title: What influences the emergence of a new subject in schools? The case of environmental education

authors: Yueh, Mei-Chun Michelle

subjects: theme

abstract: New subjects are always emerging but only some gain a place in the formal school curriculum. In fact, most of the now accepted conventional school subjects have, at some stage, struggled to become established. This paper presents findings of a three-year study of teacher and school responses to the introduction of environmental education (EE) as a new subject within the Taiwan national curriculum. School leaders and teachers were interviewed the year prior to the introduction of the new curriculum and during the first two years of implementation. Findings substantiate the importance of six themes (such as examination status and a university pathway) raised in elaborations of the traditional Layton/Goodson model. However, the complex community-school relationships and the value accorded in EE to community-based and even global action, as opposed to academic outcomes, highlighted the need for curriculum policy makers to consider expanding the traditional model with another five themes and most importantly introducing three particular themes. When seeking to promote the emergence of a holistic and integrative subject such as environmental education there is a need to also consider local environment involvement, the transformative nature of EE within whole school involvement, and linkages with a national cooperation network. Without these factors it appears EE may struggle to gain a place in the curriculum.

text: What influences the emergence of a new subject in schools? The case of environmental education New subjects are always emerging but only some gain a place in the formal school curriculum. In fact, most of the now accepted conventional school subjects have, at some stage, struggled to become established. This paper presents findings of a three-year study of teacher and school responses to the introduction of environmental education (EE) as a new subject within the Taiwan national curriculum. School leaders and teachers were interviewed the year prior to the introduction of the new curriculum and during the first two years of implementation. Findings substantiate the importance of six themes (such as examination status and a university pathway) raised in elaborations of the traditional Layton/Goodson model. However, the complex community-school relationships and the value accorded in EE to community-based and even global action, as opposed to academic outcomes, highlighted the need for curriculum policy makers to consider expanding the traditional model with another five themes and most importantly introducing three particular themes. When seeking to promote the emergence of a holistic and integrative subject such as environmental education there is a need to also consider local environment involvement, the transformative nature of EE within whole school involvement, and linkages with a national cooperation network. Without these factors it appears EE may struggle to gain a place in the curriculum.

year: 2010

title: ‘User-friendly’ primary phosphines and an arsine: synthesis and characterization of new air-stable ligands incorporating the ferrocenyl group

authors: Henderson, William

subjects: chemistry

abstract: Reaction of FcCH₂CH₂P(O)(OH)₂ or FcCH₂P(O)(OH)(OEt) [Fc=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₄)(η⁵-C₅H₅)] with excess CH₂N₂ followed by reduction with Me₃SiCl–LiAlH₄ gives the air-stable primary phosphines FcCH₂CH₂PH₂ and the previously reported analogue FcCH₂PH₂ in high yields. Reduction of 1,1′-Fc′[CH₂P(O)(OEt)₂] [Fc′=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₄)₂] and 1,2-Fc″[CH₂P(O)(OEt)₂] [Fc″=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₅)(η⁵-C₅H₃)] similarly gives the new primary phosphines 1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂ and 1,2-Fc″(CH₂PH₂)₂, respectively. The arsine FcCH₂CH₂AsH₂, which is also air-stable, has been prepared by reduction of the arsonic acid FcCH₂CH₂As(O)(OH)₂ using Zn/HCl. An X-ray structure has been carried out on the arsine, which is only the second structure determination of a free primary arsine. The molybdenum carbonyl complex [1,2-Fc″(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄] was prepared by reaction of the phosphine with [Mo(CO)₄(pip)₂] (pip=piperidine), and characterized by a preliminary X-ray structure determination. However, the same reaction of 1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂with [Mo(CO)₄(pip)₂] gave [1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄] and the dimer [1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄]₂, characterized by electrospray mass spectrometry. 1,1′-Fc′[CH₂PH₂Mo(CO)₅]₂ and 1,2-Fc″[CH₂PH₂Mo(CO)₅]₂ were likewise prepared from the phosphines and excess [Mo(CO)₅(THF)].

text: ‘User-friendly’ primary phosphines and an arsine: synthesis and characterization of new air-stable ligands incorporating the ferrocenyl group Reaction of FcCH₂CH₂P(O)(OH)₂ or FcCH₂P(O)(OH)(OEt) [Fc=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₄)(η⁵-C₅H₅)] with excess CH₂N₂ followed by reduction with Me₃SiCl–LiAlH₄ gives the air-stable primary phosphines FcCH₂CH₂PH₂ and the previously reported analogue FcCH₂PH₂ in high yields. Reduction of 1,1′-Fc′[CH₂P(O)(OEt)₂] [Fc′=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₄)₂] and 1,2-Fc″[CH₂P(O)(OEt)₂] [Fc″=Fe(η⁵-C₅H₅)(η⁵-C₅H₃)] similarly gives the new primary phosphines 1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂ and 1,2-Fc″(CH₂PH₂)₂, respectively. The arsine FcCH₂CH₂AsH₂, which is also air-stable, has been prepared by reduction of the arsonic acid FcCH₂CH₂As(O)(OH)₂ using Zn/HCl. An X-ray structure has been carried out on the arsine, which is only the second structure determination of a free primary arsine. The molybdenum carbonyl complex [1,2-Fc″(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄] was prepared by reaction of the phosphine with [Mo(CO)₄(pip)₂] (pip=piperidine), and characterized by a preliminary X-ray structure determination. However, the same reaction of 1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂with [Mo(CO)₄(pip)₂] gave [1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄] and the dimer [1,1′-Fc′(CH₂PH₂)₂Mo(CO)₄]₂, characterized by electrospray mass spectrometry. 1,1′-Fc′[CH₂PH₂Mo(CO)₅]₂ and 1,2-Fc″[CH₂PH₂Mo(CO)₅]₂ were likewise prepared from the phosphines and excess [Mo(CO)₅(THF)].

year: 2002

title: The Transformative Possibilities of 'Noticing' in Community Gardening and my Life

authors: Casey-Cox, Anna Mary

subjects: Globalised Capitalism

abstract: The growing gap between rich and poor and the degradation of the planet are among the systemically generated outcomes increasingly associated with contemporary capitalism. This association is made by scholarly, professional and technical experts and spiritual leaders from across the political spectrum. Among them are Joseph Stiglitz, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben and Pope Francis. The negative social impact associated with the privileging of capitalist interests manifest in a globalising corporate logic during the 1990s, was critically documented by Jane Kelsey (1999). In the ongoing pursuit of the neo-liberal agenda globally, Kelsey (2013) argues that significant decisions are often made behind closed doors with little chance of democratic influence, particularly by those who may come to suffer from their ramifications. Popular uprisings, such as the Occupy Wall Street Movement, attest to the widespread concern of many. Activist scholar, Slavoj Žižek (2012) urges the embedding of the occupiers’ concerns beyond the visible spectacle of the movement. He urges wider commitment to the transformation of the issues of their concern in the very fabric of daily life. My work presented in this thesis is one attempt to contribute to this call.

Through my investigation into the apparent impact of corporate capitalism, I have come to notice ever more acutely, as encouraged by Seo and Creed (2002), the value contradictions within the institutional logics that support capitalism and the logics of other significant institutions that I allow influence on my life. My research drew me towards concurrence with the views of critical organisational theorists such as Deetz (1992) and Dyer, Humphries, Fitzgibbons and Hurd (2014). These theorists provide the proposition that the contemporary form of globalisation is orchestrated through the normalised workings and values of global corporations that spread a competitive ordering, selectively atomise individuals and pit one against the other. I call this the ‘dominant order(ing) of daily lives’ that draws the privileged and the oppressed into a way of being that sustains privilege and oppression while espousing values of justice.

My research contributes to the body of knowledge concerned with how a sense of responsibility and transformative agency may be developed amongst privileged peoples. It is in the projects of community gardening and my life that I have chosen to ‘notice’ the prevalence of a mechanistic, functionalist world view that infuses the moral limitations of dominant order. I have been attentive to noticing how this order influences the [un]ethical decisions of daily life. I suggest that increasing the awareness of the privileged to the working of dominant order and to the interconnectedness of life is important to our ability to ‘notice’ institutional contradictions and thus the possibilities of our transformation. My attention to ‘noticing’ has heightened my discomfort with the current institutional arrangements and prompted me to reflect, talk with others, try new things and seek a more attentive way of being. My research endorses the suggestion made by Dyer et al. (2014) that conscientising the privileged to the workings of dominant order, and the ways we are implicated in the maintenance of this ordering, is important work for educators to pursue. 

Through my research I have identified ideas that may mitigate against concerning assumptions amongst the privileged that ‘community gardening’ and the projects of local food are ‘naturally virtuous’ including: listening to the stories of the oppressed, knowing who we are in the context of these stories, holding our own discomfort and questioning how we may be responsible. As an outcome of my research, I  posit that the reprioritisation and valuing of interconnection and ‘concern for others’ in the day to day lives of the privileged may be achieved through the development of relational identities, storytelling that highlights interconnection and spiritual ritual. Community gardening can draw the privileged into being with the oppressed; enabling an understanding of shared and common humanity that I suggest is motivating of reflection and the construction of new social interactions. 

My investigations drew me more deeply into the insights and commitments of people of an indigenous, Earth-centred, life-affirming spiritual tradition who are among those who articulate an interconnected worldview and ways of being human. My research highlights that when commitment is given to a relationship with people of these traditions, those who are largely (but never wholly) colonised to the dominant order may ‘notice’ and rediscover the possibilities of interconnected ways of seeing and being human. Listening to the holders of life-affirming traditions can enable ‘noticing’ of, and resistance to, the dominating ideas of capitalist projections that are mechanistic and competitive in form. In the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, my research suggests that bicultural relationship may be developed by Pākehā through listening to Te Ao Māori authority and engaging in practical actions that support related Māori aspirations. This relationship may interrupt the potential dominance of Pākehā ways of being. 

My first person action research has involved reflection, ‘noticing’, conversation and action in dynamic interplay. I have recorded this dynamic interplay and discerned together with others, through ongoing co-inquiry relationship and dialogue, the transformative possibilities of ‘noticing’ the ways that we, as people who would like to be considered ‘just’, are human. I have woven a narrative, presented in this report that is compelling to me, to my co-inquirers and to others.  I have assessed the value of my inquiry by the way it stirs thinking, reflection and transformative action in those who engage with it. 

‘Noticing’ dominant order and the unconscious stream of oppressive action in the day to day life of the privileged is difficult and challenging work. This work may generate conflict and discomfort for the researcher and the people connected with and through the research. I posit that such discomfort is important to reflection and to developing a form of sensitivity that draws ethical attention to the systemic causes of such degradation that sustains the privilege of many. The potential challenging of privilege that ‘noticing’ promotes requires a relational dynamic that is open, non-competitive, non-oppositional and potentially inconclusive.  Including this Socratic dynamic in research methods, and in ‘noticing’, is important for researchers whose ability to shed light on the challenging terrain of social change requires relationships of openness and dialogue. 

When grounded in a critique of dominant order, ‘noticing’ disturbs otherwise inoculated, rationalised and normalised privileges. Just as the disturbance of soil is necessary for the settling of a new seed, so too is the disturbance of our minds necessary for our awakening and the growth of our ‘noticing’ and an interconnected worldview. ‘Noticing’ enables the privileged to identify ways of being human that reprioritise the diminished valuing of interdependency.

text: The Transformative Possibilities of 'Noticing' in Community Gardening and my Life The growing gap between rich and poor and the degradation of the planet are among the systemically generated outcomes increasingly associated with contemporary capitalism. This association is made by scholarly, professional and technical experts and spiritual leaders from across the political spectrum. Among them are Joseph Stiglitz, Vandana Shiva, Bill McKibben and Pope Francis. The negative social impact associated with the privileging of capitalist interests manifest in a globalising corporate logic during the 1990s, was critically documented by Jane Kelsey (1999). In the ongoing pursuit of the neo-liberal agenda globally, Kelsey (2013) argues that significant decisions are often made behind closed doors with little chance of democratic influence, particularly by those who may come to suffer from their ramifications. Popular uprisings, such as the Occupy Wall Street Movement, attest to the widespread concern of many. Activist scholar, Slavoj Žižek (2012) urges the embedding of the occupiers’ concerns beyond the visible spectacle of the movement. He urges wider commitment to the transformation of the issues of their concern in the very fabric of daily life. My work presented in this thesis is one attempt to contribute to this call.

Through my investigation into the apparent impact of corporate capitalism, I have come to notice ever more acutely, as encouraged by Seo and Creed (2002), the value contradictions within the institutional logics that support capitalism and the logics of other significant institutions that I allow influence on my life. My research drew me towards concurrence with the views of critical organisational theorists such as Deetz (1992) and Dyer, Humphries, Fitzgibbons and Hurd (2014). These theorists provide the proposition that the contemporary form of globalisation is orchestrated through the normalised workings and values of global corporations that spread a competitive ordering, selectively atomise individuals and pit one against the other. I call this the ‘dominant order(ing) of daily lives’ that draws the privileged and the oppressed into a way of being that sustains privilege and oppression while espousing values of justice.

My research contributes to the body of knowledge concerned with how a sense of responsibility and transformative agency may be developed amongst privileged peoples. It is in the projects of community gardening and my life that I have chosen to ‘notice’ the prevalence of a mechanistic, functionalist world view that infuses the moral limitations of dominant order. I have been attentive to noticing how this order influences the [un]ethical decisions of daily life. I suggest that increasing the awareness of the privileged to the working of dominant order and to the interconnectedness of life is important to our ability to ‘notice’ institutional contradictions and thus the possibilities of our transformation. My attention to ‘noticing’ has heightened my discomfort with the current institutional arrangements and prompted me to reflect, talk with others, try new things and seek a more attentive way of being. My research endorses the suggestion made by Dyer et al. (2014) that conscientising the privileged to the workings of dominant order, and the ways we are implicated in the maintenance of this ordering, is important work for educators to pursue. 

Through my research I have identified ideas that may mitigate against concerning assumptions amongst the privileged that ‘community gardening’ and the projects of local food are ‘naturally virtuous’ including: listening to the stories of the oppressed, knowing who we are in the context of these stories, holding our own discomfort and questioning how we may be responsible. As an outcome of my research, I  posit that the reprioritisation and valuing of interconnection and ‘concern for others’ in the day to day lives of the privileged may be achieved through the development of relational identities, storytelling that highlights interconnection and spiritual ritual. Community gardening can draw the privileged into being with the oppressed; enabling an understanding of shared and common humanity that I suggest is motivating of reflection and the construction of new social interactions. 

My investigations drew me more deeply into the insights and commitments of people of an indigenous, Earth-centred, life-affirming spiritual tradition who are among those who articulate an interconnected worldview and ways of being human. My research highlights that when commitment is given to a relationship with people of these traditions, those who are largely (but never wholly) colonised to the dominant order may ‘notice’ and rediscover the possibilities of interconnected ways of seeing and being human. Listening to the holders of life-affirming traditions can enable ‘noticing’ of, and resistance to, the dominating ideas of capitalist projections that are mechanistic and competitive in form. In the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, my research suggests that bicultural relationship may be developed by Pākehā through listening to Te Ao Māori authority and engaging in practical actions that support related Māori aspirations. This relationship may interrupt the potential dominance of Pākehā ways of being. 

My first person action research has involved reflection, ‘noticing’, conversation and action in dynamic interplay. I have recorded this dynamic interplay and discerned together with others, through ongoing co-inquiry relationship and dialogue, the transformative possibilities of ‘noticing’ the ways that we, as people who would like to be considered ‘just’, are human. I have woven a narrative, presented in this report that is compelling to me, to my co-inquirers and to others.  I have assessed the value of my inquiry by the way it stirs thinking, reflection and transformative action in those who engage with it. 

‘Noticing’ dominant order and the unconscious stream of oppressive action in the day to day life of the privileged is difficult and challenging work. This work may generate conflict and discomfort for the researcher and the people connected with and through the research. I posit that such discomfort is important to reflection and to developing a form of sensitivity that draws ethical attention to the systemic causes of such degradation that sustains the privilege of many. The potential challenging of privilege that ‘noticing’ promotes requires a relational dynamic that is open, non-competitive, non-oppositional and potentially inconclusive.  Including this Socratic dynamic in research methods, and in ‘noticing’, is important for researchers whose ability to shed light on the challenging terrain of social change requires relationships of openness and dialogue. 

When grounded in a critique of dominant order, ‘noticing’ disturbs otherwise inoculated, rationalised and normalised privileges. Just as the disturbance of soil is necessary for the settling of a new seed, so too is the disturbance of our minds necessary for our awakening and the growth of our ‘noticing’ and an interconnected worldview. ‘Noticing’ enables the privileged to identify ways of being human that reprioritise the diminished valuing of interdependency.

year: 2014