Breaking Out Journal

This unique publication seeks to bring teachers, education academics, parents and students in Australia together to critically discuss contemporary issues in teaching and learning. In the present neoliberal context, the gap between academic research and the work and thinking of practicing teachers is an increasingly difficult one to bridge, likewise the gap between teachers and parents. In the context of the ongoing marginalisation of much critical and radical practice and research in teaching and learning Breaking Out seeks to provide a collective space to connect and strengthen currently isolated thinking and activity. Ideally this will contribute to the development of a stronger and better articulated critical, alternative, cross-sectoral voice in education.

Volume 2 Issue 1

Editorial

Editorial Volume 2 Issue 1

In our first issue of Breaking Out, we signalled the general purpose of this publication: subverting the idea of education as a market value and exploring how education can contribute to empowering​ those who this market system has disenfranchised. In this issue we hope to continue this conversation.Read more

Curriculum

A Renaissance approach to STEM


The term “Renaissance Man” is used to describe a person with wide ranging skills, combining arts and sciences. But why is it that Renaissance artists, equipped with little more than sail cloth, quarried dirt, and cooking oils are revered as some of the greatest thinkers in history? Is it possible for contemporary students to become scientists, technologists, engineers and...Read more

Stories from the field

There is no formula: Teaching maths for social justice


I started reading Paulo Freire as an undergraduate student in Spain in the early nineties. At the time, a combination of Silvio Rodriguez and Rage Against the Machine filled the airwaves and our hearts. We, students of mathematics and physics for the most part, read Freire on Friday...Read more

Stories from the field

Pushing back against the squeeze on teachers


Early career teachers are struggling and too often the system is failing them and their students. Whilst this article may not be the most uplifting one, it is a conversation we all need to have. To say the last two years as a teacher have had its ups and downs is an understatement. The ups in this rollercoaster ride were the actual teaching and the downs a result of the...Read more

Creative

Speak up!


This spoken word piece was prepared and performed as part of coursework for a Master of Teaching (Secondary) class in 2016. It reflects Ebony’s investigation into the emphasis on dialogue and consciousness-raising in the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, and the implications for both her as a teacher and for her students as learners.Read more

Stories from the field

Becoming an activist teacher: Learning from Timor Leste


FRETILIN’s literacy campaign influenced the mobilisation of nation-wide action towards decolonisation and liberation, initially from the Portuguese, and then the ongoing resistance to the brutal Indonesian occupation (1975-1999).Read more

Analysis/Opinion

The school costs that noBody addresses


At the start of each year, getting essential school items becomes a national sport for parents and students. However, the ability to afford these essential items is decreasing, most obviously for low income families who suffered the greatest loss when the Schoolkids Bonus was phased out in July 2016. This loss of affordability throughout the community needs to be a continuing concern to...Read more