School Archives

08/01/202316/02/2023

1, 000 bikes for girls’ education and young women’s leadership in Malawi

As part of my bicycles-for-girls-education PhD, I am always on the look out for inspiring projects where bicycles create change. This week, I came across a join venture between CAMFED and The Clara Lionel Foundation from a few years ago. Enjoy! NG.

CAMFED and The Clara Lionel Foundation delivered over 1,000 bicycles to girls and young women in the Salima District of Malawi.

These bicycles are part of a comprehensive aid program offered to high school students, with the potential to revolutionize the opportunities for girls who confront up to 10km (6 miles) commutes to and from school.

The success and longevity of this initiative will depend on the CAMFED Association (CAMA) network, as they acquire proficiency in entrepreneurship, bike upkeep, and repair skills.

The collaboration between CAMFED and the Clara Lionel Foundation is facilitating the continuation of secondary education for 7,500 Malawian girls, a crucial effort considering the low 30% enrollment rate of females in secondary school due to insufficient facilities and long distances.

These bicycles has generated a lot of attention in rural communities where girls often face challenges commuting to school, such as exhaustion and hunger from walking and attending to household duties. The bicycles provide a pathway for academic success in rural areas.

This programme is part of a wider and multifaceted strategy to remove obstacles to girls’ education, which also includes paying for school fees, peer mentoring, supplying necessities like sanitary pads, and bridging huge distances from home to school.

The Malawian alumni of CAMFED programmes are essential to bringing about change for the next generation of females. CAMA members serve as mentors and role models in rural areas where there are few female teachers and professionals. So far alumni have helped 20,000 females pursue education in just five years.

See more on this project here.

THE CLARA LIONEL FOUNDATION

The Clara Lionel Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded by the singer and entrepreneur Rihanna in 2012. The foundation aims to support and fund education, health, and emergency response programs around the world. It prioritizes initiatives that promote education and provide access to healthcare in impoverished communities, particularly for girls and women. The foundation also works towards disaster relief and climate change resilience. The foundation partners with local organizations to achieve its goals and has provided significant support to countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and the United States.

CAMFED

CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) is a non-governmental organization that aims to eradicate poverty and improve the educational opportunities of girls in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting them through primary and secondary school and into adulthood. The organization provides assistance with school fees, mentorship, and life skills training to ensure that girls are able to complete their education and become confident and economically independent leaders in their communities. Since its founding in 1993, CAMFED has helped over 4 million students in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Malawi.

22/11/202114/05/2022

#andshecycles, Irish girls and Green-Schools Travel

In Ireland, fewer than 1 in every 250 school girl rides a bike to school. This is despite the fact that bikes are an environmentally friendly and healthy mode of transportation. While the number of boys who cycle to school has been steadily increasing over the years, the number of girls remains relatively static. So why aren’t more girls cycling?

An Taisce is an Irish heritage charity that is working to address this issue. Their campaign is called #andshecycles aims at exploring the root cause of what makes teenage girls hesitant in commuting to their schools and colleges on bicycles. It was important to find out what was the cause, so the campaign involved interviewing many students, teachers, parents, and psychologists to get a solid grasp of what was going on.

One reason may be that teenage girls feel unsafe cycling on busy roads. They may also feel self-conscious about their appearance, especially if they don’t have the right equipment or clothing. Additionally, some girls may simply not have access to a bike.

The most common causes turn out to be peer-pressure, self-consciousness and harassment, which makes girls reluctant. Many girls said they feel ‘judged and intimidated’ by boys and men when cycling to school.

Many young girls expressed their concerns with the school uniforms which made it difficult for girls to bike. Some added on a lighter note that the helmets and high vis jackets can also scare off people from riding bicycles. It usually collides with the fashion statements. However, Caitriona Buggle from the campaign expressed that the addition of colourful helmets could make a statement that ‘Safety can be Sexy.’

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that more needs to be done to encourage Irish girls to cycle to school. The #andshecycles campaign is a step in the right direction, and with more awareness and education, hopefully more girls will soon be cycling to school safely and confidently.

An Taisce’s campaign #andshecycles was launched at Dublin’s Science Gallery. Many young girls attended the campaign and it went viral on social media.

The campaign’s panelists stressed the fact that girls needed more role models on wheels. It is necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle. Young girls were encouraged to get back on their bicycles.

Sylia Thompson from The Irish Times published an article (and video) on this issue and reported Jane Hackett, manager of the Green Schools travel programme as saying: “We have been working with schools around the country to increase cycling numbers for over ten years. Because of this work we realised that although teen girls wanted to cycle the numbers weren’t increasing at the same levels as their male counterparts. So we asked why, and #andshecycles was born.”

Let’s hope the #andshecycles campaign gets more Irish girls on bikes!

14/07/202130/09/2021

Bike art as education

Working with bikes in creative ways is an ongoing theme for this blog.

So is education.

So it makes me particularly happy when I see these two passions combined.

Previously, I’ve posted on a wide range of bike art projects, like:

This week, I found an article written by Deb West (Adjunct Instructor at The Art of Education University). Deb is a retired art teacher of 25 years experience whose motto is ‘Together we ART better!’ The article I read was Why bike studies are the perfect end-of-the-year project (see below).

..and I loved how thoughtfully she had combined bikes, art, and education!

In her lesson (see below), Deb outlines an art lesson that uses various techniques focused on bikes as ‘the subject’. She also explains the reasoning for each step, ideas for extensions and how to ‘level up’ this activity.

As a teacher, I appreciate her generous ideas, resources, and suggestions – it is all outlined clearly with samples of students work-in-develop to illustrate each technique. So helpful!

Regardless of whether you are an art teacher or not, if you are teaching kids at school, home, or yourself, this is a great activity for everyone.

So let’s dive into Deb’s bike art class!

Happy art biking!

All below content and images are attributed to Deb West.

Why Bike Studies are The Perfect End-of-the-Year Project

You know you have a great lesson when you keep coming back to it, refining it, and changing it up year after year. That’s how I feel about this bike study drawing lesson. I’m always excited to introduce it to my students, and they always anticipate doing it!

Like many good lessons, this lesson is challenging. I save it for the end of the semester in my Art II class, so I know they are well-prepared.

Why bikes?

There are 3 main reasons I like to have my students draw bikes.

It helps develop their skills even further. Although my students draw from life daily, drawing bikes takes their skills to the next level. There are so many details to observe and capture.
The assignment can help build students’ portfolios. Some art colleges require bike studies as part of their application process.
It can lead to scholarships. This lesson can also be a great way to get your students to create a scholarship-winning piece because, let’s face it, drawing bikes is tough! Students have to look, measure, and be exact. And, they have to pay attention to details that often go unnoticed.

The Lesson

I’ve been teaching this bike study lesson for ten years. I’d love to share how to get started as well as some ways to take the lesson to the next level.

Step 1: Contour Studies

I always have students start with several contour studies of a bicycle. These are quick sketches to loosen them up and calm their artistic nerves.

Step 2: Graphite

Once the contour studies are complete, students begin focusing on specific areas of the bike and draw with graphite in full detail. We discuss how the light reflects off the metal and how to capture that reflection through drawing.

Step 4: Charcoal

Finally, students finish up their study by working in charcoal.

Throughout the first four steps, students are encouraged to take photos of the bike. They draw both from life and their photos. This method gives them the ability to evaluate the details needed to make these drawings believable.

Step 5: Putting It All Together

The most fun part of this lesson comes right when they think they are finished. This is when I give them three days to create a composition using their bike studies creatively. I set the art room up as an open studio. Students can create reliefs, collages, and add mixed media into their negative space. Of course, throughout this process, they are considering how these additions will help emphasize the bike work. These works remain black and white and are always a big hit when we display them!

Taking it to the Next Level

You could amp up this lesson in so many ways. This past year, instead of having just one bicycle, I added a few more. Our setup even included an antique Radio Flyer tricycle I found at a local thrift shop.

In addition, I had a colleague visiting from overseas who helped me brainstorm another way to make this lesson even more engaging. Dr. Lexi Lasczik is a mark-making master artist who came to my school to work with my students for several days.

Her idea was to have students use their whole bodies as they drew quick studies of the bike on 24” x 36” drawing paper in sixteen timed sections. We challenged students to complete studies in ten to thirty-second bursts. We even made them switch hands!

It was beyond exciting to watch the students! They were so energized. After the first few studies, they lost their fear of failure and began to realize this exercise could be an amazing learning tool!

Once they completed the first sixteen timed studies, they turned their papers over and did another sixteen, but this time they used ink and sticks and again, the room palpitated with artistic excitement!

In this case, for the final project, students took their three detailed studies as well as their mark-making studies and combined them into a new composition.

I also had them incorporate one color into their piece, and the results were spectacular!

It’s always fun to see how the learning process shows up in the final work. I believe it’s learning at its best!

What objects do you use to teach your students still life?

Have you used bikes to teach your students to draw?

27/05/202122/07/2021

Educational Case Study. Lewis and Clark Reloaded: The 3,041-Mile Bike Trail.

I was cruising the internerd (internet) looking for some bike-related teaching and learning resources, which I do from time to time … and see what and how teachers and subjects might use bicycles in learning environments – whether primary, secondary or at uni.

Keep in mind, this is using bikes IN the classroom (like to teach core concepts), not getting TO the classroom (which is my PhD focus). Previously, I have posted on:

The week, I came across Lewis and Clark Reloaded: The 3,041-Mile Bike Trail.

Lewis and Clark Reloaded: The 3,041-Mile Bike Trail.

This is a case study is written by Mary Rose Grant (School for Professional Services
Saint Louis University, USA) and it is a teaching resource for high school or undergrad students and best suited for classes like Biology, Physiology, Sports Science, Legal studies. A full copy of the case study is publically available on the National (USA) Centre for Case Study Teaching in Science (USA) website. Or click the link below.

The case study is a handout that has 4 parts:

Lewis & Clarke Reloaded Full Case Study Download

Part I—The Adventure Begins … and Comes to a Screaming Halt: provides the introduction and scenario and 3 questions.
Part II—A Change of Scenery: The storyline continues and provides more physiological details including dialogue and physiological/medical statistics for details and 3 questions.
Part III—A Dangerous Detour: brings the case study to a close and the dialogue leads to an analysis of what happened to the characters. Includes a role-play activity and 2 questions.
Summary Questions: 9 summary questions for discussion and further analysis.

Overall Scenario

Frank and Joe are 24-year-old fraternal twins who share similar interests, including cycling. The brothers decide to attempt their first long-distance bicycling trip, retracing the journey of early American explorers Lewis and Clark to the Northwest. Along the way, serious problems arise. Students review normal physiology of organ systems as well as changes that occur during physical exertion to piece together an understanding of the medical condition of one of the cyclists. The pivotal point in the case is learning that seemingly harmless and legally available substances can lead to potentially fatal outcomes, affecting organ systems already taxed beyond normal limits. This case is designed for use in a human biology course after students have learned about the integumentary, respiratory, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and urinary systems.

Objectives

Understand physiological changes and adaptations organ systems make with physical exertion over an extended period of time.
Define the term “ergogenic aid” as applied in sports and exercise.
Identify the effects of caffeine on different organ systems.
Discuss the role of caffeine as an ergogenic aid in endurance sports.
Explain the side effects of caffeine intoxication.
Identify potential dangers of caffeine use in combination with other substances.
Practice critical thinking and analytical skills to make a diagnosis.
Examine legal implications of caffeine use, or “doping,” before competition.
Analyze ethical issues of using caffeine, or any ergogenic product, to enhance performance in amateur and professional sports.

I was surprised to see how popular this case study was!

Apparently, it is has been picked up by many schools and unis.

A quick online search showed this resource has been widely used and adapted as you can see here. Below are some examples of various reiterations.

Kristal Huber published her Prezi adaptation which included a few original additions:

GraduateWay extended the original case study to include two parts. The first part was mostly on par with the original case study. The second part is more developed in the role play and has more probing questions:

Educational Case Study. Lewis and Clark Reloaded: The 3,041-Mile Bike Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com. 27th May 2021.

For answers, I appreciate the factual simplicity and directness of student Valarie Parra’s approach, which was:

Educational Case Study. Lewis and Clark Reloaded: The 3,041-Mile Bike Trail. Bicycles Create Change.com. 27th May 2021.

I was surprised at how popular and well-used this resource was. It is well thought out and there are lots of details in there to get discussion and debates going as well as factual knowledge and concepts that in some courses might be considered ‘must-know’ content.

As a bike rider, I prefer to see bikes (and riders) portrayed in a positive light (and not having accidents or ‘health or medical issues’ while riding), but I can overlook that for the sake of pedagogy.

It is also nice to see a more advanced resource out there for adults learners as well.

More learning with bikes, please!

17/05/202121/07/2021

Myanmar: Less Walk – Excess global bike share surplus get kids to school

Myanmar: Walk Less - Excess global bike share surplus get kids to school. Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th May 2021.

An inspiring good news story from Myanmar where bicycles really are creating more positive social and environmental change!

Recently, I came across an article written by Phoe Wah in The Myanmar Times detailing a local tech entrepreneur’s social enterprise which uses global bike-sharing surplus to get more rural Myanmar kids to school.

Fantastic!

For more: see the Less Walk website for more and the Less Walk YouTube channel here.

Here is an overview of that the project below*.

Like many young students across Myanmar, Saw, Suu Lel had to walk for miles to reach school from his small Kayin village. Every morning he would wake at 5 am to make it to his morning class, and would only return at dusk after walking for another hour to get home. The long commute was an added source of stress for the young scholar as it took time away from his homework. Coming from a poor family, Saw, Suu Lel also wished to help his parents but the distance is too great to reach their workplace by foot. However, Saw, Suu Lel tedious routine or changed overnight. Like the other students in the village, he received a brand-new bicycle.

“I’m really happy about having an Obike (a former model of the bike-sharing company). I’ve never owned one“ said the seventh grader.

Since the day the bikes arrived, the morning streets in the village look very different. A line of yellow bikes, written by delighted students, makes its way through the main streets towards the school.

Mike Than Tun, the founder of the Myanmar technology company BOD Tech Venture is behind this goodwill gesture. Aside from investing in tech projects around the country, the 33-year-old businessman doubles as a philanthropist. His main area of interest is education.

“Education is the best way to alleviate poverty” is Mike Than Tun’s mantra. The bikes are aimed at giving school children a more efficient and fun way to get to school. According to Mike, many students drop out of school because when they move to middle and high school the schools are very far away from the villages with some walking up to 2 hours in the early morning. When it rains, walking times can be extended even further.

“Less walking will help the student save 80% of their travel time. We believe having Bikes will improve absenteeism and overall lateness giving more time for students to study and allow them to focus in class. It’s also safer for female students as I can reach home before dark,” said Mike Than Tun.

Having lived for nearly 18 years in Singapore, Mike Than Tun realized the extent of the problem during his travels to rural Myanmar. On his travels across the countryside, he remembered seeing lines of young students walking long distances to school. He realized that many families could not afford a bicycle and seeing a school bus was a rarity.

Myanmar imports large quantities of used bicycles from Thailand and Japan which can provide much-needed form of cheap transportation for some people. Despite the secondhand imports, many families still can’t afford a used bicycle.

His idea first took shape in 2018 when the Chinese bike-sharing provider Obike announce bankruptcy and their companies Ofo and Mobike withdrew from the Southeast Asia market. This left plenty of spare bicycles abandoned, available for scrap dealers or recycling plants.

“It is extremely heartbreaking to see the amount of money and resources wasted white sharing companies that all ended up at scrap. A new bicycle is estimated to cost between USD$ 150-200 to manufacture now all ends up as a huge social and public nuisance. It’s sad that rich nations might not know how to treasure such a simple necessity. But for people in need, it can make a huge impact and even be life-changing,” said Tun.

Through his initiative Less Walk.com, the philanthropist buys and imports the obsolete bike-sharing bicycles into Myanmar at a fraction of the original cost and distributes them for free to students living below the poverty line. Students who benefit the most typically walk over two kilometres a day and are enrolled in grade 6 – 10. Since last June, the Less Walk project has already imported 10,000 brand-new Obikes.

“We will modify the bicycles to add a seat in the back so that siblings can ride to school. We will also remove the digital lock and replace it with a regular lock for the students” Mike added.

So far, Mike’s charity has already helped students in Sagaing, Yangong, Mon and Thanithariyi regions and the founder intends to cover other places in Myanmar in the future. Words of his good deeds have travelled as far as America, Netherlands, Japan and China where people started to donate bikes to his project.

Mike hopes to expand the program from 10,000 bikes to 100,000 bikes in two years.

“We want to raise awareness that the circular economy is possible and one man’s problems can be another man’s opportunity” he said.

*Main content and all images sourced from Phoe Wah’s article and Less Walk. Some content is edited.

18/04/202114/06/2021

‘Ride Nation’: Australian national bike education program for schools

Not many people know about Ride Nation. Ride Nation is a national Australian school-based bike education program designed to get more students on bikes.

Ride Nation is pitched to schools as being ‘a fun and interactive learning experience that teaches young people to develop their riding skills and confidence – supporting kids in their independence and giving parents peace of mind.’

Ride Nation is also a wonderful exemplar of a comprehensive and well-thought bike education program that could be implemented more widely, or modified for different contexts.

The focus of Ride Nation is to improve engagement with physical activity and sport with bicycle riding. The aim here is to shift generational beliefs and behaviours from sedentary and inactive to be more active, happier and healthier. By working in schools, Sport Australia is using bike riding programs to reinforce and emphasise a healthy lifestyle, fundamental movement skills, environmental awareness and physical literacy – all of which are important skills for transitioning through life and into adulthood.

This program not only promotes regular and safe use bicycle riding for students, but also have a robust focus on building the skills and professional development of teachers and adults too. For example, they offer Cycling Australia School Teachers (CAST) and Introductory Skills Instructor (ISI) accredited programs.

Ride Nation website has heaps of links for all levels, types and styles of bike riding. There are links to clubs and providers a coaches community and a finder network.

There is also a Ride Nation blog, which is regularly updated stories of local families riding, ideas on where to go and other useful information.

The Ride Nation website has a ‘download zone’ where you can get free resources to get kids started with bike riding, a good load of teacher resources to help extend learnings from the courses, and coach resources to help assist with connecting and delivering these programs. These resources are well worth a look for anyone who has young kids learning to ride.

Ride Nation in-school bike progams develop key skills such as:

Movement and mobility skills

This program is 6 x 1-hour sessions. The focus here is on foundational bike handling skills. Using a game-sense/experience approach students are able to practice: riding in a straight line, riding through a salem course, riding slowly and in control, emergency braking, scanning (looking) left and right, standing and pedalling, and precision braking.

Confidence and hazard perception

This program develops rider situational awareness and response to the moving environment. This program has a mix of classroom content and riding activities so student-riders can understand, identify and respond to different hazards, such as bike control skills, precision maneuvering, signalling, scanning traffic/hazards, hazard perception, and entering roadways.

Exploring places

Where the previous sessions have a focus on road safety and skills, these final two sessions, Explore Places focus on riding opportunities in local communities. The core competencies in this module are: safe route planning and risk assessment, riding in groups, riding of active transportation and riding with other roads users.

I’d love to see Ride Nation being enshrined in the national curriculum of all Australian schools – after all, riding a bike is an essential life skill everyone should learn!

If you haven’t heard of Ride Nation before – check it out.

If you have kids in school or are a teacher – consider getting your school involved.

It is never too early to be safe and confident on a bike!

Happy riding all!

All images from Ride Nation

17/09/202021/11/2020

Korean teacher uses bike to teach classes for students missing out on online COVID lessons

Teachers who use bikes to make education and learning more equitable is always inspiring. Previously, I posted on Afghani teacher Saber Hosseini who rides his bicycle laden with books out to rural villages in the mountains so locals there who have no access to books can learn to read and have an opportunity to read. The story is about Korean teacher Rudra Rana who rides his bike out to teach kids who do not have access to online classes during COVID lockdown. Although the bike in this story is motorized, given the rough terrain, I’m counting Rudra’s story as an opportunity for all riders and bike types (motorized and pedal) to be better utilized in educational access. This story comes via Asian News International (posted by Amrita Kohli). Enjoy! NG.

Rudra Rana is a government school teacher in Chhattisgarh’s Korea district. He travels on his bike with a blackboard strapped to his back to educate children in ‘mohalla’ classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While speaking to ANI, Rana said that since many students did not have access to online education and all schools remained closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, he thought of educating them by bringing ‘school at their doorstep’.

“Very few students were able to join the online classes, so we started mohalla classes. So I thought of this method. This also ensures the safety of both teachers and students as there is no contact. As students can’t go to schools, I’m bringing education to their doorstep,” said Rana.

“I have also kept a blackboard, books and placards with me. I ring the bell and then students come, just like normal school routine, then students perform their prayers and we start with the classes as per syllabus,” he added.

Rana further said, “I travel from one region to another, gather students and educate them about coronavirus and their subjects. Even students are coming forward and showing interest while the locals are appreciating the initiative.”

“The umbrella on my bike represents a new way of educating students. It also protects me from heat and rain,” he added.

Speaking about the importance of these classes during the pandemic, Shilp, a student said: “We get to learn a lot from these classes. Sir comes here daily and teach us and also answer our doubts. We are enjoying this method of teaching.”

“Sir teaches us different concepts and later we study them on our own. We miss school but this concept is also nice as it feels just like we’re at school,” said Suraj, another student.

Earlier, a government school teacher Ashok Lodhi pleased many with his efforts of educating students by travelling on his bike with an LED TV to educate children via cartoons and music. He had also garnered heaps of praises for his unique initiative and was nicknamed ‘Cinema Wale Babu’ by the local residents of the Korea district.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Chhattisgarh government had earlier launched an online portal, ‘Padhai Tuhar Duar’, that provided education to students stuck at their homes amid the lockdown.

The state government took the scheme further in August and introduced ‘Padhai Tuhar Para’, which aims to teach children with the help of community in their localities and villages.

12/09/202010/11/2020

Bike lessons for COVID-19 homeschooling

COVID-19 has seriously disrupted habitual ways of how we move, learn, work and live.

COVID lockdowns mean that most Australian families now have their kids at home and many parents are readjusting to having to supplement schooling with educational activities at home.

Many parents have serious concerns about how COVID will impact their child’s educational outcomes. This is a concern for many educators as well.

Recently, Dr Sue Whatman, a colleague of mine at Griffith Uni School of Education, published an article for The Conversation entitled: Is it time for Australia to implement kids-only COVID-19 briefings? in which, among many good points, she highlights the pressure teachers and families are under and a need for kids to be included in age-appropriate briefings about COVID.

It is a great article and well worth a read.

It also got me thinking about the additional pressure many parents must be feeling at home now the responsibility for not only the health and wellbeing but now also for their child’s education.

Even for the most creative and resourceful parent this is a big ask.

Schools doing their best to help, but many parents are looking for additional materials, lessons and productive work to keep active minds and bodies on task and learning.

Bike lessons for COVID homeschooling

Regular readers of this blog know I have shared a number of other bike-related school resources including:

Bicycle math in primary school

Using bicycles to teach Systems Dynamics at Uni

How one of my students used bicycles for a Science/Engineering report

This week I came across Teach Starter which is an online teaching platform providing easily downloadable ready-to-use, curriculum-aligned teaching resources expertly designed for primary school teachers and their students.

This website is full of educational resources, videos and worksheets at all primary school levels and perfect for parents to use. There is a small cost for monthly access (under $10).

Thinking of my nieces and nephews, I typed in ‘Bike Riding’ to see what they had and was delighted to see a range of bike-related materials.

Of course, there are heaps of other topics, subjects and learning areas that are full to the brim, but for me, I was most keen to see they had on offer for families like mine, who are bike crazy.

Having resources that fit with family values and activities is a great way to keep kids engaged – and have a read to use worksheet is so helpful for parents who care deeply for their kids but might be close to tearing their hair meanwhile.

Here’s a look at some of the bike-related educational resources I found and there should be something for any primary school-aged rider.

And for all those parents out there – best of luck!

Remember, if it gets all too much – just take ’em for a ride!

All images courtesy of Teach Starter unless of otherwise specified.

30/06/202025/08/2020

New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity

As long-time readers of this blog know, along with Dr Sherilyn Lennon, I co-convene Griffith University’s New Materialism Special Interest Group (SIG). New Materialisms (NM) is an emerging post-qualitative research approach that has a significant take-up in education, queer and gender studies, environmental science and arts-based disciplines in particular, but is gaining traction more widely as well.

In our last session, we discussed 3 papers and one of the most essential questions plaguing NM: What is ‘new’ about New Materialisms? and then had an awesome presentation by Dr Natalie Lazaroo (Griffith Uni, Theatre Studies).

This month, we had a mix of three stimuli for the discussion. This was followed by a very moving presentation about a project exploring school workplace sexual harassment and the impact on teacher identity.

New Materialisms SIG: Workplace harassment and teacher identity. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st — Image by Franz Marc: Fighting Forms

Presentation: Workplace harassment and teacher identity

Our presenter had just submitted her Griffith EPS Master’s thesis two days before this meeting, so we were very grateful for her time.

In this session, she shared some insights, ‘data’ and narrative moments from her latest research project which was an exploration of sexual harassment on teacher identity.

Now that her Masters had been submitted, the researcher was interested in feedback from the group on what resonates and how she might be able to build the project into a PhD using a New Materialisms lens.

As a starting point, X was keen to explore how the sexual harassment complaint has its own agency.

As always, it was a very generative and thought-provoking session.

The presentation blew up away and gave us much to think about.

We applauded the bravery, resilience and strength that underpinned this work.

This presentation focused on the impact of sexual harassment on teacher identity and, in so doing, opened up conversations around gendered harassment in institutional settings. The aim is to lift the curtain on the unacknowledged, misunderstood and often overlooked. These discussions offer insights into the ways that identity, power and culture interrelate and operate in institutional settings and how to shed light on the gendered nature of workplace harassment from a position that is often silenced. Here, feelings of powerlessness, critical reflexivity, and scholarly reflection were used to interrogate construction of institutionalised norms and examine how language, subjectivity, and power-relations impact on gender.

This session resonated very strongly with SIG members as it honours the insider’s perspective of the social complexities and challenges many women face in institutional workplaces.

It was certainly very moving – and left us all with much to consider – individually and collectively.

New Materialisms Reading/Discussion

For this meeting we had a mix of 3 stimuli.

First was a Taylor & Ivinson’s (2013) editorial for a journal special which was quoted from in the May meeting and flagged for the SIG to follow up. We also had a reading by Gamble, Hanan & Nail (2019) from the last meeting that helps trace the NM origins, epistemological developments and contested space. Lastly, we used a 30 min YouTube video of Iris van de Turin in which she discusses diffractive reading and asks questions about the spatiotemporality of diffractive reading: where and when does diffraction happen in reading processes?

We used the readings and our own knowledge and experiences to explore our central question of: ‘What lines of flight emerge for you?’

We used this key question to pick at the seams of NM and how we can engage with, and apply, New Materialist methodologies. Here is a sneak peak at some of our machinations.

Session resources

Editorial: Taylor, C. A., & Ivinson, G. (2013). Material feminisms: New directions for education. Gender and education 25(6), 995-670.

Reading: Gamble, C. N., Hanan, J. S., & Nail, T. (2019). What Is New Materialism?. Angelaki, 24(6), 111-134.

Youtube Video: Iris van der Tuin – Reading diffractive reading: were and when does diffraction happen?

30/11/201904/12/2019

Bikes help break the poverty cycle

For this blog post, we are looking at how bicycles are being integrated into two programs run by Australian-based INGO Global Hand Charity.

Global Hands Charity

Global Hand Charity (GHC) is an Australian international NGO founded in 2008 that works to improve educational opportunities for children in remote communities in Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and now Cambodia.

During their initial programs, GHC quickly realised that before children could learn, basic needs like access to drinking water and toilets or WASH (Water and Sanitation and Hygiene) needed to be addressed. So before working on education, they built wells, toilets and showers near the schools before introducing learning interventions.

GHC have a strong supporter base and links to a number of Australian universities (like Curtin University). 100% of all money raised by GHC go directly to people in need. They are completely volunteer-run and do not take any money for administrations costs. Their running costs are supported by government grants.

Two of Global Hands Charity projects involve bicycles. First, GHC’s Education program Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty program has provided bicycles to remote communities to help local Laotian children access schooling. Second, Trade school: building a sustainable future is a bicycle repair and trade skill workshop space to upskill children with diff-abilities (deaf and mute).

Bikes help break the poverty cycle. Bicycles Create Change.com 30th Nov 2019. — Schoolgirls in Laos

Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty program

In remote villages where schools are scarce, many kids walk on average 4 hours a day to attend school. Some travel up to 8 hours return. With a bike, these same children can ride the 10-15 km to get to their local Secondary School in less time, more safely and still have the energy to learn.

Currently in Laos, only 50% of students attend secondary school because they are usually further away. Most primary schools are located in villages, so the travel is less and attendance is usually about 85%. The transition from primary to secondary school is a critical aspect of continuing education – and bikes are a way to address this issue.

To test the program, initially 50 bikes were donated by GHC as well as another 50 bikes going to Sister Catherine’s Trade School (Laos). Since then, the program has expanded and more bikes have been distributed.

Trade school: building a sustainable future

GHC has built a bike and carpentry shed at the Disabled Children’s School for Deaf and Mute in Luang Prabang (Laos). The Shed is a place for students to learn how to repair and service bicycles donated through GHC’s Bike Program. This program is specifically for the deaf-mute boys at the school.

So far over 100 bikes have been purchased to enable children in remote villages to attend secondary school up to 20 km away. Working alongside the Bicycle Program, students who extend skills in bike repairs and carpentry skills as a way to build skills for future employment opportunities.

Another Trade School project taught girls commercial cooking, hospitality, hair and beauty skills to reduce the risk of girls crossing the border into Thailand and ending up in sex work on living on the street.

GHC Core Programs

Global Hand Charity has 4 core programs: Education, Schools & Buildings, Healthcare and Community. Here is an overview of some of their initiatives:

Education

Textbooks: Books for education (Laos)
Professional Learning: Teacher Education (Vietnam)
Bicycles Program: Bicycles break poverty Program (Laos)

Schools & Buildings

Dormitories: A Safe place for girls to realise dreams (Vietnam)
Community Centres: Community hubs for families (Laos)
Trade School: Building a sustainable future (Laos)

Healthcare

Deaf & Mute Orphanage: Hearing for the first time (Laos)
Mobile Eye Care Camps: Seeing a way out of poverty (Laos, Sri Lanka)
Medical Visits & Funding: Making lives easier (Laos)

Community

Clean Water: Tippy Tap saves lives (Universal)
Girls Hygiene Project: Laos girl power (Laos)
Hygiene Bags: Hoikor Bags (Laos)

Helping others

Global Hands Charity is committed to making positive change for rural kids in Laos and Sri Lanka which are among some of the poorest countries in the world.

In these rural villages, there are no doctors or hospitals and children stop going to school because it is too far and too difficult to walk.

GHC is providing community nurses and running free medical clinics in rural community centers, building schools, learning centers, dormitories and providing bicycles so kids can access education. They also provide specialist educational and medical programs, such as vision and hearing initiatives, that are not available in many parts of South East Asia.

Organisations such as Global Hands Charity can help improve education, employment and health opportunities for locals living in remote areas– and it is great to see bicycles playing an important part in these projects.