Associate Professor Rachel Burke

Purpose: Highly developed and agile learners who can clearly convey and call on their skills are sought in all walks of life. Diverse demand for these capacities has called attention to how the skills and knowledge gained during doctoral study can be conveyed, translated and leveraged in non-academic settings; however, the complex learning reality underneath doctoral development is challenging to convey. Design/methodology/approach: The data set for this particular analysis was obtained from 245 in-depth telephone interviews with PhD candidates collected prior to COVID-19. Candidates were asked about learning processes, challenges and changes, and both the questions and thematic analysis were guided by theories of doctoral development and transformational learning. Findings: For many participants, learning and development were not familiar topics, while a small proportion deflected questions about learning altogether. One fifth of participants presented rich and lucid accounts of learning in which cognisance of complexity, metacognitive processes and transformational experiences were embedded and multiple avenues of development were in evidence. They were well-placed to convey the complexion of doctoral development. Candidates more deeply engaged in learning also commented more about changes they noticed in themselves. The most identified avenue of development was in understanding and approach to knowledge. Originality/value: Candidate communication about learning and development is an under-explored dimension of doctoral experience and skill that is relevant to advancing knowledge about doctoral development and illuminating graduate potential both within and outside academe. This must constitute a key element of the re-vitalisation of the doctorate post-pandemic. The salience of framing transferable skills within a learning development perspective is discussed.

The past decade has seen increased attention paid to the ethical complexities of educational research undertaken in sensitive or ¿fragile¿ settings, where trauma, marginalisation and socio-political precarity are prevalent. Yet, despite increased awareness of micro-ethical issues encountered in the field, there is limited research that engages with these issues from the perspective of higher degree research (HDR) students, and few studies that focus on supervisory practices to promote micro-ethical reflexivity. Here, we draw on interviews with HDR students and supervisors researching in the fragile context of forced migration and related settings of conflict and crisis, exploring issues of gendered violence, sexuality, cultural and linguistic marginalisation, and mental and physical well-being, to explore their experiences with micro-ethical complexities in fieldwork. We consider student and supervisor sense of preparedness to engage reflexively with micro-ethical challenges and identify key supports for navigating ethics-related dilemmas. Importantly, in exploring gaps in extant supports, we consider issues of individual, collective and institutional responsibility regarding HDR student and supervisor engagement with micro-ethics, posing key questions about duty of care for novice researchers working in fragile or sensitive contexts.

Young learners with refugee experiences face a constellation of challenges particular to forced migration and resettlement. Experiences of trauma, violence, poverty, and disrupted or limited access to formal education and healthcare can have complex and long-term impacts on learning. Further, the sociocultural and linguistic challenges of undertaking education in unfamiliar schooling systems in transit and resettlement countries can also impede learner engagement and obscure individual strengths. However, like all student cohorts, children with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds are also unique, with individual personal, sociocultural, and linguistic attributes on which to draw. While these assets may be overlooked or obscured in traditional educational contexts, arts-based approaches to instruction can offer generative and affirming learning spaces that illuminate individual strengths and provide powerful rejoinders to deficit constructions. This article provides an overview of recent research that explores vibrant and innovative arts-based approaches to languages instruction for refugee and asylum-seeker background learners in the early years. The article takes the form of a scoping study of literature using Arksey and O¿Malley¿s framework to map the field of research, document novel instructional approaches, and identify key themes. Our discussion is oriented toward educators who seek to innovate their own instructional practice. In addition to exploring the creative avenues for language instruction described in the literature, we consider key themes that emerged inductively from our analysis including the agentic value of arts-based instructional practices, the role of narrative in articulating experiences of place and identities, and the significance of arts-based connections between home and school linguistic repertoires.