Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemBridging binaries: an ethnographic enquiry into student and teacher perceptions of good teaching beyond the presumed dichotomy between ‘teacher-centred and learner-centred’ pedagogies under the K to 12 reform in the Philippines( 2019)In the face of international comparisons and global standards of ‘quality education’, the Philippines overhauled its national curriculum as part of its reform of public school education. This curriculum reform advocated for an adoption of Learner-Centered Education (LCE) as a ‘best teaching practice’, in this following pedagogical reforms from Western nations. This policy however placed learner-centered teaching in binary opposition with ‘teacher-centered’ instruction, creating a simplistic dichotomy between good and bad teaching. This study seeks to explore this dichotomy by investigating what students and teachers understand to constitute good teaching. The study takes a cultural lens and uses ethnographic methods to investigate with teacher and student participants in two junior high school classes in the Philippines—one an inner urban disadvantaged public school and the other located in a poor rural community. Data gathered over a period of one month in each school include classroom observation, student focus groups, and teacher interviews. The study illuminates the subtle cultural elements which shape what is valued as good teaching. Findings show that the classroom practices which are perceived as most helpful by both students and teachers are predominantly ‘teacher-centered’ instructional practices, particularly those which highlight the authoritative role of a teacher as one who equips students for academic success. Such value placed on teacher authority reflects the cultural respect for teachers in the Philippines. While teachers were observed to uphold their classroom authority and practise teacher-centered methods, they also strongly demonstrated acts of relational care for their students. These enactments were perceived as academic care by students and seen to support their priorities to complete school and fulfil their aspiration to help their families upon graduation. These post-school priorities were shaped by the differing socio-economic and cultural expectations of their urban and rural communities. The thesis posits that the Filipino valuing of malasakit (which roughly translates to a deep sense of personal and compassionate care) and pakikisama (maintaining smooth interpersonal relationships within a community) as manifested through caring student-teacher relationships provides an important orientation towards understanding how learner-centered approaches could be articulated for the Filipino context. This form of ‘academic caring’ enacts the cultural values upheld within local places, and offers a practice which bridges the presumed binary between learner-centered and teacher-centered instruction.
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ItemHigher education privatization in Kuwait: A study in the processes of policy production( 2015)Like most countries around the world, the State of Kuwait has over the past two decades experienced a rapid growth in student demand for higher education. Lacking public resources, most emerging systems of higher education have turned to privatization policies as a way of meeting this demand. Similar financial pressures do not however apply to Kuwait, since it enjoys a surplus of revenue from its oil exports. Financial arguments explaining the adoption of privatization policies are therefore not compelling in the case of Kuwait. This research project aims to analyze some of the key reasons for Kuwait to pursue a privatization policy in higher education. More broadly, the project seeks to examine how various local and global processes have influenced the production of national policies of higher education in Kuwait. Using qualitative methods of policy research, this project examines some of the internal and external pressures that led to the production of a privatization policy in the Kuwaiti system of higher education in 2000. Particular reference is made to the Private Universities Law (PUL) (34/2000) in an attempt to explain how this policy was developed, who were its main architects, and what interests does the policy now serves. The research supports the conclusion that privatization is not a necessary outcome of globalization, but that the production of higher education privatization policies in Kuwait has involved a complex interplay of both local and global factors, with contextual realities playing a crucial role not only in the introduction of these policies but also in defining the form of privatization that is currently being implemented.