This unique and timely book focuses on research conducted into the experiences of students from rural backgrounds in South Africa: foregrounding decolonial perspectives on their negotiation of access and transitions to higher education. This book highlights not only the challenges of coming from a rural background against the historical backdrop of apartheid and ongoing colonialism, but also shows the immense assets that students from rural areas bring into higher education. Through detailed narratives created by student co-researchers, the book charts early experiences in rural communities, negotiations of transitions to university and, in many cases, to urban life and students’ subsequent journeys through higher education spaces and curricula. The book will be of significant interest and value to those engaged in rurality research across diverse settings, those interested in the South African higher education context and higher education more widely. Its innovative, participatory methodology will be invaluable to researchers seeking to conduct collaborative research that draws on decolonising approaches.

Transitioning from secondary to higher education is not a natural step for many first-year students in higher education institutions. There is a considerable difference between being a student at school and university, and previous research has highlighted the difficulties faced by first-year university students during their transition phase. Higher education institutions and their departments acknowledge the challenges faced by new students, and they differ in their approach to coping with the issue; each seeks to find the most effective solution for its students. To reduce the withdrawal rate during the first year of college, higher education providers are expected to apply transition programs to help students transition. The Handbook of Research on Coping Mechanisms for First-Year Students Transitioning to Higher Education presents a comprehensive account of the dynamics in higher education institutions and culture shock for new students and analyzes models and theories of adjustment of new students in higher education institutions. Covering key topics such as gender, institutional support, and success factors, this reference work is ideal for administrators, higher education professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Drawing on examples from nine countries across five continents, this book offers anyone interested in the future of higher education the opportunity to understand how communities become marginalised and how this impacts on their access to learning and their ability to thrive as students. Focusing on groups that suffer directly through discriminatory practices or indirectly through distinct forms of sociocultural disadvantage, this book brings to light communities about which little has been written and where research efforts are in their relative infancy. Each chapter documents the experiences of a group and provides insights that have a wider reach and gives voice to those that are often unheard. The book concludes with a new conceptualisation of the social forces that lead to marginalisation in higher education. This cutting-edge book is a must read for higher education researchers, policy makers, and students interested in access to education, sociology of education, development studies, and cultural studies.

This book offers a unique blend of writing from a broad range of international perspectives, showing interdisciplinary research approaches to decolonising curriculum knowledge. With a focus on the intellectual, emotional, economic, and political reversal of colonial injustices, the decolonial research and writing in this book challenge dominant viewpoints and assumptions of curriculum knowledge by amplifying and disseminating the knowledge and perspectives of peoples that curriculum knowledge has historically silenced and marginalized. The chapters in this book allow the reader to learn from the historical, social, political, cultural, and educational contexts of the UK, Nepal, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, Colombia, Canada, Thailand, Mauritius, Poland, Russia, Norway, and the Netherlands. This internationality provides the reader with a multitude of research themes and critical analytical perspectives for seeing how epistemic power permeates as cultural imperialism in education policies and practices across the world.

Reimagining South African Higher Education: Towards a Student-Centred Learning and Teaching Future provides progressive approaches and innovations that challenge readers to rethink student learning, engagement, support, and teaching. The book offers examples of evidence-informed and scholarly approaches to centring students through enhanced learning and teaching practices that are relevant to the South African context and those Global South contexts similar to South Africa.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the People's Republic of China experienced dramatic growth and expansion that altered the educational environment of children. Rapid economic development increased prosperity and educational opportunities for children expanded in a wealthier society. Yet, a by-product of rising wealth was rising inequality. While the children of the emerging urban middle and elite classes enjoyed new prosperity, the children of hte persistently poor in rural communities continued to experience challenges such as food insecurity, illness, hardships of family separation, and migrant life on the margins of the cities. This time period saw a large resource gap emerge between the home conditions of poor rural children compared with those of their wealthier urban counterparts. This book highlights the complexities China has experienced in seeking to extend full educational access to rural children— including rural- to- urban migrant and ethnic minority children—during a momentous period in China. Chapters delve into the experiences, perceptions, strategies, and diffi culties of rural- origin children and their families in the school system, and lay bare the challenges of policy initiatives designed to support rural education. We hope the experiences detailed here will be of interest to students and scholars of rural educational policy and practice in China and worldwide.

Positionality and researcher reflexivity – how to account for one’s subject position – remain as challenges for new researchers. But they also remain as challenges for experienced researchers, who are often involved in multiple research projects simultaneously. Where Am I in the Picture? sheds light on the idea of researcher positionality through visual methodologies, particularly in the context of studying rurality in Canada, Sweden, and South Africa. The book is intended for new and experienced researchers seeking to decolonize their own perspectives in research in the social sciences and humanities. It incorporates photographs, drawings, and memory work to highlight the social constructedness of what counts as rural. Drawing together compelling narratives from researchers about their positionality in studying rurality, the book highlights a need for greater attention to “where we are in the picture” more broadly. It suggests that when it comes to the rural, researchers need to rethink the interplay of dominant images, insider and outsider perspectives, and what this interplay means in relation to interpretation. Where Am I in the Picture? presents a new vision of how to take into consideration positionality in research.

This volume provokes conversations and reflections on the most appropriate methodologies to pursue Career Development Learning (CDL) research within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s. Drawing on studies with Australian students from diverse backgrounds, including low socioeconomic status, regional, rural and remote, with disability, etc., this volume uniquely highlights considerations for contextual and inclusive CDL research which advances multiple SDGs and quality futures across the globe. Although situated in Australian contexts, the case studies have international applicability. This volume provides support to researchers who intend to investigate the effectiveness of career development strategies which further sustainable development objectives. Specifically, the book highlights the importance of partnership and innovative methods in socially-just research methodologies as well as practical ways that these can be undertaken. It encourages readers to consider how they might frame their work in relation to the SDGs and create impactful research which furthers the agenda for sustainable development in localised ways.

Teacher education is a known variable that impacts the quality of teaching and schooling, yet while research on practices in teaching and teacher education abound in other contexts, there seems to be no comprehensive reference work on teaching and teacher education in Africa. With Africa and the diaspora boasting rich, diverse political and educational contexts and practices, this gap in knowledge requires that attention be focused on investigating issues that shape the pace, course, and direction of teaching and teacher education in these contexts. Practices and Perspectives of Teaching and Teacher Education in Africa facilitates scholarly discussions among scholars and practitioners about practices, innovations, and future possibilities for educating the next generation of competent students and teachers in Africa. Covering topics such as educational reforms, equity, career progression, and curriculum development, this major reference work is ideal for administrators, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Despite comprising the largest minority in rural settings, the literature to date largely subsumes African American rural students into a broader set of students, with a primarily urban focus. This volume focuses on the higher education pathways of rural African American students and highlights their experiences in US colleges and universities.