This thesis aims to show how the secondary teacher in New Zealand was constituted in discourse through an examination of two major recontextualisations of education, the changes resulting from the Thomas Report (1944), and the Picot Report (1988), and of the collective identity of secondary teachers. Both reports redirected government education policy and regulation and had fundamental implications for teachers' work and the role they were expected to play in education. Secondary teachers resisted both reforms, and in doing so they revealed elements of their conservative, pragmatic and defensive collective identity, which changed in only one significant respect in the time period considered in this study. It took twenty years before the central tenets of the Thomas Report were even close to being universally accepted. Even then, the child-centred philosophy and practice propounded by the Thomas Report, supported by the Currie Report in 1962 and supervised by the gentle discipline of the Department of Education, was likely to have been more honoured in the breach than in the observance by many New Zealand secondary school teachers. In more recent times, the 'neo-liberal', market-driven view of education and teachers, as expressed in the reforms which followed the Picot Report, were stoutly resisted despite the much more rigorous disciplinary techniques employed by the Ministry of Education. This thesis will show that the dominant discourses which constituted the secondary teacher were those of the collective identity of secondary teachers and that these effectively frustrated attempts to impose change on New Zealand secondary teachers and on secondary education.

The purpose of this dissertation was to gain greater understanding about how preservice secondary English/language arts teachers made use of multicultural theory and practice in the context of urban classrooms. This qualitative case study examined preservice teachers’ employment of the multicultural knowledge and tools they gained in the university setting when placed in the far different reality of diverse, urban schools. Employing the frame of figured worlds, this research strove to tease out how preservice teachers negotiated the complex and varied worlds through which they traveled when learning to teach, and to document their movement from novices committed to equity to those capable of nurturing and enacting social justice. The resulting successes and struggles derived by data analysis yielded three themes. The first detailed the impact of figured worlds in positioning preservice teachers inside of the schools; the second explored the participants’ notions of multiculturalism and their capacity for enacting literacy events supportive of social justice; the third and final theme described the tentative successes of the preservice teachers as they relied on sociocultural tools inside the classroom, as well as their burgeoning advocacy stance regarding students. Findings focused on three areas of interest. First, that the fragmented understandings of multiculturalism inhibited the preservice teachers’ capacity to enact culturally relevant or responsive pedagogy; second, that the participants struggled with how to merge their notions of effective pedagogical practice given the rigid district-adopted curriculum they were expected to teach; and finally, that as the preservice teachers learned to author their own experiences inside the figured world of schools and create a space for students to do the same, they grew into more efficacious practitioners. Implications indicate that first, preservice teacher education programs should offer practicing teachers greater opportunities to consider figured world theory and funds of knowledge approaches early in their fieldwork experiences so that they might better contextualize the experience and develop a mindset that deflects deficit thinking. The second implication directly impacts teacher educators, calling on them to make the abstract theories studied in the university classroom more concrete and connected to the realities existing in schools. The third and final implication calls on teacher education programs to work diligently to foster a dialogue with preservice teachers that centers on issues of social justice. / text

New Zealand relies on overseas teachers to fill approximately 30% of annual vacancies (Ministry of Education, 2006). 41% of these cohort were teaching in Auckland when this study was conducted (Ministry of Education, 2001, 2003). As only 7% were new to teaching, it is likely that they bring a wealth of teaching experience to New Zealand classrooms. In 2002 New Zealand introduced a new school-leaving qualification, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), which includes a literacy strand in all subjects (Taylor, 2001). This thesis aims to investigate the needs, perceptions and insights of overseas teachers in Auckland regarding the literacy requirements of the New Zealand secondary curriculum. In this qualitative study, interviews were carried out with ten teachers who had been teaching in Auckland between one and six years and who had all previously taught overseas. Interviews were also carried out with two literacy leaders as part of the research. Key challenges that emerged were the incorporation of the NCEA literacy requirements in discipline areas; catering for the needs of students who speak English as a second language; dealing with the challenges of teaching literacy across the curriculum and subject specific language; finding and developing relevant resources and sourcing professional development relating to literacy teaching. Findings revealed there were two categories of teachers – teachers who were very aware of the literacy needs of their students and those who were less aware. Teachers from England and South Africa were very aware of the varied literacy needs of New Zealand students and had received professional development in this area. Other teachers seemed less aware of the literacy demands of their students, the curriculum or their own professional development needs. This study also reveals that recognition and provision for the professional needs of newly arrived teachers from overseas seems to vary. There is very little research on the experiences of immigrant teachers in New Zealand; this study helps to clarify the issues which these teachers face, particularly with regard to the dual challenges of teaching students with ESL and the expectations that all teachers will include literacy in their approach to teaching, which is part of the NCEA curriculum.

This thesis aims to show how the secondary teacher in New Zealand was constituted in discourse through an examination of two major recontextualisations of education, the changes resulting from the Thomas Report (1944), and the Picot Report (1988), and of the collective identity of secondary teachers. Both reports redirected government education policy and regulation and had fundamental implications for teachers' work and the role they were expected to play in education. Secondary teachers resisted both reforms, and in doing so they revealed elements of their conservative, pragmatic and defensive collective identity, which changed in only one significant respect in the time period considered in this study. It took twenty years before the central tenets of the Thomas Report were even close to being universally accepted. Even then, the child-centred philosophy and practice propounded by the Thomas Report, supported by the Currie Report in 1962 and supervised by the gentle discipline of the Department of Education, was likely to have been more honoured in the breach than in the observance by many New Zealand secondary school teachers. In more recent times, the 'neo-liberal', market-driven view of education and teachers, as expressed in the reforms which followed the Picot Report, were stoutly resisted despite the much more rigorous disciplinary techniques employed by the Ministry of Education. This thesis will show that the dominant discourses which constituted the secondary teacher were those of the collective identity of secondary teachers and that these effectively frustrated attempts to impose change on New Zealand secondary teachers and on secondary education.

Thèse (D.Éd.) -- Université du Québec à Rimouski, en association avec l'Université du Québec à Montréal, 2002. / Bibliogr.: f. 248-268. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

The relatively new utilization of learning management system (LMS) facilitated blended learning in secondary public schools has grown in popularity, but there is a void in research at this level. Teachers learned how to use the LMS features and honed their blended learning design skills through their own experiences, and in observation of their students' experiences. In this study, the knowledge teachers built and the decisions they made while designing blended learning were explored. In this mixed-methods study, the quantitative and qualitative results aligned, indicating that teachers design courses using a variety of components, often in different ways. Six themes emerged. The relationships between themes were used to create a theoretical visual of the factors impacting secondary teachers' decisions in the design of LMS-facilitated blended learning. Teacher design decisions were focused on the impact their choices would have on students. Variation in course design was purposely used by teachers to differentiate for students individually; however, variation was also the result of design challenges blocking teachers from a specific design choice. The implications for practice primarily focus on removing the design challenges. The results of this study add to other foundational studies to begin to fill the research gap in the area of LMS-facilitated blended learning design in secondary schools.

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<p>The aim of this thesis is to examine how secondary teachers in the subject of history are using the textbook in their teaching. Four questions are being dealt with in this thesis. What importance is being placed on the use of history textbooks by the secondary teachers? What priorities do the secondary teachers have? How do they deal with student interests? And what is the importance of the secondary teachers’ work experience? </p><p>I have interviewed four secondary teachers with different work experience to complete this thesis. A Dictaphone has been used in all the interviews. </p><p>Research has shown that textbooks now have a central role in teaching and the lack of alternative materials and reduction of teaching hours has made it difficult to replace. </p><p>The main conclusions of the thesis are that the history textbook has a dual role depending on the teacher you ask, and that the history book is used differently by the teachers. The priorities vary depending on the students that are currently enrolled and their interests are. Teachers with less work experience have a rather negative attitude to the textbook and believe that it can be rigid, while teachers with more experience see it as a tool for engaging the weaker students. However, the history textbook is required, and even the teachers who are not using the history textbook can all confirm that: because even a teacher who is not using it has the history textbook for the students to have something to refer to if needed.</p>

Public concern over the mathematical incompetence of students and adults is longstanding and justified. The No Child Left Behind act has affected the nation’s teachers, their school systems, and their communities. The act required all classrooms have a “highly-qualified teacher” by June, 2006 (United States Department of Education, 2002). Thus, the purpose of this evaluative case study was to understand if the unique National Board Certification (NBC) focused Educational Specialist (EdS) program was effective in creating change in teacher practice of six high school mathematics teachers in a suburban Georgia county. The learning outcomes of the program and perceptions of self-efficacy were evaluated and used as guidelines for the effectiveness of the program. The study was grounded in theories of metacognition, social constructivism, and self-efficacy. Metacognition provided the basis for “thinking about thinking” (McApline, Weston, et al, 1999) but reflection expanded the thought process to thinking about thinking or actions. Reflections were an integral for each of the constructs of the EdS program and this dissertation. Data for the study included written teacher reflections, action research projects, and mentoring manuals; in addition to interviews three years after the program. Data were coded and analyzed through a process of constant comparison using the NVivo 7 software. The findings at each stage of analysis, which were halfway through the program, end of the program, and three years after the program, indicate the five constructs metacognition, social constructivism, self-efficacy, community of learners, and action research were common across data sets. Four of the five constructs became more prevalent at each stage of analysis with only action research peaking prior to the third stage. The patterns developed during the study indicated long-term change in teacher practice and these constructs solidified as part of their teaching philosophy.

Secondary teachers face many challenges in balancing academic and transition priorities for students with extensive support needs. This panel will provide research-based strategies for designing instruction that addresses multiple priorities in literacy, science, and mathematics lessons. Learner Outcomes: (1) Participants will describe components of self-determination that have an impact on academic achievement for students with disabilities; (2) Participants will use transition-infused academic instruction to design IEPs and lessons that value student diversity; (3) Participants will identify research-based strategies for integrating transition and academic skill instruction across content areas