This study looks at the impact that the National Certification of Educational Achievement (NCEA) has had on teacher collegiality in New Zealand. It is an exploratory study using an in case and cross case method, located in four secondary schools with a range of demographics. I was interested in gathering the information from teachers in three key roles: Assistant teacher, Head of Department and Principal's Nominee, finding out what their views were on the change that the NCEA has bought to their professional lives and the impact made on their collegiality. The literature reviewed shows there is an international appreciation of the value of collegiality in schools but there is a fragile nature of collegiality that challenges its strength. The complexity of school culture and the symbiotic relationship between it and collegiality contributes to challenge of the management and development in secondary schools. The findings showed the teachers in this study considered there to have been a deepening in collegiality as a result of increased sharing of material, professional communication through moderation and professional development, and a heightened respect for professional practice and understanding of personalities. There are threats from reduced socialisation, workload, loss of autonomy and the fragility of collegiality. These elements have created a shift in school culture. How teacher collegiality can best be supported using this assessment policy has been explored with features involving school organisation and increasing deep collegial activities such as collegial observation, marking, moderating and review being identified as beneficial.

Research evidence suggests that appropriate use of formative assessment promotes effective learning. Improved learning occurs when assessment is viewed as integral to learning, and when it is supported by coherent assessment systems. Although assessment systems designed primarily around the formative purpose can provide both formative and summative information, a tension exists in practice between the summative and formative purposes of assessment. Using a theoretical framework developed by Sadler (1989), this research project investigated whether New Zealand’s new secondary school Standards-Based Assessment qualification—the National Certificate Educational Achievement (NCEA)—has the potential to satisfy both summative and formative purposes of assessment in mathematics. Theorising from a contemporary sociocultural perspective of learning, this project recognised the situated nature and interpersonal dimension of knowledge, and the impact of the social environment in promoting and directing learning. Theorising from this perspective offered opportunities to examine classroom assessment practices from a new perspective. To date, insufficient attention has been paid to the ‘students’ voice’ concerning educational matters that directly affect them. Given the situated nature of students’ engagement with formative practices a case study approach was used to investigate students’ perceptions of the formative potential of NCEA mathematics assessment tasks. Three Y12 mathematics classes from an urban secondary school formed the case study singularity for this study. Focus group interviews with nine students were conducted across the year, complemented by classroom observations, a focus group interview with the teachers, and a quantitative questionnaire with all students in each of the three Year 12 mathematics classes. An examination of the philosophical and structural design of NCEA revealed a strong potential for it to serve a duality of both formative and summative purpose of assessment. However the formative potential of NCEA was yet to be fully realised in the case study classrooms. Students’ underdeveloped knowledge of assessment criteria effectively reduced the potential for students’ independent use of self assessment strategies. This project also identified that teachers and students held differing views on preferred feedback practices. The teachers perceived that students did not read written feedback, and this perception significantly influenced the amount of written feedback that they offered to students. In contrast, students clearly displayed that they read, valued and used scaffolded written feedback to improve their learning. While the teachers preferred to offer oral feedback, students preferred to engage with their peers to use feedback to develop corrective strategies and deepen learning. The project has made a number of practical and theoretical suggestions to improve students’ understandings of the assessment criteria they are working towards, and to more effectively integrate the collaborative use of formative feedback into students’ learning experiences. In particular, it has suggested two additional perspectives on the development and use of formative assessment in a sociocultural learning environment. Firstly, that students’ knowledge of the role of formative assessment is socially and contextually situated, and develops through the social interactions that occur in the classroom. Secondly, the potential exists for formative assessment practices to stimulate collaborative learning opportunities within communities of practice.

This thesis presents the findings of a project with the overarching aim of exploring the role of School Based Assessment (SBA) in mathematics as a component alongside external written examinations for qualifications. The research was carried out in New Zealand during the implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The NCEA was implemented in 2002. The NCEA is targeted at three levels: Level 1 for Year 11 (fifth form) to replace the School Certificate Examinations (SC); Level 2 for Year 12 (sixth form) to replace Sixth Form Certificate Examinations (SFC) and; Level 3 for Year 13 (seventh form) to replace University Bursaries (UB). The NCEA uses standards based methods of assessment as opposed to its predecessors (SC, SFC, and UB) which used norm referenced methods of assessment. The examination at each level is divided into internal and external assessments. The internal assessment called Internal Achievement Standards (assessed by teachers in schools) is an SBA component. It is this component of the NCEA Level 1 examination which formed the focus of the study. A qualitative approach was used in the research through interviews, school visits part of which involved participant observation in assessment situations, and participant observations at professional development (PD) workshops for teachers. Four different groups of participants were interviewed for this research: policy-makers at the New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), The Mathematics Expert Panel, the facilitators of professional development (PD) workshops for teachers, and teachers of NCEA Level 1 mathematics. A total of 58 persons were interviewed. The perspective of each of these groups was necessary since each group had its specific role to play in the implementation of the NCEA. The policy-makers were asked to articulate the rationale for the SBA component of the NCEA. The Mathematics Expert Panel, which had decided on the areas of the secondary school mathematics best suited for SBA were asked to explain how this was done. The facilitators of the PD workshops recounted their experiences as they facilitated the teachers on how to assess against standards. Teachers who had the role of practical implementation were asked to articulate what they thought the rationale for an SBA was. They were also asked about the issues they confronted and the challenges they faced as they were introduced to a new regime of assessment. Both policy-makers and teachers are agreed that the rationale for an SBA component is to assess those objectives of the curriculum which are not appropriately, adequately and validly assessed in an external examination. A Framework was developed to gauge suitability of topics in the secondary school�s curriculum for SBA. The topics of the secondary curriculum found to be best suited for SBA are some parts of Geometry and Trigonometry, Measurement, and Statistics and Probability. The findings of this research provide adequate evidence that SBA has the potential for making a wider range of the school mathematics curriculum open to assessment. School Based Assessment also has the potential to get teachers at the secondary level to use pedagogical approaches that they rarely use when they teach for external examinations only. Facilitators of the PD workshops and the teachers of NCEA mathematics were of the opinion that the NCEA was too hurriedly implemented. Teachers confronted many teething problems and had many concerns during the first year of implementation. However, after three years, most of the teachers believe that the concerns they had during the first year are no longer issues for worry. There are implications for education systems wishing to implement innovative ideas that place heavy demands on teachers. The results here suggest that teachers need time before they are expected to change their normal manner of doing things in school. If adequate time is given at the initial stages then the process become a bit less hectic for them.

This thesis presents the findings of a project with the overarching aim of exploring the role of School Based Assessment (SBA) in mathematics as a component alongside external written examinations for qualifications. The research was carried out in New Zealand during the implementation of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). The NCEA was implemented in 2002. The NCEA is targeted at three levels: Level 1 for Year 11 (fifth form) to replace the School Certificate Examinations (SC); Level 2 for Year 12 (sixth form) to replace Sixth Form Certificate Examinations (SFC) and; Level 3 for Year 13 (seventh form) to replace University Bursaries (UB). The NCEA uses standards based methods of assessment as opposed to its predecessors (SC, SFC, and UB) which used norm referenced methods of assessment. The examination at each level is divided into internal and external assessments. The internal assessment called Internal Achievement Standards (assessed by teachers in schools) is an SBA component. It is this component of the NCEA Level 1 examination which formed the focus of the study. A qualitative approach was used in the research through interviews, school visits part of which involved participant observation in assessment situations, and participant observations at professional development (PD) workshops for teachers. Four different groups of participants were interviewed for this research: policy-makers at the New Zealand Ministry of Education (MoE) and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), The Mathematics Expert Panel, the facilitators of professional development (PD) workshops for teachers, and teachers of NCEA Level 1 mathematics. A total of 58 persons were interviewed. The perspective of each of these groups was necessary since each group had its specific role to play in the implementation of the NCEA. The policy-makers were asked to articulate the rationale for the SBA component of the NCEA. The Mathematics Expert Panel, which had decided on the areas of the secondary school mathematics best suited for SBA were asked to explain how this was done. The facilitators of the PD workshops recounted their experiences as they facilitated the teachers on how to assess against standards. Teachers who had the role of practical implementation were asked to articulate what they thought the rationale for an SBA was. They were also asked about the issues they confronted and the challenges they faced as they were introduced to a new regime of assessment. Both policy-makers and teachers are agreed that the rationale for an SBA component is to assess those objectives of the curriculum which are not appropriately, adequately and validly assessed in an external examination. A Framework was developed to gauge suitability of topics in the secondary school�s curriculum for SBA. The topics of the secondary curriculum found to be best suited for SBA are some parts of Geometry and Trigonometry, Measurement, and Statistics and Probability. The findings of this research provide adequate evidence that SBA has the potential for making a wider range of the school mathematics curriculum open to assessment. School Based Assessment also has the potential to get teachers at the secondary level to use pedagogical approaches that they rarely use when they teach for external examinations only. Facilitators of the PD workshops and the teachers of NCEA mathematics were of the opinion that the NCEA was too hurriedly implemented. Teachers confronted many teething problems and had many concerns during the first year of implementation. However, after three years, most of the teachers believe that the concerns they had during the first year are no longer issues for worry. There are implications for education systems wishing to implement innovative ideas that place heavy demands on teachers. The results here suggest that teachers need time before they are expected to change their normal manner of doing things in school. If adequate time is given at the initial stages then the process become a bit less hectic for them.

nÃo hà / No Estado do Cearà foram implantadas novas polÃticas pÃblicas com o objetivo de incrementar o recolhimento de impostos e assegurar um maior desenvolvimento. Este estudo apresenta uma anÃlise empÃrica dos reflexos da implantaÃÃo do Decreto n 29.560/2008, no cenÃrio da arrecadaÃÃo do Estado. Tal decreto institui a cobranÃa de imposto atravÃs do regime de âSubstituiÃÃo TributÃria (ST)â pelo modelo Carga lÃquida em algumas empresas pertencentes ao âComÃrcio Atacadistaâ. O objetivo deste estudo à analisar o impacto do regime de SubstituiÃÃo TributÃria na arrecadaÃÃo do ICMS. Para isso, utilizaram-se dados da arrecadaÃÃo mensal dos contribuintes do Estado do CearÃ, totalizados por cÃdigo nacional de atividade econÃmica (CNAE), pertencente ao comÃrcio atacadista e ao decreto, no perÃodo de janeiro de 2005 a Dezembro de 2011, usando para isto o modelo economÃtrico de regressÃo linear mÃltipla com dados dos contribuintes relacionados na polÃtica do governo pelo decreto, arrecadaÃÃo mensal de ICMS do estado e para compor uma variÃvel dummy com objetivo de determinar o perÃodo em que os contribuintes foram atingidos pelo efeito do decreto, todos os valores foram deflacionados pelo IPCA, tomando por base o ano de 2005. Os resultados mostraram um impacto positivo do regime de substituiÃÃo tributÃria na arrecadaÃÃo do ICMS no Estado do CearÃ. / ItÂs well known that new public policies were deployed in the state of Cearà in order to increase tax collection and so ensure a broad development in the state. By means of an empirical analysis, weÂre driving at the effects on the state revenue post-29.560/2008 law implementation, which establishes the tax charging under the label âtax replacingâ considering the so called net model. It is employed by some companies belonging to wholesaler settings. Since we take this view, we are committed to actually investigating the tax replacing effects upon ICMS, a local tax. A special econometric model is used for making this process clear: the multiple linear regression containing taxpayers data. We further remark that their month data were gathered concerning the period from January 2005 to December 2011. In the system here a variable dummy is taken to determine the period in which taxpayers were hit by decreasing effect, all values were deflated by the IPCA - AMPLO, based on the 2005 year. The results show a positive impact concerning tax substitution on the ICMS collection of Ceara state.

'Policy gaps' in education mean that the visions of policy-makers frequently fail to materialise fully, or at all, in teacher practice. This thesis argues that a significant 'policy gap' developed in New Zealand around school qualifications policy during the 1990's, and puts forward some explanations for that. A significant shift in government discourses over that period, from largely social democratic to predominantly neo-liberal discourses, was not matched by a similar shift in the discourses of teachers or the union that represents them. During the same period, teachers and their representative bodies were excluded from policy development, reflecting this shift in government discourses. Government and teachers were 'talking past each other'. As a result, qualifications reforms that might have been expected to be generally welcomed by the profession, as a government response to calls from the profession over many decades, were instead rejected by the majority of teachers. Furthermore, the absence of the teacher voice from policy development meant that the shape of the reforms moved significantly away from the profession's original vision, a further reason for its unacceptability to teachers. Reform was only able to be achieved when teachers and their union were brought back into the policy-making and policy-communicating processes and a version of standards-based assessment closer to the union's original vision was adopted by government. Nevertheless, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement that resulted appears to still be perceived by teachers as externally imposed and its origins in the profession's advocacy for reform over many years have been lost. This indicates that 'policy gaps', while easily opened, are not as easily closed.

By 2050, the world population is projected to exceed nine billion and sustainable development measures are therefore critical. There has been a clear consensus internationally regarding the importance of assessing projects’ environmental impacts as a mean to promote sustainable development. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) system has a fundamental role of being a tool for reaching sustainable development. Therefore, continuously enhancing its quality by evaluating the system is important. This study focused on the quality of the review process in the Swedish EIA system, as it is the last step of quality assurance before the final decision-making. Currently, various authorities are responsible for assessing the quality of the environmental impact statement (EIS), something that can naturally lead to varied review qualities. The purpose of this Master Thesis was to question the quality of the current review process in Sweden’s EIA system and raise awareness as to how it possibly can be improved. An approach to promote consistency in the review process exists in the Dutch EIA system, where a national independent authority built up of experts is set to critically review EISs of complex proposed projects. Objectives of this study were to contribute with research on whether or not Sweden should implement an independent national commission to review the quality of EISs, to identify participants’ views and attitudes regarding the subject and to analyze whether or not it is favorable and possible to change the current system. A comparison with the Dutch review process along with eight semi-structured interviews were completed, and results showed that it is likely that the Swedish review process can improve by implementing a national independent review authority and thus increase the current quality and uniformity. The study also found that it would not lead to any major losses to the current system. By using a national authority, standardized working procedures can be developed and independence can be reached through utilizing impartial reviewers. However, feasible problems include funding regulations and having to modify Swedish EIA legislation. It is also estimated that a national commission would not have sufficient resources to review all incoming EISs, hence, restrictions are required. / År 2050 förväntas världens befolkning överstiga nio miljarder och det är mycket viktigt att vidta åtgärder mot en hållbar utveckling. Det har skett en tydlig internationell enighet om vikten av att bedöma projekts miljöpåverkan som ett medel för att främja en hållbar utveckling. Miljökonsekvensbeskrivningssystemet har en grundläggande roll som verktyg för att nå en hållbar utveckling. Därför är det viktigt att kontinuerligt förbättra dess kvalitet genom att utvärdera systemet. Denna studie fokuserar på kvaliteten av granskningsprocessen i det svenska MKB-systemet, eftersom det är det sista steget i kvalitetssäkringen innan det slutliga beslutsfattandet. För närvarande har olika myndigheter ansvaret för att bedöma kvaliteten på miljökonsekvensbeskrivningen (MKB), vilket naturligtvis kan leda till varierande kvalitet på handläggningen. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att ifrågasätta kvaliteten av den pågående granskningen i det svenska MKB-systemet och öka medvetenheten om hur det möjligen kan förbättras. En strategi för att främja likvärdighet i granskningen finns i det nederländska MKB-systemet, där en oberoende nationell myndighet uppbyggd av experter är satt till att kritiskt granska miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar av komplexa föreslagna projekt. Målet för denna studie var att bidra med forskning om huruvida Sverige bör införa en oberoende nationell kommission för att granska kvaliteten på miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar, att identifiera deltagarnas åsikter och attityder kring ämnet och att analysera om det är fördelaktigt och möjligt att modifiera det nuvarande systemet. En jämförelse med den nederländska granskningsprocessen tillsammans med åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes, och resultaten visade att det är troligt att den svenska granskningsprocessen kan förbättras genom att införa en nationell oberoende granskningsmyndighet och därmed öka den nuvarande standarden och enhetligheten. Studien visade också att det inte skulle leda till några större förluster av det nuvarande systemet. Genom att använda en nationell myndighet, kan standardiserade arbetsmetoder utvecklas och självständighet kan nås genom att utnyttja objektiva granskare. Möjliga problem är finansieringsbestämmelser och behovet av att ändra svensk miljölagstiftning. Det är också sannolikt att en nationell kommission inte skulle ha tillräckliga resurser för att granska alla inkommande miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar, i och med det krävs begränsningar.

During 2010 and 2011, major earthquakes caused widespread damage and the deaths of 185 people in the city of Christchurch. Damaged school buildings resulted in state intervention which required amendment of the Education Act of 1989, and the development of ‘site sharing agreements’ in undamaged schools to cater for the needs of students whose schools had closed. An effective plan was also developed for student assessment through establishing an earthquake impaired derived grade process. Previous research into traditional explanations of educational inequalities in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and New Zealand were reviewed through various processes within three educational inputs: the student, the school and the state. Research into the impacts of urban natural disasters on education and education inequalities found literature on post disaster education systems but nothing could be found that included performance data. The impacts of the Canterbury earthquakes on educational inequalities and achievement were analysed over 2009-2012. The baseline year was 2009, the year before the first earthquake, while 2012 is seen as the recovery year as no schools closed due to seismic events and there was no state intervention into the education of the region. National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results levels 1-3 from thirty-four secondary schools in the greater Christchurch region were graphed and analysed. Regression analysis indicates; in 2009, educational inequalities existed with a strong positive relationship between a school’s decile rating and NCEA achievement. When schools were grouped into decile rankings (1-10) and their 2010 NCEA levels 1-3 results were compared with the previous year, the percentage of change indicates an overall lower NCEA achievement in 2010 across all deciles, but particularly in lower decile schools. By contrast, when 2011 NCEA results were compared with those of 2009, as a percentage of change, lower decile schools fared better. Non site sharing schools also achieved higher results than site sharing schools. State interventions, had however contributed towards student’s achieving national examinations and entry to university in 2011. When NCEA results for 2012 were compared to 2009 educational inequalities still exist, however in 2012 the positive relationship between decile rating and achievement is marginally weaker than in 2009. Human ethics approval was required to survey one Christchurch secondary school community of students (aged between 12 and 18), teachers and staff, parents and caregivers during October 2011. Participation was voluntary and without incentives, 154 completed questionnaires were received. The Canterbury earthquakes and aftershocks changed the lives of the research participants. This school community was displaced to another school due to the Christchurch earthquake on 22 February 2011. Research results are grouped under four geographical perspectives; spatial impacts, socio-economic impacts, displacement, and health and wellbeing. Further research possibilities include researching the lag effects from the Canterbury earthquakes on school age children.

In this thesis I outline the contribution Community-based theatre has made to New Zealand theatre. This involves a defining of theatre production as a material practice. Community-based theatre was a tendency from the 1930s, a promise of the left theatre movement and, I argue, was being searched for as a form of practice by the avant-garde, experimental practitioners of the 1970s. At the same time, early Māori theatre began as a Community-based practice before moving into the mainstream. With the arrival of neo-liberalism to Aotearoa in 1984, community groups and Community-based theatre could become official providers within the political system. This led to a flowering of practices, which I describe, together with the tensions that arise from being a part of that system. However, neo-liberalism introduced managerial practices into state contracting and patronage policy, which effectively denied this flowering the sustenance deserved. At the same time, these policies commodified mainstream theatre production. In conclusion, I argue that in the current situation of global crisis, Community-based theatre practice has a continuing role to play in giving voice to the multitude and by being a practice of the Common.