Education In Aotearoa Research Articles

Diverse complexities, complex diversities: Resisting ‘normal science’ in pedagogical and research methodologies. A perspective from Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Abstract This paper offers an overview of complexities of the contexts for education in Aotearoa, which include the need to recognise and include Māori (Indigenous) perspectives, but also to extend this inclusion to the context of increasing ethnic diversity. These complexities include the situation of worsening disparities between rich and poor which disproportionately position Māori and those from Pacific Island backgrounds in situations of poverty. It then offers a brief critique of government policies before providing some examples of models that resist ‘normal science’ categorisations. These include: the Māori values underpinning the effective teachers’ profile of the Kotahitanga project and of the Māori assessment model for early childhood education; the dispositions identified in a Samoan model for assessing young children’s learning; and the approach developed for assessing Māori children’s literacy and numeracy within schools where Māori language is the medium of instruction. These models all position learning within culturally relevant frames that are grounded in non-Western onto-epistemologies which include spiritual, cultural, and collective aspirations.

Creating spaces of empathy in the face of regimes of control

This article focuses on the context of early childhood education in Aotearoa (New Zealand). It argues that greater consideration be given to the recognition of the ongoing intergenerational trauma resulting from histories of colonisation, particularly with regard to early childhood care and education pedagogies. It critiques the introduction of the US programme, the ‘Incredible Years’, since the behaviourist stance of its strategies lack empathy, and contradict the philosophy of the relationally based New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.

Kei hea te Ora? The whereabouts of the health of children in the early childhood curriculum of Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract The policies and practices of early childhood teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand have been an ongoing site of political, economic, social and cultural contestation. Competing values and beliefs regarding experiences of both the child and the teacher have been central to the contesting. Helen May (2001, 2009) tracks these tensions through the waxing and waning of particular landscapes or paradigms, each of which can be seen to have contributed to the growth of the early childhood sector, its purpose, operations, manifestations, and its arguably tenuous cohesion as an educational sector. This paper provides a brief overview of the various paradigms, their purposes, and their spheres of influence (recognising that other papers in this special issue will contribute to a very detailed picture of early childhood education in Aotearoa) before analysing the discourses of child health in relation to the early childhood curriculum. Health is woven into the strands and principles of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996). Yet, this paper questions whether teachers and student teachers are attuned to what it means to have health as a key part of the curriculum, and explores whether health is a marginal consideration in the curriculum. The paper engages Foucault’s work, exploring tensions between pedagogical and medical disciplines in relation to the professionalisation of early childhood teaching. The idea of holism is then discussed as an approach to early childhood education curriculum discussions with reference to the participatory approaches to the development of Te Whāriki.

Odd Alliances: Working Theories on ‘Unintended Consequences’ of Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa, New Zealand

WHAT HAPPENS TO CHILDREN'S free play when learning outcomes are required? What happens when safety is foregrounded over exploration? When does accountability become surveillance? When does visualising children as an investment opportunity make children ‘too precious’? Based on the analysis of oral history interviews with historic leaders of Aotearoa, New Zealand's early childhood sector, this paper examines some unintended consequences of the sector's professionalisation. It draws on contemporary, feminist and classical sociological theory (Bunkle, 1995; Foucault, 1970/2001; Merton, 1934; Moss, 2010) to support a discursive model that focuses on how ‘odd’ alliances can push the sector in unanticipated directions.

The shaping of midwifery education in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The shaping of midwifery education in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Honouring Māori Subjectivities within Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa

For the past decade educators working within early childhood services in Aotearoa have been challenged to deliver a curriculum that requires inclusive representation of Māori, the indigenous people, their language and culture. This article reflects on some responses to the challenge of this ‘bicultural’ curriculum, drawing upon research which has sought to identify some pathways which are enabling and honouring of this indigenous representation.

Change, Complexity, and Challenge in Social Work Education in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Social work education in New Zealand is undergoing considerable change as new registration and education policies take effect. Within a complex environment, the major force is the implementation of registration since the passing of legislation in 2003. Parallel to this is considerable change in tertiary education policy. Both the Social Workers Registration Act (2003) and the New Zealand Tertiary Education Strategy (2002) will have considerable impact on social work education. The present article explores the challenges of this environment and briefly considers strategies to ensure that the perspectives of key stakeholders are sought in the development of responses to this complex situation. Students, practitioners, social work educators and researchers, agencies, and the communities we ultimately serve all have a stake in what we do in schools of social work, but have different roles. A review of the system and nature of social work education may be timely.

An exploration of the experiences of cultural safety educators in New Zealand: an action research approach.

This research is a study of the experiences of four cultural safety educators in nursing education in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Action research methods assisted the participants to implement change in their practice and gain positive personal involvement in the study. Reflective diaries provided the major tool in this process as participants were able to achieve at least one action research cycle by identifying issues, planning action, observing the action, and reflecting. The findings of the research revealed that the participants not only coped with everyday stressors of teaching but were also required to formulate knowledge for cultural safety. For the Maori participants, their stress was confounded with recruiting and retaining Maori students and macro issues such as commitment to their iwi (tribe). Lack of support to teach cultural safety was identified to be a key theme for all participants. An analysis of this theme revealed that many issues were organizational in nature and out of their control. Action research provided a change strategy for participants to have a sense of control of issues within their practice. Recommendations include the following: support for cultural safety educators to have a dialogue on a regular basis, the introduction of nurse educator programmes, paid leave provisions for educators to conduct and publish research so that a body of knowledge can be developed, and that Maori cultural safety educators be recognised for their professional and cultural strengths so that they do not fall victim to burnout.

Ko e Ako ‘a e Kakai Pasifika, Pacific Islands Peoples’ Education in Aotearoa, New Zealand Towards the 21st Century

In December 1996, the Secretary for Education, Howard Fancy launched Ko e Ako 'a e Kakai Pasifika, the Ministry of Education’s plan for raising the quality of education for Pacific Islands peoples in New Zealand. The plan is a first step towards developing a long-term Pacific Islands education strategy. It has been 16 months since the plan was launched and it is encouraging to see the variety of initiatives being implemented to achieve its goals. This paper will discuss these initiatives more fully.

The Cultural Safety Debate in Nursing Education in Aotearoa

The recent debate about cultural safety highlights the distance between those who seek to retain the practices and values of a colonial past, and those who want to proceed to a post-colonial future. In the present case, the latter group have attempted to alter the education of some health professionals, nurses, by offering a critical understanding of colonial structures and their effects, and by providing an alternative that centres on ethnic sensitivity. In most respects, it has been a modest innovation in nursing education in terms of meeting the goal of tino rangatiratanga in health delivery services for iwi. But the opposition that began in 1992 in Metro Magazine and which reached something of a crescendo from mid-1993 illustrates the reluctance of important sectors of the community to even consider such modest changes an improvement. Indeed, the reverse is the case. Cultural safety has become defined as a politically inspired campaign of subversion which represents the agenda of extremism....

Education Policy Initiatives for Girls and Women: Are We Included in the Decent Society?

Four years ago when I began as an Assistant Lecturer teaching a paper called Women and Education at Massey University, the concerns of an emerging “sociology of women’s education in Aotearoa” seemed more immediate and clearer than they do now. Now, as we realise the full magnitude of Labour’s betrayal which National has exacerbated in their quest for the “decent society”, the project for the sociology of women’s education seems more urgent, confused and contradictory than ever. Many of the earlier struggles have been overcome, while many continue. Now there is a need to understand and challenge current educational policy initiatives and their implications for girls and women, within the context of the massive challenges to the hegemony of social democratic liberalism. These challenges have meant that the disjunctions between theory, policy and practices have widened rather than contracted...

The cost of quality

This paper deals with the future directions of early childhood education in New Zealand, and what the Early Childhood Education Project has done to enhance the structures and funding required to support high quality education. The objectives of this project are to provide a rigorous and coherent review of the current situation and access of early education in Aotearoa, New Zealand; to contribute towards a comprehensive policy for Maori education; and to recognize the diversity of organizations, cultures, and communities. The report provides background information on the development of the Early Childhood Education Project since April 1995, and introduces the organizations represented on the project team. The key issues that are discussed include managing the funding and administration of services, meeting the costs of provision on the present level of funding, providing access to all sectors of the community, and obtaining necessary support from government agencies. (MOK) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * *********************************************************************** THE COST OF QUALITY Linda Mitchell, senior research officer, NZEI Te Riu Roa and member of the early childhood education project team Address to the national seminar "Assessing and improving quality in early childhood centres" 16-17 May 1996 Ko Ranginui kei runga Ko Papatuanuku kei raro Tena korua E nga mana E nga iwi E nga hau e wha Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educafronal Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 0 This document has been reproduced as waived from the person or organization Onginating d. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction Quality Points of view or opmiOns staled in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy This national seminar on assessing and improving quality in early childhood centres comes at a good time. In the last seven years early childhood education has had more than its fair share of change. Educational administration, funding arrangements, regulatory and legislative requirements have been radically altered. In those same years the importance of high quality education and how to enhance quality has been given considerable thought by early childhood organisations. The thinking about quality did not go hand in hand with the funding and support needed to achieve the quality objectives. Indeed in 1991, funding for under-two-year olds was reduced by 38 percent, and other hourly funding rates remained static, while costs increased. Until the 1995 budget, new government funding largely went into increasing places but not into enhancing the quality of centres. This retrenchment by the state has had costs for early childhood education. There appears to be an erosion of high quality, publicly funded early childhood education. There are some shameful cases of early childhood centres that have failed badly to reach important licensing standards as Sharon Ellis evidenced this morning. The Education Review Office reviews of these centres indicate that the well-being of children is not safeguarded. I'm not talking about minor matters that can be easily fixed, but significant problems where health, safety, staffing and programme requirements were not fulfilled. So, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you today about the work being done by the early childhood education project on the future directions of early childhood education. The project aims to pinpoint the structures and funding required to support high quality early childhood education. A feature of early childhood education policy development since 1990 has been the carrying out of "top down" reviews with very little appropriate consultation with those in the field. Most of us here remember the 1991 and 1993 reviews of funding that were carried out by officials behind closed doors. The collaborative work, the Lopdell