Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Understandng and responding to civil unrest

Following recent civil unrest, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has appointed the founder and patron of the the UK based Centre for Social Justice and former leader of the Conservative Party,  the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, to jointly lead a cross-government programme of action to deal with Britain’s violent street gang culture. Noel Pearson described Smith as, 'the first politician, and first senior public servant, who has struck me as having a profound understanding of social disadvantage at the ground level'. Smith is someone who is having an influence under the banner of social justice. For more information on the views espoused by Smith and the Centre for Social Justice read the report, Dying to Belong (2009)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Cuban literacy at 50

A public forum on Cuban Literacy at 50 was held in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney on Friday 15 April 2011.

Links to parts of the forum are pasted below. More resources from the forum can be accesses by clicking on this link: Cuban literacy at 50

The speakers included:
  • Ezequiel Morales, brigadista, Cuban Literacy Campaign, 1961; director, Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples, Granma province, Cuba
  • Dr Eulalia Reyes, Venezuelan educator (Barcelona‐Venezuela & Brisbane)
  • Viviana Ramírez, Chilean, senior teacher of Spanish, Qld Dept of Education 
  • HE Pedro Monzón, Cuban ambassador to Australia, Canberra and literacy speakers brigadista, Cuban Literacy Campaign, 1961
In 1961, barely two years after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the country mobilised a mass literacy campaign with few parallels in the twentieth century. It has since been influential in national literacy campaigns in Chile during the Allende years and Sandinista Nicaragua, popular education in Colombia and El Salvador, and most recently in East Timor and Venezuela.

Other supporting materials can be found on the literacy page of this blog

Maybanke podcast blog created

Original audio files produced by Maybanke are now available on the Podbean web blog via the link: http://maybanke.podbean.com/

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Snapshot of Early Childhood Development in Australia UPDATED

The AEDI is a population measure of children’s development in communities across Australia. A Snapshot of Early Childhood Development in Australia - AEDI National AEDI Report 2009 presents a summary of the AEDI results for Australia and each state and territory. The report has been reissued in 2011 following a small follow-up data collection and some minor enhancements to the data-set

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Research in support of a more just society

The Brotherhood of St Laurence has released a new report, Money Matters in Times of Change, which looks at challenges faced by financially vulnerable Australians during times of life transition. It contains a chapter, Moving from School to work. Jesuit Social Services is also a good source of research related to building a more just society. See for example, Professor Tony Vinson's report Unequal in Life.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Accessing research in education

Research papers in education are available through a range of data bases. Some large public libraries provide free access to many of these data bases. For example, residents of New South Wales can access some of these data bases at home or in the workplace through the State Library. Graduates of the University of Sydney can access a limited number of electronic journals and the Macquarie Dictionary Online.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Maybanke launched.

Maybanke is in production. The purpose of this web-based resource is to advance the many interests championed by Maybanke Anderson around the turn of the twentieth century. Maybanke was a feminist educationist who helped establish free kindergartens, as well as study circles to support the spread of reading among adults. She was a writer, historian and publisher who advocated for educational reforms, and the training and working conditions of teachers. Maybanke's version of the 3Rs was the 3Hs: heart, hand and head. Maybanke is produced by Dr Deb Hayes, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney.