Phonological awareness is one of the most important metacognitive skills needed for literacy development. However, the relationships between preschool phonological awareness and pre-literacy skills are only just beginning to be examined. An important area is the study of potential precursors to phonological awareness. The current research proposed that phonological awareness develops along a continuum of linguistic awareness beginning with syllables and moving towards the smallest level of the phoneme. In the current research, potential precursors were examined in two studies. The first study was an examination of preschool phonological awareness in a sample of 110 New Zealand four-year-old children with no formal literacy instruction but who had a range of pre-literacy skills including 12 children who could read one or more words. The second study examined how literacy instruction influenced the development of phoneme awareness by independently assessing the role of learning to read and the role of learning to spell by teaching non-readers to read 8 CVC words or to spell the same 8 CVC words, but not to read and spell. The results found that rime and phoneme awareness both contributed to a latent variable of phonological awareness and that they each had different potential precursors. Receptive vocabulary explained the most variance in rime awareness with a small association of letter-name knowledge and own-name spelling while rime awareness developed more in children who learnt new words in the intervention. Rime awareness contributed to phoneme awareness along with letter-sound knowledge. When children were taught to read using blending this led to task specific phoneme awareness gains only. Phoneme awareness did not contribute to word-learning in the experimental conditions, with the only learning occurring in the spelling conditions. Letter-name knowledge had a relationship with the acquisition of orthographic representations. Letter-sound knowledge had a relationship with phoneme and letter-level attempts at unfamiliar words. This suggests that children with good letter-name and letter-sound knowledge have both orthographic knowledge and alphabetic strategies available in early word reading and spelling. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications emphasising the role of alphabet knowledge in early literacy acquisition.

This thesis using oral historiographic techniques examines the changing role and function of a teachers' union during changes in the nature of a national State which can also be related to changing forms of capitalism. The teachers' union is New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers Association (the secondary school teachers' union) and the period of particular focus is between 1983 and the beginning of 1993. This is the period of a crisis in the New Zealand State during which the character of the national State was moved from what has been described as a 'wage earners' Welfare State towards a more residual form providing a 'modest safety net'. The financial and the labour market were deregulated to become more free of direct State involvement. The administration of education was changed and the individual schools' elected Boards of Trustees were made responsible for the provision of schooling. The role of PPTA in the State is moved structurally in this time. As a professional association before the changes, PPTA had both opportunity for input into the mandate of education, as well as the possibility of creating implementation pressure through political action. As a bargaining agent, the input role of PPTA to decisions in education was limited to addressing members' concerns at the school level. The restructuring of education and of the labour market, PPTA was both an object to be acted on and a participant obstructing the changes. This thesis presents what is a PPTA view of those changes. PPTA formed a central part of the education structures which were to be transformed by the economic liberal project. The survival of PPTA demonstrates the extent to which the project was not completed and the resistance of PPTA was one of the reasons why the project in education could not be completed. The thesis is in three parts. Part one is a regulationist-derived periodisation of the historical development of the New Zealand wage earners Welfare State and education. This is followed by a consideration of the economic-liberal challenge to this State Part two considers the development of PPTA's professional project and the possibilities presented through different arenas. Part three focuses on the changing nature of the State labour market policy and PPTA's activity in that. The changing strategies and tactics of PPTA's 'professional project', the thesis argues, occur under changing political conditions and are an example of Offe's concept of rational opportunism

The research studies reported in this thesis extend over a 5-year period of my own growth and development as a researcher and teacher. Two themes run in parallel. The first theme was improvement in skills in implementing objective research to assess behaviour change resulting from childcare and teacher training programmes. The second theme was the clarification and explanation of my own role and behaviour as a trainer of teachers and childcare workers. The theoretical framework used for the objective research was applied behaviour analysis and the one used to explain my behaviour was Argyris and Schon's (1974) theory of action with its two different theories-in-use. Model I is where people strive to satisfy the governing variables of defining goals and trying to achieve them; winning not losing; minimising negative feelings; and being rational. This creates conditions where only single-loop learning is possible. Single-loop learning is where people adopt new actions to realise their governing variables. However double-loop learning, where we learn to change the governing variables themselves, is only possible with a Model II theory-in-use i.e. where people strive to give and get valid information, make free and informed choices and generate internal commitment to the choices. During Study I my own behaviour as a researcher and teacher could be explained in terms of Model I. I adopted a rigorous research model for the research and a traditional authoritarian model for the teaching. However I perceived a mismatch between what I said (Model II) and what I did (Model I), also I did not like the 'behavioural world' my research activities had created. I wanted to be an effective teacher and an effective researcher yet the two seemed incompatible. The rigorous research methods I was using to evaluate my teaching were limiting the quality of learning and teaching. In Study 1 the effects of training 8 childcare students in two childcare centres using Specific Instruction, Graphic Feedback and Daily Verbal Feedback were evaluated for three caregiver behaviours: non-verbal, verbal and participation (in activities, childcare and housework). This first study showed that when the unilaterally controlling methods of rigorous research were combined with authoritarian teaching, conditions were produced which explained only how people would behave under similar circumstances of control and generalisation was limited. In Study 2 the effects of training 8 childcare supervisors to train their staffs in eight childcare centres using a training package which included Negotiated Instruction, Practice and Feedback were evaluated for three caregiver behaviours: talking with children and adults; socio-emotional (positive and negative); and participation (in activities, childcare and housework). During Study 2 I tried to make the transition from Model I to Model II and moved to teaching where I shared control through negotiating the curriculum and research which included social validation measures. However on reflecting on the outcomes of Study 2 I realised that I was still continuing to do Model I research (where I unilaterally controlled and master-minded the research design, goals and procedures) whereas in contrast in my teaching role I had simply adopted a role which was opposite of Model I (i.e. I had handed control over to the participants). However Study 2 showed that when rigorous research was combined with a negotiated curriculum (unilateral control and shared control) more generalisation occurred. Results indicated that childcare supervisors could effect significant changes in their own behaviour after a training package of negotiated instruction, feedback and practice. Further, they could transfer skills learned to their staffs. These changes were only achieved when: (1) A mismatch could be shown between what the supervisors and staff said and what they did and they judged the behaviour to be important and desirable; (2) Feedback on performance was provided to the supervisors by the experimenter and to the staffs by their supervisors; (3) Opportunities for comparisons of performance were provided (either within-subjects or between-subject); and (4) Supervisors could negotiate to learn the specific skills they needed e.g. how to give positive and negative feedback to staff. Following Study 2 I continued to try to match my espoused views with my practice in my teaching and integrate teaching and research within a Model II framework. I felt that teaching and research need not be separate activities if the data generated could be used for clients' learning and skills learned generalised to the 'real' world. I therefore taught an exploratory course involving aspects of self-control by participants and shared control over course goals and methods. Experience in teaching this course suggested that when socially significant goals were targeted and students collected their own baseline data, data were generated which course members could use to understand, and in some cases solve, their own problems. Creating conditions which fostered psychological ownership of goals and methods for changing behaviour (giving clients choices; working on behaviours clients judged important and desirable; creating favourable attitudes towards training; and giving clients responsibility for implementation), appeared to enhance the occurrence of generalisation. The thesis, then, arrives at two fundamental propositions. The first is that the process of conducting rigorous applied research (e.g. research-determined and specified hypotheses, predetermined measures, research design etc.) reinforces the discovery and invention of single-loop solutions only. The second is that research and training programmes that attempt to embody Argyris' (1974) Model II theory-in-use will be more effective for developing conditions where a new set of skills can be produced as well (double-loop learning).

This thesis investigates and analyses the Report of the Commission on Education in New Zealand,1962, also known as the 'Currie Report', paying particular attention to the policy process surrounding the written and oral submissions. Views expressed during the submissions and their ideological basis are related to wider power relationships within society. The submissions emanating from outside the Department of Education are revisited as well as the departmental submissions to establish whether there are any grounds to challenge the consensual, liberal interpretations that have been attached to this important New Zealand historical educational document. The issues raised and avoided in the submissions coalesce around specific themes, which are related to the broader issues of the development of New Zealand educational history. Attempts to counteract, mute and marginalise dissent and to encourage optimal social control are witnessed in the organizational structure of the commission and in its methods. The interaction and networking of key participants is studied and the important inter-relationship between central bureaucratic interventions and powerful educational pressure group activity points to the continuing operational success of central government processes. The often competing forces of provincialism and centralism in New Zealand education underlie many of the conflicts surrounding educational change. Religion, race, gender and class are forces that continually interact to create legitimation crises. The governmental attempt to minimise or at least rationalize these socially contested differences in education from 1960-1962 is the subject of this thesis. An analysis is made of the process by which public dissatisfaction regarding education in the fifties and sixties was mediated and largely marginalised by the educational bureaucracy. This is done by a thorough examination of the interaction of pressure groups, unions, media and governmental agencies during the two year submissions to the Commission on Education 1962. The distinction between the commission's report and the submissions and interrogations leading up to the report is important, as the primary data extracted from the primary resource material in the submissions, at times, contradicts the departmental view as expressed in the report itself. In this way it is hoped to move beyond the rhetoric that informs previous commentaries and move closer to an interpretation based upon the primary data.

This investigation explores the reactions to Darwinism in the format and informal education of New Zealand society. The subsidiary purpose is to look at some implications for formal education. Many of the reactions have focussed on distortions of the Darwinian theory of evolution with the form of reaction to Darwinism being centred on different views of humankind. The various group interests have caused different aspects of Darwinism to be highlighted particularly when groups feel their interests are under threat. Using aspects of an "HS3" historical survey technique i.e. the history of the public reaction to an aspect of science and science teaching, key features of this debate are set in context. This context is then used to show that creationist objections and social Darwinian interpretations share many characteristics with their overseas counterparts. A philosophical analysis of the positions taken supports a charge that New Zealand creationist science is partly non science, and partly bad science. It is also shown that confusion has been created when groups have debated issues from different perspectives including cultural perspectives. In particular there has been a lack of communication as various creationist groups, using different research bases, and political, economic and legal institutions, have adopted generalist conservative positions, highlighted metaphysical and ethical considerations and drawn on creationist science literature to support the science of their case while pro-evolutionist groups have adopted specialist liberal or progressive positions, concentrated on the logic and epistemology of the debate and have drawn on mainstream science literature. Finally some implications have been drawn from this analysis of the different reactions, and recommendations have been made for future teaching of evolution and related concepts.

The nature of professional expertise has been widely debated in the literature. However it has been examined primarily from a dichotomy of perspectives - either from an experiential or a cognitive focus, without the attempt to integrate these, and other aspects of expertise, into an integrated and coherent model. This research is structured in two sections. The first part incorporates a philosophical discussion, which advances an integrated model of professional expertise. The second part uses a case study focused on the field of medical imaging to illustrate and refine the model. Ten professionals identified as experts in the various sub-specialties within medical imaging were guided through a sustained period of interviews and logging of critical incidents in order to elicit in-depth data in relation to the process of expertise. Findings showed that while expertise is situated in the context of practice, it incorporates several dimensions working together in an integrated, seamless fashion through the medium of the individual practitioner. The proposed model integrates five main aspects, namely: knowledge base; cognitive processes; internal integrative processes; interpersonal relationships; and professional practice. That is, it is a synthesis of a particular knowledge base, the cognitive processes, personality and internal processes of the practitioner. It manifests through, and builds on, interpersonal relationships with clients and other professionals, and is expressed through the actual doing of professional practice. It is through the reflexive examination of practice and management of change that professionals may transform these five integrated aspects into the qualitative state of expertise. One of the implications of these findings for higher education are that institutions providing professional education need to value all the dimensions of expertise and their effective integration in order to promote the learning required to advance professionals towards this level of practice.

School resistance is usually understood as a pathological behaviour or condition indicative of underlying mental disorder for which therapy is ‘indicated’ and home schooling is ‘contraindicated’. However, I argue that the psychiatric/psychological classifications commonly used to identify school resistance (i.e. ‘school phobia’ and ‘school refusal’) are socio-historical constructs that function to socially and discursively position school-resistant children as ‘abnormal’, ‘irrational’, ‘dysfunctional’ and ‘sick’ individuals whose problems are likely to be compounded by school withdrawal. Assuming that school resistance and home schooling can be constructed in multiple and competing ways, I explore the perspectives of seven school-resistant children who are being (or have been) home schooled, their mothers, and nine practitioners working with children. I argue that by applying a different set of assumptions to school resistance, the meaning of this phenomenon can be radically transformed and so too can the experiences of school resisters and their families. This research suggests that for some mothers and their school-resistant children, home schooling can provide an acceptable and effective solution to the problems raised by school resistance.

This study is about an educational experience, which encompasses a range of educational knowledge and skills. It is an experience that is relatively unknown in educational research terms. It is also ct comparatively 'secular' educational experience within a 'religious' institution, the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (CCCS). The Pastor's School (A'oga a le Faifeau) system teaches children to read and write, employing both Palagi and Fa'a Samoa frameworks. The study is also a positive response to the critical and sometimes negative historical treatment of the church and the Fa'a Samoa, especially in their role in the Samoan child's critical literacy experiences. In the light of the underachievement of Samoan children (especially in literacy-reading and writing), this thesis makes two arguments. They are: i) The Pastors' Schools are an important educational system that have escaped attention but which have profoundly significant educational content and impacts. ii) There is a literacy problem in New Zealand that the A'oga a le Faifeau could address for the reported underachieving Samoan children. The content of the A'oga a le Faifeau syllabus for example, includes the teaching of reading, writing, arithmetic, religious and general knowledge, and the Fa'a Samoa This knowledge forms part of the semantic resources, and literacy skills and expertise, which could prepare children for school because some of those knowledge and skills have spans to school-based literacies. One of the A'oga a le Faifeau's most significant educational impacts is the maintenance and retention of the Samoan language.

'Public Choice Theory' is defined by its proponents as 'the application of economics to politics'. This thesis attempts to describe Public Choice Theory in its component parts and as a coherent and potent contemporary factor in the political and educational scene. The methodologies used are Foucauldian 'genealogy' and 'immanent critique', that is, the theory is examined in its historical context and in terms of its own logic. The process by which this theory has affected the educational situation in New Zealand is examined, and set in the context of the wider application of economics to politics in this country generally. Some of the major policy documents concerning Education are read closely in order to identify the extent of the Public Choice Theory influence on them, Whilst Public Choice Theory is commonly associated with the 'New Right' it is also the key element of 'analytic Marxism'. Whether from 'left' or 'right,' Public Choice Theory, as a basis for the content or organisation of education is presented as a historically contingent theory, making dubious claims to scientific validation, and bringing about consistent changes in the nature of education and the construction of persons engaged in it.

The purpose of this two year cross-sectional and longitudinal study was to examine the reading and language of severely and profoundly deaf children over two years. The focus was on reading and language achievement, measured by standardized tests and the process of reading demonstrated when engaged in reading prose. The children were the entire population of severely and profoundly deaf, aged from 5 to 10 years at the commencement of the study, who had no other educational handicaps. They were being educated within a Total Communication programme at the Kelston School for Deaf and associated unit classrooms. Reading achievement was assessed by the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Assessment Test on three occasions, each one year apart. Reading achievement was also assessed by documenting accuracy and comprehension (retelling) when reading natural language texts. Language achievement was measured using the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language (Moog and Geers, 1979, 1980). The relationship between reading and language achievement was established. The reading of natural language stories was analyzed to establish the pattern of errors (miscues) on text at two levels of difficulty for the reader. Categories of semantically appropriate, syntactically appropriate, grammatically similar, the omission of inflectional morphemes, fingerspelt miscues and signing errors were established. Comparisons were made between age groups, proficiency groups(High and Low) and across developmental levels. Cloze passages were also analysed to assess the use of contextual information by these readers. Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) were undertaken for each miscue category in the signed reading, classified by age and proficiency of the reader, and difficulty of the text. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were undertaken for the miscue categories classified by reading level, and the cloze exercise substitution classified by age and proficiency of the reader. Observations of classroom reading instructions were included to document the environment within which the children were being educated. Six individual case studies, three high progress and three low progress, were also analyzed. The findings suggest that reading achievement of these severely and profoundly deaf readers is still low. This is consistent with previous studies but achievement in comparison with earlier New Zealand data and data from surveys in the U.S. was slightly higher. This study supported previous research that suggested that standardized tests of reading do not adequately measure the reading achievement of deaf readers. High positive correlations (r ≥.90) between reading and language achievement were interpreted to be bi-directional and suggestive that higher rates of engaged time in reading could facilitate greater reading and language development. An integrated/interactive model most appropriately described the process of reading for these deaf readers as for hearing readers. Like hearing readers these deaf readers, at all ages and both high and low progress, were able to utilize contextual cues, and textual cues as they interacted with text. However, several unique differences in the process of reading have important implications for instruction. Low levels of syntactic cues during signed reading, it was suggested, reflect the readers use of their language in use and sensitivity to task factors. Fingerspelling was demonstrated to be a potentially useful strategy that was used at a significantly higher rate by High Progress readers. High Progress readers were more able than Low progress readers to use strategies ensuring fluency in order to construct meaning from texts Observations of classroom reading indicated that the rate of engaged time in reading was not high and that although the teachers espoused a meaning-emphasis some practices in the classroom did not foster independent problem solving readers. The educational implications of the data were discussed.