Overview

In a knowledge-based economy, universities constitute one of the few institutional sites with the capacity to provide foundational research training. And in Australia, as in other western nations, higher degree research students contribute significantly to the research activity of higher education institutions. In recent times, however, the research performance or productivity of these postgraduate students and the relevance of their work have been questioned by governments, economists, business leaders and funding authorities.

Given that the traditional one-on-one relationship of supervisor/tutor and student/disciple is no longer an adequate preparation (and indeed at best often an ad hoc one) for the various skills, disciplines, knowledge and values associated with being a successful researcher, what might constitute an effective and economical approach to such training? How might 'learning on the job' be undertaken and 'learning communities' be constructed? Designing Educational Research outlines and evidences pedagogical principles and a research training curriculum for doctoral students developed and applied in the Faculty of Education at the Queensland University of Technology. Its focus, equally then, is designing educational researchers.

In doing so, and as part of the exercise itself, this edited collection presents the work of twenty-two doctoral students addressing a wide range of issues and aspects relating to the development of their research, from theory to methodology to empirical research. These chapters are the product of a process of preparation, assisted at each step by mentors, peers, reviewers, workshops and seminars, of a conference paper, publicly presented, reviewed, and developed for publication. The quality of the process is evidenced by the quality of their work. The worth of their work is indexed by its relevance to contemporary needs and issues, and its applicability in and to educational practice.

Proudly published by Post Pressed

Table of Contents

Introduction

Designing Educational Researchers
Principles generating research training curriculum
Parlo Singh

Part One: Teacher Knowledge

The Distinctive Nature of Music Education and Music Teacher Education
Julie Ballantyne

Internationalisation Under Construction
Curricula and pedagogy for international students
Cathie Doherty

Teachers' Professional Knowledge
Tensions within the accounts of offshore instruction
Beryl Exley

Slip Sliding Away
A critical discourse analysis of teacher conceptualisations of discipline and behaviour management
Delia Hart

Grappling With the Realities of Teaching
Artful representations as sense-making, meaning-making tools
Ali Black

Change at the Chalkface: Investigating Teacher Commitment
The relationship between the professional and the personal in teachers' lives
Leanne Crosswell and Bob Elliott

The Fashion Model as Pedagogue
Angela Draper

Part Two: Learning Communities

Learning Through ICT
An analysis of the quality of knowledge developed through computer-mediated learning
Kay Kimber, Hitendra Pillay, Cameron Richards

Motivations for Learning
Visitors' perceptions of the educational element in leisure experiences
Jan Packer

Critical Literacy and Second Language Learning in the Mainstream Classroom
An elusive nexus?
Jennifer Alford

Scientific Literacy for a Risky Society
Clare Christensen

Loneliness and Learning in Adolescents with Learning Disabilities
An overview of the issues
Briony Williams

Part Three: Social Management Issues

Towards a Critical Reconceptualisation of Leadership in Tesol
Luke Stegemann

Investigating Leadership in Early Childhood Education in Australia
Louise Hard

Leadership and Management in Child Care Services
Social systems perspective
Hanna Nupponen

Villains, Victims, Heroes
The social production of 'problem' youth
Terry Morgan

Learning From Disability Discrimination Case Law
Educational issues and legal considerations for principals and school administrators
Mary Keeffe-Martin

Part Four: Research Method

The Body in Question in Research Methodology
'Death of the Author' and 'the Pearly Gates of Cyberspace'
Mary Hanrahan

Effective Early Childhood Education and Care Services
A proposal for identifying parent expectations and perceptions using phenomenographic research
Susan Irvine, Collette Taylor, Ann Farrell

The Search for Authenticity in Methodology
Accommodating perceptions in a study of foreign aid to postcolonial education
Juliana Mohok McLaughlin

'Educational Criticism'
Where does it fit within the traditions of research?
Philip Keys

A Method of Ironic Research
Felicity Mardle

Epilogue
Knowledge Economy, Risk Society and Higher Degree Research Training Curriculum
Parlo Singh, Erica McWilliam and Peter Taylor