Matthew A M Thomas
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 759232 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Matthew A M Thomas |
| PRENOMES | Matthew A M |
| SOBRENOME | Thomas |
| ASSINATURA | THOMAS M A M |
| AFILIAÇÕES | The University of Sydney |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6950-5726 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 23 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 46 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 22 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 1 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2011 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 4 |
Podcasts as pedagogy in higher education: A scoping review to map and advance the field
Podcasts are now one of the most ubiquitous forms of digital engagement and entertainment. Their increasing global impact also extends to higher education (HE), where they serve a variety of pedagogical purposes despite limited conceptual clarity. This paper reports on a scoping review exploring the concept and role of podcasts in HE teaching and learning. Based on a review of 91 publications, the paper maps definitions, taxonomies and pedagogica…
Podcasting comparative and international education: Reflecting, reframing, or reorienting the field
Podcasts have increased in popularity in recent years as a form of knowledge production and dissemination, but scant research has examined how academic podcasts relate to their cognate fields. This study analysed in detail one academic podcast–FreshEd–to examine its content and how it may reflect, reframe, and/or reorient the field of comparative and international education (CIE). Data were collected on 294 podcast episodes, first analysed descri…
Curricular conundrums: Internationalising teaching and teacher education in Wisconsin
Calls to internationalise teacher education are ubiquitous and inspiring but often challenging to enact. Both teacher educators and the pre-service teachers they teach face curricular conundrums such as how to ‘do’ global education in their respective classrooms. This paper explores these tensions—and their potential resolutions—by examining the enactment of an undergraduate global education course in Wisconsin. It examines the curricular conundr…
I knew I had to leave”: A Bourdieusian analysis of why Teach For America teachers quit early
Educational stakeholders have long been concerned about teacher attrition's negative effects. Teach For America (TFA), in particular, has garnered attention for this reason, yet many of its teachers quit even before the program's two-year commitment ends. Drawing on Bourdieu, this longitudinal qualitative study explores heretofore neglected insights from TFA teachers (n = 5) who leave early. We find that while quitters are motivated to teach, the…
The Emergence and Policy (mis)Alignment of Teach For Taiwan
Teach For All (TFAll) is global network of programs based on Teach For America. Since 2007, TFAll has spread to more than 60 countries and had a considerable impact on educational policy across educational jurisdictions. Scant research, however, has examined ‘shadow’ programs based on this model but unaffiliated with TFAll, such as Teach For Taiwan (TFT). This paper engages in a critical policy analysis of TFT and examines both its emergence and …
Reconsidering and teaching sociologies in Zambian teacher education: Seeking Mbuyi, Mulenga, and Munkombwe
Global movements to decolonise sociology have gained significant momentum in recent decades and offer far-reaching implications for the field of education. One understudied area of research, however, concerns the sociologies of education taught and experienced in teacher education outside of Anglo/European contexts. This paper uses post-/ decolonial theory to explore the teaching and learning of sociology of education for pre-service teachers at …
Amplifying organisational discourses to the public: Media narratives of Teach For Australia, 2008–2020
Alternative teacher education programmes have emerged in many countries as a new approach to recruiting, educating and placing teachers in underperforming schools. The media plays an important role in framing perceptions of these programmes and their teachers, including in Australia, but this has not been the subject of significant research to date. This study examines how one alternative teacher education programme—Teach For Australia (TFAus)—ha…
Teach For America influence on non-TFA teachers in TFA-hiring schools
Teach For America (TFA) has left an indelible mark on education in the United States and worldwide through its expansion via Teach For All. A considerable body of research examines the impact and experiences of teachers who enter the profession via TFA and related organizations, including the ways in which they embody controversial policies and new forms of teacher expertise and professionalism. Scant research, however, has examined the experienc…
The Discursive Utility of the Global, Local, and National: Teach For All in Africa
Teach For All (TFAll) is a global network dedicated to cultivating its unique brand of fast-track teacher training and policy reform. Launched in 2007, TFAll programs now exist in 60 countries—including Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda—and utilize particular discourses to recruit teachers, court donors, and support ongoing operations. Scant research has focused on TFAll programs in Africa or the spatialized discourses of the network itself, however. Th…
Maintaining meritocratic mythologies: Teach For America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach First New Zealand
Alternative teacher education programmes associated with the Teach For All network are emerging worldwide. Largely inspired by Teach For America, these programmes draw on the meritocratic vision that ‘one day’ all children will receive a high-quality education and fulfil their potential. This paper questions the underlying ideology of meritocracy as evident in two Teach For All affiliate programmes – Teach for America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach Firs…
Toward a framework for assessing the 'global' and 'citizen' in global citizenship education in Australia and beyond
In addition to its influences across economic, geopolitical, and social spheres, globalization has given rise to the notion of a ‘global citizen’ who is able to understand a shifting and more internationalized world while moving fluidly through it. Education has been trumpeted as the means to achieve this globally-aware citizenry, leading to an entire field of global citizenship education (GCE). Here teachers are the linchpin, yet understandings …
Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads
Background/Context Teachers enrolled in alternative training and licensure programs may have experiences that lie outside what is considered typical for both preservice teachers and in-service teachers. This article explores the experiences of a growing cadre of “synchronous-service teachers”—including, but not limited to, Teach For America (TFA) corps members— who are teaching full time while also completing coursework in teacher preparation pro…
Examining Teach for All: International Perspectives on a Growing Global Network
Revisiting comparative pedagogy: Methodologies, themes and research communities since 2000
This article provides an analysis of contemporary comparative research on pedagogy, as published since 2000. It explores this sub-field of comparative education inquiry over this period, including how it has responded to new global movements, changing balances of power, and methodological advances. While these have shaped the field in recognisable ways, differing responses to these among researchers from contrasting research traditions have resul…
The Pluto Problem: Reflexivities of Discomfort in Teacher Professional Development
This article utilises narrative inquiry as a means to explore reflexively our roles as two scholars/teacher educators with extensive experience in education and international development initiatives in East and Southern Africa. It focuses on a teacher professional development program in Tanzania we helped initiate and facilitate for more than five years whose aim was to promote more critical, learner-centred approaches to teaching across the coun…
Remoteness as a gendered construct
This article explores the potential of using children’s perceptions of distance to reflect a gendered understanding of remoteness. Data collected from 1,549 children in Tanzania concerning their perceptions of remoteness in relation to accessibility of school, health care, and water resources were analysed in reference to their impact on school attendance and performance. Gendered variability in perceived distances to services by children may ind…
Good Intentions Can Only Get You So Far”: Critical Reflections From Teach For America Corps Members Placed in Special Education
Research on Teach For America (TFA) continues to grow, but scant scholarship has explored the experiences of its corps members working in special education in urban schools. As teachers who require in-depth knowledge of legal and liability processes as well as effective pedagogical practices, corps members in special education positions have significant demands placed on them that often lie beyond the roles and responsibilities of other TFA teach…
The dangers of relentless pursuit: Teaching, personal health, and the symbolic/real violence of Teach For America
This paper examines the pressures experienced by teachers as they strive to embody the Teach For America (TFA) motif of ‘relentless pursuit’. It draws on interviews conducted with 36 teachers and uses a Bourdieuian analysis to consider the mechanisms of control manifested through socialization and corps member habituation. The findings suggest that corps members experience both symbolic and self-imposed overt violence as they aim to meet the dema…
Policy embodiment’: Alternative certification and Teach For America teachers in traditional public schools
Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: Examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals
This article explores two distinct strategies suggested by academics in Tanzania for publishing and disseminating their research amidst immense higher education expansion. It draws on Arjun Appadurai’s notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ internationalisation to analyse the perceived binary between ‘international’ and ‘local’ academic journals and their concomitant differences in status. In an attempt to examine critically how the status quo regarding …
Shit shows’ or ‘like-minded schools’: Charter schools and the neoliberal logic of Teach For America
Over the past three decades, two neoliberal educational reform efforts have emerged in tandem – the charter school movement and Teach For America (TFA). This paper critically examines the relationship between these entities through the lens of TFA corps members placed in charter schools, and explores two types of schools described by interviewees, namely, ‘shit shows,’ and ‘like-minded schools.’ Grounded in corps members’ teaching experiences, th…
Dissecting the teacher monolith: Experiences of beginning basic school teachers in Zambia
Zambian teachers’ perceptions of expert teaching: Resourcefulness, punctuality, and sobriety
This research examines Zambian teachers’ perceptions of expert teaching, as identified by characteristics possessed by a theoretical “expert teacher”. One primary question guided the study: In the minds of teachers at basic schools (grades one to nine) in Choma District, Zambia, what specific characteristics are believed to be essential for teachers to possess in order to be an expert teacher? Additionally, an ancillary question was explored conc…
Shit shows’ or ‘like-minded schools’: Charter schools and the neoliberal logic of Teach For America
Over the past three decades, two neoliberal educational reform efforts have emerged in tandem – the charter school movement and Teach For America (TFA). This paper critically examines the relationship between these entities through the lens of TFA corps members placed in charter schools, and explores two types of schools described by interviewees, namely, ‘shit shows,’ and ‘like-minded schools.’ Grounded in corps members’ teaching experiences, th…
Good Intentions Can Only Get You So Far”: Critical Reflections From Teach For America Corps Members Placed in Special Education
Research on Teach For America (TFA) continues to grow, but scant scholarship has explored the experiences of its corps members working in special education in urban schools. As teachers who require in-depth knowledge of legal and liability processes as well as effective pedagogical practices, corps members in special education positions have significant demands placed on them that often lie beyond the roles and responsibilities of other TFA teach…
Revisiting comparative pedagogy: Methodologies, themes and research communities since 2000
This article provides an analysis of contemporary comparative research on pedagogy, as published since 2000. It explores this sub-field of comparative education inquiry over this period, including how it has responded to new global movements, changing balances of power, and methodological advances. While these have shaped the field in recognisable ways, differing responses to these among researchers from contrasting research traditions have resul…
Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: Examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals
This article explores two distinct strategies suggested by academics in Tanzania for publishing and disseminating their research amidst immense higher education expansion. It draws on Arjun Appadurai’s notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ internationalisation to analyse the perceived binary between ‘international’ and ‘local’ academic journals and their concomitant differences in status. In an attempt to examine critically how the status quo regarding …
Toward a framework for assessing the 'global' and 'citizen' in global citizenship education in Australia and beyond
In addition to its influences across economic, geopolitical, and social spheres, globalization has given rise to the notion of a ‘global citizen’ who is able to understand a shifting and more internationalized world while moving fluidly through it. Education has been trumpeted as the means to achieve this globally-aware citizenry, leading to an entire field of global citizenship education (GCE). Here teachers are the linchpin, yet understandings …
The dangers of relentless pursuit: Teaching, personal health, and the symbolic/real violence of Teach For America
This paper examines the pressures experienced by teachers as they strive to embody the Teach For America (TFA) motif of ‘relentless pursuit’. It draws on interviews conducted with 36 teachers and uses a Bourdieuian analysis to consider the mechanisms of control manifested through socialization and corps member habituation. The findings suggest that corps members experience both symbolic and self-imposed overt violence as they aim to meet the dema…
Policy embodiment’: Alternative certification and Teach For America teachers in traditional public schools
Maintaining meritocratic mythologies: Teach For America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach First New Zealand
Alternative teacher education programmes associated with the Teach For All network are emerging worldwide. Largely inspired by Teach For America, these programmes draw on the meritocratic vision that ‘one day’ all children will receive a high-quality education and fulfil their potential. This paper questions the underlying ideology of meritocracy as evident in two Teach For All affiliate programmes – Teach for America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach Firs…
Dissecting the teacher monolith: Experiences of beginning basic school teachers in Zambia
Curricular conundrums: Internationalising teaching and teacher education in Wisconsin
Calls to internationalise teacher education are ubiquitous and inspiring but often challenging to enact. Both teacher educators and the pre-service teachers they teach face curricular conundrums such as how to ‘do’ global education in their respective classrooms. This paper explores these tensions—and their potential resolutions—by examining the enactment of an undergraduate global education course in Wisconsin. It examines the curricular conundr…
I knew I had to leave”: A Bourdieusian analysis of why Teach For America teachers quit early
Educational stakeholders have long been concerned about teacher attrition's negative effects. Teach For America (TFA), in particular, has garnered attention for this reason, yet many of its teachers quit even before the program's two-year commitment ends. Drawing on Bourdieu, this longitudinal qualitative study explores heretofore neglected insights from TFA teachers (n = 5) who leave early. We find that while quitters are motivated to teach, the…
The Emergence and Policy (mis)Alignment of Teach For Taiwan
Teach For All (TFAll) is global network of programs based on Teach For America. Since 2007, TFAll has spread to more than 60 countries and had a considerable impact on educational policy across educational jurisdictions. Scant research, however, has examined ‘shadow’ programs based on this model but unaffiliated with TFAll, such as Teach For Taiwan (TFT). This paper engages in a critical policy analysis of TFT and examines both its emergence and …
Reconsidering and teaching sociologies in Zambian teacher education: Seeking Mbuyi, Mulenga, and Munkombwe
Global movements to decolonise sociology have gained significant momentum in recent decades and offer far-reaching implications for the field of education. One understudied area of research, however, concerns the sociologies of education taught and experienced in teacher education outside of Anglo/European contexts. This paper uses post-/ decolonial theory to explore the teaching and learning of sociology of education for pre-service teachers at …
Zambian teachers’ perceptions of expert teaching: Resourcefulness, punctuality, and sobriety
This research examines Zambian teachers’ perceptions of expert teaching, as identified by characteristics possessed by a theoretical “expert teacher”. One primary question guided the study: In the minds of teachers at basic schools (grades one to nine) in Choma District, Zambia, what specific characteristics are believed to be essential for teachers to possess in order to be an expert teacher? Additionally, an ancillary question was explored conc…
Dissecting the teacher monolith: Experiences of beginning basic school teachers in Zambia
Policy embodiment’: Alternative certification and Teach For America teachers in traditional public schools
Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: Examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals
This article explores two distinct strategies suggested by academics in Tanzania for publishing and disseminating their research amidst immense higher education expansion. It draws on Arjun Appadurai’s notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ internationalisation to analyse the perceived binary between ‘international’ and ‘local’ academic journals and their concomitant differences in status. In an attempt to examine critically how the status quo regarding …
Shit shows’ or ‘like-minded schools’: Charter schools and the neoliberal logic of Teach For America
Over the past three decades, two neoliberal educational reform efforts have emerged in tandem – the charter school movement and Teach For America (TFA). This paper critically examines the relationship between these entities through the lens of TFA corps members placed in charter schools, and explores two types of schools described by interviewees, namely, ‘shit shows,’ and ‘like-minded schools.’ Grounded in corps members’ teaching experiences, th…
Good Intentions Can Only Get You So Far”: Critical Reflections From Teach For America Corps Members Placed in Special Education
Research on Teach For America (TFA) continues to grow, but scant scholarship has explored the experiences of its corps members working in special education in urban schools. As teachers who require in-depth knowledge of legal and liability processes as well as effective pedagogical practices, corps members in special education positions have significant demands placed on them that often lie beyond the roles and responsibilities of other TFA teach…
The dangers of relentless pursuit: Teaching, personal health, and the symbolic/real violence of Teach For America
This paper examines the pressures experienced by teachers as they strive to embody the Teach For America (TFA) motif of ‘relentless pursuit’. It draws on interviews conducted with 36 teachers and uses a Bourdieuian analysis to consider the mechanisms of control manifested through socialization and corps member habituation. The findings suggest that corps members experience both symbolic and self-imposed overt violence as they aim to meet the dema…
The Pluto Problem: Reflexivities of Discomfort in Teacher Professional Development
This article utilises narrative inquiry as a means to explore reflexively our roles as two scholars/teacher educators with extensive experience in education and international development initiatives in East and Southern Africa. It focuses on a teacher professional development program in Tanzania we helped initiate and facilitate for more than five years whose aim was to promote more critical, learner-centred approaches to teaching across the coun…
Remoteness as a gendered construct
This article explores the potential of using children’s perceptions of distance to reflect a gendered understanding of remoteness. Data collected from 1,549 children in Tanzania concerning their perceptions of remoteness in relation to accessibility of school, health care, and water resources were analysed in reference to their impact on school attendance and performance. Gendered variability in perceived distances to services by children may ind…
Teaching Synchronous-Service Teachers: Traditional Teacher Education at a Crossroads
Background/Context Teachers enrolled in alternative training and licensure programs may have experiences that lie outside what is considered typical for both preservice teachers and in-service teachers. This article explores the experiences of a growing cadre of “synchronous-service teachers”—including, but not limited to, Teach For America (TFA) corps members— who are teaching full time while also completing coursework in teacher preparation pro…
Examining Teach for All: International Perspectives on a Growing Global Network
Revisiting comparative pedagogy: Methodologies, themes and research communities since 2000
This article provides an analysis of contemporary comparative research on pedagogy, as published since 2000. It explores this sub-field of comparative education inquiry over this period, including how it has responded to new global movements, changing balances of power, and methodological advances. While these have shaped the field in recognisable ways, differing responses to these among researchers from contrasting research traditions have resul…
Maintaining meritocratic mythologies: Teach For America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach First New Zealand
Alternative teacher education programmes associated with the Teach For All network are emerging worldwide. Largely inspired by Teach For America, these programmes draw on the meritocratic vision that ‘one day’ all children will receive a high-quality education and fulfil their potential. This paper questions the underlying ideology of meritocracy as evident in two Teach For All affiliate programmes – Teach for America and Ako Mātātupu: Teach Firs…
Toward a framework for assessing the 'global' and 'citizen' in global citizenship education in Australia and beyond
In addition to its influences across economic, geopolitical, and social spheres, globalization has given rise to the notion of a ‘global citizen’ who is able to understand a shifting and more internationalized world while moving fluidly through it. Education has been trumpeted as the means to achieve this globally-aware citizenry, leading to an entire field of global citizenship education (GCE). Here teachers are the linchpin, yet understandings …
Teach For America influence on non-TFA teachers in TFA-hiring schools
Teach For America (TFA) has left an indelible mark on education in the United States and worldwide through its expansion via Teach For All. A considerable body of research examines the impact and experiences of teachers who enter the profession via TFA and related organizations, including the ways in which they embody controversial policies and new forms of teacher expertise and professionalism. Scant research, however, has examined the experienc…
The Discursive Utility of the Global, Local, and National: Teach For All in Africa
Teach For All (TFAll) is a global network dedicated to cultivating its unique brand of fast-track teacher training and policy reform. Launched in 2007, TFAll programs now exist in 60 countries—including Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda—and utilize particular discourses to recruit teachers, court donors, and support ongoing operations. Scant research has focused on TFAll programs in Africa or the spatialized discourses of the network itself, however. Th…
The Emergence and Policy (mis)Alignment of Teach For Taiwan
Teach For All (TFAll) is global network of programs based on Teach For America. Since 2007, TFAll has spread to more than 60 countries and had a considerable impact on educational policy across educational jurisdictions. Scant research, however, has examined ‘shadow’ programs based on this model but unaffiliated with TFAll, such as Teach For Taiwan (TFT). This paper engages in a critical policy analysis of TFT and examines both its emergence and …
Reconsidering and teaching sociologies in Zambian teacher education: Seeking Mbuyi, Mulenga, and Munkombwe
Global movements to decolonise sociology have gained significant momentum in recent decades and offer far-reaching implications for the field of education. One understudied area of research, however, concerns the sociologies of education taught and experienced in teacher education outside of Anglo/European contexts. This paper uses post-/ decolonial theory to explore the teaching and learning of sociology of education for pre-service teachers at …
Amplifying organisational discourses to the public: Media narratives of Teach For Australia, 2008–2020
Alternative teacher education programmes have emerged in many countries as a new approach to recruiting, educating and placing teachers in underperforming schools. The media plays an important role in framing perceptions of these programmes and their teachers, including in Australia, but this has not been the subject of significant research to date. This study examines how one alternative teacher education programme—Teach For Australia (TFAus)—ha…
I knew I had to leave”: A Bourdieusian analysis of why Teach For America teachers quit early
Educational stakeholders have long been concerned about teacher attrition's negative effects. Teach For America (TFA), in particular, has garnered attention for this reason, yet many of its teachers quit even before the program's two-year commitment ends. Drawing on Bourdieu, this longitudinal qualitative study explores heretofore neglected insights from TFA teachers (n = 5) who leave early. We find that while quitters are motivated to teach, the…
Podcasting comparative and international education: Reflecting, reframing, or reorienting the field
Podcasts have increased in popularity in recent years as a form of knowledge production and dissemination, but scant research has examined how academic podcasts relate to their cognate fields. This study analysed in detail one academic podcast–FreshEd–to examine its content and how it may reflect, reframe, and/or reorient the field of comparative and international education (CIE). Data were collected on 294 podcast episodes, first analysed descri…
Curricular conundrums: Internationalising teaching and teacher education in Wisconsin
Calls to internationalise teacher education are ubiquitous and inspiring but often challenging to enact. Both teacher educators and the pre-service teachers they teach face curricular conundrums such as how to ‘do’ global education in their respective classrooms. This paper explores these tensions—and their potential resolutions—by examining the enactment of an undergraduate global education course in Wisconsin. It examines the curricular conundr…
Podcasts as pedagogy in higher education: A scoping review to map and advance the field
Podcasts are now one of the most ubiquitous forms of digital engagement and entertainment. Their increasing global impact also extends to higher education (HE), where they serve a variety of pedagogical purposes despite limited conceptual clarity. This paper reports on a scoping review exploring the concept and role of podcasts in HE teaching and learning. Based on a review of 91 publications, the paper maps definitions, taxonomies and pedagogica…
Sociology (19 obras) · Pedagogy (16 obras) · Political science (15 obras) · Psychology (13 obras) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (12 obras) · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy (9 obras) · Mathematics education (9 obras) · Public relations (8 obras) · Social science (8 obras) · Teacher education (8 obras)