Supporting educators’ professional learning for equity pedagogy: the promise of open educational practices

Abstract

Purpose In the research literature relevant to open educational practices (OEP), the terms “students” or “learners” often refer to individuals engaging in formal study. This study aims to broaden the conception of learners to include those who engage with continuing professional development or professional learning. The study focussed on one intersection of OEP with equity pedagogy for these learners. Design/methodology/approach Guided by transformative approaches to knowledge, the research is qualitative and draws upon nine focus group interviews about multicultural education professional learning needs conducted in November 2019 and July 2020 with 74 early years educators and staff. Data were analysed with theoretical thematic analysis to provide a rich overall description of the data set. Findings Early years educators and teachers aim to centre equity pedagogy in their practices but are constrained by a lack of opportunity to engage in professional development, and fragmented approaches to professional learning, issues which may potentially be addressed through OEP. Originality/value This paper extends understandings of OEP as a means of helping learners, broadly interpreted, to promote equity pedagogy. Specifically, it highlights the promise of OEP for addressing early years educators’ professional development and learning about reconciliation and multicultural education.

Dismantling the education exclusion zone

“…6;Jisc, 2021); however, these have been primarily developed in an international context. There exists an identified gap in practical support at the nexus of OER and inclusive design in Australia (Lambert & Fadel, 2022;Stagg et al, 2023;Tualaulelei & Green, 2022). In response, in 2022, a LATN-funded Fellowship project proposed to develop a practical resource to empower Australian open education practitioners to create and evaluate OER which influence greater diversity and inclusion in pedagogical practice.…”

“…OER are "learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others" (UNESCO, 2019). Many studies have shown that OER can help to rebalance representation by removing the traditional publishing 'gatekeeper' and enabling flexible interpretations of the textbook (Herbert, Clinton-Lissell & Stupinsky, 2022;Lambert & Fadel, 2022;Paskevicius, 2017;Tualaulelei & Green, 2022). However, the reality is OER alone cannot achieve this goal because OER itself is not the goal.…”