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.

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.

This thesis reports on the outcome of a Kanaka Maoli culture based teacher education class initiated as a research project through the University of Hawaii in the summer of 2004. With the aim to identify and engage pedagogical and curricular approaches derived from the cultural perspectives, values and aspirations of Kanaka Maoli people, this experimental class utilized image making as the principle basis for investigation and the representation of knowledge from a Kanaka Maoli perspective. This research project set out to actively engage Kanaka Maoli approaches to teaching and knowledge construction so as to describe a viable alternative to National and State mandated education practices in Art Education which have historically overlooked and marginalized indigenous knowledge through the school curriculum in Hawai'i.(Benham & Heck, 1998) Limaloa's Kauhale, an educational model grounded in a Kanaka Maoli cultural metaphor, was developed and applied through this research project as a way of offering students the chance to learn within an educational setting where Kanaka Maoli knowledge, ways of knowing and ways of expressing that knowledge was prioritized as the principle medium of investigation. The results of student work - images and written journal responses - were examined as a part of this research to identify the principle effects and understandings students identified as the effect of working through the Kanaka Maoli educational setting. The complete work of this thesis identifies from the experiences of students working through the Kauhale Metaphor a set of learning outcomes that arise out of a Kanaka Maoli culture based approach for education through image making.

Capacity building is now mentioned synonymously with school improvement in much of the literature. However, research on the topic is limited (Hadfield, Chapman, Curryer and Barrett, 2004) and generally undertaken at the micro level of school functioning. There is an absence of debate on political, economic and social trends with implications for capacity building (Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll & Russ, 2004; Thrupp & Willmott, 2003; Gray, 2000). Hopkins, Beresford and West (1998) claim the concept lacks clear articulation and definition. This inquiry explores capacity building for school improvement in one low decile, multicultural, New Zealand primary school. This research is framed by four aims: to undertake an investigation on processes that enhance improvement, namely, capacity building for school improvement; to define capacity building; to conduct an in-depth study of influences (external and internal) on capacity building for school improvement; and to record the journey of one school in building capacity for improvement. The inquiry is positioned within an interpretivist paradigm, employs a case study approach and grounded theory methods for data analysis and interpretation. Research questions that guide this investigation are: How is capacity for school improvement defined - what are its features? How do internal school factors - vision, stakeholder activity, culture and professional development - evolve capacity? In what ways do external wider societal factors influence the development of capacity? What links exist between capacity building and improvement as evidenced in this school setting? Data suggests that capacity building for school improvement is time and context dependent. Its conceptualisation is unique to setting. Capacity building for school improvement is a response to meeting individual, collective and systemic needs in ways that sustain equilibrium while moving in the direction of improvement. Attributes inherent in its construction are vision, stakeholders as change agents, school culture and professional development. The main practices are: knowledge production and utilisation; switching-on mentality; and division of labour: roles and responsibilities. From attributes and practices emerge four themes: situated activity; connectedness; leadership, governance and management; and outcomes. Attributes, practices and themes explain capacity building for school improvement in one setting. The capacity of an organisation, to manage tensions and address need, ensures individual, collective and systemic equilibrium while moving in the direction of improvement

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.