Navigating the Terrain of Neoliberalism in Higher Education: An Exploration of Definitions and Implications
This presentation delves into the complex landscape of neoliberalism within higher education, aiming to elucidate its definitions and explore its profound implications. Neoliberalism, characterized by market-driven approaches and the prioritization of individualism, has significantly reshaped the educational sector worldwide. Through critically examining various definitions and conceptualizations of neoliberalism, this presentation aims to provide a nuanced understanding of its multifaceted nature and impact on higher education systems. Drawing on scholarly literature and contemporary examples, the presentation analyzes how neoliberal ideologies manifest within higher education institutions—influencing policies, practices, and decision-making processes. Ultimately, the presentation seeks to foster critical dialogue and reflection on the pervasive influence of neoliberalism in higher education, offering a shared language for analyzing and illuminating these complexities and their ramifications.
Presenter bio
Dr. Sereana Naepi, a Pacific researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand, holds several prestigious positions, including Rutherford Discovery Fellow, Te Pūnaha Matatini PI, He Whenua Taurikura Research Associate, and Senior Lecturer at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. As well as teaching undergraduate and graduate sociology, Dr. Naepi shares her deep commitment to promoting equity in higher education through research that uses quantitative and qualitative data to uncover challenges within academia. Dr. Naepi's extensive knowledge and experience in Pacific research methodologies further enrich her work, allowing her to approach complex issues from multiple angles.
Presenter
Dr. Sereana Naepi
Co-host
Center for Research on International Education (CRIE)
Date/Time
Thursday, March 21
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. PST
Place
SFU Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8515
2024 DARE Seminar 2
Decolonial Approaches to Survey Methods
Surveys are often considered useful for engaging large groups of people in a relatively accessible way to gain insight into their perspectives, opinions, and beliefs. In education, surveys enable institutions to observe structural changes pre- and post-intervention. While surveys can be entirely qualitative or mixed method, a common assumption is that surveys are associated with a positivist paradigm and historically ill-suited for critical work. While some appreciate survey design as an art, there is less appreciation for surveys’ potential for complex, contextual, decolonial research.
In this session, I share a completed research project that engaged critical decolonial, anti-racist, and eco-justice concerns through a pre- and post-survey concerning an educational intervention in teacher education. Notably, the survey structure also addressed a significant critique of survey methods: the assumption that people are self-aware of their motivations and have a positive bias. This session provides engagement with important possibilities for surveys as a method in educational research theoretically framed within the priorities of decolonial possibilities, eco-justice, and anti-racism.
Presenter bio
Dr. Jeannie Kerr is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University and is an educational philosopher, theorist, and qualitative researcher of Irish maternal and settler identity. She explores intersections of history, philosophy, and sociology for a greater understanding of educational complexities. Her scholarship examines the reproduction of societal inequalities in K–12, teacher education, and higher education settings, with the goal of collaboratively repairing and renewing relations in educational settings, urban landscapes, and Canadian society. Dr. Kerr's theorizing and research projects are based on a decolonial approach that disrupts the centring of Euro-Western approaches and knowledges, forefronts complicities, and centres broader goals of needed systemic change.
Presenter
Dr. Jeannie Kerr
Date/Time
Wednesday, March 20
Time: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. PST
Place
EDUC 8620, SFU Burnaby Campus
2024 DARE Seminar 1
Viewing Education through the Lens of Biocultural Diversity
In this talk, Dr. David Zandvliet delves through several case studies into the origins and meaning of biocultural diversity and its implications for education.
‘Biocultural diversity’ refers to the assertion that the web of life comprises the diversity present in the natural world and the diversity of human cultures and languages, and that these are interrelated and interdependent. Throughout history, human cultures and languages have developed in symbiosis with local environments, expressing and communicating place-based values, beliefs, knowledge, and practices. Indigenous and other traditional societies usually hold the idea of a ‘oneness with the natural world,’ which the concept of biocultural diversity seeks to capture. More specifically, people are a part of, not apart from nature and have a responsibility to steward the life system.
This perspective has clear implications for education in general and environmental education in particular. If the educational system itself were viewed through a lens of biocultural diversity, it might also be seen as a complex system in which practitioners, researchers, specific places, and endemic cultures are part of an interrelated whole. It follows naturally that diversity in research and practice is desirable for both the vibrancy and the survival of a just and sustainable education system.
Presenter bio
Dr. David Zandvliet is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University and holds the UNESCO Chair in Bio-cultural Diversity and Education. Based in Vancouver, Canada he is the founding Director for the Institute for Environmental Learning and an Associate member in the Faculty of Science at SFU. An experienced researcher, he has published articles in international journals and presented papers on six continents and in over 16 countries. His career interests lie in the areas of science and environmental education with a special focus on the study of learning environments. He has considerable experience in the provision of teacher development and has conducted studies in school-based locations in Australia, Canada, Malaysia Sri Lanka and Taiwan. David leads environmental education programming at SFU including directing field schools in diverse locations including: Vancouver, Haida Gwaii, Hawaii, and Indonesia.
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