This thesis is a retrospective review and analysis of the processes and information gathered and used by the Ministry of Education in its development of Pasifika education strategic plans from 1993 to 2009. This is a high level strategic analysis, adopting interdisciplinary approaches from across the social sciences particularly from education, public policy and management, and Pacific studies. It draws on information gathered by the Ministry of Education through talanoa ako (consultation), ngaahi fekumi (literature review) and ngaahi ngāue (policy stocktake), to review whether Pasifika strategic plan development met Pasifika and non-Pasifika requirements; fulfilled authorising environments’ expectations; created public value and leadership across the education sector; and, identified what worked and why. The thesis draws upon Tongan and Pasifika values and methodologies and demonstrates how these integrate and create value across Pasifika and non-Pasifika worlds, using tools specifically created to address the methodological challenges in this thesis. The thesis finds that it is important to formulate Pasifika strategic plans with Pasifika communities, and that the Pasifika Education Plans worked in focusing the Ministry of Education and consequently the education sector on Pasifika students, parents, families and communities’ education expectations and aspirations. Keys to successful Pasifika education plan formulation included engaging Pasifika students, parents, families and communities in education discourses; improving the education workforce’s responses to Pasifika peoples; placing Pasifika learners at the centre of pedagogy and epistemology; faster scaling up of what worked in raising participation, engagement and achievement; and, having more choice for Pasifika communities to realise their education potential and exercise their voice at all levels of education governance and decision making. It identifies the successful coordinating factor to be the growing of champions and leaders within the Ministry of Education, Pasifika communities and in the education sector to lead and sustain change through ownership, responsibility, accountability and monitoring for Pasifika success.

Current government policy aims to redress the persistent under-participation of Pasifika children in early childhood education by improving the standard and availability of services delivered through Pasifika early childhood initiatives. This research explores the rationale that underpinned the choices of sixteen New Zealand-born Samoan parents in Christchurch by using the qualitative method of in-depth interviews, structured around a questionnaire. Three primary themes emerged from the primary data: Pasifika early childcare provisions; identity issues; and the effect of generational changes in parenting styles. As first and second generation New Zealand-born Samoans, participants' preference vis-ā-vis the types of early childhood initiatives they accessed, reflected trans-generation differences between the original migrants and their offspring. Moreover, some participants and many of their children are of multi-ethnic heritage, exemplifying the changing face of Pasifika people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Participants were divided into three groups. Findings indicate that Group A parents, who had the highest levels of social, cultural and economic capital, made informed decisions to access Pasifika Education and Childcare Centres in order to ensure their children were acculturated in Samoan language and culture. While there were multiple reasons why Group B parents withdrew their children from Pasifika services they were generally ambivalent about the effectiveness of Pasifika provisions in meeting the needs of their children. Group C parents did not access Pasifika preschool education; barriers to participation included their personal perceptions of alienation from the traditional Samoan community. Findings suggest that government policy formulation processes exclude the voices of stakeholders who demographers predict will comprise an increasingly large percentage of the population of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Pasifika parity in accessing early childhood education is contingent upon service provision that is conducive to meeting the needs of all Pasifika parents, including those who are marginalized by mainstream society and Pasifika communities.

This study is a conceptual analysis of specific terms and constructs that have become entrenched within education policy and practice in New Zealand within the 21st century – namely diversity , and Pasifika education. It is uncommon for users of these terms (educators, policy makers and researchers) to make their understandings and use of such terms explicit. In the absence of close and careful critique, limited and partial understandings of groups of learners constructed as diverse and different escape interrogation. The overall risks of this lack of conceptual clarity are: simplification and even misapprehensions of key dimensions of groups such as Pasifika learners and their communities. This results in unarticulated assumptions having undue influence over educators’, policymakers’ and researchers’ perspectives and their subsequent decision-making. The philosophical research questions of this study are addressed through a deconstructivist research framework that draws on the theorisations of J.R. Martin; M. Foucault’s theorisations relating to the historical analysis of ideas; and discourse theorising of a primarily post-structuralist nature. Six analyses were developed in order to address the research questions. Three focused on the level of national policies, macro-level influences, and post-colonial indigenous visioning. Three analyses are based on a selection of narrative accounts of Samoan women across time and space, examining education as a process of change, and its effects on personal identity and culture. The study critically reflects on the underlying values and belief systems of both policy and practice. It identifies and examines the tension between the state’s priorities for the provision of education for Pasifika peoples on the one hand, and Pasifika peoples’ motivations for pursuing and participating in education on the other. This is done in an effort to challenge complacency, provide alternative perspectives, deepen insights and strengthen understandings amongst those actively engaged as educators, policy makers and researchers in the education and development of Pasifika peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Maori and Pacific Island youth are the 'it kids' of Aotearoa New Zealand television today, as the exceptional success of the television series bro'Town attests. Corporate sponsors clamour to associate their brands with the hit programme, from international heavyweights including Coke and Vodafone to local players such as G-Force. Likewise, celebrities from at home and abroad proclaim their support for bro'Town in guest appearances on the show. But, what is at stake when the visibility of Polynesian youth in the media is so inextricably intertwined with the commercial imperatives of major corporations and pop-culture celebrities? This paper attends to an absence of critical response regarding the role of commercial influences in the representation of Polynesian youth identity in bro'Town. In striving to be popular, contemporary television in Aotearoa New Zealand often addresses the preconceptions of its target audience. The commodification of Polynesian youth identity in bro'Town, therefore, may be interpreted as a marketing strategy to tap into a popular ideological shift towards multiculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand without disrupting the dominant ideology of white, middle-class masculinity from which capitalism derives. Although bro'Town offers specific challenges to popular stereotypes of Polynesian youth culture, the discursive construction of Maori and Pacific youth identities in the show is still circumscribed by a consumerist ethos that demands adherence to Western capitalist culture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Bro'Town operates in complicity with pre-existing binaries between masculinity/femininity and heterosexual/homosexual and thus implicitly reinscribes the status quo for youth in Aotearoa New Zealand today. Moreover, bro'Town's multicultural ethic is largely contrary because the series fails to contest popular stereotypes about other ethnic minorities. In Brand New Zealanders, it is argued that the corporate co-option of Polynesian youth culture in bro'Town ultimately does less to pry open new discursive spaces for the development of youth identity than to operate as a vehicle for the deliberate shrinking of consumer choice.

The purpose of this study was twofold: to find out how teachers of English as an Additional Language (EAL) conceived curriculum, teaching and learning and to examine how professional learning and development (PLD) might impact on changes in the teachers’ thinking and approaches. The research was spurred by my own involvement in the revision of the national New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and interest in the contested nature of curriculum related to English language learning. EAL teachers face challenges addressing the cross-Learning Area positioning of EAL and, at the same time, are afforded significant autonomy. PLD is needed to support teachers to make curriculum decisions that support English language learners’ (ELLs) to develop competency in English language with urgency. This is because ELLs need to manage the English language demands as they engage in the complex learning that is articulated in the NZC, along with their peers. I adopted an action research methodology to explore both how EAL teachers conceived curriculum and how PLD about EAL teaching and learning might impact on shifts in teachers’ understanding. I was a practitioner-researcher as I carried out PLD for two teachers over a period of six months. Those teacher-participants were teachers of EAL from different secondary schools with different professional contexts. Teaching-as-inquiry was the predominant approach of the PLD. This approach was consistent with my action research. The PLD comprised of a range of interruptions to teachers’ everyday work that assisted them to explore their own practice. The research drew on records of these interruptions to provide evidence of changes in teacher-participants’ thinking. The recorded conversations were captured through semi-structured interviews, video-stimulated recall and ‘learning conversations’. This qualitative data was analysed in one cycle which explored teachers’ thinking and actions about EAL curriculum. A second cycle focused my recorded reflections about my practice and on the impact of particular forms of PLD facilitation on shifts in the teachers’ thinking and actions. I created a review of literature for each cycle. This recursive process allowed me to reflect on my role as a PLD facilitator in action. Several themes emerged as the cycles were drawn together to examine how PLD impacted on shifts in teachers’ understanding of curriculum for EAL. One theme that emerged was the value of a culture of inquiry, where my action research was linked with the participants’ teaching-as-inquiry cycles. Another theme related to how PLD could influence teachers’ reconceptualising of curriculum for teaching multilingual English language learners. A third theme was how my PLD facilitation could impact on effective teaching and learning for Pasifika learners. Findings can be drawn from my study for both teacher practice and for PLD facilitation. This research adds to New Zealand research about teaching ELLs, and Pasifika students in particular. It shows how giving attention to both students’ home language strengths and academic English language learning needs can change the way teachers see pathways and work towards improved outcomes for students. The value of inquiry for teachers was confirmed in this action research, as a useful approach for bring about change in teachers’ thinking and approaches to teaching. The PLD interruption process, which included analysis of rich information about students, challenging conversations and the maintenance of respectful relationships was confirmed as an effective combination for engaging teachers in shifting their foci. Self-reflections on my PLD facilitation role, using an inquiry approach, assessed through adult learning principles, provided a useful stocktake which I would recommend for other PLD facilitators.

Pasifika people are a youthful population group. It is important therefore that Pasifika youth have opportunities to live fulfilling and satisfying lives where they can achieve their dreams, support themselves and their families and make valuable contributions to their local communities, their country and global communities now and in the future. Government and local city councils have become more proactive in developing strategies that will assist young people to be part of an inclusive economy. One of the key areas identified, is the transitioning of low achieving and disengaged school leavers into further education, skills training or employment. Hence the government's and the councils' shared goals of implementing the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs in 2007, which is to ensure that all youth between 15-19 years of age are in employment, education, training or other activities that lead to their long-term economic independence and wellbeing (Ministry of Youth Development, 2004). Transition courses provide bridging alternatives for youth transitioning from school to employment. They are designed to provide extra help for students who leave school with low or no qualifications. In some cases youth find themselves out of favour with mainstream education and have been forced to end secondary schooling prematurely. Transition learning gives youth a second chance at education by improving their employment marketability. This research highlights the rich stories of Samoan male youths' transitional journeys. The study discusses the critical factors that have contributed either positively or negatively in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace. Eight Samoan male participants were involved in the study ranging from 18-21 years of age. This research topic has evolved from the researcher's involvement in working with South Auckland Pasifika youth for over four years. Some of these youth have been traumatised by their school experiences and have had to face some enormous barriers when transitioning from school into the work place or further tertiary education. After selecting the topic, research frameworks that would be most appropriate for the research were explored. The researcher shares similar cultural and personal experiences to the participants. The framework for the study is therefore aligned to the values of the researcher. Accordingly, the multi-case study approach has been adopted; as such an approach has the potential to reveal what participants feel is significant. The interpretive paradigm underpins this research. The technique for gathering data was through semiformal in-depth interviewing. During the interviews, the participants had the opportunity to discuss the effects that the transitional courses had on them as learners and as Samoan youth. This method of research is culturally appropriate, as it allowed the depth of voices of these young Samoan people to be heard. The themes that have emerged from the findings reflect the broad categories of literature and research findings in the field of transition. The findings also provide new and insightful information about transitional experiences of Pasifika male youth. The research findings from this study focus on key aspects of programme implementation including; the teacher/student relationship, mentoring, student resiliency and the role of the government in youth transition. The research also evaluates the extent to which the transition course curriculum content supports student knowledge and skills in their current work situation. All participants in the study were generally positive about the courses they attended. They discussed the positives in terms of good tutoring, high degree of team cohesion and relevant meaningful learning experiences. The participants cited the negatives as poor teaching, and the low level of some of the literacy and numeracy activities they were expected to complete. Overall they were far more positive about their transitional learning than they were with learning at secondary school. Most felt prepared for work. The study proposes further research in the area of youth transition. Findings from this study will be disseminated to the appropriate government policy makers, city councils, youth services and tertiary providers through presentations at youth development conferences.

Pasifika people are a youthful population group. It is important therefore that Pasifika youth have opportunities to live fulfilling and satisfying lives where they can achieve their dreams, support themselves and their families and make valuable contributions to their local communities, their country and global communities now and in the future. Government and local city councils have become more proactive in developing strategies that will assist young people to be part of an inclusive economy. One of the key areas identified, is the transitioning of low achieving and disengaged school leavers into further education, skills training or employment. Hence the government's and the councils' shared goals of implementing the Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs in 2007, which is to ensure that all youth between 15-19 years of age are in employment, education, training or other activities that lead to their long-term economic independence and wellbeing (Ministry of Youth Development, 2004). Transition courses provide bridging alternatives for youth transitioning from school to employment. They are designed to provide extra help for students who leave school with low or no qualifications. In some cases youth find themselves out of favour with mainstream education and have been forced to end secondary schooling prematurely. Transition learning gives youth a second chance at education by improving their employment marketability. This research highlights the rich stories of Samoan male youths' transitional journeys. The study discusses the critical factors that have contributed either positively or negatively in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace. Eight Samoan male participants were involved in the study ranging from 18-21 years of age. This research topic has evolved from the researcher's involvement in working with South Auckland Pasifika youth for over four years. Some of these youth have been traumatised by their school experiences and have had to face some enormous barriers when transitioning from school into the work place or further tertiary education. After selecting the topic, research frameworks that would be most appropriate for the research were explored. The researcher shares similar cultural and personal experiences to the participants. The framework for the study is therefore aligned to the values of the researcher. Accordingly, the multi-case study approach has been adopted; as such an approach has the potential to reveal what participants feel is significant. The interpretive paradigm underpins this research. The technique for gathering data was through semiformal in-depth interviewing. During the interviews, the participants had the opportunity to discuss the effects that the transitional courses had on them as learners and as Samoan youth. This method of research is culturally appropriate, as it allowed the depth of voices of these young Samoan people to be heard. The themes that have emerged from the findings reflect the broad categories of literature and research findings in the field of transition. The findings also provide new and insightful information about transitional experiences of Pasifika male youth. The research findings from this study focus on key aspects of programme implementation including; the teacher/student relationship, mentoring, student resiliency and the role of the government in youth transition. The research also evaluates the extent to which the transition course curriculum content supports student knowledge and skills in their current work situation. All participants in the study were generally positive about the courses they attended. They discussed the positives in terms of good tutoring, high degree of team cohesion and relevant meaningful learning experiences. The participants cited the negatives as poor teaching, and the low level of some of the literacy and numeracy activities they were expected to complete. Overall they were far more positive about their transitional learning than they were with learning at secondary school. Most felt prepared for work. The study proposes further research in the area of youth transition. Findings from this study will be disseminated to the appropriate government policy makers, city councils, youth services and tertiary providers through presentations at youth development conferences.