Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemWhat does 'significance' look like? Assessing the assessment process in competitive grants schemes(Australian Association for Research in Education, 2006)This paper focuses on the writer’s experiences from 2002-2004 as the sole Education member of the Australian Research Council committee that assesses applications across the ‘social, behavioural and economic sciences’. It is drawn from a wider analysis of how judgments about research quality are produced across different spheres of education research activity, drawing particular attention to the characteristics of those who judge, their explicit and implicit criteria, and the textual markers of ‘quality’ that they work with. The article conside rs how the explicit categories for scoring; the characteristics of those appointed to the committee; the histo ry of dominant research traditions, and a slippage between the categories ‘significance’, ‘national benefit’ and ‘national research priorities’ all influence the judgments and scores that eventuate from assessors and pro duce the final rankings.
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ItemConstructing and deconstructing 'girls' as a category of concern in education - reflections on two decades of research and reform(Falmer Press, 1998)In the 1970s, many countries began to initiate projects of reform for girls and women in education. In the decades that followed, a large and diverse body of feminist research on education was developed. And, at the turn of the century, the media and education policy-makers are raising new questions about what has taken place: have the aims of reform now been achieved? have feminist agendas 'gone too far'? is it boys who now deserve special attention? should economic agendas replace social concerns in constructions of education policy? This chapter reviews some of the ways of thinking and types of initiatives that have taken place in Australia since the early 1970s.
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ItemThe 'facts of the case': gender equity for boys as a public policy issue(SAGE, 1999)Despite the trend toward gender studies in the social sciences, studies of masculinity have been largely absent from educational research. This volume presents a collection of the current critical scholarship on the creation of masculinities in schools, relations among competing definitions of masculinity and femininity, and linkages between masculinity and school practices. With contributions from the leading scholars in the field, Nancy Lesko studies masculinities in North American, Australian, and British schools. This book covers all levels of schooling, from preschool to graduate school, and school settings from computer labs to football fields. This fascinating addition to Sage’s Research in Men and Masculinities Series provides a thoughtful examinationof how masculinities are constructed among teachers, students, and administrators, locating these analyses within broader social, economic, and ideological contexts. Masculinities at School is a must read for scholars of education, sociology, men’s studies and gender studies.
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ItemRepresenting class in qualitative research(Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, 2000)In 1993, with Julie McLeod, I began a seven-year qualitative, longitudinal study of young people in Australia. The 12 to 18 Project1 was intended as a longitudinal study to investigate (i) the development of young people’s gendered identity in Australia now, and (ii) schooling’s contribution to social inequalities: the way in which different schools interact with and produce differentiated outcomes for different types of young people. It was a project inspired by the fact that we had both spent many years studying education, gender formation, inequalities, changing cultural and policy discourse and wanting to design a new type of study to take us further with these interests. It was also a study whose design was influenced by two film series, both of them also concerned, in different ways, with representing social differences and development of individual identity and outcomes over time.
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ItemIndonesian Islamic banking in historical and legal context(The Federation Press, 1999)Since its emergence in the 1960s, Islamic banking has emerged as a new trend in the field of international finance. Despite its popularity throughout the Muslim world, many are still unsure as to what exactly Islamic banking involves. This article from the book Law and Society in Indonesia explores critical questions such as who the Muslim thinkers and movements are that have influenced the development of Islamic banking as we know it today, with its strong emphasis on interest-free banking; when Islamic banks first started to appear in the modern era; and how it was that the Islamic concept of riba (usury) came to be understood as interest, thus providing the raison d’être for much of today’s Islamic banking industry. It also explores the theory of profit and loss sharing as the basis of Islamic banking, and the aspects of this theory which are put into practice in the day-to-day reality of Islamic commercial banking. Using the case study of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), Indonesia's first major Islamic bank, this article also examines the rise of Islamic banking in Indonesia. In particular, it discusses BMI’s rise and establishment as a competitive player in Indonesia's commercial sector. The case of BMI is explored in the light of earlier discussions of the broader historical and legal context of Islamic thinking and the rise of modern theories of ‘Islamic banking’.
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ItemIslamic religious education and the debate on itsreform post-September 11(University of New South Wales Press, 2005)The place of Islam and Muslims in the West has been a source of much debate in the post-September 11 era, not least in the area of Islamic education – an area seen by some Western commentators as a major source of anti-Western attitudes, and a breeding ground for terrorism. Such simplistic views of Islamic religious educational systems and institutions ignore the complex history of Islamic education and the diverse forms that it has taken across different times, places and cultures. This chapter from the book Islam and the West: Reflections from Australia explores the development of Islamic religious education over time, tracing its growth and decline in the pre-modern period and moves towards reform in the modern era. This is followed by a discussion of the generally simplistic perception, held particularly among Western commentators post-September 11, 2001, that Islamic religious education is closely linked to terrorism. Saeed notes that the hijackers involved in the 2001 attacks were not graduates of traditional Islamic education, a fact overlooked by many commentators. Although many prominent Muslim academics and scholars have been working to reform Islamic education over the past century, Saeed argues that these efforts may well have been hindered rather than helped by the authoritarian and coercive forms of reform which are being called for by some commentators in the West. In fact, the war on terror may well be the biggest stumbling block to the reform of Islamic religious education.
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ItemThe need to rethink apostasy laws(Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004)Recent high-profile cases and a number of Muslim scholars affirming the death penalty for apostasy have brought the issue of the pre-modern Islamic law of apostasy (riddah) back to the fore. Once largely ignored, apostasy is today vigorously debated among Muslims. The Qur’anic concept of non-coercion in religion was interpreted narrowly by pre-modern Islamic scholars, and excluded the right to convert away from Islam. In this chapter from the book Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, Saeed observes that this was a reasonable conclusion in the pre-modern context, when religious identity was enmeshed with political affiliation, and a person’s rights flowed from their membership of the religio-political entity. In the modern world, however, the author argues that there is ample reason to re-think these conclusions. Today, most Muslim nation-states recognize equal citizenship regardless of religion and are highly diverse. Large numbers of Muslims live as minorities in non-Muslim countries. Further, the death penalty for apostasy has weak textual support in the classical sources. The reaffirmation of pre-modern laws developed for different circumstances is unhelpful in the modern period. Pre-modern formulations of apostasy are particularly open to abuse in states which are authoritarian in nature, a feature of many Muslim states today. Moreover, the phenomenon of globalisation will mean more intensive linkages and mixes of people from different backgrounds. There is a need for an idea of religious freedom in Islam that accords with modern realities. Saeed argues that the weak textual basis of the law of apostasy and the greatly differing religio-political context of modern period are strong justifications for embarking on the task of reforming this law.
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ItemIntroduction: tales from the blackboard, true stories by Australian teachers(Pan Macmillan, 1998)The introduction to "Tales from the Blackboard" explains the background to this anthology by Australian teachers. The political and social context is examined along with the key themes that emerge from the writings of the contributors.
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ItemPolicy innovation, diplomatic departures and the Uruguay round(Cambridge University Press, 2001)Australia and the World Trade System provides a comprehensive account of Australia's role in developing and maintaining the multilateral trade system from its origins in 1947 to the present day. This book, based on archival sources and oral interviews, makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Australia's trade policies, its commercial diplomacy, and its role and position in the global political economy.
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ItemA deal at any cost(University of New South Wales Press, 2005)Spells out the unanswered questions about the Australia–US FTA. What are the implications of the Howard government’s linking of trade and security? How will the trade agreement affect relations with our other major trade partners, especially those in the East Asian region? Will the Australia–US trade agreement strengthen our ties with the United States, leading to deeper economic integration and more investment and jobs in Australia, or will it diminish our capacity to provide social programs that reflect particularly Australian values?