Share Engage Educate SEEding Change for a Better World

There is no doubt that our world is becoming increasingly more connected through digital technologies. For meaningful participation in this environment we need to be digitally literate, yet there are many children in developing countries who have yet to touch a computer because of social disadvantage. For these children, schools are the only place where they can build this capacity. Regrettably, many schools in these communities are under resourced. They do not have sufficient and relevant library books, let alone digital resources. As a consequence, teaching and learning strategies have remained unchanged for decades.

The field of critical pedagogy evolved through the initial work of Paulo Freire. This theory is underpinned by critical thinking about societal issues followed by action and reflection. When citizens are armed with such knowledge and skills, they can positively impact on the lives of the underprivileged. Critical pedagogy, however, is still struggling to find its meaningful place, particularly in higher education. This is largely due to the lack of effective strategies and critical educators.

Share Engage Educate is an auto-ethnography which presents accounts of the initiatives that were undertaken to promote print and digital literacy in rural and remote schools in eight developing countries. It highlights the experiences of school leaders, teachers, university staff and students, and globally minded citizens working alongside local communities to enhance the quality of education for over 15,000 children in these schools. This book explores how critical pedagogy can unfold in educational spaces through knowledge sharing, engaging and in the process educating all stakeholders.

Vinesh Chandra, ScEdD (2005), Curtin University of Technology, is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology. He has researched and published a number of articles of Technology, STEM and Global Education. Vinesh leads the SEE Project, which is actively involved in advancing the print and digital literacy agenda in developing countries. In 2014, he was a visiting expert at UNESCO in Paris.