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”.

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.

In recent years considerable emphasis has been placed upon the education of the Maori. This is not in itself a new development, but instead, one which has been accentuated by the rapid growth in Maori population, the marked drift to the cities which has continued unabated since the end of the second world, and the general realisation of the fact that large reservoir of human potential remains untapped when the interest of a dominant culture are not reflected in those of minority groups.

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.

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.

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.

In recent years considerable emphasis has been placed upon the education of the Maori. This is not in itself a new development, but instead, one which has been accentuated by the rapid growth in Maori population, the marked drift to the cities which has continued unabated since the end of the second world, and the general realisation of the fact that large reservoir of human potential remains untapped when the interest of a dominant culture are not reflected in those of minority groups.

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.

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.

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.