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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 ZealandCoutts, Christine Elizabeth January 2007 (has links)
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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Enhancing teaching learning in inclusion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandHutton, Ronald Stewart January 2008 (has links)
Enhancing teacher learning in inclusion is an action research study which researched how two New Zealand classroom teachers were facilitated to enhance their pedagogy and become more inclusive. An examination of the international literature suggested that contextual professional development, classroom action research, and a collaborative relationship with a critical friend would facilitate inclusive pedagogy. However, there were no published studies of New Zealand primary teachers engaged in classroom-centred action research on inclusion involving an educational psychologist. A two phase action research design was used, firstly negotiated and modelled by an outside researcher, second order action research, and secondly by empowering the teachers to become action researchers, first order action research. Some inclusive practices were evident but two major barriers to inclusive practice in New Zealand classrooms were highlighted. These were an independent and autonomous teacher practice and limited use of individual student assessment data to inform teaching for individual learning. Active reflective thinking through reflection journals and teacher action research of teacher chosen classroom learning challenges occurred in two cycles of second order action research. Results established increased teacher focus on individual student learning, collaboration between themselves and the researcher, knowledge and skills of action research and its effectiveness in solving learning challenges within the teaching programme, use of student assessment data to inform subsequent teaching and learning, and critical awareness of the effect of their beliefs, knowledge and actions on student learning. Whilst literature suggests that schoolwide re-culturing is necessary, this research has demonstrated that two teachers engaging in practitioner action research, supported by a small community of practice, reflective thinking and critical dialogue, can improve their pedagogical and inclusive practice.
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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 ZealandBicknell, Brenda Anne January 2009 (has links)
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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Funds of knowledge in early childhood communities of inquiry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandHedges, Helen Dorothy Unknown Date (has links)
Inquiry is a fundamental human undertaking. The present study investigated interests-based curriculum and pedagogy in early childhood education, through the creation of a community of inquiry between children, teachers and a researcher. In two case study settings, it explored ways teachers and children co-construct interests based curriculum and ways teachers might strengthen coherence between research, theory, practice and professional learning to support such curriculum construction. During year-long fieldwork, the researcher drew on participant observation techniques, interviews, documentation and co-constructed inquiry discussions as sources of data. Data analysis occurred on two levels: descriptive and theoretical. Sociocultural theory provides a foundation for the approaches to learning and teaching, inquiry, the research design and lenses of interpretation. The study uses two frameworks to explain its findings, challenging and extending current understandings of funds of knowledge and communities of inquiry. In addition, it illuminates the concept of working theories. Discussion of the notion of evidence-informed inquiry explains some types of evidence teachers bring to the complexities of curriculum decision making as their funds of knowledge and working theories, thereby arguing against narrow interpretations of evidence-based practice. This thesis argues that interpretation of children's interests, from a sociocultural perspective, requires a more analytical understanding of children's family and community experiences and their impact on children's inquiry, and of teacher interests and responsibilities in relation to culturally-valued knowledge. Further, the thesis contends that children's and teachers' co-constructed inquiry is dependent on reciprocal and responsive pedagogical relationships that provide meaningful responses during engagement in learning-and-teaching. Links between everyday knowledge and conceptual knowledge in children's learning may be brought together. In this way, participatory learning enables children and teachers to co-create a foundation for conceptual learning. Two inquiry continua and one model are offered to incorporate the key theoretical ideas and arguments of the thesis. It is argued that the model represents components of an interests-based sociocultural curriculum and pedagogy. A funds of knowledge approach has the potential to transform early childhood learning-and-teaching environments, and implement partnerships with families, communities (including the research community) and cultures authentically. Implications for teaching practice, teachers' professional learning, research and policy are discussed to recognise and strengthen both an inquiry focus in pedagogical relationships, and an awareness of funds of knowledge in early childhood education contexts.
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Everyday spirituality : supporting the spiritual experience of young children in three early childhood educational settings : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New ZealandBone, Jane Elizabeth Unknown Date (has links)
The focus of this research is the spiritual experience of young children in early childhood educational settings. Spirituality is included in the New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, but is a relatively unarticulated aspect of educational practice. In order to find out how spirituality is supported in early childhood educational contexts this qualitative case study research took place in three early childhood settings: a Montessori casa, a private preschool and a Steiner (Waldorf) kindergarten. The methods used in the research included participant observation, interviews and focus groups. The teachers were asked to make a video about spirituality to reflect their own context and photographs were taken in each setting. The metaphor of spiritual landscape is used in this research. In this landscape everyday experience merged with the spiritual to form the concept of everyday spirituality. The cultural theories of everyday life supported a realisation that ordinary daily activity can become wonderful and mysterious when the spiritual dimension is realised. The themes that emerged from analysis of the case studies are conceptualised as transformative aspects of learning and relationships. They are aspects of everyday spirituality identified as spiritual withness; spiritual inbetweenness; and the spiritually elsewhere. Representing spiritual experience is challenging. The thesis is written in narrative form and contains core narratives as prose and poems. Using writing as a means of discovery made communicating spirituality through the medium of words a possibility. Spirituality is proposed to be an inclusive concept that affirms a sense of connection and this thesis found that all pedagogical practices in early childhood settings have the potential to include a spiritual aspect. In Aotearoa New Zealand many children lead their everyday lives in the context of an early childhood environment that includes teachers and parents as part of that community. This thesis argues that when everyday spirituality permeates early childhood contexts that all aspects of the curriculum are realised and the spiritual experience of everyone connected to that setting is supported.
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Students with disabilities talk about their friendships : a narrative inquiry : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Palmerston NorthWard, Angela R. Unknown Date (has links)
This narrative inquiry explores the social experiences of four students with disabilities who were educated in four co-educational secondary schools in New Zealand. Over a period of two academic years, four students told their stories of their transition to high school and their experiences of friendships and social relationships in their classrooms, playground, and after school venues. Their parents, siblings, peers, principals, teachers, and teacher aides were also interviewed and together with school observations and relevant documents provide a holistic perspective to the students’ stories. The students’ stories are foregrounded and re-presented in poetic form. Analysis of each student’s accounts are developed within a socio-cultural context that examines contextual factors that shape, support, or create barriers to their friendships and social relationships. These analyses are written as narrative responses within an ethic of caring. The research discusses the nature of social relationships between students with disabilities, and between students with and without disabilities, including bullying and rejection; contextual factors such as gender that shape students’ perceptions of each other; and aspects of curriculum and pedagogy that support or hinder social relationships. The agency of individual students in the processes of social relationships are analysed, and implications for further research outlined. The study concludes that there are personal and socio-ecological factors that impact on the social experiences of students with disabilities. The findings suggest the need for teachers to examine values, attitudes, knowledge, and pedagogy in the context of their schools and adopt a multilevel approach to address the academic and social needs of all students.
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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 ZealandTaylor, Rowena Margaret January 2008 (has links)
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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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 ZealandMurray, Nicola Sheree January 2009 (has links)
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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A Cross cultural study of scholastic achievement and selected determinersLovegrove, Malcolm N. January 1964 (has links)
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.
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Global Capitalism and the Revival of Ethnic Traditionalism in New Zealand: The Emergence of Tribal-CapitalismRata, Elizabeth , 1952- January 1996 (has links)
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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