Two conditions are needed to effect large-scale reforms in academia: a hierarchical, top-down system of governance that can enact sweeping changes, and for that system to be controlled or heavily influenced by those outside the system. Strong board governance provides both of those conditions. Most university boards, especially the public ones,…

With the rise of modern technology, sites of knowledge have shifted from page to screen, offering hybrid spaces for 21st century learning across borders, modalities, semiotic resources, time and space (Jewitt, 2006; Kress, 2000) However, few empirical studies have been conducted from a critical lens to investigate how digitally mediated social…

Social interaction is an essential component of learning, but the online learning environment presents challenges to creating meaningful interactions (Palloff & Pratt, 2003; Simonsen, 2015). Researchers have long sought to improve online learning by promoting higher quality interaction. One thread of this research places social knowledge…

Neo-liberal reforms in higher education have resulted in corporate managerial practices in universities and a drive for efficiency and productivity in teaching and research. As a result, there has been an intensification of academic work, increased stress for academics and an emphasis on accountability and performativity in universities. The paper…

Background: Pleasure is often a key feature of school physical education (PE) and, indeed, a lot of students find pleasure in and through PE while others do not. However, pleasure is rarely considered to be of educational value in the subject [Pringle, R. (2010). "Finding Pleasure in Physical Education: A Critical Examination of the Educative…

As European democracies undergo dramatic demographic shifts, they look to civics education to create social cohesion and produce a "democratic" citizenry. Such a project, however, is not without its tensions and contradictions. Drawing on findings from a yearlong ethnography in a secondary school in Spain, this article traces a number of…

Epistemology is a conceptual template for how we think about the world, and the study of how we come to know the world around us. The world does not dictate unequivocally how to interpret it. This article will explore this position on the fluidity of epistemic constructs through two prominent philosophical perspectives, those being derived from…

In US-based educational research, the bureaucratization of education has been interpreted primarily from economic points of view. This paper examines bureaucracy and education from a political perspective, which provides key insights into the ways that bureaucracy as a form of governance influences ethical consciousness. As this paper puts forth,…

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to explore how advisors' relational and professional competence influences inter-subjectivity and farmers' perceptions of farm visits in a setting where advisors have formal power. Methodology: Advisors from the dairy company Tine, which is owned by farmers in collaboration, visit farmers at least once a year. The…

This article describes a narrative study exploring the challenges that international teaching assistants (ITAs) encounter when using humor in North American university classrooms. Twenty participants were recruited from twelve teaching fields. Each ITA participated in two interviews and a videotaped teaching observation. The participants talked…

This article tackles specific issues that arise in teaching human rights in a Western academic institution. As critical human rights scholars, we are concerned with a pedagogy of human rights that gives respect to cultural diversity and the cross-cultural applicability of concepts and social issues in ways that are not antithetical to the purpose…

This research examines Chinese student teachers' professional vulnerability through the lens of micropolitical theory. First, this research illustrates the participants' five aspects of professional vulnerability during teaching practicums, which includes establishing professional relationships, negotiating the feasibility and ethics of different…

Adult literacy provision began in Australia during a radical education era in the 1970s, and yet in recent decades, social class as a construct has been largely absent in the academic literature on adult literacy. We argue however that social class is essential to understanding adult literacy provision and furthermore that working class people…

What is at stake for multilingual subjects when English becomes a site of conflicting emotions about being in/with the world? What does it mean to understand, negotiate with, and perform the meaning of English as a global curriculum, a lingua franca, a "thing" of the senses, and a desire awakened by narratives feeding into and being fed…

This article seeks to further understandings of contemporary patterns of parental government. It explores the politicisation of family life by examining a pilot programme tasked with enhancing parental engagement in education amongst 'hard-to-reach' families within the white British community of a large inner-London borough. Focusing on the…