Global ETD Search

1	Sustainability Education in Aotearoa New Zealand:theory, practice and possibility Fitzgerald, Laurel Jean January 2013 (has links) Sustainability education is a contested field in Aotearoa New Zealand, as it is in other countries. A variety of philosophical and theoretical interpretations and possibilities for practice therefore co-exist within this emerging field. This thesis develops a ‘complex perspective’ of sustainability education by exploring the way it is conceptualised in literature and the New Zealand curriculum, and interpreted in practice in the context of a New Zealand secondary school. Guided by the key contributing theories and a qualitative methodology, the thesis maps the complexity of the field from the macro- or global and international level to the micro- or local level using the reference points of theory, practice, and possibility. Developed during and in response to an intense period of social and environmental change that shows no signs of abating, the thesis comprises two interrelated components. The first and more substantial component is the literature review. This takes account of situational factors that are giving rise to different conceptions and approaches to sustainability education and to contrasting views presented in literature and curriculum. Used as an umbrella term for all forms of education with environmental and sustainability foci, ‘sustainability education’ (in whatever form it takes) stands as an admission of broad social failure and the need for substantial change. Conceptions of sustainability education range from ‘education for sustainable development’ (ESD), which is advanced by the United Nations and other influential international organisations, to ‘education for sustainability’ (EfS), which has taken precedence over ‘environmental education’ (EE) in the New Zealand curriculum. The literature shows that this complex, contested, contextualised and emerging field is as much hopeful as it is critical. The qualitative case study comprises the second interrelated component of the thesis. Grounded in the real-life context of a secondary school with a distinctive approach to teaching and learning, it involves an empirical investigation of the ways in which two teachers and a diverse group of Year 9 to Year 14 students understand and practice sustainability education. This component draws on the interpretive methods of interviewing and observation to afford an empathetic and multi-perspectival view of sustainability education in practice. The case does not strive to establish ‘truth’ but rather to be open to multiple truths, realities and meanings - in a manner that is consistent with the theories of social constructionism and interpretivism in particular. It is suggested, through this study, that sustainability education cannot be confined to a stable conception or consistent framework, or approached through a programme of standardised levels and assessments. Representing a complex, multi-dimensional, dynamic and emergent concept, sustainability education may best be approached and sustained in a corresponding fashion, through multiple, critically-informed, and dialogically-linked points of entry. education teaching New Zealand curriculum sustainabilty education education for sustainability education for sustainable development environmental education teaching practice qualitative research
2	Implementing the New Zealand Curriculum: Understandings and experiences from three urban primary schools. Naysmith, Robert Bramwell January 2011 (has links) The introduction of the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) provided both opportunities and challenges to schools. As teaching and learning has continued to evolve and develop in accordance with new research, technological innovations and changing school populations so too has curriculum. The curriculum was designed to initiate a transformation in values, principles, and key competencies that are needed for learners to successfully participate in schooling and society. The New Zealand government introduced a new curriculum in 2007 with the intention of it being implemented into schools by 2010. The content of curriculum was guided by pedagogical understandings supported by research. This included an emphasis on schools having ownership of their curriculum. The 2007 curriculum also had a larger focus on educating the whole child not just on learning objectives. This research investigates how three schools have undertaken the implementation of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007), and the effects this implementation has had on teaching and learning. Using semi-structured interviews, the descriptive narratives of each teacher’s and school’s experience and understanding has been explored. The results indicated that the participating schools are embracing the new curriculum and that changes made due to professional development, teacher collaboration and curriculum implementation are directly affecting learning for children in a positive way. Curriculum New Zealand curriculum professional development change management teaching and learning education 21st century teaching school leadership curriculum change consultation pedagogy andragogy.
3	Summerhill school is it possible in Aotearoa ??????? New Zealand ???????: Challenging the neo-liberal ideologies in our hegemonic schooling system Peck, Mikaere Michelle S. January 2009 (has links) The original purpose of this thesis is to explore the possibility of setting up a school in Aotearoa (New Zealand) that operates according to the principles and philosophies of Summerhill School in Suffolk, England. An examination of Summerhill School is therefore the purpose of this study, particularly because of its commitment to self-regulation and direct democracy for children. My argument within this study is that Summerhill presents precisely the type of model Māori as Tangata Whenua (Indigenous people of Aotearoa) need in our design of an alternative schooling programme, given that self-regulation and direct democracy are traits conducive to achieving Tino Rangitiratanga (Self-government, autonomy and control). In claiming this however, not only would Tangata Whenua benefit from this model of schooling; indeed it has the potential to serve the purpose of all people regardless of age race or gender. At present, no school in Aotearoa has replicated Summerhill's principles and philosophies in their entirety. Given the constraints of a Master's thesis, this piece of work is therefore only intended as a theoretical background study for a much larger kaupapa (purpose). It is my intention to produce a further and more comprehensive study in the future using Summerhill as a vehicle to initiate a model school in Aotearoa that is completely antithetical to the dominant neo-liberal philosophy of our age. To this end, my study intends to demonstrate how neo-liberal schooling is universally dictated by global money market trends, and how it is an ideology fueled by the indifferent acceptance of the general population. In other words, neo-liberal theory is a theory of capitalist colonisation. In order to address the long term vision, this project will be comprised of two major components. The first will be a study of the principal philosophies that govern Summerhill School. As I will argue, Summerhill creates an environment that is uniquely successful and fulfilling for the children who attend. At the same time, it will also be shown how it is a philosophy that is entirely contrary to a neo-liberal 3 mindset; an antidote, to a certain extent, to the ills of contemporary schooling. The second component will address the historical movement of schooling in Aotearoa since the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1984, and how the New Zealand Curriculum has been affected by these changes. I intend to trace the importation of neo-liberal methodologies into Aotearoa such as the 'Picot Taskforce,' 'Tomorrows Schools' and 'Bulk Funding,' to name but a few. The neo-liberal ideologies that have swept through this country in the last two decades have relentlessly metamorphosised departments into businesses and forced ministries into the marketplace, hence causing the 'ideological reduction of education' and confining it to the parameters of schooling. The purpose of this research project is to act as a catalyst for the ultimate materialization of an original vision; the implementation of a school like Summerhill in Aotearoa. A study of the neo-liberal ideologies that currently dominate this country is imperative in order to understand the current schooling situation in Aotearoa and create an informed comparison between the 'learning for freedom' style of Summerhill and the 'learning to earn' style of our status quo schools. It is my hope to strengthen the argument in favour of Summerhill philosophy by offering an understanding of the difference between the two completely opposing methods of learning. Matriarchal society patriarchal society freedom without license sexual huminsation sexual humanization decolonisation decolonization imperialism colonisation colonization globalization globalisation right wing new right privatization privatisation of state owned assets state owned commodification rogernomics multinational corporations transnational corporations TNC world trade organisation world trade organization WTO International monetary fund IMF world bank self-governance self-government self-regulation autonomous thinking autonomy critical pedagogy New Zealand curriculum vision principles values key competencies learning areas neo-liberalism neo-liberal NZ educational reforms hegemony bulk funding NZEI New Zealand Education Institute Post Primary Teachers Association PPTA native schooling A. S. Neill Zoe Neill-Readhead Neill Roger Douglas David Lange Jim Bolger Lockwood Smith NZ treasury economist free market managerialism performativity conformity hidden curriculum decentralisation decentralization tino rangtiratanga tomorrows schools picot report indoctrination wage slave Maori schooling indigenous schooling deschooling deschool unschool home school schools as prisons

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