging in practice. These meanings involve the impact of the learning journey for learners, pedagogical approaches to enable learners to make sense of their experiences, the potential of the pedagogical journey to change attitudes and values, acknowledgment of learners' life experiences and events that may impact on their learning, as well as pedagogies related to students' acquisition of and learning in English as a foreign/second language. For teachers there is recognition of the need to acquire new ways of thinking about knowledge and accompanying values. Within this the importance of creativity and transdisciplinarity are emphasised. In recognising the important role of pre-service teacher education today, in it's ability to prepare teachers who are able to in turn engage all students in learning, collectively these works reflect the globalisation of education and new contexts for learning with an accent on transformative pedagogical approaches (Mezirow & Associates, 2000).OverviewIn his first article Bernadette Walker-Gibbs examines the new challenges that stem from the move towards the concept of the 'creative knowledge economy' and focus on the creative industries, and implications for tertiary educators and researchers. In advocating a way forward through the application of Giri's (2002) model for transdisciplinarity this article foreshadows the need for new ways of thinking to come to grips with the commodification of knowledge as opposed to its traditional academic value, and in turn the need for new paradigms for researching and developing understanding.Article two, by Cheryl Mallen and Frank Crowther reports the results of the application of the Change Infusion Model (CIM) in the exploration of pedagogical change involving teachers/lecturers in the university sector in Canada. These educators' experiences and perceptions of change were documented through the application of LaBoskey's Dimensions of Reflection (1993), which involved a written and collaborative discourse method. A lens of paradox was used to engage participants in making meaning from the contradictions and inconsistencies in their experience of a pedagogical change process. Four paradoxes were identified as confronting participants' in their professional lives thus highlighting the challenges emerging from the demands of pedagogical change for practitioners in contemporary times.In article three, Soenke Biermann seeks to begin a conversation about developing transformative pedagogies that addresses the growing inability of education systems to engage many students in learning, and particularly those from disadvantage groups. In emphasising the need to critically reflect upon existing pedagogical approaches this work focuses on exploring the common principles that underpin Indigenous pedagogies and environmental education. Their ability to be transformative is argued through their use in re-evaluating existing models of teaching and learning and assistance in re-conceptualising alternative pedagogies and their underlying epistemologies. In the identification of this common ground and the need to nurture it in the future this stimulating discussion raises awareness of many critical considerations and also draws attention to relevant initiatives of ethno-ecological education (Doucette, Ransom & Kowalewski, 2006) and environmental outreach and exchange programs (McCoppin, 2003). …