Enabling pedagogy & Action Research for Higher Education in Australia

19 September 2024

The Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion

presents the launch of

“Enabling pedagogy and Action Research for Higher Education in Australia”

This book shares how one group of educators teaching in one of Australia’s largest enabling programs collectively engaged inactionresearch projects, under the leadership of renowned education scholar Emeritus Professor Robert Hattam, to confront deficit views and instead create positive change leading to student success, satisfaction and experience. It has long been argued that traditional higher education pedagogy sees students as empty vessels, in need of filling up (Freire 1974). It positions students as deficit, lacking in the required skills, abilities and capitals to succeed at university. This historic position of the ‘good student’ has shaped university teaching and is outdated, damaging and does not serve modern cohorts represented in contemporary tertiary education.  By countering deficit discourses and enacting critical enabling pedagogy, we fostered a teaching space where all learners are recognised and valued for their individual strengths and knowledges.

Each chapter explains how a teaching challenge was confronted and explored with a hopeful idea for change, that provide powerful insights into what educators learned about their practice, their students, and themselves. With action research as the driving force behind this narrative, each chapter showcases how this can be adapted and effectively implemented as a tool to not only enhance teaching and student outcomes, but to work as a collegial act of resistance to counter the neoliberal agenda of individualisation which dominates higher education in the global North. Our book unveils the potential of collective action research to revolutionise teaching in higher education. We believe it is a resource for anyone committed to student equity, inclusion and delivering engaging, dialogic, student-focused teaching.

Please come celebrate the launch of this book and hear from the editors about the history of action research and the importance to enacting critical enabling pedagogy.

Catering and drinks will be provided.

Opening Address:

Professor Sam Sellar is Dean of Research (Education Futures) and Professor of Education Policy at the University of South Australia. Sam’s research focuses on education policy, large-scale assessments and the datafication of education. Sam has published more than 70 books, book chapters and journal articles, and he is Lead Editor of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

Editors:

Dr Sarah Hattam, PhD (University of South Australia) Senior Lecturer in Sociology. Senior Fellowship with the Advance Higher Education Academy (2020). Published in Q1 Journals and Book Chapters with expertise in the areas of widening participation policy, enabling curriculum, retention and engagement strategies and alternative education pathways.

Emeritus Professor Robert Hattam is a Professor for Educational Justice in Education Futures and the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion at the University of South Australia. His research has focused on teachers’ work, critical and reconciliation pedagogies, refugees, and socially just school reform. 

Tanya Weiler is a Senior Lecturer and course coordinator at the University of South Australia. Within UniSA College she has developed new courses in academic literacy and introductory psychology and has also taught International Management and Ethics for UniSA Business.

Professor Sharron King is the Dean of Programs (UniSA College): Education Futures at the University of South Australia with a long history of senior leadership, research and innovation in improving educational outcomes for both academic staff and students.