As knowledge for competitive advantage develops beyond the transfer of simple data and information to focus on knowledge that has meaning, values, purpose and a more integrated aspect, higher education is required to graduate students able to operate in a more worldly manner across disciplines. Government's response to this need has been to demand…

This article builds on our ongoing work in conceptualising an "evaluative stance" framework to assist in understanding how leaders in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) make decisions about the selection of professional development options for themselves and their staff. It introduces the notion that evaluative…

This paper reports the findings of a study designed to assess 16 experienced geography teachers' epistemological beliefs about learning and teaching and their awareness of common alternative conceptions held by students. The investigation forms part of a larger study exploring the ways in which experienced geography teachers use their knowledge of…

Criminal justice education is a relatively new program in higher education in many countries, and its curriculum and parameters remain unsettled. An exploratory study investigated whether threshold concepts theory provided a useful lens by which to explore student understandings of this multidisciplinary field. Eight high-performing final-year…

This article is the guest editors' introduction to the special issue "Language in Epistemic Access: Mobilising Multilingualism and Literacy Development for More Equitable Education in South Africa". The issue offers complementary perspectives on improving epistemic access for all learners but especially those whose home language does not…

This study assessed the quality of preservice primary teachers' written arguments in an open inquiry laboratory task. An analysis of the features of the laboratory task was also undertaken to ascertain the characteristics of the task that facilitated or constrained the development of participants' written arguments. Australian preservice primary…

A systemic theory of gifted education, and in particular the notion of the actiotope receives surprising support from an epistemology until recently largely unrecognized and undervalued--that of Australian Aborigines. As part of an ongoing transdisciplinary collaborative research practice, a group Yolngu (north east Arnhem Land Aboriginal) elders…

Globalisation has brought increasing diversity in student populations and therefore the potential for different sorts of knowledges to enter the academy. At the same time there is heightened surveillance brought about in response to the pressures of global competition, including increasing standardisation, marketisation and performativity…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on ideas that have been published in the "Journal of Educational Administration" over the last 50 years that present perspectives on the nature of educational administration and its various aspects, that are alternatives to the mainstream systems-scientific view of…

This paper explores the reception of Indigenous perspectives and knowledges in university curricula and educators' social responsibility to demonstrate cultural competency through their teaching and learning practices. Drawing on tenets of critical race theory, Indigenous standpoint theory and critical pedagogies, this paper argues that the…

Using epistemic perspectives as a theoretical framework, this study investigated Australian pre-service teachers' perspectives about knowing, knowledge and children's learning, as they engaged in a semester-long unit on philosophy in the classroom. During the field experience component of the unit, pre-service teachers were required to teach at…

There is strong political and social interest in values education both internationally and across Australia. Investment in young children is recognised as important for the development of moral values for a cohesive society; however, little is known about early years teachers' beliefs about moral values teaching and learning. The aim of the…

This essay raises questions about how language educators might construct and further develop their epistemology of practice in and through the situations in which they work from day to day. The occasion for this paper is our work as guest editors of a special issue of "L-1: Educational Studies in Language and Literature," when we invited…

Preparing medical students to be agentic learners is held to be increasingly important. This is because beyond sequencing, enhancing and varying of experiences across university and health care settings, medical students require epistemological agency to optimize their learning. The positioning of students in these settings, and their engagement…

In this presentation I will share some reflections on how I have dealt with methodology design in the early stages of my PhD candidature leading up to data collection. I will particularly focus on the dilemmas that I have encountered so far as I search for a methodology that would allow me to ethically report on the educational experiences of…