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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.

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.

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.

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”.