Harnessing the Transformative Power of Education: (9 Innovations and Controversies: Interrogating Educational Change)

The transformative power of education is widely recognised. Yet, harnessing the transformative power of education is complex for exactly those people and communities who would benefit the most. Much scholarship is available describing the ways in which educational access, opportunity and outcomes are unequally distributed; and much scholarship is dedicated to analysing and critiquing the ‘problems’ of education. This volume gratefully builds on such analysis, to take a more constructive stance: examining how to better enable education to fulfil its promise of transforming lives. Harnessing the Transformative Power of Education returns overall to a broader language of educational change rather than reduce our sense of scale and scope of ‘transformation’ to what might be measured in or by schools. It offers a series of practical, local but system wide and socially responsible practices, policies and analyses to support the ways that education can work at its best. The projects described here vary in scale and scope but are rooted in a wider sense of community and social responsibility so that education is considered as a necessary sustainable process to ensure productive futures for all. Its contributors include not only scholars, but also professional experts and young people. The book’s aim is to share and advance authentic possibilities for enabling all children and young people to flourish through the transformative power of education.

Table of Contents:
Foreword  Frances Underwood List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors 1 The Transformative Potential of Education  Becky Shelley, Kitty te Riele, Natalie Brown and Jodee Wilson PART 1: Themes and Concepts Vignette A: Learning Outside School  Ellie Kearnes, Denise Delphin and Tristam Fitzallen (with Tess Crellin) 2 Lateral Violence in Aboriginal Communities: From Awareness to Transformations  Yvonne Clark and Karen Glover 3 Building Strong and Supportive Communities: Developing a Child Standpoint  Sharon Bessell 4 What Do We Really Mean by Educational Attainment?  Katrina Beams and Natalie Brown PART 2: Enabling Success in Learning Vignette B: Exploring Successful Learning with Lucas and Lily: What Can a School-University Partnership Offer to Enhance the Education of Senior Secondary Students and Prepare Them for What’s Next in Their Learning?  Jess Woodroffe, Tom Viney, Michael Craw, Lily Spencer and Lucas Long 5 Using the Practice of Statistics to Design Students’ Experiences in STEM Education  Noleine Fitzallen and Jane Watson 6 Pedagogies in Science Education for Social Justice  Barbara Kameniar and Jacinta Duncan 7 A Framework for Quality Flexible Learning Programs  Kitty te Riele PART 3: Identity, Well-Being and Learning Vignette C: Students as Agents of Change  Brodie Kennedy, Sophie Reid and Sue Stack 8 Learning with the Children’s University  Becky Shelley, Georgia Sutton and Karen Eyles 9 Beyond Me-Ism: Teamwork, Team Building and Cooperation in Flexible Learning Environments  Fiona MacDonald, Bethany Easton and Dorothy Bottrell 10 The Transformative Power of Gratitude in Education  Kerry Howells 11 Passport to Better Health and Education Outcomes for Tasmania’s Children  Andrew P. Hills, Megan Gibson and Trevor Brown 12 HealthLit4Kids: Building Health Literacy from the School Ground Up  Rose Nash, Shandell Elmer and Richard Osborne PART 4: Collaboration and Partnership Vignette D: The Power of Collaboration and Partnership: Stories of the Brooker Highway  Emily Bullock and Kate Gross 13 The Spatialities of School-Parent-Community Engagement  Elaine Stratford, Sue Kilpatrick, Robin Katersky Barnes, Gemma Burns and Sarah Fischer 14 Enabling the Work of Flexible and Inclusive Learning Providers through Collaboration, Partnerships and Networks  Louisa Ellum 15 Transforming Trajectories for Disadvantaged Young Children: Lessons from Tasmania’s Child and Family Centres  Nick Hopwood 16 Cultivating Professional Learning Partnerships in Tasmania  Abbey MacDonald and Katie Wightman Afterword  Julian Sefton-Green Index

About the Author :
Becky Shelley, PhD (2003), University of Tasmania, is Deputy Director of the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania. She is a political scientist who publishes on political economy, comparative analysis, and social policy. Her publications include Democratic Development in East Asia (Routledge, 2005). Kitty te Riele, PhD (2003), University of Sydney, is Professor and Deputy Director of the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania. Her publications on education include Interrogating Conceptions of “Vulnerable Youth” in Theory, Policy and Practice (Sense, 2015). Natalie Brown, PhD (2000), University of Tasmania, is Director of the Peter Underwood Centre. Natalie’s research is in STEM education, higher education and professional learning. Her publications include Educational Research and Professional Learning in Changing Times (Brill, 2012). Tess Crellin, First Class Hons (2009), University of Sydney, is a Research Assistant at the Peter Underwood Centre at the University of Tasmania. Her publications include contract research reports for the Centre, and magazine articles in Lume.