Testimonios of Latino Male Preservice Teachers as Models for Caring and Bilingualism

This qualitative study of three Latino male preservice teachers in a bilingual education preparation program centers on the use of testimonio as a methodology to give voice to the complex experiences of young Latinos as they navigate their way through career choices and college. While work on male teachers has historically focused on white men and more recently black men, Latinos represent a very large ethnic population in the United States with varied histories, cultural practices, and linguistic practices. While caring has been conflated as a practice of female teachers, the young men in this study illustrate an ethic of care that is more complex than that of affect. Their care is directly tied to their willingness to pay forward their learning and experiences to other Latino children by way of teaching in bilingual programs. The findings of this research illustrate the complex terrain that these young men navigate as they decide on a career in a historically white and female profession. This study offers implications for in-service teachers and their role in cultivating the next generation of male teachers. For universities and colleges of education, this study offers insight into the institutional challenges and support systems these Latino men must circumnavigate.

Looking into the kaleidoscope of activism: the engagement of care ethics and global bioethics for a refined health security

During public health crises, the United States utilizes a statist approach for securing its population’s health, which places state structures at the center of a (mainly economic) health security. The fairness of this approach relies on a distribution of resources to “trickle down” from institutions to individuals. Yet, “fairness,” in this regard, is determined a priori, that is, without reference to specific individuals who are receiving resources of health. This ignores contextual needs that arise from the disproportionate damage that epidemics and pandemics have on vulnerable populations. A statist approach can make a more equitable impact on global society if it integrates care ethics into its distributive justice. In this paper, I demonstrate how an ethic of care can substantiate health security. First, I show how an ethic of care can be engaged anywhere embodiment is recognizable—not just in the one-on-one setting of the clinical encounter—but in the (inter)national contexts through which public health crises have a full effect on. Second, I provide a methodology for state institutions to recognize the social embodiment necessary to engage an ethic of care in these contexts, specifically engaging the social embodiment that manifests through the social activism of vulnerable populations during public health crises. Third, I demonstrate how the social embodiment that activism lives through forces an encounter with state institutions, mimicking in this manner a clinical encounter on a macrocosmic scale. Finally, I assign an ethic of care to this encounter, meshing caring values to the criteria of distribution.

A Relational Approach to Transforming Power in a Community-University Partnership

We use a relational understanding of power to analyze power dynamics at the institutional and interpersonal levels in our multi-year Co-Education/Co-Research (CORE) partnership between Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) and Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). Power in community-university partnerships is often examined only at the institutional level, conceiving of power as a resource to be balanced and shared. Indeed, CORE has advanced institutional shifts through co-governance, equitable funding, co-production of curriculum and cross-flow of people. While institutional policies and practices are critical, they alone do not transform deep-seated hierarchies that value university knowledge, practices and people over community. To understand how intertwined interpersonal and institutional practices can reproduce or transform these cultural and ideological dynamics, we use a relational approach, understanding that power flows in and through all relations. As community members, students and faculty, we reflect on the contradictions we have encountered in CORE. We examine how we reinforce the dominance of academic over community knowledge, even as we leverage institutional power to further community goals. These tensions can be opportunities for shifting, disrupting and transforming towards more equitable relations, but they can also reproduce and reinforce the status quo. Through reflective practice and a relational ethic of care, we can try to recognize when we might be shifting power relations and when we might be reproducing them. This is messy work that requires a lot of communication, trust, reflection and time. A relational approach to power provides hope that we can be part of the change we seek in all of our relations, every day. And it reminds us that no matter what we have institutionalised or encoded, our individual beings, organizations and communities are always in a process of becoming.

Ecological global citizenship education: a reframing

A reconceptualization of education for sustainability and global citizenship education (GCE) is proposed, considering evidence from the United Nations decade of education for sustainable development (ESD) and from research with policymakers and adult educators in Wales. In this reframing, global citizenship education is foregrounded, and the model is underpinned by an ecological ethos, where webs of interconnections are highlighted. The model is informed by critical and holistic adult education, and it includes a focus on relational learning and on the affective domain, where emotions are recognised and valued alongside the rational and cognitive. These elements are supported by an ethic of care, which is introduced as a starting point for making what can appear as abstract concepts or remote issues, immediate and relevant to learners’ lived experience. The synthesis of the various theoretical perspectives embodies an inclusive ‘ecological global citizenship education’, where educators and learners are supported to engage with difficult and emotive topics. Dialogue is proposed as the method at the centre of a pedagogy that is critical and humanistic, and that facilitates and supports the often-uncomfortable learning as we honestly and critically examine ourselves and our world within a learning community.

Citizenship Imaginations: An exploration of young Singaporeans' active citizenship

<p>Nurturing young people to be active citizens has increasingly captured the imaginations of politicians and education policymakers in many countries in recent years (Jochum, Pratten, & Wilding, 2005; Kallio & Häkli, 2013; Nelson & Kerr, 2006; Ross, 2012). Politicians and policymakers in some countries, who have traditionally preferred more passive forms of law-abiding ‘good’ citizens, are seeking more participatory forms of citizenship, largely fuelled by their concerns about a perceived civic deficit among young people, characterised by declining rates of voting and community engagement (Ross, 2012). However, efforts to promote active citizenship among young people have been narrowly confined to public participation, for example, voting and volunteering. This focus on public participation overlooks young people’s diverse forms of citizenship practices in their personal and private worlds, and thus has the potential of leading to a false perception that young people are apolitical, apathetic and disengaged (Bessant, Farthing, & Watts, 2016; Wood, 2014). Moreover, citizenship education that aims to nurture active citizens has focused too much on trying to fix the perceived civic deficit in young people, neglecting how young people actually learn in and through the everyday practices in their lived world (Bessant et al., 2016; Biesta, 2011). Similarly, educational policies and programmes in Singapore have prioritised nurturing active citizens, but these have also focused on didactic forms of citizenship education, through formal and public participation, such as volunteering and service projects (Han, 2015). Although all young Singaporeans undertake such forms of citizenship education, little is known about how active citizenship is actually defined in educational policies in Singapore and exactly what kind of citizens these policies and programmes aim to nurture. Moreover, not many studies have examined how young people understand and enact these policies, who or what has shaped their citizenship perceptions and practices, and what their experiences with citizenship in their everyday lives are. This thesis advances a call to recognise young Singaporeans’ experiences with citizenship beyond a focus on their formal and public forms of civic learning and participation, and to turn our attention to their lived and relational experiences in their everyday lives. This research examined the citizenship experiences of 40 young Singaporeans aged 17–25. A qualitative, case study approach was adopted where verbal and visual data were collected from a series of focus group dialogues and a visual methodology, photovoice. A thematic analysis of policies and programmes for citizenship education was also conducted to identify the kinds of citizen that are prioritised by the Singapore government, and this was analysed against what shaped young people’s citizenship and how they lived and imagined their citizenship in their everyday lives. Central to this thesis is the exploration of young people’s citizenship imaginations, which I define as a quality of mind that enables the ability to critique social, political and economic contradictions in everyday life in order to maintain, continue and repair the world in order to live in it as well as possible. This conception of citizenship imaginations is guided by critical and feminist theories, particularly a feminist ethic of care. The findings in this research suggest that policies and programmes for young people’s citizenship and citizenship education in Singapore prioritise character-driven citizens, social-participatory citizens and ‘citizen-workers of the future’ who will contribute to the social cohesion and economic prosperity of Singapore. Although at the surface level many participants’ conceptions of active citizenship seemed to conform to the government’s policy intents, a deeper analysis revealed that these conceptions were undergirded by a relational disposition rooted in care. It emerged that participants prioritised relational forms of citizenship that were focused on small, mundane and everyday acts of care with, and for, family, friends, others in the community and the natural environment. At the same time, their citizenship imaginations involved active critiques of society and politics, a search for social justice and a prioritisation of relational forms of care as their citizenship practice in their everyday worlds. Their citizenship imaginations also comprised an ideal Singapore society that is more inclusive, with a lighter focus on economic success, and more reflective, dialogic and critical forms of education. Three big ideas emerged from the findings of this research. First, policies and programmes that aim to foster active citizenship amongst young people need to recognise and include their experiences with citizenship in their everyday lives. The second is a call to attention to the politics in young people’s everyday relational forms of citizenship. And the third is that young people’s citizenship imaginations can be awakened through more critical forms of education for active citizenship. This research contributes to theoretical and methodological advancements in researching young people’s lived citizenship in a number of ways, and also presents the potential to reimagine policy formulation, curriculum design and engagement strategies that seek to foster active citizenship among young people. Drawing from the findings, this thesis proposes a unique model of nurturing critical and caring citizens in Singapore.</p>

Citizenship Imaginations: An exploration of young Singaporeans' active citizenship

<p>Nurturing young people to be active citizens has increasingly captured the imaginations of politicians and education policymakers in many countries in recent years (Jochum, Pratten, & Wilding, 2005; Kallio & Häkli, 2013; Nelson & Kerr, 2006; Ross, 2012). Politicians and policymakers in some countries, who have traditionally preferred more passive forms of law-abiding ‘good’ citizens, are seeking more participatory forms of citizenship, largely fuelled by their concerns about a perceived civic deficit among young people, characterised by declining rates of voting and community engagement (Ross, 2012). However, efforts to promote active citizenship among young people have been narrowly confined to public participation, for example, voting and volunteering. This focus on public participation overlooks young people’s diverse forms of citizenship practices in their personal and private worlds, and thus has the potential of leading to a false perception that young people are apolitical, apathetic and disengaged (Bessant, Farthing, & Watts, 2016; Wood, 2014). Moreover, citizenship education that aims to nurture active citizens has focused too much on trying to fix the perceived civic deficit in young people, neglecting how young people actually learn in and through the everyday practices in their lived world (Bessant et al., 2016; Biesta, 2011). Similarly, educational policies and programmes in Singapore have prioritised nurturing active citizens, but these have also focused on didactic forms of citizenship education, through formal and public participation, such as volunteering and service projects (Han, 2015). Although all young Singaporeans undertake such forms of citizenship education, little is known about how active citizenship is actually defined in educational policies in Singapore and exactly what kind of citizens these policies and programmes aim to nurture. Moreover, not many studies have examined how young people understand and enact these policies, who or what has shaped their citizenship perceptions and practices, and what their experiences with citizenship in their everyday lives are. This thesis advances a call to recognise young Singaporeans’ experiences with citizenship beyond a focus on their formal and public forms of civic learning and participation, and to turn our attention to their lived and relational experiences in their everyday lives. This research examined the citizenship experiences of 40 young Singaporeans aged 17–25. A qualitative, case study approach was adopted where verbal and visual data were collected from a series of focus group dialogues and a visual methodology, photovoice. A thematic analysis of policies and programmes for citizenship education was also conducted to identify the kinds of citizen that are prioritised by the Singapore government, and this was analysed against what shaped young people’s citizenship and how they lived and imagined their citizenship in their everyday lives. Central to this thesis is the exploration of young people’s citizenship imaginations, which I define as a quality of mind that enables the ability to critique social, political and economic contradictions in everyday life in order to maintain, continue and repair the world in order to live in it as well as possible. This conception of citizenship imaginations is guided by critical and feminist theories, particularly a feminist ethic of care. The findings in this research suggest that policies and programmes for young people’s citizenship and citizenship education in Singapore prioritise character-driven citizens, social-participatory citizens and ‘citizen-workers of the future’ who will contribute to the social cohesion and economic prosperity of Singapore. Although at the surface level many participants’ conceptions of active citizenship seemed to conform to the government’s policy intents, a deeper analysis revealed that these conceptions were undergirded by a relational disposition rooted in care. It emerged that participants prioritised relational forms of citizenship that were focused on small, mundane and everyday acts of care with, and for, family, friends, others in the community and the natural environment. At the same time, their citizenship imaginations involved active critiques of society and politics, a search for social justice and a prioritisation of relational forms of care as their citizenship practice in their everyday worlds. Their citizenship imaginations also comprised an ideal Singapore society that is more inclusive, with a lighter focus on economic success, and more reflective, dialogic and critical forms of education. Three big ideas emerged from the findings of this research. First, policies and programmes that aim to foster active citizenship amongst young people need to recognise and include their experiences with citizenship in their everyday lives. The second is a call to attention to the politics in young people’s everyday relational forms of citizenship. And the third is that young people’s citizenship imaginations can be awakened through more critical forms of education for active citizenship. This research contributes to theoretical and methodological advancements in researching young people’s lived citizenship in a number of ways, and also presents the potential to reimagine policy formulation, curriculum design and engagement strategies that seek to foster active citizenship among young people. Drawing from the findings, this thesis proposes a unique model of nurturing critical and caring citizens in Singapore.</p>

Children’s digitally mediated perezhivanie/enchantment in backyard excursions to “nature”

We examine children’s digitally mediated excursions to “nature” in their backyards when Covid-19 prevented environmental excursions. The data consists of young children’s accounts of their backyard excursions recorded on digital devices and posted online to Seesaw. We use sociocultural theory to analyse the co-agency of child and the digital device, the unit of analysis being “a child-using-a-digital-device”. To theorise experience, we deploy Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie and Bennett’s notion of enchantment. The analysis of posts to Seesaw revealed children’s experience of vivid, emotionally engaging moments with “nature”, and evidence of an ethic of care. We conclude that emotionally engaging pedagogies based on perezhivanie/enchantment are important in addressing current environmental crises.

Caring and Bioethics: Perspectives, Predicaments and Possibilities

<p>This thesis presents an explorative study of the place of caring in bioethics. Through the examination of various sources of literature from the disciplines of nursing, feminist theory and ethics, and bioethics, a case is developed that argues for a valid respected place for caring, as an ethic of care in bioethical decision-making. Evidence is presented and examined from all three disciplines including critiques of caring, an ethic of care, and bioethics from all disciplinary perspectives. The case is built by providing evidence to support the fundamental importance of caring to human life, health, relationships, and survival at the broad societal level. This is supported by more detailed and specific evidence regarding the value and the ‘good’ of caring and the ethical aspects of caring. This is presented from the feminist and nursing perspectives, along with a critique of the negative aspects of caring practices. The next stage of the case presents a layout of the discipline of bioethics, using an historical perspective to illuminate the influences of bioethics’ deep past, as it still affects the discipline in the present. The development of contemporary bioethics’ current status is presented along with critiques from bioethicists themselves, and nursing and feminist theory and ethics. In the case at this point, from a bioethical perspective, two major predicaments appear to prevent an ethic of care obtaining a valid place in ethical decision-making in bioethics. These are the justice/care duality, and the conflict between different conceptions of care and autonomy. The bioethical objections and arguments put forward regarding these predicaments are picked up, meticulously and comprehensively examined and refuted, establishing a sound case for the inclusion of an ethic of care in bioethical decision-making.</p>

Caring and Bioethics: Perspectives, Predicaments and Possibilities

<p>This thesis presents an explorative study of the place of caring in bioethics. Through the examination of various sources of literature from the disciplines of nursing, feminist theory and ethics, and bioethics, a case is developed that argues for a valid respected place for caring, as an ethic of care in bioethical decision-making. Evidence is presented and examined from all three disciplines including critiques of caring, an ethic of care, and bioethics from all disciplinary perspectives. The case is built by providing evidence to support the fundamental importance of caring to human life, health, relationships, and survival at the broad societal level. This is supported by more detailed and specific evidence regarding the value and the ‘good’ of caring and the ethical aspects of caring. This is presented from the feminist and nursing perspectives, along with a critique of the negative aspects of caring practices. The next stage of the case presents a layout of the discipline of bioethics, using an historical perspective to illuminate the influences of bioethics’ deep past, as it still affects the discipline in the present. The development of contemporary bioethics’ current status is presented along with critiques from bioethicists themselves, and nursing and feminist theory and ethics. In the case at this point, from a bioethical perspective, two major predicaments appear to prevent an ethic of care obtaining a valid place in ethical decision-making in bioethics. These are the justice/care duality, and the conflict between different conceptions of care and autonomy. The bioethical objections and arguments put forward regarding these predicaments are picked up, meticulously and comprehensively examined and refuted, establishing a sound case for the inclusion of an ethic of care in bioethical decision-making.</p>