title: Professional learning in a Vietnamese university language teaching context: An inquiry-driven approach

authors: Phan, Thy Canh Minh

subjects: professional learning

abstract: This study investigated the engagement in an inquiry process of six EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers from two Vietnamese universities, and how the inquiry process shaped the teachers’ professional learning, paying attention to cycles of reflection and co-construction of knowledge. Student-centred approaches relevant to English language learners were used as a content focus of teacher learning, and teacher inquiry was used as a tool to drive reflection and co-construction of new learning. In particular, the study investigated the process of enactment and reflection as the teachers applied student-centred approaches (SCA) while working to develop their pedagogical knowledge, improve their teaching practices, and engage in professional learning practice. 
 
The study lay within an interpretive paradigm and was predominantly qualitative, using a small amount of quantitative data from the questionnaire administered at the beginning of the study. Data were collected via a four-phase process comprising five data collection instruments. In Phase 1, an online questionnaire was sent out to a wider group of teachers from the two universities and was analysed descriptively to gather initial information about the teachers’ reported beliefs and practices to inform me as a researcher how to proceed the next stage of the study. Qualitative data were collected in Phases 2, 3 and 4 of the study. After the six teachers engaged in the inquiries, their classroom practices were observed to explore how they interpreted and enacted SCA. Most observed teaching sessions were followed by a debrief in which the teachers were asked questions to reflect on certain moments of their practice and to elicit the elaborative reasoning underpinning their classroom practices. The teachers then took part in group discussions, which gave them opportunities to present individual reflections on their practice and knowledge and at the same time established an understanding of how the teachers learned, developed their professional knowledge, and improved their professional practice. Finally, semi-structured interviews were carried out individually with the six teachers to gain insights into their learning experience after engaging in the inquiry process and interactive professional discussions with other teachers. The interviews also explored the teachers’ reported changes in cognition and practice, along with their concerns. The qualitative data were then analysed via an inductive thematic coding process and the use of vignettes. It was not my intention to triangulate data from these sources. Rather, the use of multiple data collection instruments added to the comprehensiveness, rigour, and saturation of the study and the teachers’ learning process. In this learning process, I sought to capture what the teachers communicated across the data collection instruments, each of which was designed to serve a particular purpose, rather than comparing them or integrating them.

In brief, this study suggested that an inquiry-driven, practice-based, and interactive approach facilitated teacher learning both individually and collectively, and stimulated professional growth. Engaging in the process of inquiry fostered the teachers’ reflection on and self-evaluation of their practice and developed self-awareness of their classroom decisions. Interactive opportunities and collegial dialogues in the group (a learning community) helped the teachers to learn from each other, problem solve together, recognise different ways of doing things, negotiate different views, reconsider their beliefs and practices, shift perspectives and recognise the value of multiple positions. In both individual and collective learning endeavours, the process of learning placed an emphasis on the active and agentic engagement of the teachers and their reflective practice, embedding cognition, enactment and other aspects such as personal, contextual and socio-cultural factors. All of these were in line with constructivist and situative perspectives of learning.

text: Professional learning in a Vietnamese university language teaching context: An inquiry-driven approach This study investigated the engagement in an inquiry process of six EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers from two Vietnamese universities, and how the inquiry process shaped the teachers’ professional learning, paying attention to cycles of reflection and co-construction of knowledge. Student-centred approaches relevant to English language learners were used as a content focus of teacher learning, and teacher inquiry was used as a tool to drive reflection and co-construction of new learning. In particular, the study investigated the process of enactment and reflection as the teachers applied student-centred approaches (SCA) while working to develop their pedagogical knowledge, improve their teaching practices, and engage in professional learning practice. 
 
The study lay within an interpretive paradigm and was predominantly qualitative, using a small amount of quantitative data from the questionnaire administered at the beginning of the study. Data were collected via a four-phase process comprising five data collection instruments. In Phase 1, an online questionnaire was sent out to a wider group of teachers from the two universities and was analysed descriptively to gather initial information about the teachers’ reported beliefs and practices to inform me as a researcher how to proceed the next stage of the study. Qualitative data were collected in Phases 2, 3 and 4 of the study. After the six teachers engaged in the inquiries, their classroom practices were observed to explore how they interpreted and enacted SCA. Most observed teaching sessions were followed by a debrief in which the teachers were asked questions to reflect on certain moments of their practice and to elicit the elaborative reasoning underpinning their classroom practices. The teachers then took part in group discussions, which gave them opportunities to present individual reflections on their practice and knowledge and at the same time established an understanding of how the teachers learned, developed their professional knowledge, and improved their professional practice. Finally, semi-structured interviews were carried out individually with the six teachers to gain insights into their learning experience after engaging in the inquiry process and interactive professional discussions with other teachers. The interviews also explored the teachers’ reported changes in cognition and practice, along with their concerns. The qualitative data were then analysed via an inductive thematic coding process and the use of vignettes. It was not my intention to triangulate data from these sources. Rather, the use of multiple data collection instruments added to the comprehensiveness, rigour, and saturation of the study and the teachers’ learning process. In this learning process, I sought to capture what the teachers communicated across the data collection instruments, each of which was designed to serve a particular purpose, rather than comparing them or integrating them.

In brief, this study suggested that an inquiry-driven, practice-based, and interactive approach facilitated teacher learning both individually and collectively, and stimulated professional growth. Engaging in the process of inquiry fostered the teachers’ reflection on and self-evaluation of their practice and developed self-awareness of their classroom decisions. Interactive opportunities and collegial dialogues in the group (a learning community) helped the teachers to learn from each other, problem solve together, recognise different ways of doing things, negotiate different views, reconsider their beliefs and practices, shift perspectives and recognise the value of multiple positions. In both individual and collective learning endeavours, the process of learning placed an emphasis on the active and agentic engagement of the teachers and their reflective practice, embedding cognition, enactment and other aspects such as personal, contextual and socio-cultural factors. All of these were in line with constructivist and situative perspectives of learning.

year: 2020

title: John Watson Walker: a leading mine manager

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: After successfully mining in Victoria, in 1869 John Watson Walker was invited to report on Thames mines, and subsequently was asked to stay on as a mine manager. Despite his high reputation as both a manager and company director, in 1881 some shareholders in one company  sought his dismissal because he had failed to find rich gold (!). From the 1880s onwards, he envisaged obtaining English capital to enable the development of much larger areas than those traditionally worked. 
Involved in most Hauraki fields (and beyond) as an investor if not a miner, in the 1880s he was for a time a publican at Te Aroha, and in the following decade acquired a farm nearby. He struggled financially in both decades, and moved from goldfield to goldfield trying to develop his ‘gigantic’ schemes, making several trips to London over more than 20 years in usually fruitless attempts to raise capital. As the first supervisor for the Waihi Company, he investigated new treatment processes, but resigned his position shortly before cyanide was proved to the ideal one. At Thames, his ‘gigantic’ scheme was to work the low levels, and at Te Aroha he attempted to develop a large area of unpayable ground. All his schemes depended not only on attracting overseas capital but on obtaining concessions from both government and union. His last efforts to develop mining on a massive scale were at Waihi, in the early twentieth century.
Walker was seen as being a skilled and practical miner, whose opinions were taken seriously. On behalf of investors, he investigated some new areas, and achieved fame for exposing an attempted fraud near Wellington. He attempted to assist the interests of the industry, and urged the need for capital and labour to work together harmoniously. He was outspokenly critical of the Liberal Government’s mining legislation, which he claimed scared capital away. 
He could be arrogant, as illustrated on several occasions, notably when participating in shooting matches in the early 1870s. And a question must be raised about his treatment of his first wife. But as a mine manager, he excelled, even if his schemes to work large areas were over-sanguine and lacked credibility both because he did not understand the geology and because he over-estimated his ability to raise capital and to get his way with both government and the union.

text: John Watson Walker: a leading mine manager After successfully mining in Victoria, in 1869 John Watson Walker was invited to report on Thames mines, and subsequently was asked to stay on as a mine manager. Despite his high reputation as both a manager and company director, in 1881 some shareholders in one company  sought his dismissal because he had failed to find rich gold (!). From the 1880s onwards, he envisaged obtaining English capital to enable the development of much larger areas than those traditionally worked. 
Involved in most Hauraki fields (and beyond) as an investor if not a miner, in the 1880s he was for a time a publican at Te Aroha, and in the following decade acquired a farm nearby. He struggled financially in both decades, and moved from goldfield to goldfield trying to develop his ‘gigantic’ schemes, making several trips to London over more than 20 years in usually fruitless attempts to raise capital. As the first supervisor for the Waihi Company, he investigated new treatment processes, but resigned his position shortly before cyanide was proved to the ideal one. At Thames, his ‘gigantic’ scheme was to work the low levels, and at Te Aroha he attempted to develop a large area of unpayable ground. All his schemes depended not only on attracting overseas capital but on obtaining concessions from both government and union. His last efforts to develop mining on a massive scale were at Waihi, in the early twentieth century.
Walker was seen as being a skilled and practical miner, whose opinions were taken seriously. On behalf of investors, he investigated some new areas, and achieved fame for exposing an attempted fraud near Wellington. He attempted to assist the interests of the industry, and urged the need for capital and labour to work together harmoniously. He was outspokenly critical of the Liberal Government’s mining legislation, which he claimed scared capital away. 
He could be arrogant, as illustrated on several occasions, notably when participating in shooting matches in the early 1870s. And a question must be raised about his treatment of his first wife. But as a mine manager, he excelled, even if his schemes to work large areas were over-sanguine and lacked credibility both because he did not understand the geology and because he over-estimated his ability to raise capital and to get his way with both government and the union.

year: 2016

title: HIV diagnoses in indigenous peoples: comparison of Australia, Canada and New Zealand

authors: Shea, Beverley

subjects: HIV

abstract: In industrial countries, a number of factors put indigenous peoples at increased risk of HIV infection. National surveillance data between 1999 and 2008 provided diagnoses for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia), First Nations, Inuit and Métis (Canada excluding Ontario and Quebec) and Māori (New Zealand). Each country provided similar data for a non-indigenous comparison population. Direct standardisation used the 2001 Canadian Aboriginal male population for comparison of five-year diagnosis rates in 1999–2003 and 2004–2008. Using the general population as denominators, we report diagnosis ratios for presumed heterosexual transmission, men who have sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users (IDU). Age standardised HIV diagnosis rates in indigenous peoples in Canada in 2004–2008 (178.1 and 178.4/100 000 for men and women respectively) were higher than in Australia (48.5 and 12.9/100 000) and New Zealand (41.9 and 4.3/100 000). Higher HIV diagnosis rates related to heterosexual contact among Aboriginal peoples, especially women, in Canada confirm a widening epidemic beyond the conventional risk groups. This potential of a generalised epidemic requires urgent attention in Aboriginal communities; available evidence can inform policy and action by all stakeholders. Although less striking in Australia and New Zealand, these findings may be relevant to indigenous peoples in other countries.

text: HIV diagnoses in indigenous peoples: comparison of Australia, Canada and New Zealand In industrial countries, a number of factors put indigenous peoples at increased risk of HIV infection. National surveillance data between 1999 and 2008 provided diagnoses for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia), First Nations, Inuit and Métis (Canada excluding Ontario and Quebec) and Māori (New Zealand). Each country provided similar data for a non-indigenous comparison population. Direct standardisation used the 2001 Canadian Aboriginal male population for comparison of five-year diagnosis rates in 1999–2003 and 2004–2008. Using the general population as denominators, we report diagnosis ratios for presumed heterosexual transmission, men who have sex with men (MSM) and intravenous drug users (IDU). Age standardised HIV diagnosis rates in indigenous peoples in Canada in 2004–2008 (178.1 and 178.4/100 000 for men and women respectively) were higher than in Australia (48.5 and 12.9/100 000) and New Zealand (41.9 and 4.3/100 000). Higher HIV diagnosis rates related to heterosexual contact among Aboriginal peoples, especially women, in Canada confirm a widening epidemic beyond the conventional risk groups. This potential of a generalised epidemic requires urgent attention in Aboriginal communities; available evidence can inform policy and action by all stakeholders. Although less striking in Australia and New Zealand, these findings may be relevant to indigenous peoples in other countries.

year: 2011