The Learning Adviser as Go-Between in Global Knowledge

1. The Learning Adviser as Go-Between in Global Knowledge Michael Paton University of Sydney

2. Introduction • Language & learning advisers = go-betweens • Definition • Examples from history of science • English as an academic lingua franca • Comparison – learning centre & institute for teaching & learning • University of Sydney • University of Sydney Business School • A story of redundancy

3. Definition • ‘the go-between possesses the crucial skill of mapping one linguistic universe onto another’ although their function is very much seen as ephemeral by those who see only production and consumption as the basis of human activity. (Subrahmanyam, 2009, p.432)

4. Spatiality of knowledge • (Scientific) knowledge moves – people, practices & places linked → knowledge space. • Presumption of centres & peripheries • Centre – Australia colonised for reasons of commerce, technology, science & empire (Miller & Riell, 1996; Mcleod & Rehbock, 1988) – linear ‘objective’ socio-historical account. • Periphery – go-betweens.

5. Examples from history of science • Tupaia • Tahitian high priest and navigator • James Cook & Endeavour – 1769 • Expedition leader – mediator, interpreter & go-between • Helped chart Polynesian islands, New Zealand & Australian East coast.

6. ‘Thank heaven I have sufficiency and I do not know why I may not keep him as a curiosity, as well as some of my neighbours do lions and tygers at a larger expense than he will put me to.’ Joseph Banks • Cultural chauvinism? • tendency for powerful cultures to usurp the knowledge systems of less powerful cultures and claim them as their own.

7. King Bungaree (D. 1830) • Intermediary on 5 early European settlement voyages, including Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia • Used broken English as a language of last resort when encountering aborigines not understanding his language • Agent of change • Introduced boomerang to Port Jackson • Introduced woomerah to northern Australia • Learnt netting techniques from aborigines near Glass House Mountains • But ‘othered’ by the Europeans as a fool and a jester. – ‘a hopelessly unreformed savage foolishly assuming English manners and attire’ (Turnbull, 2009, p. 423)

8. William Buckley • Convict - December 1804 – Port Phillip Bay – absconded • 32 years living with the Wathaurong • Batman’s arrival – attempted to act as intermediary by ‘seeming’ – seeming to agree with both sides while trying to mitigate the behaviours of both. • Colonists no interest in common ground → acts of seeming and translation – actually betrayal.

9. ‘Messengers are attached to every tribe, and are selected for their intelligence and their ability as linguists. They are employed to convey information from one tribe to another, such as the time and place of great meetings, korroboraes, marriages, and burials, and also of proposed battles; for if one tribe intends to attack another, due notice is always honourably given. Ambuscades are proceedings adopted by civilised warriors. As the office of messenger is of great importance, the persons filling it are considered sacred while on duty; very much as an ambassador, herald, or bearer of a flag of truce is treated among civilised nations.’ (Howitt, 1904)

10. English as an academic lingua franca • 11th international conference on the history of science in China. • ‘I speak English, therefore I know’. • 1997 international fengshui tour • Cultural chauvinism. • Chinese female undergraduate student – top university.

11. Learning adviser as go-between • Globalisation of knowledge • English as the academic lingua franca • Generally have no power & are easily discarded.

12. Comparison – learning centres & institutes for teaching & learningUniversity of Sydney • Institute for Teaching & Learning • 9 academic staff: 1 professor; 1 associate professor; 3 senior lecturers • 4 research associates • 9 general staff • Learning Centre • 7 academic staff: 3 senior lecturers • 1 general staff Context: 51,435 students – 11.8 L&L staff 3,067 academic staff

13. Learning & Teaching in BusinessUniversity of Sydney Business School • Teaching academics – 4 • 2 associate professors (no PhD); 1 senior lecturer (redundancy) • Learning academics – 2 • 1 senior lecturer (redundancy) + PASS Context: - 2010 – 3,647 international students, 70% from China

14. ‘Voluntary’ Redundancy • Secondment - English Support Unit – UNSW - late 1995. • Teaching Quality Fellow - help with academic communication skills - especially NESB students. • positive feedback - my work → second year of secondment → tenured position at senior lecturer level. • Research - history and philosophy of science in China. • interview committee - agreed to this research focus -HPS background - enhance my work in the Faculty. • (Snowden (2011) Storytelling in organisations and communities: A new methodology for capture and analysis)

15. ‘Voluntary’ Redundancy • 2001 - research profile - began to wax. • 1st sabbatical - Hong Kong, Oxford, Cambridge, Pennsylvania & Institute of History of Natural Sciences (Chinese Academy of Sciences) • very well received colloquium - School of East Asian Studies (Penn.) → invitation to lunch at the Benjamin Franklin Club + book manuscript Princeton Uni. Press. • Vice-president (Asia) Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Science.

16. ‘Voluntary’ Redundancy • 2002 - Faculty moves towards business education. • Concurrent issue - undergraduate international students progressing 10% worse than local students. • Meeting - April 2002 - Pro Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning), Pro Vice Chancellor (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), and the Dean, Associate Dean (undergraduate) and Associate Dean (postgraduate) – • establish a Faculty Centre for Teaching and Learning in the Faculty → Office for Learning and Teaching (OLTEB) • address language/culture issue.

17. ‘Voluntary’ Redundancy • OLTEB director - finance/accounting academic - eLearning background. • questioned my research focus - only business education. • Assurance by Dean - never try to affect any academic’s research profile. • 2004 study leave application - invitation to present seminar - Needham Institute for the History of Science in China, Cambridge University. • application refused (+ 3 times since) • 2006 – receive letter from Dean – only research business education (after front page SMH disagreement). • offered ‘voluntary’ redundancy

18. Involuntary redundancy 2011 - change management proposal - Learning & Teaching in Business - 3 or 4 high level academic development general staff + PASS + elearning - academic literacy → Business Professional Development Unit (embedded) + 1 language academic.

19. Conclusion • English – academic lingua franca University learning & language a staff – go-betweens in the globalisation of knowledge Like previous go-betweens ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’ (Subrahmanyam, 2009, p. 429)