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1
Chueh, Ho-chia. "Identity, difference and politics: a poststructuralist investigation". Thesis, University of Auckland, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2019.
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This thesis investigates the ways in which concepts of binary opposition are elaborated in some of the key contemporary theories on difference and identity. This project contributes to the emerging scholarship on the notion of emancipation and empowerment in educational theory. It explores discourses of difference and identity that are engaged with constructions and re-construction of the notions of Self and Other. This thesis develops a systematic analysis of texts with arguments on political performance of representation and agency. The thesis begins with an examination of Hegel's thesis on the relationship between the lord and the bondsman which is implemented in the political discourses of John Rex and Paulo Freire. It continues to examine political theses with emphasis on the relationship between the mind and the body; examinations include theses offered by Robert Miles and Frantz Fanon. This thesis also explores the methodological value of concepts of binary opposition; it explores Claude Lévi-Strauss' theory on cultural differences and examines Iris M. Young and Chantal Mouffe's discourses on the 'politics of difference'. This thesis further explores Jacques Derrida's notions of deconstruction and différence together with analyses and critiques of Homi Bhabha's and Gayatri Spivak's reconstruction of concepts of binary oppositions. This thesis calls for a consideration of Derrida's thoughts on the political as an approach to the understanding difference and identity. I propose a double reading of the texts examined in this thesis: on the one hand, they are genealogical analyses to understand and criticise the ways in which knowledge on (racial and cultural) difference and identity have been constructed. On the other hand, they are given affirmations of political significance with their performative effectiveness that language allows them to achieve.
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Boyd, Andrea. "Cooperative learning in preschool settings: enhancing the social integration of young children with disabilities". Thesis, University of Auckland, 1993. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2065.
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An examination was made of the effectiveness of cooperative learning as a strategy for enhancing the social acceptance of preschool children with disabilities who had been included in a mainstream educational setting. Preschool groups accommodating children with special needs were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions - cooperative play and social skills training, social skills training on1y, or control (no intervention). Children in the cooperative play programme received significantly higher levels of social acceptance than did those in the social-skills or regular preschool programmes. Moreover, the cooperative play group showed significantly more positive and more frequent social interactions with nondisabled peers than did the children in the other groups. It was also found that following the intervention the children in both the cooperative and social-skills treatment groups were rated significantly higher than were those in the control group on social skills and social play posttest measures. The results thus indicate that the use of structured cooperative play yielded an incremental effect over social-skills training in furthering the social integration of preschool children with disabilities in mainstream settings. The finding that increased social acceptance occurs in situations where social-skills training is undertaken within a framework of structured cooperative play was discussed terms of its implications for the social inclusion of young children with disabilities in integrated educational settings. It was noted that if participation in mainstream preschool settings is to be of real value for young children with disabilities, programmes designed to maximize social acceptance, such as structured cooperative play and social-skills training, need to be utilized to facilitate social interaction. Indeed, in the absence of strategies to enhance social integration, the placement of young children with disabilities in mainstream educational settings may well place such children at risk with respect to their social development.
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Wette, Rosemary. "Making the instructional curriculum : case studies of seven teachers of adult ESOL". Thesis, University of Auckland, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/348.
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Joseph Schwab claimed that only teachers are capable of translating scholarly theory into curriculum, as only they have knowledge of and are able to co-ordinate its four cornerstones of subject matter, learners, context and the teacher. Organised around Schwab’s heuristic, this thesis explores from an ecological perspective the curriculum making practices of seven experienced, effective teachers of adult ESOL over the trajectory of a course that each one taught. While normative advice in second language teacher education texts encourages a more systems-based approach to curriculum development, there is increasing awareness in research-based literature that the instructional curriculum is in fact an interactive construction played out in a dynamic, non-linear process and particularised to a certain context and group of learners. This evidencebased study aims to illustrate how teachers engage with written curriculum sources, classroom and cultural contexts, their own theories of practice and the developing understandings and wishes of learners as they make the instructional curriculum. Data were collected from guided pre-course and post-course interviews with teachers as well as persistent, debriefing-type interviews throughout the courses, supported by course documentation and teaching materials. Themes emerging from the data and from relevant literature were coded and analysed qualitatively. Findings of this study illuminate significant aspects of teachers’ curriculum making practices, including the weaving of conceptual content onto the timeframe of the courses, teachers’ efforts to achieve coherence, balance and variety in the instructional curriculum, and the importance of time and process. They emphasise the central role of the teacher as synthesiser of a variety of considerations, and provide evidence of the rich and complex understandings of teachers’ professional knowledge in action. They also show the fundamental importance of good cognitive and affective rapport between teacher and learners, and the need for teachers to constantly monitor and adjust the instructional curriculum according to learners’ developmental needs, while at the same time taking into account a unique constellation of influences from its micro- and macro- context. Implications for ESOL teachers and teacher educators of this more detailed understanding of the instructional curriculum and of teachers’ professional knowledge bases are also explored.
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Timperley, Helen. "The challenge for tomorrow's schools: learning to be responsive". Thesis, University of Auckland, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2029.
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Changes recently introduced in the administration of New Zealand education were intended to ensure that schools would become more responsive to their communities. Many aspects of school governance were devolved from a central government bureaucracy to Boards of Trustees at each school and greater choice of school was given to parents. In this thesis I examine the assumptions underlying these policy changes and propose a model of the processes necessary for the development of school responsiveness. The research progressed over four phases. In the first I survey beliefs and practices in 38 Auckland schools about the new school-community partnership established by the devolution of governance responsibility to the Boards of Trustees. This survey was followed by a second more extensive questionnaire survey on the same topic in ten of these schools. The role educational values might play in parents' choice of school and their perceptions of school responsiveness were addressed in a survey of five secondary schools in the second phase. The third phase comprised case studies of two schools which had contrasting community-school relationships. In one school the principal valued a close partnership with the community, yet the school roll had fallen steadily over a five year period. In the other school, which enjoyed a rapidly increasing roll, the principal believed educational decisions should be left to the professionals. The case studies investigated this apparent contradiction, that the partnership relationship between parents and professionals which was designed to increase school responsiveness appeared to be unrelated to roll trends, a possible indicator of responsiveness. In the fourth phase I describe and evaluate how the school with the declining roll attempted to become more responsive to its community. The research results show that the concept of responsiveness contained in the initial policy documents was simplistic in that neither a community-school partnership nor school choice was sufficient to improve responsiveness to the community. I propose a more focused concept of responsiveness than that contained in the policy documents and identify two critical attributes of this concept; the school's educational values and parents' concerns about school practice. Parents choose schools because they perceive that the professionals share their educational values. I suggest that establishing cohesive values, both between home and school and within the school itself, is educationally desirable and critical to achieving responsiveness. This cohesion, however, should be enacted in a way which respects the diversity within the school population if some students are not to be alienated by the values of the majority. The second attribute of responsiveness, acting on valid concerns of parents, involves parents in decisions about school practice of greatest importance to them. Vague calls for consultation on school policy do not achieve this aim. My proposed concept of responsiveness does not assume that parents dominate areas previously reserved for professional prerogative, but rather that parents and professionals jointly determine policy in those areas critical to achieving responsiveness. School-community partnerships and school choice will not result in responsiveness unless they serve as catalysts for professional learning about the values and concerns of the community. This learning is enhanced if schools encourage parents to exercise influence and engage in joint problem-solving. Achieving school responsiveness depends more on the attitudes and skills of the participants in the partnership than on the structural changes enacted in the recent legislation.
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Haworth, Penelope. "Developing praxis for a few non-English speaking background students in the class : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University". Massey University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/993.
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This thesis explores how teachers develop working theories and practices for small numbers of non-English speaking background (NESB) students in mainstream classes. The investigation included eight class teachers and four different school settings. A pilot phase was conducted in one school at the end of 2000. The major phase of the study was carried out in 2002. In each of the four terms that year, a different school became the context for the study and the focus was placed on a year 1-2 class teacher and a year 5-6 class teacher in that school. The study employed a qualitative ethnographic approach. Information was collected about each class teacher's experience, knowledge, confidence, teaching strategies, the degree of stress experienced when teaching NESB students in various class groupings, and the way in which individual and class needs were balanced. An initial intensive interview with each class teacher was followed by in-class observations. These observations were interspersed by two reflective discussions which took place in the middle and at the end of the school term. Discussions took a reflective problem-solving approach that made use of a write-down, think-aloud technique, and focused on critical learning and teaching episodes from the class. In addition, a reflective journal was kept, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with teachers responsible for the English for Speakers of Other Languages programme in the school. The results of the inquiry led to the development of a theoretical model which illustrated how the evolution of teachers' praxis was influenced by dynamic interactions within and across three contextual layers: the educational community, the classroom, and the reflective practitioner. Each teacher's professional knowledge was informed by a unique background of experience and the nature of the collaboration that occurred with colleagues and parents. In turn, these factors impacted on the formation of pedagogic beliefs, perceived efficacy, and the evolution, selection and implementation of particular teaching roles and strategies. The study culminated with a number of recommendations being made for the enhancement of professional development initiatives, as well as for school and educational policies. In particular, these recommendations highlight the need for taking a broad ecological approach to addressing the professional needs of class teachers working with small numbers of NESB students.
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Hawk, Kay. "School decline : predictors, process and intervention : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand". Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1176.
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The ramifications of school decline are profoundly serious for the students, staff and community of a school. School decline is the steady downwards spiral that some schools experience when a complex set of influences interact with negative and unresolved outcomes. This study explored the largely unresearched area of school decline and developed a set of potential predictors of decline that could assist in understanding, preventing or dealing effectively with school decline in the future. Grounded theory, selected as a methodology appropriate for exploratory research, was used to guide the process of data collection and theory development. Three schools, labeled by agencies and the media as being in serious decline or “failing”, were selected for the study. Adults who were in significant roles in the schools during the decline periods were interviewed about their experiences. As part of the data analysis and interpretation a set of propositions was drafted and was sent to these interviewees and to fourteen educational advisors who work with schools at risk and in decline. The advisors’ feedback on the propositions, analysis of school related documents, Education Review Office reports and Ministry of Education file documents provided rich additional data. The factors associated with the lead up to school decline, and the process of decline, are multilayered, contextual and complex. Each study school’s experience of decline involved a unique combination and order of occurrence of common factors and influences. Many of the issues that predispose schools towards decline are associated with, and are exacerbated by, unethical or unprofessional attitudes or behaviour by individuals, and unprofessional practices within the schools and between neighbouring schools. Once decline begins it escalates and is difficult to stop. This thesis contributes towards the development of a theory of school decline by identifying potential predictors of school decline and by describing how decline begins and escalates. It also identifies factors that are associated with interventions being insufficient or ineffective. The theory of school decline provides insights for school leaders and educational agencies that may assist in the prediction and prevention of school decline in the future.
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McLeod, Jen. "Better relationships for better learning : schools addressing Maori achievement through partnership : research thesis submitted as partial fulfillment of a Masters degree in Education at Te Uru Maraurau, Massey University College of Education, Palmerston North". Massey University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/991.
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This thesis examines the policy document Better Relationships for Better Learning: Guidelines for Boards of Trustees and Schools on Engaging with Mäori Parents, Whanau, and Communities (Ministry of Education, 2000a). The thesis is concerned with an examination and analysis of the Ministry of Education’s policy Better Relationships for Better Learning document and its implementation as evidenced by a case study school. The thesis demonstrates that while Government policy may intend to benefit Maori, the outcomes do not necessarily do so. It is argued that neither Government nor schools, as agents of the state, are neutral bodies but in large part reflect the influence of the majority over the provision of education for Maori. The claim for school/Maori partnerships made in the policy Better Relationships for Better Learning ignores the founding partnership envisaged through the Treaty of Waitangi. Maori participation as partners in negotiating the terms of the relationship with the school is ignored. This thesis examines the function of those relationships in terms of ‘Better Learning’, investigating the developments and practices in schools for Maori children’s learning.
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Court, Marian. "Sharing leadership in schools : narratives of discourse and power : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University". Massey University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/989.
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This thesis explores the phenomenon of shared leadership as it emerged in three primary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand, during the 1990s restructuring of educational administration. At this time, two 'mainstream' discourses of professional collaborative leadership and neo-liberal managerialism came into 'collision.' The principal's role was re-constituted from being a collaborative instructional leader, to being a chief executive, entrepreneurial manager. Separate contracts for principals and senior school managers detailed managerial tasks, performance standards and accountability lines that heightened the existing divisions between them and other teachers. The possibility of developing 'flattened,' more democratic forms of shared decision making- and leadership seemed increasingly remote. Yet it was in this context that a small number of co-principalships were initiated around the country. The study employs narrative, Foucauldian and feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis tools to examine how opportunities for change opened up within 'cracks' and contradictions in the 1990s discursive terrain of educational leadership. Moving between micro and macro analyses, the thesis demonstrates how individual and collective agency is enacted within and against dominant discourses, effecting transformations of practice. Three groups of women challenged and/or co-opted elements of managerial, professional and feminist discourses of organisation as they developed their co-principalships. These initiatives opened up for many people different ways of thinking about and practising school leadership: as one child said about her school, "Here there is no boss." Three case narratives provide insights into strategies for developing more fully democratic partnerships between principals and staff, principals and board members, professionals and parents. Open, honest communication and mutual forms of accountability that go beyond current requirements for contractual, task specific and linear forms of control, are particularly significant for a successful co-principalship. Governmental forms of power, material inequalities and socio-cultural hegemonies of gender, class and ethnicity, can constrain the democratic potential of shared leaderships however. Related factors that led to the disestablishment of two or the co-principalships included inequalities of knowledge and experience, difficulties over funding and staffing, and struggles between a governing body and their co-principals over the meanings and practices of governance and management. There are flaws in arguments that posit a generic model of 'strong' management that can be imposed across all schools, with assumed uniform results. This study shows how people's beliefs about and practices of school leadership are constituted in relation to their own backgrounds, interactions with other people in their local school community and wider socio-political, economic and discursive struggles over power.
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Mohd, Zahari M. S. "A study of factors moderating Malaysian hospitality students selection of tertiary education institutions, programme and subsequent career intentions". Lincoln University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1577.
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This study explores the moderating variables that influence a student's decisions to enter into a hospitality management programme and subsequently pursue a career in the hospitality industry. It also examines how these factors are implicated in or modify a student's career commitment over time. The sample includes students enrolling in various three year (6 semester) diploma and undergraduate programme offered by Malaysian hospitality institutions of higher learning over the academic years of 2002- 2003. This includes four public or government funded institutions with several branch campuses, and six private institutions. Predominantly the data for this study based are on self completion questionnaires with some additional insight particularly about respondents' direction of industry employment provided by means of qualitative responses. The initial comparisons are made between students in the public and private institutions and these are followed by an extensive series of analyses examining the differences and similarities of respondents' rating in the two rounds of data collection with reference to a range of independent variables. Also reported are how these ratings change over time. Significant differences were found in terms of parental socio-economic background between students who enrolled in the private and those in the public hospitality institutions. Nevertheless, for the key issues as to whether parental backgrounds lead to differences in respondents' attitudes and values about a career in hospitality this was not seen as an influencing determinant for both institutions. Further, the independent variables of gender, ethnicity, religion and geographical upbringing, secondary school background and prior experience do not clearly show causation of how students reports their views about the dimensions investigated in this study. In fact, students' levels of intention and commitment towards career are apparently not directly related to these independent variables. However, despite no clear pre-tertiary education indicators of likely disaffection being identified, a very clear picture emerged in this study that there is a declining sentiment among Malaysian hospitality students towards employment in the hospitality industry and reduced intention to pursue such a career. These weakened employment intentions are formed during the educational programme and are probably at least partially a result of the maturation process with varying consequences and implications for the students, hospitality institutions, industry and the government.
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Kuiper, Alison C. "Education for occupational change: a study of institutional retraining in New Zealand". Lincoln University, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1068.
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In the Western world, and specifically in New Zealand, a major impetus for retraining has arisen quite recently and gone largely unnoticed. The new social phenomenon, retraining in the sense of education for occupational change, is examined in this study. Alongside the three traditionally recognised groups of adult learners: those learning for leisure; second chance learners who have been previously educationally disadvantaged; and upskillers who seek to enhance their existing credentials through further tertiary education; is a fourth; the reskillers, those who are seeking education for occupational change. Women are shown to be pioneers in leading social change in this area of retraining. The key questions investigated in this thesis concern the existence of this new phenomenon in New Zealand; whether it is national or worldwide; and whether its origins are local or international. Whether there are distinctive characteristics to the manifestation of this phenomenon in New Zealand is investigated by examining current policy and practice. Additional questions concern whether there are feature of New Zealand employment or education which make upskilling and reskilling more or less likely in this country; the significance of women being the first to take up education for occupational change and what can be learnt from comparison with other countries specifically the Netherlands and England. Education takes place within a set of intersecting socio-political contexts. In the modern world these are simultaneously international, national, local and institutional. They impact on participants in a course of study yet are not often manifest to the individual. 'Learning for life’ is a significant area of both international and national socio-political concern, manifesting itself in a significant set of public discourses and in social phenomena which, as in this case of education for occupational change, are little researched or understood. The historical evolution of public policy relating to adult learners, internationally, and in New Zealand, is documented, with a particular focus on the period from the 1960s onwards. The major theoretical and ideological constructs are outlined and critiqued particularly with reference to public policy in New Zealand. Analysis shows an inexorable shift over time away from knowledge and skills attained through praxis, to knowledge and skills attained through formal institutionalised learning. At the same time as this change was taking place, participation rates in first secondary, and then tertiary, education rose. Concurrently more and more women entered tertiary education in order to make their way into an increasingly credentialised workforce. It is suggested that, credentials are used for screening purposes in addition to providing individuals with knowledge and skills needed for the occupations they enter. Case studies are used to illustrate and document these changes. Policies relating to learning for life are examined with reference to three different countries: New Zealand, England and the Netherlands. Provision of tertiary education for adults is investigated, and then illustrated through the coverage provided by institutions in three cities, Christchurch, Leicester and Utrecht. These studies show that different countries are subject to international geo-political and ideological forces but respond to them in locally and historically determined ways. The case study/qualitative analysis of the Christchurch Polytechnic’s Next Step Centre for Women and the New Outlook for Women courses illustrates the ways in which the twists and turns of public policy in New Zealand over thirty years have affected women wishing to seek education for occupational change. A quantitative study of mature students and their motivations for returning to study at the Christchurch Polytechnic allows for the impact of public policy and institutional provision on a group of mature individuals to be assessed. The study concludes that education for occupational change appears to be more advanced in New Zealand than in the European countries chosen for comparison. This may result more from individual initiative and the conditions which promote this, than from state policy direction or institutional provision. Policy consequences are proposed on the basis of these findings.
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Stephenson, Maxine Sylvia. "Creating New Zealanders: Education and the formation of the state and the building of the nation". Thesis, University of Auckland, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/30.
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Educational activity preceded official British presence in New Zealand. The development of the New Zealand state from crown colony, to a system of relatively autonomous provincial councils, to a centralized administration took place within a period of four decades. Co-terminous with and essential to the state's progressive securing of its authority was the institutionalization of separate national systems of education for Maori and Pakeha. Whilst the ascendancy of the state and the securing of education as a central state concern proceeded ultimately with the sanction of the state and in accordance with its objectives it was not a straight forward process in a young nation which was born democratic, but was struggling to consolidate political and cultural unity. The various stages and the ultimate form that education in New Zealand took were closely linked to shifts in the nature and role of the state in its formative years, in the nature of its relationship with civil society, and in its official relationship with Maori. This provided the context and dynamic of the shift to state control as public schooling came to dominate over private or voluntary efforts, and as the particularism of isolated provincial settlements was replaced by a system designed to serve the nation as a whole. Positing conceptual links between the development of national education and the processes of state formation and nation building in a colonizing context, this thesis argues that the institutionally differentiated form that universal education took in New Zealand produced a site through which socially, culturally and ideologically determined conceptions of “normality” would be legitimated and become hegemonic. By nationalizing education to legitimate a culture of uniformity based on a specific set of norms, individual New Zealanders were differentially created according to class, gender and ethnicity, and to physical, intellectual, behavioural and sensory functioning.
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Johnston, Patricia Maringi G. "He ao rereke : education policy and Maori under-achievement: Mechanisms of Power and Difference". Thesis, University of Auckland, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2194.
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In acknowledging continual educational under-achievement of Maori children, this thesis investigates the relationship between education policy and Maori under-achievement. It argues that under-achievement is framed within boundaries of changing recognitions and realisations of power and difference: that conceptions of difference have influenced education policy and schooling practices for Maori. Theoretically, the thesis examines 'what counts as difference' and 'what differences count'. In recognising that unequal power relations between dominant and subordinate groups produce distinct views about difference, 'what counts as difference' encompasses the perspectives of dominant groups and 'what differences count', subordinate groups. The former view is developed to expand the basis for investigating 'Pakeha conceptions of difference', and the latter, 'Maori conceptions'. The thesis traces the interactions and relationships of 'difference' and 'power', and examines, historically, how they have contributed to and sustained Maori educational under-achievement. The contribution of these conceptions of difference to informing schooling practices is investigated through four sequential 'Classification Schemes' of Assimilation, Integration, Multiculturalism and Biculturalism. The thesis argues that Biculturalism is based on a positive view of Maori cultural differences, and examines the extent of Maori influence on four recent education policy making processes. The thesis also acknowledges a Maori focus on the importance of structural differences for addressing their needs. On the basis of those two different perspectives, the thesis develops the concepts 'Maori-friendly' and 'Maori-centred', to examine processes, and structures and the relative influence of Maori on mainstream policy forming processes. The thesis shows that Tomorrow's Schools, Education for the Twenty-First Century and the Maori Affairs Select Committee Inquiry encapsulate different degrees of both Maori-friendly and Maori-centred approaches, though arguing that ultimately, it is Pakeha conceptions of difference that inform and influence all the policy forming processes. However, the fourth policy process examined was originally a wholly Maori-centred initiative - Te Kohanga Reo. The thesis points to and traces the incorporation of Te Kohanga Reo into the mainstream education system and its consequences for Maori, and concludes that structural differences ensure continuing Pakeha control over Maori conceptions of difference and henceforth Maori educational under-achievement.
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Kao, Tzu-Hui. "University student satisfaction: an empirical analysis". Lincoln University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1833.
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New Zealand's tertiary education sector has experienced political reform, social changes, economic changes and globalisation in the last two decades, and the sector has become more internationally competitive. DeShields, Kara, and Kaynak (2005) recommended that management of higher education should apply a market-oriented approach to sustain a competitive advantage. Therefore, understanding and managing students' satisfaction and their perceptions of service quality is important for university management if they are to design and implement a market-oriented approach. The purpose of this research is to gain an empirical understanding of students' overall satisfaction in a university in New Zealand's higher education sector. A hierarchal model is used as a framework for the analysis. Fifteen hypotheses are formulated and tested to identify the dimensions of service quality as perceived by university students, to examine the relationship between students' overall satisfaction with influential factors such as tuition fees (price) and the university's image, and to determine the impact of students' overall satisfaction on favourable future behavioural intentions. In addition, students' perceptions of these constructs are compared using demographic factors such as gender, age, and ethnicity. The findings of the study are based on the analysis of a sample of 223 students studying at Lincoln University. Support is found for the use of a hierarchical model and the primary dimensions; Interaction Quality, Physical Environment Quality, and Outcome Quality, as broad dimensions of service quality. Ten sub-dimensions of service quality, as perceived by students, are identified. These are: Academic Staff, Administration Staff, Academic Staff Availability, Course Content, Library, Physically Appealing, Social Factors, Personal Development, Academic Development, and Career Opportunities. The results indicate that each of the primary dimensions vary in terms of their importance to overall perceived service quality, as do the sub-dimensions to the primary dimensions. In addition, the statistical results support a relationship between service quality and price; service quality, image, and satisfaction; and satisfaction and favourable future behavioural intentions. However, there is no statistical support for a relationship between price and satisfaction. The results also suggest that students' perceptions of the constructs are primarily influenced by their ethnicity and year of study. The results of the analysis contribute to the service marketing theory by providing an empirically based insight into the satisfaction and service quality constructs in the New Zealand higher education sector. The study also provides an analytical framework for understanding the effects of the three primary dimensions on service quality and the effects of service quality on constructs including price, image, satisfaction, and favourable future behavioural intentions. This study will assist management of higher education to develop and implement a market-oriented service strategy in order to achieve a high quality of service, enhance students' level of satisfaction and create favourable future behavioural intentions.
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Bill, Amanda Elizabeth. "Creative girls: fashion design education and governmentality". Thesis, University of Auckland, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/4234.
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This thesis is concerned with creativity as an object of educational governance and a category of subjective identification. It studies a ‘creativity explosion’ in higher education in New Zealand, focusing on how fashion design students are being mobilized as subjects of creativity through ‘joined up’ modes of governance and technologies of educational choice. Using a poststructural ethnographic ‘methodology’ I explain how, from the late 1990s, models of educational governance began to appear dysfunctional and unable to deliver the attributes and capacities expected of citizens in a knowledge economy. I argue that creativity gained significance as a result of new ways of ‘thinking culture and economy together’. Neoliberal rhetorics representing creativity as flexible human capital and a generic, transferable skill needed by workers in the new economy, were articulated with liberal humanist notions about creativity, which are commonly understood and performed through the social categories of art. All kinds of individual and institutional actors took advantage of these shifting opportunity structures to position themselves with ‘creative’ identities. Within various cultural organisations, including universities, moves to strengthen a liberal agenda and retain creativity as a form of ‘arts knowledge’ with high cultural capital, rubbed up against counter-hegemonic strategies to enlist and develop more universal concepts about creativity as a collaborative endeavour, vital to new forms of capitalist enterprise. By historicising the context in which a new ‘normative doctrine’ of creativity has emerged, and by treating its theorisation as culturally performative, I develop the position that fashion design graduates, as ‘creative girls’, are highly productive performers in the new categories of cultural economy. However I argue that the creative girl occupies a subject position fitted to after-neoliberalised social and economic arrangements, not because she is shaped by neoliberal ideologies, but because she is made up by techniques and tactics of an ‘after-neoliberal’ governmentality. This demonstrates the mutual constitution of ‘creative economy’ and ‘creative persons’ and underlines the fact that despite after-neoliberal ambitions for managing education, there can be no simple cause and effect relation between higher education and economic performance.
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Taylor, Rowena Margaret. "Teachers' conflicting responses to change: an evaluation of the implementation of senior social studies for the NCEA, 2002-2006 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Education (EdD), Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". Massey University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1023.
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The thesis provides a socio-historical perspective through which to evaluate the first five years of implementation (2002 to 2006) of social studies within the National Certificate of Educational Achievement [NCEA] in New Zealand secondary schools. The experiences of both lead educators, with responsibilities at a national level, and classroom teachers provide insights into the personal, contextual and institutional factors which have enabled and constrained the implementation process, especially at NCEA level one. The inclusion of social studies as a subject for the new qualifications and assessment system in New Zealand, the NCEA, heralded a significant opportunity for this integrated subject to gain academic status and acquire a unique identity within the senior secondary school curriculum. Paradoxically it set a relatively strongly framed assessment system beside a curriculum that has traditionally been weakly classified and framed (Bernstein, 1971). This paradox has created tensions for teachers who have responded in different ways, from full implementation to a more functional approach. Two groups of teachers were identified in the course of this study. The idealists are passionate advocates for senior social studies and are likely to implement it to all three NCEA levels in their school. The pragmatists, on the other hand, are more likely to offer only level one social studies, typically to their more academically able year 10 (Form 4) students for extension purposes, and also to induct them into the assessment requirements of the NCEA system before they study the traditional social science subjects at levels one, two and three. This pragmatic approach reflects past practices of the pre- NCEA, School Certificate era (1945-2001). It continues to reinforce the low status and unclear identity of senior social studies within the social sciences as well as within an already overcrowded senior school curriculum. At the end of this first five year period of implementation the viability of senior social studies is at a critical juncture, with its on-going success not yet assured.
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Rata, Elizabeth 1952. "Global Capitalism and the Revival of Ethnic Traditionalism in New Zealand: The Emergence of Tribal-Capitalism". Thesis, University of Auckland, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/2015.
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The social and economic restructuring accompanying increasing globalisation has provided new opportunities and new limits for social and ethnic movements in New Zealand as elsewhere. The purpose of this thesis is to establish the theory of tribal-capitalism through an examination of the responses to these changing global economic circumstances that have characterised the Maori ethnification, indigenisation and retribalisation movements since the 1970s. Although both the initial 'prefigurative' and the later 'strategic'(Breines, 1980:421) routes to tino rangatiratanga ('Maori sovereignty') were attempts to restore traditional social relations and secure political and economic autonomy from the dominant Pakeha society, the projects are distinguished by different approaches. On the one hand the 'prefigurative' traditionalist project indicted both capitalism and Pakeha society as its exponents sought a return to the precapitalist social relations of the pre-Contact era. On the other hand exponents of the 'strategic' project sought to establish a concordat with capitalist Pakeha society based upon the assumption that a capitalist economy could be made compatible with Maori political and cultural autonomy. It is argued that neither project, 'prefigurative' traditionalism nor the 'strategic march through the institutions of capitalism', achieved the objective of tino rangatiratanga. Irrespective of approach, Maori ethnification, indigenisation and retribalisation became reshaped and reconstituted by the conditions that made the movements possible and that shaped them in decisive ways. These tino rangatiratanga movements emerged from the institutional channels enabled by Pakeha bicultural idealists and given substance by the Waitangi Tribunal as a tribal-capitalist regime of accumulation characterised by exploitative class relations and reified communal relations. An extensive range of case studies is employed to provide evidence that tests the hypothesis of the emergence of tribal-capitalism from out of the projects that attempted to retain the traditional in a world dominated by capitalist relations. Despite the structural opportunities provided by Pakeha bicultural idealists, and despite the different approaches of the Maori tino rangatiratanga projects, it was not possible to restore communal relations of production. Objective forces, rather than internal miscalculation, ineptitude or corruption, brought about the failure as firstly 'prefigurative' and then 'strategic' projects became doomed attempts to sidestep class location within capitalist structures. The various studies examine the ways in which the 'prefigurative' and 'strategic' projects not only led to the transformation of the ethnification and indigenisation movements into the new class formations of tribal-capitalism, but actually became constitutive of the class fractions that define the regime. The dialectical interactive of agency and structure which transformed the projects became a reconstituting and shaping mechanism of change. First the study of the Pakeha new class's bicultural project grounds the later studies by locating the institutional inclusion of Maori indigenous particularity in the universalism of the new class humanists. Biculturalism established relatively benign conditions for the tino rangatiratanga projects by providing both opportunities and resources for Maori development. It is in the retribalising form of that development that an indigenous version of the capitalist regime of accumulation is located. The next three sections of the thesis examine the 'prefigurative' and 'strategic' routes of this indigenous particularity into the new inclusive structures in studies of: a reviving Maori family, an ascendant tribe, a separate Maori education system and the creation of the national Maori fishing industry. The outcomes of each study are examined to trace the failure of both approaches as particular groups within the retribalisation movement developed new and exclusive relationships to the traditional lands, waters and knowledge. The concluding section contrasts culturalist theories of the Maori tino rangatiratanga projects with the hypothesis of the emergence of tribal-capitalism advanced in this thesis. The claim that cultural strength can resist the imposition of capitalist class relations is found not to be sustained.
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Smith, Erin F. "Student perspectives on school camps : a photo-elicitation interview study". Lincoln University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/719.
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First-hand narrative accounts of participants’ experiences during outdoor programmes are notably absent from the outdoor education literature. This thesis reports on an exploratory study which applied a creative qualitative approach called photo-elicitation interviews to gather student accounts about the ways in which they experienced an outdoor education programme known as ‘school camp’. A group of Year 10 (14-15 years old) students attending secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand, participated in this study, and were provided with 27-exposure, disposable cameras on which they were asked to take a series of photographs to demonstrate what a residential school camp was like for them. Follow-up, individual photo-elicitation interviews with the 32 self-selected respondents (21 female, 11 male), revealed that school camp is primarily an enjoyable, social experience where students are able to spend time with their friends and develop their peer networks in a unique environment. From the perspective of these students, school camp primarily contributed to developing a greater understanding of others, while developing greater understandings of the self and the environment were less salient. A greater understanding of others was achieved primarily through the ways in which school camp created an enjoyable, novel, experience which allowed students to see their peers from a different, more ‘real’ perspective. Aspects of this novel experience which contributed to students’ social interactions included the residential nature of these camps and the absence of ‘urban’ features associated with teenage culture such as mobile phones, clothing and make-up. Interestingly, students’ camp experiences included little specific reference to the natural environment; a finding which challenges recent discourses advocating for a shift towards a more critical outdoor education aiming to promote human-nature relationships. The use of photo-elicitation interviews in this context is critically examined. Providing students with cameras was an effective way to engage young people in academic research and to capture important aspects of the outdoor experience from their perspective. To better assess the utility of the technique, it warrants further application in other outdoor education contexts. The inclusion of participant-generated photographs, however, raises several research ethics issues. This study contributes to the growing body of qualitative literature seeking to provide a more in-depth understanding of outdoor education and complements the quantitative studies which predominate in the field.
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Robertson, Jennifer D. "Conceptualising boys (and) video gaming: "Communities of Practice"?" 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/3300.
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The present investigation aimed to apply Wenger’s (1998) conceptualisation of the ‘communities of practice’ concept (being one concept within the broader framework of social learning theory) to video gaming, based on Gee’s (2003) suggestion that video gaming could be viewed as a ‘community of practice’. In addition, Paechter’s (2003a) recommendation that masculinities (after Connell, 1995, and inclusive of a Foucaultian notion of knowledge/power relations), could be additionally conceptualised as ‘communities of masculinities practice’ was explored in relation to video gaming. The choice of ‘communities of practice’ as the unifying concept for this study was favoured due to the application of the concept to a number of New Zealand, Ministry of Education initiatives. The research project aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the ‘communities of practice’ concept for application to boys (and) video gaming as a model for how the concept might be applied to a range of education-related social learning environments. A total of 284 Year 9 boys (13-14 years old), from five New Zealand schools were surveyed about their video gaming behaviours and understandings, and further 42 boys from a selection of these same schools took part in ‘lessons’ to discuss in detail aspects of their video gaming. Evidence supported that; video gaming in itself cannot be conceptualised as a ‘community of practice’ because there is no sense of mutual engagement in a joint enterprise in the playing of video games, (that was, there is no evidence to support the conceptual understanding of ‘community’ or ‘practice’); and in addition, that while masculinities can be convincingly conceptualised as ‘communities of practice’, it is only when the activity of video gaming is seen as a resource within the shared repertoire of the ‘communities of masculinities practice’, in which masculinities, both hegemonic and less hegemonic are performed and reproduced, that video gaming can be linked with the ‘communities of practice’ concept. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to where the conceptual and analytical lens offered by the ‘communities of practice’ concept, appear to be more applicable to the world of boys and video gaming. Also reiterated is that romanticised notions of ‘community’, applied to the likes of an educational environment but devoid of conceptual foundation, can be little more than rhetoric when not carefully considered and supported by empirical evidence.
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Thesing, Winks Avril Janis. "Support for mothers by early childhood centres : a qualitative study : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1570.
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Mothers have been involved with early childhood centres since their inception. Apart from obvious benefits for their children this liaison has also been important for mothers through gains in parenting knowledge, increased confidence and personal wellbeing. The present study argues that this is pertinent to appropriate and focused support being crucial for mothers at the life stage of adjustment to early parenting when disruption of networks has occurred. As well, it reflects the responsibility of institutions such as early childhood centres to fulfil these needs in a society where traditional support has fragmented. The study was designed to explore ways in which support mechanisms operated in four different early childhood services, through the medium of interviews. The unique findings in the study culminated in six propositions that showed support to be a product of mothers' own activity in building relationships and contributing to their centre community. At the same time irrespective of service type all centres operated upon the basis of both formal and informal systems of support. Consequently, whilst mothers' activities were most favoured by socially co-operative environments, they were opportunists in both systems. However, of major concern was that the informal systems were the most effective, as the statement of Desirable Objectives and Practices (Ministry of Education, 1996) exhorts staff to consider parent interactions as partnerships and The Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education (Ministry of Education, 2002) has a vision of socially co-operative practices. Teachers rather than being unwilling to establish more collaborative styles of leadership were hampered by a lack of confidence in working with parents. Difficulties were the consequence of professional attitudes to trained knowledge, unmodified by the benefits of training to facilitate adults. Addressing these issues will not only help teachers to develop more collaborative systems that will facilitate support for mothers, but it will also ensure partnerships that make better use of their services to the mutual benefit of early childhood centre communities.
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Annan, Jean. "Professional supervision in a community of practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand". 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1693.
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Previous research of supervision in educational psychology has regularly reported low rates of participation and dissatisfaction with the adequacy of supervisory arrangements. Most studies to date have been conducted on the assumption that supervision is a formalised, often one-to-one relationship. However, this view of supervision is incongruent with the ecological theories of human development that currently guide educational psychologists' work. The present study sought to develop understanding of the nature and contexts of supervision for a group of educational psychologists through examination of the actions they took to meet the goals of supervision. A situational analysis research method was used to examine the supervisory actions, in relation to the theories underlying current field practice, of 38 educational psychologists. This collaborative method of inquiry reflected the procedures of the psychologists' professional practice and enabled the understanding of supervision to be constructed using the participants' own sense-making processes. Results of the study indicated that the psychologists pursued the goals of supervision through the multiple interactions that took place within the regular activity of their community of practice. Supervision included a combination of formal, informal and situated interactions. It was concerned with connectedness to the professional community and comprised a range of integrated activities. The psychologists demonstrated that their supervision-in-action was guided by the same ecological principles that guided their professional practice. When supervision was conceptualised as a practice that included formal, informal and situated interactions intended to meet the goals of supervision, the participants reported high levels of satisfaction with current supervisory arrangements and participation in the practice. This thesis proposes an extended view of supervision that depicts supervision as activity situated within the interaction of a community of practice. It suggests that ecologically valid evaluations of supervision activity and the development of applicable systems of supervision must consider a wide range of supervision activities and contexts of practice.
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Bosi, Winny. "The pilot implementation of inclusive education in Malaysia : a review : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in education at Massey University". 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1735.
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Inclusive education was introduced into the Malaysian school system as a pilot scheme in 1994, involving a small number of elementary schools throughout the country. This study examines teachers' and principals' conceptions of inclusive education, their understanding of the Inclusive Education Policy and their attitudes towards the pilot implementation of inclusive education. Using individual interviews and surveys, the researcher explored the views of regular and special education teachers from pilot and non-pilot elementary schools. A total of 36 special and regular classroom teachers and six principals from six geographically representative pilot schools and 18 traditional classroom teachers from six matching non-pilot schools participated in this study. Data examination showed that differences existed in the teachers' conceptions of inclusive education. Seven hierarchically ordered conceptions of inclusive education were identified. They ranged from the provision of educational opportunities in the traditional classroom for all students regardless of disability to the provision of enrichment for students with special abilities. Teachers were found to have limited understanding of the educational policies related to inclusive education. Many principals and teachers, nevertheless, favoured inclusive education but the teachers were concerned about an increase in workload as a result of the inclusion of children with special needs in their classes. Class size was also seen as a barrier to implementing inclusive education. It was concluded that principals and teachers were concerned about the inadequate professional preparation of teachers for inclusive education and the difficulties of coping with children with special needs when placed in the traditional classroom settings. These findings have serious educational implications and support the need for comprehensive inservice training programmes that are designed to meet the needs of teachers during pre-service programmes and in in-service training. The researcher also gave some attention to the process of change as it occurred during the pilot implementation of inclusive education while her discussion of theoretical issues, related to the implementation, led to the development of an explanatory model to assist understanding of an approach to the further implementation of inclusive education in Malaysia.
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MacIntyre, Lesieli I. Kupu. "Tongan mothers' contributions to their young children's education in New Zealand = Lukuluku 'a e kau fa'ē Tonga' ki he ako 'enau fānau iiki' 'i Nu'u Sila : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1398.
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This study investigates the complex nature of how Tongan mothers in New Zealand contribute to their young children's ako (learning, and general education) in their homes, in the early childhood centre and primary school settings, and in church and the community. It argues that the mothers' contribution to their children's ako is based mainly on their cultural background, educational experience in Tonga, and their Christian faith, plus new knowledge they have picked up in New Zealand. Through the use of talanoa (conversation, questions and discussion) in Tongan and English languages, data were gathered from a small community in a town in the North Island, New Zealand and were coded, analysed, and presented. The participants draw on skills and knowledge of child-rearing strategies and educational practices experienced in Tonga before their migration to this country. However, when implemented in New Zealand, some aspects prove contradictory to the current practice in Aotearoa. The mothers find these emerging tensions frustrating, yet ongoing, but new learning in this country and their Christian faith help enhance their practice. The findings show that the mothers' use of Tongan language, cultural values, beliefs, and practices, with the lived experience of their Christian faith, is effective in teaching the children social and moral education, while contributing to their academic learning and still be preserving their Tongan culture, language, and identity. The mothers' shared use of Tongan language, cultural values and Christian faith enable them to create and maintain good relationships with teachers and other mothers for making worthwhile contributions to their children's ako in the selected contexts. Most of the mothers are involved in most activities, and nearly all participate where Tongan language is used and Tongan culture and Christianity are practised. It is acknowledged that some contributions create dilemmas and mismatches of expectations between the women and mainstream educational institutions. The women's efforts, accessing information in Tongan, and operating in education using faka-Tonga ways, and creating warm relationships among the mothers, teachers, and children who contribute to one another's learning reveal the complex nature of mothers' contributions to their children's education. They shuttle from one context to another, using their faka-Tonga ways, views and practices to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities, while going through transformation in their participation. Based on these findings, implications for mothers, teachers/educators, researchers, and policymakers are considered, and suggestions for future research directions are made that may benefit the growing Tongan population since it is they who have the main responsibility for young Tongan children's ako in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
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Brown, Mark E. "The story of wired schools : a study of internet-using teachers : a thesis submitted as partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1629.
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The story of wired schools addresses the lack of critical debate over the adoption and implementation of the Internet in New Zealand schools. It is set in the backdrop of rapid technological change and growing international concern over the wisdom of the substantial investment in new computer technology in the education system. The study addresses the problem that the hype surrounding the Internet in schools is potentially diverting much attention away from its real pedagogical value. Thus, the research objective investigates how teachers believe the Internet has affected learning and teaching—for better and worse. In the context of this objective, a number of methodological issues related to conducting research in the area of educational technology are considered and a multi-paradigmatic framework is adopted utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The research consists of three phases over a period of three school years. It reports a process to identify and systematically investigate a purposive sample of proficient, accomplished and experienced internet-using teachers. The first phase involves a survey in which a written questionnaire gathers baseline information on the background characteristics, experiences, perceptions and practices of a group of teachers nominated as proficient in using the Internet for learning and teaching. In Phase Two, the survey is repeated through a follow up questionnaire and informant interview with a refined sample of perceived accomplished internet-using teachers. The final phase culminates with narrative-biographical and micro ethnographic case studies of three teachers judged to be experienced in using the Internet for pedagogical purposes. An analysis of data shows that the advent of the Internet has clearly had an impact on the nature of teachers' work. The standout effects of the Internet are reported under the themes of: (a) school organization and classroom management, (b) displacement costs, (c) collegial relationships, (d) workload considerations, and (e) teachers thinking more globally. Notably, the research shows that teachers do not simply experience the Internet, they reshape and reframe it based on their pedagogical beliefs and lived experiences. Thus, teachers have equally affected the Internet and these effects are reported under the themes of: (a) differential uptake, (b) limited local action, (c) teaching is messy, (d) computer as tool, and (e) technology as progress. The key lesson is that the implementation of an educational technology is a mutually adaptive process full of conflicts, tensions, and contradictions that simultaneously give rise to positive, negative, and unknown effects. Accordingly, the effects of the Internet on teachers' lives and work culture can not be analysed in terms of simple dichotomies of good and bad as a more dialectical perspective is required of the relationship between technology and society. A rough portrait of the educational technology landscape is sketched from the tensions and individual mindsets embedded in the research sample, and the shape of the topography is shown to amplify rival theoretical positions in the literature. From a post-technocratic political economy perspective, the new digital landscape consists of a number of competing and coexisting discourses that borrow and co-construct a socio-cognitive language of persuasion to advance their own hegemonic agenda. Such an analysis brings into question the hidden curriculum behind the new ways of enterprise constructivism promoting the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in New Zealand schools. The ensuing discussion endeavours to reframe the teacher's role around critical pedagogy and the need for pedagogical activism in the backdrop of a number of potential dark clouds looming on the digital horizon. Finally, the story of wired schools is brought together through the metaphor of planes, trains and automobiles in which a lot of misinformation, dissembling language and even propaganda is claimed to prevent teachers from understanding the meaning and non-educational intention of the ICT-related school reform movement. A number of implications arise from the explanation of how things have come to be this way and these are presented for teachers, researchers and policy-makers. The central thesis is that teachers need to approach the ICT movement as problematic and a deeper level of critical dialogue is required over the move to plug New Zealand schools into the Knowledge Economy. In short, wired schools require wired educators capable of reading and responding to current efforts to boost capacity, increase bandwidth and catch the knowledge wave—for better and worse.
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Bicknell, Brenda Anne. "Multiple perspectives on the education of mathematically gifted and talented students : a dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/890.
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This study examines multiple perspectives on the education of a group of fifteen Year 6 and Year 8 students identified as mathematically gifted and talented. The students’ mathematical experiences, both past and present are examined using evidence from school policy documents; student, teacher, and parent interviews; questionnaires; and classroom observations. The purpose of this case study was to seek understandings about awareness of the characteristics of mathematically gifted and talented students, the identification of and educational provisions for mathematically gifted and talented students, parental involvement, and school transfer. The group of fifteen students consisted of ten Year 6 students who transferred from primary school to a new school for Year 7, and five Year 8 students who moved to secondary schools for Year 9. These students had been identified by their school and teachers as gifted and talented in mathematics. This predominantly qualitative study is underpinned by an interpretive paradigm and influenced by a sociocultural philosophy of learning and teaching. The literature review presents the dilemmas, similarities, and differences that prevail in the field of gifted education. A more specific focus is given to the education of mathematically gifted students to highlight gaps in the field. This two-year study tracking a group of students provides a cohesive approach to understanding the educational provisions for students identified as mathematically gifted and talented in the New Zealand setting. The multiple case studies included interviews, questionnaires, documents, and observations. The research findings show that there is not a comprehensive understanding by schools and teachers about the characteristics of mathematically gifted students. Despite the documentation of a range of identification processes in school policies, a multiple method approach is not practised in many schools. Provision of appropriate programmes is variable and determined by factors such as school organization, identification, teacher knowledge and expertise, and resources. Parents play a key role in their children’s mathematics education as motivators, resource providers, monitors, mathematics content advisers, and mathematical learning advisers. Schools, teachers, parents, and peers all contribute to the success of a student’s transfer from one phase of schooling to another; they support a student’s social and emotional well being and influence curriculum continuity in mathematics. This study provides insights into the various determinants of the development of mathematical talent. For New Zealand schools and teachers, it provides evidence that understanding the characteristics of mathematical giftedness is important and that identification processes must reflect this understanding. Provisions must be well considered and evaluated; the role of parents should be understood and valued; and home-school communications strengthened. Together, all stakeholders share a critical role in the education of mathematically gifted and talented students.
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Arnott, Rosemary M. "A girls' eye view of aggressive adolescent female behaviour : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education, Massey University". 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1633.
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This thesis challenges media claims that adolescent girls in New Zealand are becoming more aggressive and are therefore behaving like boys. Most early studies of aggression ignored girls entirely or presented them as a subset of boys. Although later studies did address issues around girls’ aggressive behaviour, these were largely focused on adults’ views of girls’ relational or social aggression. This doctoral study therefore used a small case study to explore adolescent aggression from the perspective of six adolescent girls whose behaviour had been described by their schools as aggressive. The girls’ accounts of their experiences and beliefs about gender-specific aggression were gathered via a series of individual conversational interviews, and initially analysed through the theoretical perspective of role theory and psychological perspectives on aggression. However, as the study progressed, the limitations of that approach became apparent and the girls’ transcripts were revisited via the lens of poststructural theory, using the tools of discourse analysis. The study found that these girls’ behaviours and beliefs did not fit the description of severe adolescent female aggression as described in the literature. Nor did the risk factors most commonly associated with aggression at adolescence appear to have affected them. Conversely, it would appear that their physicality influenced how they positioned themselves and how others positioned them; as “sporty girls”, “tomboys”, “loving daughters and siblings”, or as “righteous aggressors”. Their behaviours frequently challenged the dominant discourse of conventional schoolgirls. None of them thought that girls were becoming more aggressive and all stated that girls could behave how they wanted without being labelled de facto boys. This study was limited in terms of the number of participants and the range of cultures represented, therefore no generalisations can be drawn from it. Nevertheless, it does have some important implications for policy makers and practitioners: particularly that interactions of culture, class and gender impact on the way that individuals constitute themselves and others. Interpretations of behaviour are determined by the discursive context and the experiences and belief systems of both “actor” and “audience”.
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Murray, Nicola Sheree. "Dispositional coping styles and adult literacy : exploring stress and coping in adult vocational training environments : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, New Zealand". 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1088.
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Since the publication of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) findings in 1996, governments internationally have been cognisant of the need for functional literacy skill training for large segments of the New Zealand working-age population (Culligan1, Arnold, Noble, & Sligo, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2001; OECD, 2000). Individuals with low literacy levels generally report negative prior experiences of formal learning environments that are due to and have contributed to their current functional literacy capability (for example, see Neubauer & Dusewicz, 1988; Ross, 1987, 1988; Tilley et al., 2006). The present study aimed to systematically investigate and measure the dispositional coping styles and strategies associated with differing prose literacy capabilities. The purpose of this project was to provide an understanding of the coping-literacy relationship as a first step toward the development of coping strategy training interventions specifically targeted at improving the educational experience (current and future) of low literacy individuals. Secondary aims of the current study included exploring the relationship between persistence and coping style, adaptability, and prose literacy; determining whether and how coping styles, adaptability, and prose literacy changed over time; and, assessing the relationship between prose literacy, coping style, adaptability, and post-course goal achievement. Fifty-six students in adult vocational programmes were interviewed pre- and post-course. At each time point assessments of dispositional coping style and strategies via use of the COPE tool (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) were gathered, as were measures of emotional intelligence (including adaptability), and prose literacy score. Participants also took part in a semi-structured qualitative interview which gathered information on their educational and employment history, and goals post-course. Situational assessments of coping behaviours outside of the course were also gathered as part of a larger study for future analysis purposes and are outside the scope of this thesis. Respondents were also interviewed at three and six months post-course to determine achievement or non-achievement of post-course goals. Low prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of emotionfocused coping strategies (particularly avoidance). Higher prose literacy scores were significantly associated with more frequent use of problem-focused coping strategies. Indicative data showed that non-persisting participants showed higher emotion-focused coping strategy use than their persisting counterparts alongside lower prose literacy scores. Further, emotionfocused coping, adaptability, and prose literacy score were found to change significantly over time. However, post-course goal achievement was not significantly associated with any of the variables of interest except bivariately with prose literacy. The model of transactional stress and coping (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and the control theory of self-regulation (Carver & Scheier, 1981, 2000) provided a framework for the discussion of the dispositional coping styles and strategies used by individuals of differing prose literacy ability. It was argued that a negative self-schema of the individual as a learner is developed through prior negative experiences of formal education. It was hypothesised that this negative self-schema, built from a low self-confidence and fear of educational failure and rejection, predisposed the individual to a heightened negative self-focus. This in turn was proposed to direct attention to the self and the associated emotional aspects of a response to a stressor, leading to a bias towards habitual coping strategies of avoidance and less frequent use of problem-focused strategies by this group. These findings and the associated interpretations have implications for the future development of coping strategy training interventions for individuals with low functional literacy competencies who wish to re-engage with formal education.
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Didi, Ahmed Ali. "School improvement : the route taken by an urban primary school in the Republic of Maldives : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1593.
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The primary and secondary schools in the Maldives serve over one third of the total population. Having achieved universalization of primary education, one of the challenges of the education system now is to improve the quality of primary education. Studies done in the past, to explore quality in primary education, have been quantitative in nature, telling only part of the story when it comes to describing improvement efforts. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore in detail how a primary school in an urban setting of the Maldives deals with school improvement efforts. A qualitative case study, informed by the interpretivist research paradigm, was used to explore this issue. One of the primary schools in Male' was purposefully selected for this study and 48 participants took part, of whom thirteen were students. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observations, document reviews and administering of questionnaires. The findings of this study suggest that there were three major dimensions or three interrelated, key concepts that together undergirded the improvement efforts in the school. They are change, leadership and culture. In action-oriented terms, these dimensions or concepts translated into managing change, attending to specific leader actions and influencing the school's culture, respectively, reflecting six themes of school improvement. They are: a focus on change, a focus on students, a teaching learning focus, investing in staff, strong leadership by the head and school culture. In addition to these, it was noted that these themes emerged as having significance to the school's improvement efforts against the backdrop of many stakeholder influences and contextual factors. In essence, the findings of this study portray the micro-level realities of the working of a school that is consciously and continuously striving for improving educational practice. In conclusion to the study, research implications and areas for further research have been identified that would inform educational policy and practice in the Republic of Maldives.
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Maniku, Ahmed Ali. "Higher education quality assurance policy and practice in the Maldives : a case study from a small developing nation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1406.
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This thesis comprises a case study of quality assurance policy and practice in the emerging higher education sector of the Maldives. The policy analysis is extended to incorporate a glonacal perspective, allowing analysis of quality assurance policy issues from the global, national and local contexts. In order to illuminate the analysis in the Maldives' primary case study, two secondary less intensive case studies are presented of quality assurance processes from a New Zealand polytechnic and the University of the South Pacific. Documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews from Key Informants form the main evidence base for the study. Data analysis is facilitated using NVivo. The thesis argues that the upsurge in quality assurance in higher education is primarily legitimated within a neoliberal discourse, Urged by transnational organisations such as the World Bank, there is widespread policy convergence in quality assurance. Whilst neoliberalism has had partial effects in the case of the Maldives, the study reveals that neoliberal ideology and the associated strategies of marketisation, privatisation, human resource development and managerialism have shaped quality assurance policy processes in varying degrees in the three cases. Findings in this study contribute to a fuller understanding of quality assurance policy processes in a small developing nation context: a perspective largely missing from current debates on the subject. The findings confirm that a combination of global, national and institutional factors influenced quality assurance policy processes in the Maldives. From the global context, globalisation and internationalisation of higher education trends affect quality assurance policy. At the national level, the desire for higher quality education found expression in the state's reassertion of its role in protecting public interest in regulating the sector through formal quality assurance. The social demand for international comparability has also lead to a growing trend of transnational quality assurance practices. The creation of the Maldives College of Higher Education was shown to be the principal impetus in quality assurance development. This national college played a lead role in developing a quality assurance model that tends to promote a regulatory compliance to quality. The study argues for a more inclusive model that acknowledges external compliance but also seeks to assure quality of teaching and learning leading to improved student outcomes.
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Moore, Penelope Anne. "The cognitive and metacognitive demands of library research as experienced by Form one students : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University". 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1519.
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In recent years educators have become increasingly aware of the necessity to support the development of higher order thinking abilities in all students. It has been suggested that, in this regard, special attention should be given to those aspects of the curriculum "which are inherently enabling of further learning" (Resnick, 1987, p44). Library research skills tuition is one such area but traditional modes of teaching these have frequently overlooked the cognitive and metacognitive demands of tasks requiring information retrieval and use. The extent of these demands as they affect students undertaking project assignments independently was largely unknown and prompted the following study. To access the levels of knowledge and thinking processes used by students, think aloud/concurrent interviews were conducted individually while 23 Form 1 students (mean age 11 years 8 months) attempted to gather information for a project. These interviews were videotaped and then replayed to students to provide memory cueing for retrospective interviews. Students were found to have wide ranging metacognitive knowledge, the accuracy of which influenced their performance on the information retrieval task. However, the knowledge they made public concerning the learning task and the criteria by which their learning would be assessed was very limited. Few students voiced recognition that the criteria for evaluation would have implications for the way in which they approached the learning task itself. In contrast, they voiced considerable awareness concerning the expected features of the materials they must use, qualities of their own learning abilities and processes, and interactions between these. However, Form 1 students often lacked an accurate understanding of the relationships within the library system and between access structures in individual books. Overall they had insufficient general and tactical knowledge to facilitate the use of alternative action paths when a favoured approach failed. However, both able and less able students were found to engage in some form of executive control processing. Two case studies are presented which illustrate differences in the quality of students' executive control processes. In particular, students varied in the degree to which monitoring events triggered associated planning and regulation/revision episodes. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for providing a learning environment that supports the development of higher order thinking and increased information retrieval success.
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Irwin, Michael Ray. "Hear our boys' voices : what hinders and enhances their academic success : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1578.
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Many boys in New Zealand are having difficulty at school and are not reaching or achieving to their potential. Over the last 30 years there has been an increasing gender gap in education with girls outperforming boys in most curriculum areas. More boys are likely to be disciplined, expelled from school, placed in special education programmes and leave school without qualifications, than girls of the same age and ability. The aim of this research was to develop a clearer understanding of boys' learning needs and in the process to develop some strategies for improved pedagogy. To achieve this aim and ensure that boys' voices were heard and accurately recorded, boys were trained to be student researchers and consultants within the study. Schools tend to practice a strategy of silence by denying students voice. However students can be valuable collaborators in research and school improvement when given the opportunity. This thesis recorded the voices of boys from Year level 9, 11 and 13 of three culturally and geographically dissimilar secondary schools. A diverse and broadly representative sample of boys was crucial for the study to establish a boys' perspective on school issues. The methods used to collect boys' experiences and perceptions were individual semi-structured interview, boys' only focus groups and a student motivation measurement. Over 400 boys were involved. This research established that boys could be taught the skills and abilities to make a valuable contribution as researchers and consultants to the research process. The boys were astutely aware of the issues of education within their school and were able to process information in a responsible and honest manner. There was a uniformity of viewpoint between boys from the three schools and Year levels on ways they perceived factors enhance and hinder their learning. In particular, boys love activity and challenge and require it to engage their body and their mind. A key component to teaching boys is the teacher/boy relationship that establishes a mutual respect, individual care and consistency of expectations. A disturbing revelation is that a number of boys believe that teachers and schools do not expect them to achieve as well as girls. This attitude must be addressed by all concerned with boys' education and well being.
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Coutts, Christine Elizabeth. "Drop out from state secondary girls' schools in New Zealand : an ecological perspective : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/740.
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Economic change requiring a more highly skilled workforce prompted worldwide concern over high school drop out. Dropouts are young people who leave school early, often without attaining formal educational qualifications. Much previous research centred on at-risk students and a range of individual, social, family and school factors associated with drop out were identified. This case study of student drop out and retention at three girls’ state secondary schools over 2003 suggests that early leaving behaviour cannot be understood outside of the settings in which it occurs. Adopting an ecological perspective facilitated a deeper understanding of the complex interactions between the dropouts and their environment. From a narratives and numbers approach rich stories of early leaving emerged. Patterns of leaving were consistent with national trends: The lower decile school had the highest drop out rate, and dropouts were more likely to be Maori and Pasifika than European. Dropping out was shown to be a complicated and iterative process in which the influence of the environment is very important. Family and school relationships had a major impact but which had the greatest influence was inconclusive because there was a high level of interconnectedness between these proximal settings within the mesosystem and the bigger picture education and welfare systems. The extent of the contribution each level made to early leaving varied across individual stories, between schools and over time. Leaving school is an ecological transition that involves changing roles from high school pupil to that of tertiary student, mother, worker or benefit recipient. The students’ stories show drop out to be both an outcome, and an initiator, of developmental change. An important challenge for schools is not necessarily to reduce the number of early leavers but to establish effective transition programmes that assist students to become proactive in navigating the many transitions anticipated over their life course. The implementation of such school programmes needs to be supported by parallel changes in government policy.
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Prabakaran, Gaayathri. "Indo-Malaysians within the Malaysian education system : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/737.
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This thesis seeks to explore the factors that limit the freedom of choice and access of the Indian community to tertiary level education in Malaysia. Issues of ethnic minorities are of concern for all multi-cultural societies. In Malaysia, it was the indentured labour system, introduced by the British colonial rulers who brought non-Malays into this previously mono-ethnic society. British colonisation has influenced the position of the Indian community in Malaysia in a number of ways, which are explored in this thesis. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the complexity of this plural society and its implications for one of its ethnic minority groups, particularly in terms of education. This sector has been examined as education is a fundamental component for socio-economic development and upward social mobility. Malaysia, a classic modern day plural society, has its own complexity in terms of issues of ethnic minorities. The findings of this thesis indicate four main factors limiting the freedom of choice and access to tertiary level education for the Indian community. These factors are the country’s education policies, the financial situation of Indo-Malaysians, the attitude and awareness of the students, and the community’s values. The findings are significant as it is believed that the advancement of the Indian community in Malaysia is currently obstructed through lack of access to tertiary level education. Before this situation can be improved it needs to be understood.
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Savage, Catherine. "Amputation without anaesthetic : 2004 Network Review : school and community reorganisation : a thesis submitted for the degree of Education doctorate at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1568.
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This research investigated a 2004 Ministry of Education-led Education Development Initiative (EDI) known as the Network Review in one district from the perspective of board of trustees members, parents, teachers and students from one school using a case study approach. Focused interviews with participants and student groups were held on three separate occasions throughout 10 months of the reorganisation process. The interviews were analysed using content analysis and conclusions were reached using an inductive method of categorising. The findings indicate this reorganisation was far from realising the outcomes or benefits as predicted by the Ministry of Education. Student learning was not only jeopardised but student safety was also compromised in some settings indicating that there may be long-term implications for students as they express a reluctance to attend the new school, an increased sense of anomie and a lack of interest in learning. The reorganisation workload and stress reported by the BoT and teachers is significant and took a toll on personal wellbeing. The responsibility and workload far exceeded the expectation of the board of trustees as unpaid volunteers. The participants described the Ministry decision as "imposed" which failed to take into account the existing tensions within the community resulting in a sense of dissonance between government and community.
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Roache, Leo Ernest. "Parental choice and education : the practice of homeschooling in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1227.
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This thesis reports an investigation into eight New Zealand homeschooling families. It also offers an opportunity, to these parents, to share and discuss the reasons why they chose to educate their children at home and how they went about doing so. The families interviewed were all volunteers and, with the exception of two families, all interviews took place in the family homes. The families, urban and rural, were distributed from Wellington to Northland. All families had an opportunity to review and revise their narratives and my reviews of the narratives which related to them. No attempt was made to verify the stories of why families chose homeschooling but there was good accord between their stated reasons for homeschooling, and the practices they adopted. The reasons advanced for choosing to homeschool were found to be complex. They ranged from parental experiences and philosophical beliefs to concern about teacher behaviour and sustaining their culture. The variations in teaching/learning practices and curricula, which were largely parent designed in consultation with their children, were equally complex. The testimony and experiences of these families bear out the notion of “communities of learning practice”, with all families repeatedly emphasising the centrality of the family. It was evident that the families changed over time, in the reasons for their choice and their practices. One significant feature was that all families elected to teach their children the basic skills of language and mathematics, with the intention of facilitating independent learning. Homeschooling was seen by the families studied as a way of gaining some control over the education of their children, and thereby strengthening the family unit, whilst providing opportunities to cater for individual needs and preferred approaches to learning. Comparisons with overseas studies thus demonstrated some commonalities and some significant differences regarding the New Zealand sample. The study suggested that further research is needed to provide an accurate picture of homeschooling in New Zealand.
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Tait, Edna. "Purpose, practice and power : a study of power in the work of seven heads of field offices in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1464.
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Interest in the power of heads of field offices in the United Nations Organization (UN) began with the researcher's appointment to such a position and with anecdotal suggestions that any explanation of the powers they held would be complex. For these reasons, this study has the research aim of explaining the power of some UN heads of field offices. The study focusses on seven heads of field offices in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Literature searches indicated that no academic study had been made of any UN field work but the searches produced considerable literature on the UN and a wide range of theories about organizations, leadership and power, related issues of ethics and rationality and useful concepts from the work of Weber and Foucault. The research is interpretive. A case study and an appropriate conceptual framework were designed to reflect both the literature and the three research questions that promote the aim: organizational bureaucracy, organizational capital and frontline work are the guiding concepts. Because case studies may be challenged for possible lack of rigour and for validity, a number of data collection and analysis methods were used to promote reliability: both the data sources and the analysis checks included participants, UNESCO documents and information from other international bodies. Appropriate literature is also used for theoretical analysis. The results are presented progressively in three chapters, each chapter focussing on one framework concept and its appropriate question. The relevant data are presented and theoretical analysis, including selected concepts from Weber and Foucault, suggests answers to each question posed. The research results suggest that in the organization the participants gain power from UNESCO's intellectual and ethical purpose but are constrained in its use by processes of the bureaucracy, especially its lines of communication. The participants also have considerable power in organizational capital that includes tangible capital of qualifications, experience, skills, high level of position, the resources of the post in which they work and the intangible capital of the assumptions they hold about their work. At the frontline, although constrained by bureaucratic processes that limit their time for programme work, participants report valuable contributions to UNESCO's development and advocacy work: they gain power fiom proximity to the countries they serve and from their ethical motivation. They also gain some power in the freedom of distance from their headquarters, thus weakening the possible double jeopardy by being in a class-at-the-frontline and being in a group-not-in-headquarters. The final chapter brings all suggestions together and examines participants' power for sources (as rights or capacities), limitations (as control or domination) and agency (with compliance and resistance); when these perspectives are combined in a circle of power, the study suggests a Janus syndrome in which participants paradoxically are powerful/powerless agents, sited as they are between the power provision and constraints of both their bureaucracy and the governments and other bodies with whom they work.
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Kearney, Alison. "Barriers to school inclusion : an investigation into the exclusion of disabled students from and within New Zealand schools : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/876.
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Research evidence suggests that disabled students are experiencing forms of exclusion from and within schools, however little is known of the nature of this phenomenon. This study investigated the nature of school exclusion in relation to disabled students. It sought to uncover the factors that exclude disabled students from and within schools, and make recommendations to reduce and eliminate these factors. Using a grounded theory methodology, this research investigated the nature of school exclusion. It explored parents of disabled student’s views about their children’s experiences of school exclusion both from school, and within school. The themes identified by parents were then further investigated with school principals, teachers, teacher aides and school students. This study revealed that disabled students are being excluded from and within school in New Zealand in a number of ways. These include being denied enrolment and/or fulltime attendance at school; being denied access to, and participation within the curriculum; being bullied; inappropriate teacher and/or principal beliefs and practices in relation to funding; a lack of caring, valuing and responsibility by school staff; limited teacher knowledge and understanding; poor relationships between parents and school staff; and exclusionary beliefs and practices in relation to teacher aides. Based on the findings of the study, four propositions were put forward to explain why disabled students are being excluded from and within school. These are that disabled students are considered to be less entitled to human rights than non-disabled students; that there is a lack of school accountability in relation to legal and human rights obligations to disabled students; that inclusive education is predicated on issues of funding and resourcing; and that there is prejudice towards disabled students. Based on the findings of how and why disabled students are excluded from and within school, prompts for classroom teachers and school principals/senior management staff were developed in seven areas shown to be important to this phenomenon. These areas are access, accountability, attitudes, knowledge, responsibility, and funding and resourcing. The prompts are intended to help guide attention and discussion to the issues that are important if exclusion is to be reduced and eliminated. As well as this, recommendations are made for government and government agencies outlining ways that they can contribute to the reduction and elimination of school exclusion for disabled students.
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Brown, Margaret Anne. "A case study of the implementation of middle schooling in New Zealand : a thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1402.
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This thesis considers the introduction of middle schooling to the New Zealand education system. It is a case study of a school going through the process of introducing the middle schooling concept. It seeks to identify and explain the considerable challenges that this school faced as it sought to implement this change. This research project began as a study of the factors which hinder and support the implementation of middle schooling structures and practices. It became an analysis of the features of middle schooling that make it such a challenging and problematic innovation. Middle schooling is a set of philosophical concepts, educational practices and structural arrangements for the education of students between the ages of approximately ten and fourteen years. These concepts and practices are based on the premise that students of this age have academic, social, emotional and physical needs which differ from students on either side of this age group. Middle schooling is generally understood to involve integrated curriculum which is delivered through team teaching. This approach to teaching and learning requires high levels of teacher collaboration, flexible workspaces and timetables and high levels of parental support and involvement. Ideally, middle schooling provides a separate school environment for children of this age. A number of school communities in New Zealand have gained government approval to restructure as middle schools and are at various stages in implementing this new form of schooling. The researcher began the study with the intention of developing guidelines to assist school communities to make this transition from the structures and processes of conventional schooling arrangements to those of middle schooling. To this end she initiated a programme of action research in a school that was about to introduce middle schooling arrangements for its middle years students. The innovation began to run into difficulties from an early stage and it became clear that an action research methodology was unsustainable. Instead, the researcher chose to refocus the research problem to a more analytic study of the factors that were impeding the implementation process. The research methodology evolved to that of case study. Observational data were collected in the school over two years. From these data, three factors seemed to be affecting the implementation of the middle schooling changes. These were the way in which leadership was being executed, the attitudes and responses of the teachers and the particularly complex and demanding nature of the middle schooling innovation itself. The data were then re-analysed with respect to these three factors. From this analysis, the researcher came to a number of conclusions about the relative importance and impact of these three factors. In an effort to ascertain whether the experiences of the case school were typical of the difficulties and challenges schools face when implementing middle schooling change, the case findings were cross checked against the experiences of two other schools that were five years or more into the change process. The cross checking found that the experiences of these other schools were very similar to those of the case school. All three found that implementing middle schooling change had been more difficult and demanding than any other innovation they had implemented. This study identified some aspects of leadership and teacher behaviour that may have slowed the implementation process, but these seem to have been secondary to the sheer complexity and challenges involved with this particular form of innovation. An innovation that requires such a shift in values, behaviour, structures and systems from a school community, and one that requires the sustained commitment of the entire staff over an extended period of time, will always prove to be exceptionally challenging. The case study identified five requirements that middle school implementers need to consider in order to implement the concept successfully. Failure to consider any of these requirements is likely to threaten the success of the innovation. The five requirements are: • The need to develop a shared understanding of the concept rationale and principles and how these will be operationalised within the school; • The need to develop a shared understanding of the complex, multi-faceted and integrated nature of the innovation and how this will impact on and influence the implementation process; • The need for strong, visionary, shared leadership; • The need to gain the interest and operational commitment of the entire staff and a high level of interest and commitment from the parent community and to sustain this for the life of the innovation; and • The need to develop supportive and appropriate infrastructure within the school to support the innovation.
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Dowden, Richard Anthony. "Curriculum integration for early adolescent schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand : worthy of a serious trial : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1431.
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The concept of curriculum integration has long held seductive appeal as a way to unite knowledge and meet the educational needs of young people. However, researchers have largely dismissed the concept as a romantic but unworkable idea. Nonetheless in the short history of education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), notions of integration have persistently reappeared in the national curriculum. In the 1930s, innovative teachers implemented world-class examples of curriculum integration in rural schools. Later, the Freyberg Project (1986-1991) demonstrated that curriculum integration admirably meets the needs of young people. Recently, the Ministry of Education trialled curriculum integration in several schools but, since the literature indicates that curriculum integration is represented by a plethora of models, this raised an important question: which model is preferable? This thesis combines historical and theoretical methodology to conduct an investigation of the concept of curriculum integration with respect to the needs of early adolescents in NZ. The historical investigation demonstrates that curriculum integration is best described by two broad traditions which stem from nineteenth century USA: the 'student-centred' approach based on Dewey's 'organic' education and the 'subject-centred' approach based on the Herbartian notion of 'correlation'. These two approaches are represented in current practice by the student-centred integrative model (Beane, 1990/1993) and the subject-centred multidisciplinary model (Jacobs, 1989). The theoretical investigation draws from American experience to examine the respective claims of the integrative and multidisciplinary models as the preferred model of curriculum integration for middle schooling. It finds that the 'thick' ethics associated with the politics of the integrative model ensures that it meets the needs of all early adolescents whereas the 'thin' ethics of the multidisciplinary model is indifferent to the needs of young people. The thesis concludes that the integrative model should be seriously considered in the middle years in NZ. It also concludes that historical understandings of curriculum integration are vital to further research, policy-making and teacher education. Moreover, attention to political and ethical issues would enhance implementation of the integrative model in NZ and would help avoid a set of problems which have impeded implementation of the model in the USA.
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Chapman, David James. "Education for the environment : towards teacher empowerment : a thesis submitted as fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, November 2004, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1638.
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The work of this thesis involves an exploration of teachers' practice in environmental education in New Zealand schools, conducted between 1999 and 2002. Some new theorising is conducted in response to the problems faced by teachers. This seeks to reconceptualise the way we think about environmental education in schools. The purpose of this is to provide a theoretical framework that assists teachers to rethink their practice and, as a result, be empowered to act for the environment. The thesis begins by providing a general background to the field of environmental education and by setting this in the socio-political context of New Zealand from the early 1980s until the present. The research process is described, and theorised using Problem-Based Methodology. The work then proceeds to report on the research with teachers in schools that occurred in a number of phases. It emerges that environmental education occurred in only a minority of cases. School contexts and educational structures appeared to place major barriers in the path of teacher innovation and these seem to increase with school size. Teachers that do begin sound practice appear to have strong values and a theoretical background that informs their work. In response to the complex barriers to improved environmental education practice, Problem-Based Methodology is suggested to provide an inadequate platform for addressing the issues because it is restricted to addressing micro level problems in schools. Drawing on the philosophy of critical realism that proposes three levels of reality, a Critical Problem-Based Methodology is proposed. This involves three loops of critical reflection. To support this an issues matrix that contains a sociological analysis of schooling and draws heavily on curriculum theory is developed. A reconsideration of the environmental education literature is then undertaken in the light of these proposals. The thrust of the thesis is that environmental education lacks a substantive engagement with sociology or curriculum theory and the proposals here seek to address that. It is proposed that triple loop reflection assists a better description of the problems of poor progress in the field. It is argued that many educators have a faith in schooling that is not justified by evidence and have failed to engage at a political level. It is concluded that unless engagement occurs at the three levels proposed in this thesis, and a deeper engagement with educational theory supports this, things are unlikely to change.
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Houston, Donald James. "Exploring quality in a university : a critical systems approach : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1301.
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Since the 1990s quality management has been translocated from industry into higher education. However, there is little evidence that improvement in the core functions of universities has resulted. This study adopts a critical systems approach that is grounded in a critique of prevailing models of quality management to explore quality in a university. It examines the potential of Critical Systems Thinking enacted through Total Systems Intervention (TSI) to promote improvement. A case is made for local intervention towards improvement. The thesis is structured around the three modes of TSI, namely Critical Review, Problem Solving and Critical Reflection. A Critical Review of Quality Management suggests that the opposition of academics to quality initiatives in general, and to Quality Management in particular, is rooted in its language and underlying image of organization. This proposition is explored through an analysis of key Quality Management definitions and concepts in relation to the university. The importance of language, metaphors and images of organization are explored. The fitness for purpose of industrial models of quality for universities is challenged. TSI is employed in its Problem Solving mode to describe the quality problem for an academic unit within a university in New Zealand initially from the perspective of its staff and students. For them, the quality problem mainly related to better promoting learning. Analysis and reflection on the problem and context drawing on systems methodologies shaped interventions for improvement. Critical Reflection on a cycle of participative creativity, choice and implementation identified cultural, structural and environmental factors that present threats not only to quality improvement but also to the viability of the unit. The main findings and conclusions question the appropriateness of current models of QM in the university. The thesis demonstrates key systemic problems in higher education; provides a rationale for systemic interventions; identifies pressures that make resistance to systems thinking almost inevitable; and illustrates that TSI is more appropriately used by external researchers than insider researchers. Nevertheless, critical systems approaches, in particular boundary critique, help to structure the problem of improving quality in locally meaningful ways. The challenges of using systems ideas and systems methodologies in the university context, however, are substantial.
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Mentis, Mandia. "A teacher's research journey into e-learning : aligning technology, pedagogy and context : a thesis presented in prtial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1403.
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e-Learning has the potential to radically change the way we teach and learn in higher education, but there is ongoing debate as to what constitutes effective e-learning environments. This study explores the interrelated areas of e-learning technology and pedagogy within the context of a postgraduate special education and educational psychology programme. The study is framed in a scholarship of teaching and learning approach and covers three successive phases of overlapping activities of teaching, learning and research. The first phase of the research focuses on the design of a community of practice approach to e-learning. The aim is to enable students to develop their identity as members of the professional community by bridging the gap between university-based learning and its real-world application. In the second phase of the research, alternative technology is used to investigate a better alignment of e-learning technology and pedagogy. The findings here show that a community of practice pedagogy is better aligned with a social constructionist e-learning technology. In the third phase of the research an e-learning alignment guide is developed to analyse the changes in e-learning in relation to the interrelated areas of technology, pedagogy and context. The guide is applied to the e-learning case studies in Phases 1 and 2 of this study. The profiles of alignment from these case studies illustrate the complexities and tensions in e-learning and the potential of linking advanced technologies with effective teaching practices to change the way we teach and learn. The key finding of this study is that careful alignment of technology, pedagogy and context is needed to actualise the potential of e-learning in higher education. The e-learning alignment guide developed in this study enables analysis of e-learning environments to provide alignment profiles. Aligning innovative technologies with appropriate pedagogies in different contexts is essential for e-learning to meet the needs of learners in the digital age. The enormous and rapid development of new educational technologies has seriously challenged traditional forms of pedagogy. This study shows that both a scholarship of teaching and learning approach and the use of the e-learning alignment guide can make a positive contribution to designing effective e-learning environments.
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Leeson, Heidi Vanessa. "Maximizing Information: Applications of Ideal Point Modeling and Innovative Item Design to Personality Measurement". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/3405.
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Recent research has challenged the way in which personality and attitude constructs are measured. Alternatives have been offered as to how non-cognitive responses are modeled, the mode of delivery used when administrating such scales, and the impact of technology in measuring personality. Thus, the major purpose of the studies in this thesis concerns two interrelated issues of personality research, namely the way personality responses are best modeled, and the most optimal mode by which personality items are presented and associated modal issues. Three studies are presented. First, recent developments using an ideal point approach to scale construction are outlined, and an empirical study compares modeling personality items based on an ideal point approach (generalized graded unfolding model; GGUM) and a dominance approach (graded response model: GRM). Second, an extensive review of literature pertaining to the mode effect when transferring paper-and-pencil measures to screen was conducted, in addition to a review of the various types of computerized and innovative items and their associated psychometric information. Finally, nine innovative items were developed using various multimedia features (e.g., video, graphics, and audio) to ascertain the advantages of these methods to present items constructed to elicit response behavior underlying ideal point approaches, namely, typical response behavior. It was found that the dominance IRT model continued to produce superior model-data fit for most items, more attention needs to be placed on developing principles for constructing ideal point type items, the web-based version supplied 20% more construct information than the paper version, and innovative items seem to provide more data-model fit for students with lower personality attributes. While the innovative items may require more initial outlay in terms of time and development costs, they have the capacity to provide more information regarding test-takers’ personality levels, potentially using fewer items.
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Fitriah, Amaliah. "Community participation in education : does decentralisation matter? An Indonesian case study of parental participation in school management : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1370.
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A prominent idea in the decentralisation and development literature is that decentralisation leads to deeper and stronger community participation. This thesis seeks to examine this argument by investigating the practice of community participation in the Indonesian decentralisation context, focusing on parental participation through access to and control over school financial resources. Drawing on a case study in Depok city, the practice of parental involvement has been explored by identifying the characteristics and the extent of parents’ participation in school management. School Committees (SCs), as a mechanism of community involvement provided by the decentralised education policy, were also examined in this research to develop an understanding of parental representation in school management. The study found that the characteristics and the extent of parents’ participation in school management have changed and decreased significantly as a result of a new Free School Programme (FSP) introduced by the government in 2009 which freed parents from school operational cost. Prior to FSP, parents actively participated in terms of supplying resources and involvement in school meetings, had some access to financial information, and had limited engagement with school budgeting through representation in SCs. However, the new absence of financial contribution by parents has affected parental participation by transforming it into a weaker form of participation where parents act as mere beneficiaries. The study also revealed that in the Indonesian context, the SCs, as institutional channels for community involvement in education provided by the education decentralisation policy, are not effective in terms of representing and engaging parents in school management. Based on the evidence above, this thesis concluded that in the context of the Indonesian education system, decentralisation has not necessarily enhanced community participation. In this respect, decentralisation is not the only possible answer for achieving a meaningful and empowering parental participation in education. Furthermore, other contextual factors surrounding participation also have to be taken into account. While FSP brings the benefit of allowing students to access education freely, the absence of parental financial contribution has been proved to impact parental participation in a way that is contradictory to one of the purposes of decentralisation policy, which is to engage the community in educational management.
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Chimwayange, Christopher Crispen. "Factors affecting fourth form girls' participation and achievement in design and technology subjects in selected secondary schools of Zimbwabwe : a case study exploration : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1551.
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Paging jumps from viii to xi.National calls for equality of opportunity have not been matched by reciprocal responses by girls to participate and achieve in design and technology subjects in Zimbabwean secondary and high schools. Current levels of girls' participation and achievement are of national concern. The study found that fourth form girls' low design and technology subjects enrolment and limited success have ensured a near all-male environment resulting in personal career progression limitations for girls and a gender segregated national socioeconomic society. It is acknowledged that outside Zimbabwe, models of student subject participation and achievement have been studied in the past resulting in the implementation of various motivational and retention strategies. Whilst accepting that girls' decisions concerning participation and achievement-related choices for or against design and technology subjects are individual and complex, some complex and interrelated contributory factors are explored. These are carried out in the context of Zimbabwe in this case study research which involved eight secondary schools of four different types targeting 321 fourth form girls, 26 design and technology subject teachers, eight principals, eight families and two education officers. The eclectic data collection approach chosen for the study relied on multiple sources of information being collected using a variety of techniques such as the student questionnaire, focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, lesson observations, and document and content analysis. The effects of various overt and covert forms of home and school processes of difference, inequality and oppression were explored in the data and how these have affected fourth form girls' design and technology subjects participation and achievement-related decisions. In particular, the effects of home and school contextual and climatic factors have been found to largely militate against girls' 'fit' with design and technology subjects culture, staff and workshop environment. A model involving the student and school contextual and climatic dimensions, to explain girls' participation and achievement perspectives is suggested and explained encompassing sociological, psychological and gender perspectives. Findings in this study contribute to an understanding of girls' participation and achievement processes in design and technology subjects in the African context, a dimension that has been largely missing from mainstream debates on the subject.
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Oldridge, Lisa Anne. "Digital foundations : a study of perceptions and practices surrounding the use of ICT in ECE centres : this thesis is submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Education, Massey University". 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1705.
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The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in early childhood education (ECE) is controversial. Currently, ICT in ECE is experiencing a second wave of popularity. While many of the recurring debates exist around the use of technology in the education sector it would appear that ICT is here to stay. A distinguishing feature of the literature across both waves is a growing appreciation of the importance of pedagogy and the key role of the teacher. This thesis builds on this broad concept of pedagogy by investigating the growth of ICT in ECE. The aim of the study was to discover new insight and understanding of how parents‟, teachers‟ and children‟s perceptions of the use of ICT in ECE influence the surrounding practice. A mixed-method approach was undertaken with a sample group in three distinct phases in one geographical location in the greater Wellington region. The study adopted an interpretive framework to inform the research methodology and help explain the findings. The findings across the three phases show the multifaceted nature of ICT and the many layers that are required to ensure that it can be offered in an authentic and meaningful way in ECE. When this approach is not evident it constrains the integrated use of ICT and affects the quality of the programme offered. Factors that influence the level of quality include: (a) the role of teacher‟s beliefs and self-efficacy; (b) fluid conceptions of pedagogy; (c) the competing and co-existing drivers associated with the use of ICT in ECE; (d) the changing face of literacy; (e) barriers affecting the full integration; and (f) the implications of policy on practice. The thesis draws on the framework of an enabled and enacted ICT curriculum developed in the literature review, as a tool to indicate and understand the current state of the level of ICT integration in ECE centres. Overall the findings show that participating teachers have begun their ICT journey and are working towards the goal of offering an authentic and meaningful educational experience. Yet, the research shows that the many layers of support necessary to ensure teachers continue to move forward on this journey are not well understood. A failure to address these gaps may sadly lead to a “third wave” of ICT in which history repeats itself.
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Divett, Diane Rosina. "Refocussing: the development and definition of the theory and its therapeutic practice with critical analysis and illustrative case studies". 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2292/1277.
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Whole document restricted, see Access Instructions file below for details of how to access the print copy.A sequential narrative format has been adopted as the primary style in this doctoral thesis to describe and define with critical analysis and illustrative case examples the development of Refocussing Theory (RF) and its practice Refocussing Therapy (RFT). The story of Refocussing is told in six chapters, demonstrating a wholistic counselling theory that proposes a way to identify and attend to needs by employing a unique seven foci integrative system. The seven foci system resulted from a desire to find "simplicity on the other side of complexity" (Holmes, cited in De Pree, 1989, p.22) with respect to psychological and theological understanding of human functioning. Consequently, needs were identified as the common convergent construct that transcended the theoretical differences between psychological and theological theories. Accordingly, this thesis proposes that through the implementation of Refocussing Theory (RF), these needs can be identified and attended to, thereby facilitating wholeness. A primary assumption in RF is that people have transpersonal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal dimensions, in which needs manifest. RF proposes that identification of, and, attention to these needs is required. This is so that where needs that are unmet, unfulfilled, or that have become maladjusted, in people's transpersonal (spiritual), interpersonal (social, vocational, recreational) and intrapersonal (intellectual, emotional, moral, physical) functioning, thereby thwarting or hindering their ability to live life in a wholistic manner, these needs can instead be healed, resourced, or resolved. Specific, unique and essential to Refocussing Theory to achieve this is the employment of the "God spaces", which allow people a way to locate, access and develop "God's empowering Presence" (Fee, 1994). The "God spaces" are the central component of the seven foci integrative system mentioned earlier. These "God spaces" are described in chapter three detailing: (1) how they were discovered by the author in psychological and theological research conducted in 1995; and (2) how the "God spaces" were developed into a methodology so that people can be empowered to locate, access, and develop what they uniquely know of God. All of this with the aim of facilitating people to employ their "faith with understanding", so that the state and process of wholeness (described in chapter six) can be achieved. To fully comprehend Refocussing Theory and its practice, Refocussing Therapy, it is important to recognise that it was initially designed for Christians in general and Charismatic Christians in particular. The reason for this is that, for the Charismatic culture, the "Empowering Presence of God" is considered essential for therapy; that is, if it is to reflect or be at all congruent with the beliefs, values, and praxis of the culture. That is not to say that RF and RFT are limited to the Charismatic Christian culture. Rather, it has application for any who agree with the basic assumptions of the theory. Because it is so important to comprehend what these are, they are made explicit throughout this doctoral thesis. Sequentially then, chapter one, the introduction, provides a rationale for the narrative, showing the important details pertaining to the development and definition of RF. Concomitant with this, and also included in chapter one, is the inclusion of the research questions and methodology that gave rise to the formation of this theory and its practice in the first place. In recognition of the fact that no one counselling theory is likely to suit all people, important questions pertaining to this theory also had to be included, such as: Who was the theory for? Why was RF required? Following on from chapter one is the sequential detailing of the story of Refocussing, beginning with chapter two which elucidates how RF arose in relation to cultures, context, and theologies. Chapter three details the discovery of the "God spaces" and how they were essential for the development of the seven foci integrative system, which is outlined in chapter four. Each of the seven foci along with some illustrative case examples is explained in chapter four. Also explained fully in this chapter are those concepts that are fundamental to the theory. This includes the concepts: needs, clean language, orientating questions, focus and refocus. Chapter five presents a case example to illustrate what was previously described in chapters two, three, and four. Finally, chapter six, the denouement explains what wholeness is, and how by implementation of RF, wholeness as both a state and process is achievable.
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Weir, Kama Jean. "Teaching health education in New Zealand secondary schools : policy into practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, New Zealand". 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1225.
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Teaching Health Education in New Zealand secondary schools: Policy into practice. Health education has a long informal history in New Zealand schools. This study attempted to illuminate and explain the effects on a small sample of secondary school health teachers of official policy changes in curriculum and assessment for Health Education in the period 1999 – 2004. These teachers were deeply concerned about the health issues that they perceived their students were facing, and saw Health Education as a means of helping students address these. The publication of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1999) legitimated their teaching in a general way through the inclusion of issues they were concerned with (such as mental health and sexuality). Teachers positioned themselves idiosyncratically in relation to a variety of personal discourses. Different subject positions were possible at school level because of the weak classification (Bernstein, 1971; 1996) of the 1999 curriculum. This was less likely to occur in senior health which was assessed at system level through the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (the NCEA). Health Education‘s inclusion in the NCEA resulted in pedagogical change for teachers in the study due to greater prescription of content and assessment requirements. This study also illustrated the pedagogical and relational tensions that were created when Health and Physical Education were placed within the same official curriculum. Internal subject politics were intensified as teachers competed for resources within the one learning area. Sexuality, gender and emotionality were three further layered discourses of teaching secondary Health Education illuminated by this study. Teachers generally positioned themselves in relation to a reproductive health discourse and several positioned themselves within an essentialist gender discourse. Emotionality was shown to have both personal and institutional dimensions. Implications based on the findings were considered for teachers, policy makers, teacher educators and researchers.
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Skyrme, Gillian Ray. "Expectations, emerging issues and change for Chinese international students in a New Zealand university : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Second Language Teaching at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/793.
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This study uses a sociocultural framework to trace the experiences of 24 Chinese international undergraduate students studying business and information sciences in a New Zealand university, using community of practice perspectives recognising the university as a site of complex discourses requiring negotiation of new identities and practices. The students’ expectations, the issues that emerged and the processes of change they went through to meet their goals were investigated from retrospective and longitudinal viewpoints, using semi-structured interviews supported by schematic representations developed by the researcher and photographic representations compiled by participants were. The findings suggest that preparation before departure focused largely on expected English demands, rather than wider matters of academic culture, and this was only partially rectified during prior study in New Zealand. Students thus entered the university unfamiliar with its specific discourses and found conditions for resolving difficulties more limited than previously experienced. The anonymity and extreme time pressure pertaining in large first-year classes led to bewilderment about requirements, threats to the sense of identity as competent students which they had arrived with, and often, failure of courses. Nevertheless, the investment, personal and monetary, which this journey represented provided the incentive to persevere. Most students were resourceful in negotiating a fit between their learning preferences and the affordances of the university, resulting in very different journeys for each of them. Measures adopted included those sanctioned by the university, such as developing skills to meet the demands of academic literacies, and others less valued, such as extreme dependence on teacher consultation. Success was gained through personal agency which proved more important than the university goal of student autonomy. Beyond the academic arena, other activities such as part-time jobs were significant in contributing to a sense of identity as competent and educated adults, and to new viewpoints which contrasted with original cultural norms. They continued to identify as Chinese, but in a “third space” owing something to New Zealand influences. The study concludes that entry criteria should include a component of university preparation. It also recommends measures by which the university might enhance the experiences of such students.
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Bowler, Josephine. "The New Zealand controversy over the Johnson report : the context of the Report of the Committee on Health and Social Education, Growing, Sharing, Learning (1977) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand". 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1672.
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In 1975 the New Zealand Department of Education established a Committee on Health and Social Education, with the aim of addressing curriculum issues that had remained unresolved since the Thomas Report of 1944. Among these concerns was the issue of sex education. This Committee, also known as the Johnson Committee, was conceived under a liberal Labour government but its recommendations were debated during the terms of office of two subsequent National Ministers of Education. The work of the Committee on Health and Social Education was undertaken concurrently with the movements known as the Maori Renaissance and second wave feminism and within a climate of social and legislative change which included the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Bill of 1977. When the Report of the Committee on Health and Social Education, Growing, Sharing, Learning (1977), was published there was little controversy over its sixty-nine recommendations on physical health, outdoor education, parent education, or community involvement in curriculum development. Its two recommendations on sex education however provoked a polarised debate lasting more than five years. In the context of this controversy a coalition of groups representing the Religious Right worked concurrently to oppose further liberalisation of the primary school health education syllabus. This lobby was led by the Concerned Parents' Association, the executive of which assumed the role of the "moral entrepreneur" to raise public awareness on issues of sex and moral education. A range of theory is used to discuss the contextual antecedents of the controversy, the reasons for the controversy and why it became increasingly difficult for the educational policy community to exercise hegemony over the outcomes of the Report. This thesis reveals that the Report of the Committee on Health and Social Education encompassed a bicultural dimension, and was the work of a liberal educational community of interest. It examines the underlying causes of the ideological tensions of the controversy and the construct of moral cathexis is introduced, to explain the means by which the Religious Right was able to influence subsequent policy. It is argued that the same ideological tensions are inherent in contemporary attempts to encompass sex education within the state school curriculum.
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Alcock, Sophie Jane. "A socio-cultural interpretation of young children's playful and humorous communication : a thesis presented in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand". 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1663.
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This qualitative and interpretive study explores how young children experience humour and playfulness in their communication. Data were gathered in three early childhood education centres. The ethnographic method used was primarily participant observation, with the aid of a video camera and tape-recorder. Socio-cultural historical activity theory informs both the methodological paradigm of the research and the framework for data analysis. The research focuses on systems of interactions rather than individuals. The diversity and complexity in children's playful and humorous communication is illuminated by presenting 24 narrative-like "events" involving such communication. This presentation makes clear the dynamic qualities and artifact-mediated dialectical nature of playful and humorous communication activity. "Artifacts" include material and non-material tools, symbols, and semiotic signs (Wartofsky, 1979). Relationships between the roles, rules, and the community of children and teachers engaged in each event are discussed. Tensions and contradictions in these relationships (including children's playful subversion of adult rules) are explored. This thesis argues that humour, playfulness, and imagination are shared and distributed across groups of children. Thus children's imaginations, including their individual experiences, are dynamically shared with and connect the group. Playful and humorous communication involves words, sounds, gestures, posture, rhythm, and movement. At times the synchronous movements and speech of children having fun together are like a spontaneously improvised dance. Boundaries between children are blurred by the activity. The children become united by shared and distributed imagination in playful and humorous diversity. This study suggests that individual children in early childhood centres should be viewed as fundamentally connected to each other. Individuals exist in relation to others. Children's relationships with others, their environment, and artifacts are central to understanding children's experience of playful and humorous communication.