Towards a transdisciplinary blueprint to studying bullying

Events related to bullying are so complex that they require a much broader examination than is usually available from a single disciplinary point of view. The purpose of the present paper is to offer new ways of examining this complex phenomenon. We will argue that transdisciplinarity (henceforth TD) could bring a more comprehensive analysis and a deeper understanding to the current state of bullying research. As a way of emphasizing the benefits of a more pluralistic and integrative approach, we will use TD based examples to describe the general context and process we used to develop a new definition of bullying, one that provides a sharper distinction between bullying and general aggression, thus offering the possibility of more targeted intervention strategies. The present paper is divided into three sections, namely, a selected review of the TD literature, an application of TD inspired ideas and tools that examine bullying from a number of interrelated perspectives, and an outline of a conceptual ‘Disciplinary Continuum’, as an example of how TD can be used to examine complex phenomena. Moreover, we will highlight TD’s expanding role in the funding process, as it is increasingly required by granting agencies and governmental ministries as a criterion for universities’ funding. We conclude by outlining ideas for further inquiries.     

Dis/entangling critical disability studies

Recently there has been discussion about the emergence of critical disability studies. In this paper I provide an inevitably partial and selective account of this trans-disciplinary space through reference to a number of emerging insights, including theorizing through materialism, bodies that matter, inter/trans-sectionality, global disability studies, and self and Other. I briefly disentangle these themes and suggest that while we may well start with disability, we often never end with it as we engage with other transformative arenas including feminist, critical race and queer theories. Yet critical disability studies reminds us of the centrality of disability when we consider the politics of life itself. In this sense, then, disability becomes entangled with other forms of oppression and revolutionary responses.     

基础教育国际化语境下英语师范生超学科培养路径

在基础教育国际化语境下，高校需要从超学科的视角重新思考英语师范生培养方案，打破长期以来以单一学科教育为导向的培养路径，培养具有融通多学科思维能力，又能用英语娴熟讲授至少1门非英语课程的师范生，以满足基础教育国际化的师资需求。超学科是指一种融合各学科信息的创新理念，旨在解决现有学科结构方式无法解决的问题。英语师范生超学科培养路径主要有四条：一是跨学院合作，走合作共赢之路；二是创新培养模式，以培养卓越教师为目标；三是超越学科界线，打造超学科课程方案；四是多部门合作，完善超学科培养体系。在对英语师范生实施超学科培养方案之前，相关职能部门应从前期调研、组织管理和师资力量的整合等方面做好准备工作，为超学科人才培养扫清思想障碍、体制障碍。     

Assessing research impact potential: using the transdisciplinary Outcome Spaces Framework with New Zealand’s National Science Challenges

ABSTRACT

Calls for science to have impact as well as excellence have been loud and clear from research funders, policymakers and research institutions for some time. Transdisciplinary research (TDR) is expected to deliver impact by connecting scientists with stakeholders and end users to co-produce knowledge to respond to complex issues. While New Zealand’s science system is geared to deliver excellence, its capability to also deliver impact beyond academic institutions is less clear. This paper has two interconnected aims. Firstly, it presents findings from testing innovations to the TDR Outcome Spaces Framework (OSF+) with four National Science Challenges (NSCs). We conclude that OSF+ is a useful tool for planning for multiple outcomes and assessing the potential for impact. Secondly, it presents findings of how using OSF+ to assess research impact potential revealed a range of implicit theories of change (i.e. catalyst, deficit, engagement and collaboration) across the NSCs. The findings raise important questions about the prospects for New Zealand’s science system to deliver the envisaged and needed levels of research impact when current institutional settings, expectations, recognition systems, career paths and measures of success are not yet able to adequately accommodate TDR to deliver the research impact.     

Committing to cultures of creativity: the significance of transdisciplinarity

As Mittelman rightly observes, neoliberal practices of repurposing universities in pursuit of the impossible goal of world-class standing – the gold standard for educational policy in the global age – have put the soul of the academy at risk. He also makes an important point when he argues that necessary ‘corrective steps’ must push far beyond the palliative rhetoric of ‘reformist reforms’ clothed in neoliberal platitudes about greater ‘stakeholder’ input and the saving grace of digital technology. Still, this article extends Mittelman’s constructive discussion of ‘plausible alternatives’ by making the case for the significance of transdisciplinarity in the practical realization of one of his five corrective steps: the ‘commitment to cultures of creativity’. Indeed, a deep and enduring commitment to transdisciplinarity must play a major role in pushing back against the prevailing neoliberal academic order.     

Moving towards hybridity in causal explanation: The example of citizen participation

The puzzle of causal explanation is a core issue for social science. Searches for causal patterns can be overly mechanistic, seen for example in the desire for the magic bullet in policy, or the lionising of the celebrity policy interventions of the moment. Emphasis in policy interventions on transferable practice is often dismissed as naive for failing to recognise the importance of context, contingency, and complexity. However, a focus on highly context‐specific narratives, drawn from single cases, can be equally problematic and exacerbate rather than help the problem of reification of knowledge. This paper makes a reflective theoretical contribution to the debate on the need to tackle the dilemma of contingency versus certainty in causal explanation in the social sciences. It attempts to address this issue through the lens of a specific concrete puzzle of explanation; that of citizen participation in policy. Citizen participation is a salient policy topic, which demands a thorough understanding of causation. Using extended empirical examples of citizen participation in policy serves to highlight the intractability of different traditions of causal explanation and grounds the need for greater compatibility in approaches. The paper then offers two propositions centring on the notions of transdisciplinarity and hybridity in research practices and methodologies. It concludes with a discussion of more and less desirable forms of hybridity.     

Embedding Cultural Literacy in Higher Education: a new approach*

Higher Education institutions face specific challenges preparing graduates to live and work in transdisciplinary and transcultural environments. It is imperative for these institutions to provide their students with the skill sets that will give them the mobility and flexibility to be able to operate efficiently in different cultural and professional contexts. This position paper proposes that developing proficiency in Cultural Literacy will allow graduates of Higher Education institutions to transcend such cultural and disciplinary boundaries. In this paper we define Cultural Literacy in Higher Education as a modus operandi and a threshold concept, following Meyer and Land’s understanding of the term. We also propose ‘Destabilisation’ and ‘Reflection’ as two strategies for teaching Cultural Literacy, and examine three case studies where these strategies were successfully embedded into teaching and learning spaces.     

苏联-俄罗斯两种文化整合问题研究

苏联-俄罗斯学者们批判了C.P.斯诺的两种文化理论,并在此基础上提出了两种文化整合理论。他们阐明了两种文化整合的前提基础、表现形式,并且尝试性地提出了两种文化整合模式,形成了颇具特色的社会自然历史学派。苏联-俄罗斯学者们的探索,为我国乃至当今世界两种文化问题研究提供了重要启示。