PhD Researcher Intern Wanted

As part of my PhD research and work at Griffith University, I get a few opportunities to work on research projects. At the moment, I am at capacity and full workload so no new work for me. But one PhD researcher/ intern vacancy come across my desk this week I thought might be interesting for a few Brisbane-based PhD readers. Here it is. Good luck! NG.

PhD Researcher Intern Wanted. Bicycles Create Change.com. 4th April, 2019.

Project details

  • Applications Close: 24th April 2019
  • Reference: APR – 849A
  • Payment: $3,000 per month stipend
  • Location: Spring Hill, Brisbane QLD (although travel may be required)
  • Duration: 4 months
  • Proposed start date: May/June 2019
  • Contract company: APR Intern

Project Background

Veterans, particularly younger veterans without Gold Cards, report significant challenges in accessing appropriate General Practice support, as well as medical specialists related to chronic medical conditions and surgical services. Finding medical specialists who understand the package of health issues faced by veterans can be a challenge. Finding medical specialists who are also willing to engage with the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) payment system, where healthcare is eligible for DVA funding, is a second and significant challenge.

Often, veterans report that they have attempted to navigate the complex civil healthcare system only to find their referred specialist is unwilling to provide services at DVA rates. This forces the veteran to return to their General Practitioner for a new referral, or in many cases, veterans drop out of the health system until their condition deteriorates where healthcare costs are known to escalate.

Research to be Conducted

In Phase 1 of the project, a series of questionnaires, surveys and feedback tools will be applied to the younger veteran target population. These questionnaires and surveys will be delivered through a combination of face-to-face, telephone and online survey instruments. Using a combination of Likert scale and open questions, these surveys will allow the team to refine the set of issues and barriers for the second Phase of the investigation.

In Phase 2 of the health project, the project team will combine the results of desktop research with the initial survey results attained in Phase 1 to further refine the areas of investigation. The Project Team will then interview and survey a number of health specialists to understand their attitudes to veteran healthcare and issues they see in providing care to this population.

Deep-dive interviews will also be conducted with younger veterans in this second phase of the project to better understand the summary issues and barriers identified through the surveys conducted in Phase 1.

Skills Required

We are looking for a PhD student with the following:

ESSENTIAL

  • Mixed method research experience, but particularly qualitative research
  • Strong experience in stakeholder engagement and communication

DESIRABLE

  • Health system understanding and experience

Expected Outcomes

This project will result in a clear understanding of the issues and barriers preventing ease of access to civil healthcare for younger veterans, as well as their attitudes toward access of both GP and medical specialist healthcare.

The results of this project will then allow a clear roadmap of strategies to address barriers to access, from both the provider side (health specialists), younger veterans and for funders (DVA).

We anticipate that the project will also involve recommendations and strategies around care coordination and case management, given the complexity of the civil healthcare system, and such strategies would also include their own engagement and communication strategies to increase the awareness of suitable services for younger veterans.

Additional Details

The intern will receive $3,000 per month of the internship, usually in the form of stipend payments.

It is expected that the intern will primarily undertake this research project during regular business hours, spending at least 80% of their time on-site with the industry partner.  The intern will be expected to maintain contact with their academic mentor throughout the internship either through face-to-face or phone meetings as appropriate.

The intern and their academic mentor will have the opportunity to negotiate the project’s scope, milestones and timeline during the project planning stage.

We recommend that you liaise with the Graduate Research School (GRS) and/or Higher Degree Research (HDR) Placements Office at your university, prior to submitting an application, to validate your eligibility to participate in the APR.Intern program.

PhD Researcher Intern Wanted. Bicycles Create Change.com. 4th April, 2019.
Image: Graduatetoemployment.com

Writing an Annotated Bibliography

At some stage in most postgrad programs, students will need to complete an Annotated Bibliography.  

The style, format, content and purpose of an annotated bibliography differs depending on intent, discipline, timing and approach.

I completed an Ann Bib of 15 key feminist New Materialism articles when I reframed my PhD theoretical framework.

It was a very valuable exercise. Not only did it require me to be judicious in selecting the articles, I put to work a different set of reading skills, applied critical appraisal to each, achieved a deep learning about the topic, and it formed to guts of my dissertation’s Theoretical Perspectives (Chapter 3).

Some of my Postgrad students have been asking about how to do an Annotated Bibliography – so here are some ideas on how to approach it.

Writing an Annotated Bibliography. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st Jan, 2019.
Image: Skidmore Library

What is an annotated bibliography?

Annotation = notes (critical notes and evaluative comments)

Bibliography = a list of readings/research sources

An annotated bibliography is a summary account of the available empirical research and literature on a specific topic.

As well as a general outline of the research source, it also includes your own concise analysis, reflections, critiques, evaluation or any other comments and notes of each source as to how the source is linked/useful for your own research project.

Devising an Annotated Bibliography

If you go online (academic websites and YouTube are a good place to start) there is a plethora of information about on how to do an Annotated Bibliography.

One quick caveat regarding the information below.

There is no one way to do an annotated bibliography.

The following format is my own enmeshed format that suits my interest, needs and style. The content, length and focus for your purpose may differ – so be sure to do you own homework and experiment.

If you are doing an Anno Bib for a uni course – make sure you consult your supervisor, tutor or manager to see how/what elements best suit your project or what style they recommend.

I developed my own format based on three imputs: my own ideas/needs, some ideas gleamed from Prof Robert Talbert, and info from UNSW

1. My Enmeshed Annotated Bibliography

I wanted a longer format Anno Bib because I was reading complex theoretical and praxis articles in-depth.

I included a few additional elements: what type of article it is, how many times it has been cited, my own questions the article raised, interesting terms/concepts and vocab with the page number included for quick referencing if needed later.

Here are the elements in my Anno Bib.

  • Full APA Reference details
  • Article: This is a (style/type) article*. This article has been cited XXX times.
  • The context is …
  • The ‘big’ guiding question/s from this field this paper is addressing is
  • The Lit Review background focuses …
  • The specific RQ of this article is
  • The methods used
  • The authors conclude/results are that ..
  • The strengths of this text is ..
  • However, the limitations are ..
  • The authors did/not answer the RQ they posed by…  (optional)…
  • Some unique or helpful special features of this article were ..
  • Other relevance or usefulness
  • How this paper relates to my study
  • Useful ideas or key terms
  • Ideas & Questions
Writing an Annotated Bibliography. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st Jan, 2019.

* The style or type of article are:

  • Data-driven papers
  • Theory building/ Theory testing
  • Conscious raising papers
  • Agenda Setting papers
  • Position papers
  • Methodology
  • Review article – comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic
  • Perspective, opinion, and commentary – presents the author’s viewpoint on the interpretation, analysis, or methods used in a particular study
  • Original research – hypothesis, background study, methods, results, interpretation of findings, and a discussion of possible implications
  • Clinical case study/Clinical trial

2. Prof Robert Talbert

Prof. Robert Talbert is one of my favorite academic bloggers (alongside Dr Inger Mewburn of the Thesis Whisper and Dr Pat Thompson at Patter).

Prof. Talbert uses a Get Things Done! (GTD) approach to reading research articles, which I find very productive, so I’ve gleamed a few ideas from his approach.

Here’s an example of Prof. Talbert’s approach.

Writing an Annotated Bibliography. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st Jan, 2019.
Image: Prof. Robert Talbert

3. UNSW

UNSW recommends that contents of an annotated bibliography can contain all or part of these elements (depending on the word limit and the content of the sources).

  • Provide the full bibliographic citation
  • Indicate the background of the author(s)
  • Indicate the content or scope of the text
  • Outline the main argument
  • Indicate the intended audience
  • Identify the research methods (if applicable)
  • Identify any conclusions made by the author/s
  • Discuss the reliability of the text
  • Highlight any special features of the text that were unique or helpful (charts, graphs etc.)
  • Discuss the relevance or usefulness of the text for your research
  • Point out in what way the text relates to themes or concepts in your course
  • State the strengths and limitations of the text
  • Present your view or reaction to the text

This is a comprehensive approach to critically reading literature. I like the idea of including the background of the author – which is good for tracing a concept’s genealogy or the development of a prominent author’s argument.

Here’s a UNSW example of an Anno Bib, but for postgrad or PhD purposes, this is far too simplistic, but you can see the general idea/format.

Writing an Annotated Bibliography. Bicycles Create Change.com 31st Jan, 2019.
Image: UNSW

There are as many ways to do an annotated bibliography as there are students. Have an explore online to see what elements you need to include – and be sure to talk others (especially a supervisor or tutor) on other recommended formats.

Undertaking and annotated bibliography is a very worthwhile activity to get to know a topic in detail – and it is a very necessary and sought-after advanced academic skill.

Best of luck if you are conducting an annotated bibliography!

I won a CSSS scholarship!

I won a CSSS Scholarship! Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th Dec, 2018.
Image: C F Giving

Hooray! Great news!

Two months ago I applied for a Griffith Continuing Student Scholarship (CSSS) – and today I got notification that my application was successful!

Woohoo!

This means that after three years of doing my PhD part-time, as of January 1st 2019, I’m going full time for the next two years and paid a stipend to complete my research!

 Awesome!!

The scholarship means that I can take a step back from teaching so much and focus solely on completing my PhD and publishing a few journal articles.

I put the CSSS application in about two months ago. I worked hard on it and did the right thing by seeking advice from a couple of academics on how to boost my chances. I made edits and changes as needed and then submitted it with fingers crossed knowing because the CSSS is quite competitive.

I won a CSSS Scholarship! Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th Dec, 2018.
Image: Ramzi Hachicho

Getting the call

I was in a shopping center at an Apple store when I got the call. I was putting my laptop for service and sitting at the customer desk with all the other customers.  My help I have just gone up the back for a couple minutes so I took the call when my phone rang.  It was GGRS letting me know that my scholarship application was successful.  What a great call to get!

After I hung up the phone I couldn’t help myself.

I turned around to face the store, and no one in particular, and called out excitedly to anyone who cared to hear:

 “I just won a super competitive scholarship which means I’ll be paid to complete my PhD research for the next two years!”

 The store erupted into unified joyous celebration of clapping and cheering and people’s congratulations.

The couple next to me was smiling broadly and the woman said:

Can I give you a hug? It sounds like a hug-worthy event.

Hells yeah, said I! It was a lovely hug and a very memorable moment.

Three years into my PhD and I know how important it is for motivation and progress to celebrate milestones and achievements.

And this is certainly one to celebrate.

I won a CSSS Scholarship! Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th Dec, 2018.
Image: Griffith University

 So what is the CSSS?

Griffith University offers a limited number of merit-based scholarships are available to continuing HDR candidates who have successfully confirmed their candidature and are progressing well with their research. The Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme is designed to provide financial support to outstanding HDR candidates, with the purpose of accelerating progress to thesis submission.

My application entailed two steps.

  1. I had to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) outlining my academic basis for scholarship eligibility (i.e. qualifications, publications etc.), confirming I meet all other eligibility criteria, and provide a referee report from my current principal supervisor.
  2. Once the EOI was assessed by the HDR Convenor, you can then submit an application.

I had discussed with Dr Christine McDonald (our much respected HDR Convenor) that I was going for this scholarship. She was fully supportive. She gave me some excellent advice on some extra bits to include in the EOI and application and went into bat for me during the moderation meeting where they ranked and argued over which applications the committee was going to award scholarships to. I have no doubt that my application success had a large part to do with her input. Thanks so much Christine!

The application was quite intense. I had to put together:

  • a covering letter
  • a Continuing Student Scholarship Scheme application form
  • a referee report from your current principal supervisor
  • an updated research outline and completion plan
  • an updated CV
  • evidence of research publications or other research outputs (achieved since original application).

The whole application took far longer than I excepted. But of course, it was well worth the effort. Not only did I get clarity around my PhD progress, but the end result was well worth the initial effort outlaid.

I am super excited about going full-time and super motivated to make the most of this opportunity.

2019, here I come!

English Australia Conference 2018

English Australia Conference 2018. Bicycles Create Change.com. 20th September, 2018
@English_Aus on Twitter for #EAConf18

This week, I am in Sydney attending the annual, national English Australia Conference (EAC) 2018.

Earlier this year at the EA (QLD) PD Fest, our Bicycles Create Change session won the QLD Bright Ideas Award.

So, thanks to Pearson and the EA Queensland Branch, I’m in Sydney representing our BCC internship team session at the conference.

I am very honoured and very excited!

English Australia Conference 2018. Bicycles Create Change.com. 20th September, 2018EAC 2018 Day 2 Program

Session Presentation:

From EAS to Collaborative Internship:

Lessons and insights where Bicycles Create Change

Many international students undertake English and Academic Skills (EAS) and DEP bridging classes to get into university with the ultimate aim of getting a job in their field of study.

There is a perception that English classrooms are for learning English, University tutorials are for discipline-specific content, and the workplace is for vocational skills. Internships are one-way students can become more work-ready. However, a number of studies confirm that current tertiary students lack generic employability skills (ACNielsen Research Services 2000; ACCI/BCA 2002), an issue that is even more challenging for international students.

I was curious to explore what a career development program that specifically catered to the academic, vocational and personal needs of the international students in my DEP classes might look like.

This presentation is a brief overview of the origins, activities and outcomes of this exploration: The Bicycles Create Change.com 2016 Summer Internship Program.

Program background

This Internship was a volunteer, eight-week, collaborative internship that ran from January 4th to February 27th, 2016. It required participants to fulfil 80-110 working hours.

The blog Bicycles Create Change.com (which has over 110,000 readers locally and internationally) served as the professional platform for work activities as it was a low-cost, high-exposure, authentic, skills-integrated outlet to showcase work.

The program was semi-structured with space to modify and self-initiative content. Hours were achieved individually, in pairs and as a team. The team met for one full day each week to review tasks, run workshops, refine skills and to discuss progress.

English Australia Conference 2018. Bicycles Create Change.com. 20th September, 2018

Theoretical underpinnings

This program integrated key theories including, scaffolding new skills (Vygotsky 1987), the need for authentic vocational guidance, participation and engagement (Billet, 2002), promoting creative thinking and expression (Judkins, 2015) and building on foundational DEP EAS skills and competencies (GELI, n.d.).

Origins and participants

The four volunteer participants varied in ages, backgrounds and degree levels and disciplines. The 4 volunteers for this program were; Sachie (female, 23, Japanese, Philosophy undergrad), Mauricio (male, 33, Columbian, IT PG), Juliet (female, 37, Indian, Special Education PG) and Gabriel (male, 42, Cameroonian, Social Work PG).

All participants had just graduated from the Griffith English Language Institute (GELI) 10-week DEP program in December.

Semester 1 2016 did not commence until Feb 28th. This left a gap of 9 weeks before university started, which is when the internship was undertaken.

Key considerations

There were are a number of key considerations built into this program:

  • Strengthening self-confidence and independent learning
  • Experience with unique, transferable and challenging skills
  • Fostering creativity and valuing artistic expression
  • Emphasis on developing reflection, collaboration and planning skills
  • Integrating EAS, vocation and personal skills to a range of contexts
  • Promoting initiative and the ability to generate own opportunities
  • Increasing employability, CV and work-ready skills
  • Authentic interactions and connection with locals/community
  • Create a comprehensive evidence portfolio of work, skills and achievements
  • To have fun applying skills in a challenging and productive way

Program design

The focus was to build on current competencies, develop new skills, build a professional portfolio of experience (and evidence), and for participants to become more confident in initiating their own opportunities and outputs.

This program minimised the ‘daily’ supervision and ‘student’ mentality of traditional internships to instead put supported autonomy firmly into the hands of each participant, who ultimately self-managed their own workload.

Tailored experiences (below) provided exposure to a collection of advanced competencies that are cumulatively not commonly experienced in other internships or classes.

The program integrated three main competency streams: EAS, Professional Skills and Individual Development. The program was scaffolded, so tasks became progressively more challenging and required greater participant self-direction to complete, as seen below:

Unique features

Participants undertook a series of challenging tasks, including:

  • Develop and present a professional development workshop (individually and in pairs)
  • Undertake an individual project that resulted in an output (ie. Crowdfunding project, publication)
  • Self-identify an industry leader to cold call for a 20-min introductory meeting
  • Complete a Coursea MOOC on an area of their choosing
  • Research a social issue to creatively present as an individually ‘art bike’ as part of the team Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum
  • Research and produce five original blog posts on how bicycles are being used to create more positive community change in their home country
  • Weekly meeting with an assigned independent industry expert mentor
  • Join an industry association and attend events
  • Series of community activities: vox pops; invite locals to contribute to a community storybook; solicit locals to donate bicycles; deliver their work at a local community garden to the general public as part of the Art Bike Public Forum; conduct an individual public presentation
  • Complete an Internship Portfolio (documentation of work and reflection journal that documents, audits and reviews tasks, opportunities and skills)
  • The BCC Internship Team: Public Art Bike Social Issue Presentation and Forum.  Sunday 13th March 2016.

Takeaways:

There were many lessons learnt from this project and given time constraints, only a few are mentioned in the presentation. Some key takeaways were:

  • Provide transferable and unique opportunities to develop ‘generic employability’, critical reflection and creative problem-solving skills
  • Provide integrated, genuine and practical ways to apply skills
  • Celebrate strategies, ‘sticky points’, ‘misfires’ ‘pregnant opportunities’ and successes
  • Make tasks more challenging and higher profile
  • Participants loved having more contact with the local community
  • Adaptations are needed for aspects to be taken up by educational institutions
  • Work from the end result backwards (CV and skill development)
  • Have visible, productive and meaningful evidence (or body) of work
  • Foster ability to independently create own opportunities and networks
  • Honour unexpected outcomes
  • Change the mindset to change to experience

References:

ACCI/BCA (2002) Employability skills for the future, DEST, Canberra.

ACNielsen Research Services (2000) Employer satisfaction with graduate skills: research report, Evaluations and Investigations Programme Higher Education Division, Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA).

Billett, S. (2002). Workplace pedagogic practices: Participation and learning. Australian Vocational Education Review, 9(1), 28-38.

Griffith English Language Institute (GELI): Direct Entry Program. (n.d.) Retrieved from: https://www.griffith.edu.au/international/griffith-english-language-institute.

Judkins, R. (2015). The art of creative thinking. Hachette UK.

Lyons, M. (2006). National Prosperity, Local Choice and Civic Engagement: A New Partnership between Central and Local Government for the 21st Century. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

McLennan, B., & Keating, S. (2008, June). Work-integrated learning (WIL) in Australian universities: The challenges of mainstreaming WIL. In ALTC NAGCAS National Symposium (pp. 2-14).

Vygotsky, L. (1987). Zone of proximal development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, 5291, 157.

Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth world

This weekend, I’m at a 2-day HDR Research Conference collaboration between the University of Queensland and Griffith University.  At this conference, we are discussing how to interrogate and reconcile research paradoxes where notions of justice, integrity and impact in an increasingly complex post-truth world. I’m presenting a session (see below) as well as being a Plenary Panelist.

Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth. Bicycles Create Change.com. 16th September, 2018

Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth world

UQ & GU Postgraduate Research Community Conference

2018 has seen the ascendance of post-truth politics also known as post-factual and post-reality. Post-truth is opposed to the formal conventions of debate, the contestation of ideas and the falsifiability of theories and statements. In a post-truth era what reigns supreme are fallacies, talking points, leaked information, and so-called fake news fueled by unfettered social and traditional media, and a highly-polarised political spectrum. What are the implications of post-truth to educational research that values social justice, ethical integrity, the search for the good of the community as well as that of the individual? How will research and its tenets of validity, reliability and trustworthiness respond to the challenges brought upon by a post-truth world?

My presentation: The good Samaritan and little white lies: False news, transparency and project challenges of researching NGOs.

Keywords: INGOs, transparency, self-reporting, M & E mechanisms

Around the world, thousands of International non-government organisations (INGOs) provide much-needed support and aid to those in need. But in the eyes of the general public, perceptions of INGOs are mixed. Some perceive INGOs to be ‘good Samaritans’, while others question project motives and management. INGOs continue to face criticism in a number of key areas: project practices, corruption, hiring policies, salaries of top executives, distribution of donated funds and lack of transparency. For researchers who work with INGOs, this adds an additional layer of complexity to the research process and research relationships.

This session will explore how factors such as unsourced media reports, reliability of M & E mechanisms, use of grey literature and the legitimacy of self-reported outcomes has equally enriched and problematized the aid and INGO research space. Using key examples and my own INGO experience, I will reflect on ethical and methodological ‘white lies’ that can arise when researching with INGOs.

Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth. Bicycles Create Change.com. 16th September, 2018Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth. Bicycles Create Change.com. 16th September, 2018Reconciling research paradoxes: Justice in a post-truth. Bicycles Create Change.com. 16th September, 2018

My first book review is published

My first book review is published. Bicycles Create Change.com. 17th Jan, 2018.
Source: Springer

Taking a quick side-step from our usual posts of all things bikey into the straighty-one-eighty world of academia, I was delighted this week to be notified that my first book review has been published!

Woohoo!

I found this book review a little nerve-racking to do, for two main reasons.

  1. The book I reviewed was written by two leading scholars in the field, so it was comprehensive,  clearly organised, informative, interesting and very well written.
  2.  It was the first time I have collaborated with my PhD supervisor Prof. Singh on a writing project.

Overall it was a very positive experience.

I enjoyed reading the book, learning some new skills (like how to use Routledge’s online proofreading software system) and having to opportunity to develop different academic writing skills and genres

Most of all, I am so grateful to Prof Singh, who invited me to work on the project with her so I could extend my academic skills, networks and exposure.

She is a wonderful role model and a very positive and inspiring PhD supervisor.

I was previously advised that while undertaking a PhD, it is important to recognise and celebrate the smaller stages of the whole research process  – which this first most certainly qualifies!

So here it is!


Ginsberg, N., & Singh, P. (2018). Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education. Journal of Education Policy, 1-2. doi:10.1080/02680939.2017.1420310

Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education

In their book titled Consultants and consultancy: the case of Education, Gunter and Mills explore how the growth of a consultant class, (a faction of the middle class and comprised of knowledge actors) is working to accelerate the privatization of public education in the United Kingdom. This class faction of the new middle class is redefining what the authors call ‘knowledges, knowings, knowledgeabilities and knowers’ (p 12). The authors have considerable experience and expertise in the research area and this is put to good use in the selection of content and theoretical approaches.

The book focuses on the role and implications on the UK public education service of ‘The 4Cs’ (Consultants, Consulting, Consultation and Consultancy). Each of these 4Cs are defined in detail and refer to actors, practices, exchange relationships and power relations. In doing so, this book provides a valuable exposition of the increasing commodification of knowledge and its implications for how educational policy is being designed and enacted.

The authors are unsettled by the ubiquitous and increasing privatization of the UK education process. In recognizing that ‘the 4Cs are generated by privatization, they create and develop it, and are beneficiaries of it’ (p 95), the book seeks to warn there is ‘no alternative to the privatization of public education’ (p 93) and the ‘creeping commercialization within schooling’ (p 93) will continue, as will the ‘setting up and development of a branded and billable education’ p (129).

The central premise of the book is to raise greater awareness and critical analysis for how the 4Cs are impacting educational management and provision. To highlight this, the authors present their arguments in a clearly structured way, with the book being divided into two main parts. After defining key terms and setting the scene in the introductory chapter, the first part of the book consists of three chapters, where the role and contributions of ‘educational experts’ in the form of corporate consultants, university researchers and industry professionals, are succinctly clarified and unpacked. Part two of the book consists of five chapters. In each of the chapters empirical data generated from three large scale studies is presented with the aid of concepts derived from key sociologists of education (Bernstein and Bourdieu) to think about the processes and issues involved in the generation and management of knowledge within education policy and practice. This section describes the ways in which policies and practices of the ‘consultocracy’ are shaping educational dynamics, tactics and reform.

The book has implications for education researchers working not only in the UK, but also Australia and elsewhere that have witnessed the rise of new middle class factions of consultants. Specifically, the book explores the notion of ‘knowledge regimes’ and ‘knowledge politics’ by drawing on theoretical concepts from Bourdieu and Bernstein as thinking tools to explore the ways in which new knowledge forms produced by the consultancy class (consultocracy) are reaching into schools, classrooms and homes. From Bernstein (2000) the authors draw on the concepts of boundary, pedagogic device, pedagogic fields and recontextualisation. From Bourdieu (1992; 2000 ) the authors draw on concepts of misrecognition, logic of practice, codified knowledge as doxa of self-evident truths, habitus, capital and the illusio of the game.

A limitation of the book, however, is that the work of these theorists is not systematically used to present new insights about the marketization of public education. For example, Bernstein has written about the emergence of new middle class factions engaged in processes of symbolic control (see Robertson & Sorenson, 2017; Singh 2015; Singh, 2017). The book needed to provide more detail about the ways in which factions within the middle class positioned in the fields of symbolic control and economic production are struggling over the pedagogic device of knowledge about public education. The authors provide a deterministic account around the production of new knowledge regimes, and what is thinkable, doable within these regimes. However, as Bernstein (2000) clearly indicated the pedagogic device is a site of ongoing struggle because the stakes are high. Ultimately the pedagogic device governs modes of consciousness and conscience – what is knowable, doable, and thinkable in terms of public education.

This book constitutes one of the sites of struggle over the pedagogic device of public education. Consequently, the book and this review are actors in ongoing struggles over ideas about the re/form of public education.

References

Bernstein, B. 2000. Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. Theory, Research, Critique. Revised Edition. 2nd ed. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers Inc.

Bourdieu, P. 1992. The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Bourdieu, P. 2000. Pascalian Meditations. Oxford: Polity Press.

Robertson, S. L., and T. Sorenson. 2017. “Global Transformations of the State, Governance and Teachers’ Labour: Putting Bernstein’s Conceptual Grammar to Work.” European Educational Research Journal, 1, 19.

Singh, P. 2015. “Performativity and Pedagogising Knowledge: Globalising Educational Policy Formation, Dissemination and Enactment.” Journal of Education Policy 30 (3): 363384. doi:10.1080/02680939.2014.961968.

Singh, P. 2017. “Pedagogic Governance: Theorising with/after Bernstein.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 38 (2): 144163. doi:10.1080/01425692.2015.1081052.