Brazilian writer Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977) was born in a rural community and spent most of her life in a slum. Despite this, her literary work achieved remarkable editorial success, having its value recognized by critics and academic circles. This paper analyzes Carolina Maria de Jesus's autobiographical narratives in the light of John…

This article explores students' experiences of intellectual, social, and emotional growth during the first year at university and the extent to which these experiences can be considered transformative (Mezirow, 1981). The study is a qualitative interpretive multiple-case study built on semi-structured interviews with students in two higher…

This study addresses the role of female school leaders in enhancing intellectual security within government-run middle schools in the Hafr Al-Batin region of Saudi Arabia from the perspective of female teachers. Utilizing a descriptive survey method, the research targeted 858 female teachers in the region, with a randomly selected sample of 248…

Background: Mindsets are based on two basic assumptions: some people think that their intellectual abilities can be developed through hard work and instruction (i.e., a growth mindset), whereas others believe that nothing can change their level of intellectual ability (i.e., a fixed mindset). The association between mindsets and academic…

Purpose: In this paper we seek to provide insight as to how wisdom is, or might be, perceived and enacted in Higher Education contexts. Selected constructs of wisdom derived from the "Bhagavad Gita" provided a platform from which seven invited College of Education faculty participants considered their own framings of wisdom in the…

While the number of refugees in tertiary education remains small in comparison to the total number of refugee youths, with 1% of university-students worldwide, their social, economic and political impact in refugee societies is believed to be significant. Yet, the role of higher education in their socialisation, the way humanitarian actors invest…

This research pioneered the investigation of the role of doctoral students' thinking styles in their program satisfaction and perceived intellectual competence. Participants were 285 STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) students in Hong Kong. Results showed that students' thinking styles as measured by the Thinking Styles…

This article focuses on Chinese state conceptualisations of the educated person, seen to be necessary for the continued national progress. Government campaigns provide clear narratives about the quality citizens that will ensure this will happen. Such narratives paradoxically also target rural people, migrant workers and their offspring for…

Dominant national myths create versions of reality that we need to deconstruct if we are to take students beyond stereotype. Using the USA as an example, histories that do not align with critical national narratives become silenced or muted. Preoccupation with Black and White dichotomies is just such a narrative that has hidden the significance of…

As globalization endures onslaughts from neo-state nationalism, examining the role that dances from non-Western cultures play in facilitating intercultural education is necessary. This article critically examines the intercultural reflections and meanings that student performers constructed from learning and performing the movements, techniques,…

This research investigates an intercultural praxis approach to using visual research methods, in Australia and Vietnam, with preservice teachers in a Diploma of Early Childhood (DEC) course. The paper results from limited research with DEC preservice teachers exploring the development of intercultural praxis and limited research in teaching whilst…

In this article, we present initial findings of an exploratory-pilot research study that focuses on "service learning" as a framework to examine "real learning" and identity changes of university students participating in a community based educational activity known as "La Clase Mágica." Student's reports and…

The work of academics has intensified, but the focus for most remains on teaching, research and contribution to service. Institutional imperatives and positioning within universities impact significantly on how individual academics fashion themselves to fit with expectations and demands. There is, of course, no simple version of scholarly identity…

This paper presents an autobiographical narrative of two aspects of my history; two events that permeated my moral consciousness and influenced my political development and a sequence of changes in my dominant theoretical and epistemological perspectives. The two events were, as a teenager, the intense experience of briefly witnessing Apartheid…

This paper explores the interaction between religious faith and academic study. It presents findings from a small-scale qualitative study of how first year theology undergraduates at Oxford experienced the relationship between academic study and their faith stance. The findings suggest varied developments in the extent to which students adapted to…