Uncertain Times for New Zealand Universities (with Special Reference to the University of Auckland)

The roles and identities of teacher educators are shaped by what an era of permacrisis, when complex and intersecting events, conditions and uncertainties are significantly impacting higher education as a whole, including teacher education. Drawing on interviews with teacher educators from Australian and New Zealand universities, this paper explores how academics made sense of their roles and identities during the moment of crisis and disruption represented by the COVID-19 pandemic. It reveals that these teacher educators affiliated with three metaphorical identities – the ‘intercultural educator’, the ‘civic educator’ and the ‘professional educator’ – that also informed their pedagogical practices. These identities provided a heuristic around which metaphors converged to highlight teacher educators’ assumptions, values and everyday conceptual systems. Knowing more about these gives insights into the roles and values of teachers more generally and could help to inform the current teacher workforce, future graduates and those supporting their career development.

Since the late 1940s, the Pacific islands have had a special place in teaching and research in New Zealand's university geography departments. This paper recalls some dimensions of a ‘golden age’ in the study of Pacific peoples by New Zealand geographers between 1945 and 1970. Attention is focused on the ‘Cumberland’ school of regional geography and some of the debates this generated in the 1960s. The paper concludes with a plea for the revitalisation of Pacific regional geography, especially in the light of the very different challenges that are confronting the islands in the 21st century.

This article is concerned with how learning in later life has been constructed and practised by the two most numerous ethnic groups in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Pākėhā (Europeans) and Māori (Indigenous people). It is argued that learning is heavily influenced by historic features of interaction between these two groups; Pākehā as the dominant cultural and economic group and Māori as subordinate. While contemporary perspectives are necessarily interpreted in the light of historical trends and events, fresh interpretations of what constitutes biculturalism in this country allow for more nuanced understanding of possibilities for and obstacles to older adult learning/education. Themes from lifelong learning are analysed with special reference to older people’s learning, the consequences of Māori sovereignty on pedagogy and trends identified for older adult education. Two linked case studies of Pākehā and Māori older adult education in a New Zealand university are described to illustrate complexities and tensions in provision in a bicultural context.

In future a portion of tertiary education funding in New Zealand will be progressively directed towards rewarding research performance. This will have implications for the management of departments and the reorientation of New Zealand universities. These implications are considered in this article, with special reference to the consequences for political science departments.

A pandemic breaks out and spreads to the geographies and regions of the entire world. Increased infections force governments to bring in lockdowns locking almost every activity. The restrictions are put on the movement of humans and goods. Supply lines are badly affected. The demands are not met due to disrupted supply chains at the beginning of such a breakout. And, consumer demand gets badly affected as we move through uncertain times while fighting and overcoming such unfortunate times. This paper examines the relevance of business resilience and management outlooks for ensuring sustainable business models coupled with community-oriented service models.

The 2020 pandemic led to the immediate lockdown of schools and universities worldwide with far-reaching implications for educators and learners. Individual stories of lockdown and isolation are documented using direct quotations from discussion forums, emails, live chats, and structured journal entries from the Blackboard learning management system. A ‘qualitative sense’ of a common narrative of turmoil and success within this ‘new [ab] normal’ is established. Educators’ contrasting accounts of uncertainty and hope are highlighted. The notion of anticipatory anxiety as a result of social lockdown restrictions is covered in terms of its impact on mental health and wellbeing, with special reference to the neuroscience that underpins this phenomenon. Strategies for the management of stress-related autonomic nervous system activation, as well as for building resilience and coping skills in classrooms, are highlighted, along with the need to address issues of cognitive dissonance and fatigue caused by increased online/blended teaching demands during uncertain times. The online format was found to be potentially impersonal and cold without the essential ‘human factor’. Despite technology in education there has to be human and social interaction, as well as support online. The most benefit was derived from live sessions and social interaction. Keywords: mental health, well-being, progressive education, psycho-social issues, coping strategies