Alternative Pedagogy Research Articles

HORTA COMUNITÁRIA URBANA DE BASE POPULAR, AGROECOLÓGICA E SOLIDÁRIA

The experience of the Gera Juncal community garden is an articulation between several actors: Technical Support Group, Center for the Promotion and Rescue of Citizenship in Grajaú, Popular Movements Center, researchers, specialists and professors from different institutions. The initiative aims to strengthen struggles for the right to decent housing, food sovereignty, popular education, agroecology and solidary economy. The objective of the article is to analyze the implementation process of the Gera Juncal vegetable garden, located in São Mateus, in the east zone of São Paulo, between October 2021 and September 2022. The general strategies were: participatory action research, popular education, pedagogy of alternation and case study. The results obtained indicate: 1. degree of adequacy of the relationships between “School” Time and Community Time; 2. experiencing and learning the principles and practices of agroecology, solidary economy and popular education; 3. The effectiveness of agroecology and solidarity economy in the production, distribution and consumption of food; 4. Changes in the conception and conduct of individuals and the groups involved, in relation to the concrete results of the collective, popular and solidary struggle; 5. training of trainers in agroecology and solidary economy; 6. Fostering the construction of public policies for food sovereignty connected with decent housing.

Modelos anatômicos fabricados com resíduos de isopor como ferramenta ecológica de baixo custo para o ensino prático de anatomia comparada

ABSTRACT: New teaching tools can expand the pedagogical alternatives for teaching comparative anatomy. This study evaluated the potential of Styrofoam waste for the manufacture of viable didactic models to teach comparative anatomy. From a primary block, the sculpting was started with a knife or cutter. After this, the edges were removed with sandpaper until the final anatomical shape of the organ was obtained. The surface of the sculpture was then covered with paper soaked in an aqueous solution of white glue. After drying, a layer of resin was applied, followed by polishing to even out the surface. The models are finished with paint and waterproof sealant. Through the teaching prototypes, it was possible to enlarge naturally small organs and structures to larger dimensions that favor practical teaching. This facilitates the didactic approach to anatomical details unavailable in traditional specimens. In addition, its use minimizes the risks to human health from exposure to the toxic products used to preserve cadavers and contributes to preserving the environment. The effectiveness of injected resin models for teaching anatomy is already known, which makes the use of synthetic anatomical models a valid methodology, but they may have limitations in many countries due to their high cost and difficulty of access. Our proposal offers an effective, low-cost alternative for teaching comparative anatomy in practice. When combined with other techniques, Styrofoam waste proved to be viable for the manufacture of teaching prototypes.

Teachers’ unions, educator organising, and global struggles for educational justice

ABSTRACT In this introductory article we present nine themes that cut through the twenty-one articles in the Special Issue. First, we highlight the continued impact of neoliberalism, austerity, and the casualization of teacher labor on educators and educator organising. Second, we look at how state context shapes teacher unionism, including in authoritarian political regimes. The third section examines how teachers' unions have chosen to relate to the state. The fourth section is on the organising strategies that unions have embraced, including the increased use of social media during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fifth section is about how and when teacher organising has influenced education policy. The sixth section focuses on educators' disappointment with their unions. The seventh section examines the demands for direct and participatory democracy in unions. The eighth section is about the pedagogical alternatives developed by teachers' unions and the need for centering educational alternatives within teacher union movements. Finally, our ninth section reflects on how teachers' unions can play a larger role in academic knowledge production and the role of researchers who study teachers' unions but are also invested in making them stronger, more democratic, and more just.

A COLONIALIDADE NAS POLÍTICAS EDUCACIONAIS BRASILEIRAS: UMA ANÁLISE CRÍTICA DA BNCC E DO RELATÓRIO DO BANCO MUNDIAL

The implementation of the National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC) and the educational recommendations of the World Bank have significantly influenced Brazilian educational policies. However, these policies can reflect and perpetuate dynamics of coloniality, contributing to the maintenance of social and racial inequalities. This article critically analyzes how the BNCC and the World Bank's report Proposals to Realign Education Policies: Overcoming the Learning Crisis with Equity (2018) perpetuate the dynamics of coloniality in the dimensions of power, knowledge, and being. In addition, it proposes decolonial pedagogical alternatives that promote a more inclusive and emancipatory education. The research adopted a qualitative approach of a theoretical-critical nature, based on the decolonial perspective. A theoretical review of the contributions of authors such as Quijano, Mignolo, Maldonado-Torres and Walsh was carried out, and a documentary analysis of the BNCC and the World Bank report, using categories of analysis based on the dimensions of coloniality. The results indicate that both the BNCC and the World Bank report reflect and reinforce the dynamics of coloniality, manifesting itself in curricular standardization, exclusion of plural epistemologies, and dehumanization of racialized subjects. These policies prioritize a utilitarian and neoliberal logic, neglecting cultural and social diversities and reinforcing historical inequalities. It is concluded that there is a need to reevaluate curricular policies, including Afro-Brazilian, indigenous and quilombola knowledge, and to build regional curricula that respect cultural and social specificities. It is recommended the implementation of public policies that promote social justice and cultural diversity, in addition to the adoption of decolonial pedagogical practices. The transformation of the educational field involves valuing the plurality of knowledge and cultures, promoting critical citizenship and building a fairer and more inclusive society.

Leveraging Wikis in English Language Teaching: Bridging the Gaps in the Traditional Methods of Instruction

The integration of digital technologies in education is gradually transforming the landscape of language teaching and learning, offering opportunities for innovation and improvement. However, Traditional Methods of Instruction (TMIs) in the English language are constrained in terms of students’ engagement and fostering communicative competence. The limitations of TMIs have prompted educators to seek alternative pedagogies. Technology-enhanced instruction is viewed as one avenue to revitalize English language teaching. Among these technologies, Wikis have emerged as a promising tool for promoting interactive and student-centred learning environments. The study on which this paper is based investigated the effectiveness of Wikis as a pedagogical tool in bridging gaps in TMIs in English language teaching. Grounded in Salmon's Five-Stage Model, this study integrated Wikis into English language instruction with 20 secondary school students. The Wiki intervention was tested through two iterations. The findings revealed that Wiki-based instruction can effectively address some of the limitations in TMIs by fostering collaborative learning and peer feedback, promoting self-directed learning and autonomy by enhancing all four language skills. The study contributes to the growing body of research on technology-enhanced language learning by highlighting Wikis' potential to enhance English language teaching

Computational transformations of early childhood education: Pathways toward child‐centred computing in two educational change projects

AbstractProgramming is becoming a key subject in early education globally, with surging problems of how computer science can become a subject for children of all ages and backgrounds. Problems of implementing new technologies in the old curricula have long been noted, and lately, concern over computer science education goals is often too narrow and skills‐based without concerns for the critical educational potential. This study follows the change process of two case preschool departments implementing programming with a floor robot across a seven‐month design process. Mixed analytical techniques based on activity theory are used to examine the tensions, conflicts and development of pedagogical alternatives. The studies show the strenuous change processes involving local transformations toward a child‐centred, inclusive early computer science education and development of projects centring making, children's exploration, tinkering and play as key parts of the learning process. It discusses how the considerable change processes enabled pedagogical solutions coherent with important concepts in computer programming and how computing education can build on child‐centred pedagogies through local adaptations and age‐appropriate designs. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Computer science and programming are becoming part of early education worldwide. Less is known about how to implement computing with ever‐younger age groups, especially for those under three. That technological change can be a strenuous change process building on societal, historical and educational tensions, requiring individual learning and organisational change. What this paper adds Two cases of change designing computing education for 1–2‐ and 3–5‐year‐olds. Design processes raising critical questions about current standard childhood programming materials being resolved to enable a child‐centred computing education. Challenges and potentials specific to early childhood in adopting computer science education. Implications for practice and/or policy Computing education challenges pedagogical notions, such as the role of failure in education. Computing education can be developed for very young children. However, there are considerable critical challenges to resolve in developing a child‐centred approach. Childhood fundamentals such as play‐based pedagogy can work synergistically with computer science activities, providing educational potential, also relevant for computer science education at large.

Language-in-Education Planning for Foreign Languages in Morocco: Analyzing the Historical and Structural Impacts of History, Social Class, Ideology, and Power Dynamics

The present paper analyzes language-in-education planning for foreign languages within the Moroccan educational system. These policies have been adopted and/or implemented as part of three successive educational reforms that the state has undergone in the last 25 years (e.g., the National Charter 1999, the Emergency Program 2008, and the Strategic Vision 2015). Despite the state’s advocacy for varying foreign language instruction, these policies have been marked by a consolidation of French instruction as a primary foreign language and a shift to using it as a medium of instruction for science and technology subjects in middle and secondary education as part of language alternation pedagogy. The study adopts Tollefson’s (1991) Historical-Structural Approach as a conceptual framework to analyze how the constructs of history, class structures, ideology, and power dynamics have influenced language-in-education planning to perpetuate the social, economic, and political privileges of a francophone-oriented elite. The latter have employed their economic and political power to influence the indecisive aspect of the language-in-education policies—both covertly and overtly—to increase socioeconomic inequalities and injustices, including linguistic disparities between the elite and lower social classes. This dominant position of French within the educational system has also been motivated by external influences, manifested in the heavy political and economic relationship with France, the former colonizer.

The Periodical as Political Educator

Abstract This essay discusses how forms like political magazines, cultural journals, and party newspapers produced by twentieth-century anticolonial, left, and oppositional movements instituted practices of alternative pedagogy and political education across the Global South. These “revolutionary papers” served as a pedagogical infrastructure encompassing a critical curriculum drawn from ongoing movements, alternative histories, and regional literary production, to be used for collective practices of debate and inquiry. The essay introduces a series of digital teaching tools featured in the issue that study revolutionary periodicals such as the Cairo-based Afro-Asian literary magazine Lotus and underground pamphlets from the Mau Mau movement in Kenya. These teaching tools are accessible, interactive resources that provide archival, literary, and historical insights on movements and associated print cultures and are designed as pedagogical aids for the classroom and for political education in community settings. Along the way, the essay reflects on anticolonial periodicals as a resource for ongoing debates around decolonizing the university, and the possibilities presented by digital humanities approaches for the study of anticolonialism and Global South cultures.

Sport pedagogy and feminism: what is known and what is missing? Findings from a scoping review

ABSTRACT Background Worldwide, to play sports is proclaimed a right. Yet its sexist practices insist on cultivating a hegemonic gender culture to keep ‘others’ away and deprive them from its potential educational benefits. Sport feminisms have been vocal on the gender oppressions operated in the field and have claimed pedagogy has a role to play in social transformation through a liberating education. Purpose We aimed at analyzing the academic production about sport pedagogy and feminism published in articles globally, to answer when, where how and by whom the studies were developed; what is known and what is missing. Method We conducted a scoping review searching for sport pedagogy and feminism and their related terms combined. Selection was delimited by studies informed by feminist approaches discussing sport pedagogy from recreational to elite level. Findings Our review covered 46 studies from the last three decades when Global North English-speaking countries have dominated the scene, both as investigation settings and authorship. Studies presented two main trends. The most substantial were investigations reporting gender inequalities, especially with women coaches; followed by others exploring pedagogical alternatives for more equitable sport experiences. Together, studies have demonstrated that the ‘patriarchal gender game’ is still on and the ‘deviants’ from the cis-hetero-white-able-bodied-male ideal continue to suffer systematic prejudice and discrimination in sport, inclusive through sexist coaching. But they also showed ‘the tactics of the equity gender game’ is counterattacking with pedagogical strategies to welcome girls, women and gender-diverse people in sport. Discussion Undoubtedly, the dialogues between sport pedagogy and feminisms have contributed greatly to challenge sexism through education, but the game is not over. The invisibility of black women, women with disabilities and queer people in studies evidenced the need for more intersectional approaches. Coach development initiatives should be critically examined and rethought. The predominance of studies and researchers from Global North English-speaking countries denoted that voices and knowledges from Global South are missing. More than empathizing with gender inequalities, we long to see feminist sport pedagogy engaging in the reinvention of the ways we learn, practice, teach and coach sport. More democratic, diverse and audacious research designs grounded in the commitment to guarantee sport as an educational experience for everyone seem promising ways to be explored.

Communication of health messages using theatre: Appreciative inquiry from Ubuntu theatre group.

Theatre involves expressing meaning in a collaborative art using words, movements, and visual elements. However, theatre remains poorly used as a viable teaching strategy or a method for communicating health messages. Instead, it is relegated to solemnly transmitting indigenous knowledge. To explore and describe communication of educational health messages through theatre using an appreciative inquiry approach. The study was conducted among the Ubuntu theatre group from a rural province in South Africa. The group is famous for using theatre to communicate educational health messages through the lens of Ubuntu philosophy. A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was followed. A non-probability purposive sampling was used to select thirteen members of the Ubuntu theatre group. Data were collected by two moderators from the two focus group discussions through conference calls. Deductive thematic content data analysis was used to describe the 4-Ds of appreciative inquiry. Theatre is a playful pedagogy that can cut through language and cultural barriers when used to communicate educational health messages. There is a need to formalise it as an alternative pedagogy within the health care sciences curriculum. Furthermore, the sustainability of theatre as an educational tool is dependent on expanding educational practices, documenting its success stories and periodical in-service training. Using Ubuntu innovation to communicate complex educational health messages through theatre can maximise learning. This study recommends that Ubuntu-infused health messages be conveyed using theatre. The study adds to the body of knowledge by presenting Ubuntu innovation in communicating health messages through theatre.

The desire to learn: the alienation and reimagining of pedagogy on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok

ABSTRACT This paper aims to understand the perspectives of young people involved in online learning communities on what they consider valuable for their learning. We do this by bringing their experiences with online community pedagogies (OCPs) into conversation with their critiques of school pedagogies (SPs) to see whether we can understand this interaction as generative of ‘alternative’ pedagogies. Whereas previously alternative pedagogies were understood to arise from ‘new’ technologies, we argue that such pedagogies arise from needs created by youth’s experiences with navigating these different pedagogical contexts. We interviewed 37 community members from six learning communities on YouTube, Twitch and TikTok. We show that youth perceive school as controlling, imposing pressure to perform, and disconnected from what they think matters and qualifies expertise. Based on their online experiences, youth emphasised the importance of control, experimentation space, and being enabled to act on societal issues. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s conceptualisation of ‘desire’, and Appadurai’s ‘global imaginaries’, we interpret OPs dialoguing with youth’s alienating perspectives on schooling as ‘reimagined pedagogies’ that act as collective voices for global (re-)imaginaries of school. We conclude with the importance of taking youth’s experiences with alienation and OPs seriously as objects of thought for alternative pedagogic futures.

Alternative Pedagogies to Advance Equity in Undergraduate STEM Courses: A Systematic Review of Research

Alternative Pedagogies to Advance Equity in Undergraduate STEM Courses: A Systematic Review of Research

Cornerball: a new alternative sport proposal for school physical education.

Physical Education has had to evolve and change throughout history to adapt to the demands of society. As a result, teachers have had to seek pedagogical alternatives to ensure that students are active, motivated, and engaged in the classroom. This approach allows for the development of motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills in students, ultimately contributing to the holistic development of the individual, which is the primary goal of education. Out of this intrinsic need for Physical Education, Alternative Sports have emerged, providing opportunities for different types of learning compared to more traditional sports. Cornerball, a hybrid between split-court and wall-based sports, played in a somewhat unique playing area-a 90° corner, is introduced with the aim of offering a new Alternative Sport. The objective of this descriptive study is to present a new pedagogical proposal designed for the educational context, highlighting its characteristics and fundamental aspects to consider, such as rules, the playing field, participants, and methodological strategies for its implementation within a Physical Education classroom. Therefore, the aims and purposes of this work are to describe a new sports game so that in the future, more detailed and specific empirical studies can be proposed.

Responding to the real problem of sustainable resuscitation skills with real assessment. Mixed-methods evaluation of an authentic assessment programme.

The retention of resuscitation skills is a widespread concern, with a rapid decay in competence frequently following training. Meanwhile, training programmes continue to be disconnected with real-world expectations and assessment designs remain in conflict with the evidence for sustainable learning. This study aimed to evaluate a programmatic assessment pedagogy which employed entrustment decision and the principles of authentic and sustainable assessment (SA). We conducted a prospective sequential explanatory mixed methods study to understand and address the sustainable learning challenges faced by final-year undergraduate paramedic students. We introduced a programme of five authentic assessments based on actual resuscitation cases, each integrating contextual elements that featured in these real-life events. The student-tutor consensus assessment (STCA) tool was configured to accommodate an entrustment scale framework. Each test produced dual student led and assessor scores. Students and assessors were surveyed about their experiences with the assessment methodologies and asked to evaluate the programme using the Ottawa Good Assessment Criteria. Eighty-four students participated in five assessments, generating dual assessor-only and student-led results. There was a reported mean score increase of 9% across the five tests and an 18% reduction in borderline or below scores. No statistical significance was observed among the scores from eight assessors across 420 unique tests. The mean student consensus remained above 91% in all 420 tests. Both student and assessor participant groups expressed broad agreement that the Ottawa criteria were well-represented in the design, and they shared their preference for the authentic methodology over traditional approaches. In addition to confirming local sustainability issues, this study has highlighted the validity concerns that exist with conventional resuscitation training designs. We have successfully demonstrated an alternative pedagogy which responds to these concerns, and which embodies the principles of SA, quality in assessment practice, and the real-world expectations of professionals.

Tsow hope, reap progress: young people strengthening the rural

This study aims to analyze the perspectives and opportunities for rural young people to remain in their communities. The approach consists of carrying out a systematic review of Brazilian scientific literature to offer an overview of recent national research on rural youth. A search was carried out on the Capes Periodicals Portal, from 2019 to 2023, resulting in 23 articles, which were categorized into three main groups. The study categorized 23 articles into three main groups. The first, with ten studies, explored perspectives and permanence of rural young people, addressing motivations for staying or leaving, participation in social movements and female exodus. The second category, with seven studies, focused on formal education, including agricultural technological teaching and Alternation Pedagogy. The third category, with six studies, addressed opportunities such as courses, training, employment, income and rural microcredit. A double movement stands out in the rural world, with young people remaining or migrating to urban centers, highlighting the need for public policies that meet the demands of rural youth.

Student experiences of photovoice as a medium to inform decolonisation of the Health Sciences curriculum

Decolonisation of curricula embeds the African realities into teaching. Within the Health Sciences, learning, which is responsive to community health needs, is required. This study used photovoice, a student participatory teaching method, where students (n=96) engaged with local communities, capturing photographs of environmental factors involved in causing disease. Photographic information of local adverse environmental conditions was gathered, linking these to disease causation within local communities. This observation and analysis of the South African circumstances, particularly those of marginalized communities, emphasized local knowledge, which prepared students to work within their local and national contexts. Students were prepared to be responsive to the needs of the people in their communities. This teaching pedagogy laid the foundation for lifelong learning as students were able to deal with real-life challenges while applying a new technology in the field of education. This will enable them to cope with changing aspects in health during their careers. Such changes are inevitable as population demographics and environments evolve with time. This alternate pedagogy, using photovoice, promoted decolonisation of the curriculum and has the potential to produce graduates who are reactive to local requirements of the community.

Tutoria invertida no ensino superior: Satisfação dos alunos em experiência de inovação educacional

Introduction. University tutoring rarely includes innovative contributions that lead to new procedures to generate interest and have an impact on the university community. Objective. This paper analyzes student satisfaction with the experience of educational innovation based on flipped tutoring, focusing on the difference between initial expectations and final perception. Method. The research was based on a quantitative methodological approach and a non-experimental, descriptive, and longitudinal design. The participants in the study, 164 students from an Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, and Pedagogy degree, answered a valid and reliable questionnaire designed ad hoc. Results. The results showed student satisfaction with the employ of the tutoring method and the Kahoot platform. On the contrary, the students expressed dissatisfaction with the use of virtual forums. Conclusions. These digital tools offer pedagogical alternatives that facilitate the work of the tutor. Kahoot is perceived as a success in detecting training needs, while virtual forums require teacher reflection for their incorporation into flipped tutoring processes.

Disseminar: Education at the Limit of Common Sense

Abstract: This article introduces the term "disseminar" to name the desire to burst out of the institutional confines of education. This departure interrupts the discursive and institutional regimes that regulate the educational enterprise and allows for the enactment of alternative pedagogies. While disseminar has an inherently emancipatory thrust, its project faces various perils. First, by leaving the institutional apparatus behind, disseminar creates a vacuum of authority which runs the risk of being occupied by coercive elements. Second, as disseminar disconnects itself from given opinion and common sense, the knowledge it creates appears increasingly esoteric. The article assesses these political and idiomatic dangers by discussing examples in Friedrich Nietzsche's work and John Williams's novel Stoner . It suggests that disseminar can avoid its pitfalls by interrupting its own interruption, incessantly bursting into the outside of education's confines.

Program de formare continuă: activitatea integrată în pedagogia alternativă Reggio Emilia

The implementation of alternative educational approaches in the general education system is a particu- larly important and current issue for the educational management and educational technologies perspective at the European level.The Reggio Emilia approach is an alternative pedagogy that suggests child-centered activity, where the child builds and reinforces learning through exploring the surrounding environment and interacting with the adults around them. The Reggio Emilia curriculum area is formed from the child’s natural interests and those of the educator, making the learning process natural and engaging. In fact, the educator’s role is not to impose thoughts on the child but to be an observer and a partner in the learning process.

From student-centred learning (SCL) to school as learning community (SLC)? Democracy, (neo)liberalism, and ‘listening’ to others

ABSTRACT The spread of neoliberal policies across East Asia in the mid-1990s generated a counter-movement among East Asian scholars and practitioners centred on the ‘School as Learning Community’ (SLC). Today, thousands of schools across the region have joined the movement, spreading outward from Japan to Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Herein we review the philosophy and practice of SLC, highlighting how it replaces the independent individuals posited by Western liberalism – as foregrounded in both student-centred learning (SCL) and neoliberal accumulation of knowledge/skills – with the themes of interdependence, relationality, and ‘listening’, in the sublime Deweyan sense. Given that SLC has remained virtually invisible within the English-speaking research literature, it remains difficult to imagine practical pedagogical alternatives to liberalism and neoliberalism. However, SLC helps resuscitate the Anglo-American research imagination by providing an actual example of educational practice predicated on a different onto-epistemic basis. In analysing SLC we also gain a better sense of how philosophies of interdependence and relationality can be concretely operationalised in actual school settings, if we can somehow learn to ‘listen’ to East Asia.