Zealand Students Research Articles

Interaktionsprozesse in einem virtuellen Austauschprojekt – duoethnografische Reflexionen der begleitenden Lehrpersonen

In the discussion of international student mobility, virtual exchange(s) (VE) become increasingly important. Similar to on-site exchanges, VEs aim to provide students with an international experience and transcend geographical, social, and cultural boundaries. While students’ experiences with VEs have been presented repeatedly, this paper focuses on an aspect that features less prominently in the literature: the perceptions of a VE from the perspective of the facilitating team. We report on our experiences, interactions and reflections as supporting teacher educators in a VE project between German and New Zealand pre-service English teachers and New Zealand students of German. We employ the collaborative research approach of duoethnography to critically reflect on our experiences and practices with the VE as well as to portray our reflections on duoethnography as our chosen research approach. Our findings are based on continuous individual and collaborative written reflections throughout the project.

Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure of the Aggressive Student Culture Scale Administered to the Age 8 Growing Up in NZ Cohort

Background The Aggressive Student Culture Scale (ASCS) is a survey designed to measure the extent to which New Zealand (NZ) students experience aggressive behaviours within the school environment. The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the ASCS in the multidisciplinary Growing Up in NZ longitudinal study. Methods We used data from 4938 children from the Growing Up in NZ study to examine the psychometric properties of ASCS for 8-year-old children. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, and measurement invariance was tested across sex, ethnicity, and deprivation levels. Results The ASCS tool comprises a single latent factor: aggressive student behaviour. The ASCS provides an adequate and satisfactory measure for student aggression experiences. Full measurement invariance was supported for child’s sex, but only configural invariance was confirmed across ethnicity and area-level deprivation. Males reported higher levels of aggressive experiences than females. Conclusions The one-factor model structure offers an excellent fit to our data with good internal consistency. Comparisons across sex are valid; however, direct comparisons across ethnicity and deprivation levels should be approached with caution. We recommend replication studies and encourage further research involving participants from different age groups to better understand the factor structure across diverse demographic variables.

Making sense of TIMSS 2019 New Zealand Year 9 Science study: Item analysis of students’ performance

Much of the focus of international comparative studies of students’ achievement has been on New Zealand students’ falling standards. Using the most recent findings from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and, in particular, Year 9 New Zealand students’ performance in specific items, this article suggests that there is much more we can learn from this large-scale assessment. For example, in what ways are students’ achievements changing over the years? How has our students’ higher order thinking in science changed? What have we done well and not so well? By highlighting the values of the TIMSS Science Study, it is hoped that teachers and schools will be more likely to consider and use the findings to plan curriculum and to design assessment.

Perspectives from the Oceania Region

AbstractThis study examines the 50‐year history of the Australian New Zealand Student Services Association, the key association in the region. Specific initiatives on how the association has evolved and pivoted over time to meet the needs of its members, the students the members support, and their institutions.

AI-Powered Personalized Mobile Education for New Zealand Students

This research endeavors to develop and assess a customized mobile education system for students in New Zealand, employing the principles of artificial intelligence (AI) and user-centered design (UCD). The objective is to overcome the limited personalization observed in current mobile education solutions by offering tailored learning content and recommendations based on individual preferences, thereby accommodating the diverse requirements of students. A mixed-methods approach will be utilized, encompassing user research, persona development, user journey mapping, design, development, and evaluation. Participants, including New Zealand students, parents, and teachers, will actively engage in multiple research phases to ensure the effective implementation of user-centered design principles. By showcasing the potential of AI-driven personalization in enhancing the learning experience for students, this study contributes to the growing utilization of AI algorithms and systems within the educational context.

AI-Powered Personalized Mobile Education for New Zealand Students

This research aims to develop and evaluate a personalized mobile education system for New Zealand students, utilizing AI and UCD principles. The system will address the limited personalization in existing mobile education solutions, by providing tailored learning content and recommendations based on individual preferences, catering to the diverse needs of students. The study will employ a mixed-methods approach, including user research, persona development, user journey mapping, design, development, and evaluation. Participants, including New Zealand students, parents, and teachers, will be involved in several phases of research to ensure that user-centered design principles are effectively implemented. By demonstrating the potential of AI-powered personalization to improve the learning experience for students, this study contributes to the increasing use of AI algorithms and systems in education.

An examination of teachers’ beliefs about critical thinking in New Zealand high schools

With new directives from the New Zealand government (2022) to increase the use of critical thinking (CT) within curriculum, this study set out to find out New Zealand high school teachers current beliefs about the teaching and learning of critical thinking (CT), in what ways these beliefs aligned or misaligned with international high school teachers beliefs about CT and if there are any beliefs that are surprising or concerning. The study used a mixed methods designs with an anonymous online Qualtrics questionnaire posted on teachers curriculum webpages that contained both quantitative and qualitative questions. The quantitative results were analysed in Qualtrics. 353 teachers completed the entire survey, with 141 males and 212 females. The results of the quantitative and qualitative Qualtrics questionnaire demonstrated that most teachers agreed critical thinking (CT) should be taught within curriculum; that the biggest barriers to the teaching and learning of critical thinking (CT) were the lack of training in CT and time. The teachers recognised that to achieve the highest grades in the national current assessments in New Zealand students required CT. The teachers held low expectations of students’ abilities to use dialogue online to incorporate CT and believed students were most likely to use CT in whole class discussions, suggesting a teacher-led approach was preferable. The teachers held diverse views of the relevance of the teachers and students cultural background to CT. The implication of this study is that there needs to be much greater emphasis on CT within teacher education programmes and professional development with teachers, with a focus on culturally diverse definitions of CT, addressing teacher beliefs about the importance of cultural backgrounds of both teachers and students, and instruction in student-led discussions to foster CT.

Omani international students' social connection and friendship at a New Zealand university

This is a qualitative study that explored the experiences of friendship formation of Omani international students at a university in New Zealand. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from 12 Omani participants and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Utilising Bochner et al.’s (1977) Functional Model, the study found that Omani students were generally satisfied with how they were developing friendships with co-national and international students but revealed dissatisfaction concerning forming friendships with New Zealand students. The perceptions of Omani students revealed six factors that influenced their formation of intercultural friendships: (1) willingness to establish intercultural friendships, (2) frequent communication and social interaction, (3) English language proficiency, (4) capability to engage with host nationals, (5) cultural differences, and (6) personality traits. The data suggest that host-national contact is lacking and that international students prefer to contact co-national and multinational friends, which indicates that highly supportive co-national and international social ties significantly predominate. Higher-education providers in New Zealand and receiving countries addressing one cohort of international students will find these findings particularly useful.

Understanding Aotearoa New Zealand University Students Intentions to Seek Help If Experiencing Mental Distress: A Comparison of Naturalistic and Interventional Findings.

University students globally are consistently identified as a vulnerable group for mental distress and suicide. Despite this, students report low engagement in help-seeking behaviours. This series of studies aimed to assess barriers to help-seeking for students and the impact of an intervention that sought to increase support-seeking intentions. In Study 1, 373 undergraduate psychology students completed items related to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, stigma, and help-seeking intentions. In Study 2, 133 undergraduate psychology students were randomly allocated into one of three intervention groups (control, infographic, video) and completed measures as used in Study 1. Despite experiencing clinically relevant symptoms and recent suicidal ideation, students in Study 1 tended to report low intentionality to seek help, citing perceptions that their distress was not serious enough or a desire to handle their issues independently. In Study 2, an infographic about different support services increased student's intentions to access support services and reduced their perception that their issues were not serious enough. Overall, Aotearoa New Zealand students endorsed similar barriers to help-seeking as students in other countries. Importantly, we demonstrated that a simple infographic intervention reduced perceptions regarding these common barriers and may increase students' knowledge about when to seek help.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education students in New Zealand

The coronavirus pandemic and associated move to online learning for students in higher education has been disruptive and challenging. We report on the New Zealand arm of an international survey of higher education students (n = 147). Using quantitative and qualitative data from the survey, we find that students coped reasonably well with the disruption to their studies and were generally satisfied with how their lecturers and institutions responded to unanticipated lockdowns. In comparison with the global sample, New Zealand students demonstrated a higher level of satisfaction. New Zealand students reported the highest satisfaction with recorded video lectures, whereas the global sample preferred real-time teaching. Many New Zealand students felt that their studies were negatively affected, and vulnerable groups such as students with low financial resources were the most severely affected. Moreover, students reported a range of negative emotions during lockdown that suggest mental health impacts may be a concern. Our results indicate that clear communication from authorities, reducing the uncertainty for students, and ensuring that vulnerable groups are appropriately supported, may be the best avenues to reduce negative impacts on students during future significant disruptions to study, whether pandemic-related or otherwise.

New Zealand students’ test-taking motivation: an experimental study examining the effects of stakes

ABSTRACT Students’ test-taking motivation confounds test performance. This study examines students’ conceptions of tests and test-taking motivation when different test consequences are at play. In a between-subjects experimental design, a sample of 479 New Zealand senior secondary school students were randomly assigned to one of the three vignette consequence conditions (i.e. none, country or self). Students self-reported conceptions of tests and test-taking motivation which were analysed with confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling and latent mean analyses across test-consequence conditions. Students’ general belief about tests was a positive indicator of their perceived effort expenditure (β = .25). Both effort and anxiety increased significantly as consequence increased by medium-to-large effect size (ranges between 0.42 and 1.30). Effort and motivation were notably lower when the country was at stake versus the self at stake condition, raising doubts about the validity of New Zealand rankings in international large-scale assessments.

A General Math Anxiety Measure

Math anxiety is a psychological burden that can hinder individuals across their lifetimes. However, the current literature lacks a valid measure of math anxiety that can be used across instructional modalities and among non-student populations. As such, it is difficult to assess math anxiety in virtual learning environments, track math anxiety across lifetimes, or determine the utility of math anxiety inoculations for non-student populations. This study presents a validity portfolio for a generalized math anxiety measure that can be used across teaching modalities, across lifetimes, and is simple enough to be used cross-culturally. The measure yielded evidence of validity when used in all tested samples: the United States (student and non-student samples), New Zealand (student and non-student samples), Kyrgyzstan (non-student sample), Turkey (non-student sample), Russia (non-student sample), and Thailand (non-student sample). The data support the use of the new math anxiety measure free of context.

Social work student hardship

INTRODUCTION: Student hardship in social work has become the subject of research in recent years. Social work students face particular challenges because of the financial, social and emotional demands of long, unpaid, clinical placements. APPROACH: This article reports on a literature review conducted prior to a mixed-methods study commenced in 2019. This review informed the development of a survey of social work students and recent graduates and a set of qualitative interviews that will be reported elsewhere. A further review was conducted in July 2021 to inform the analysis. FINDINGS: A recurring theme throughout much of the reviewed social work literature examined for this project has been the intensity of struggle that students face in their study. Across the reviewed literature, students, educators, and researchers suggest interventions to reduce hardship. Gaps remain in our understanding of the intersectional factors of ethnicity, gender and disability and, in particular, the impact on Aotearoa New Zealand students.

A cross-sectional study of the relationship between recreational sporting activity and calcaneal bone density in adolescents and young adults

ABSTRACT Objective Childhood and adolescence are critical periods of bone development. Sporting activity is thought to impact peak bone mass acquisition, but most studies have used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to assess bone health and reported associations between bone mass and elite sporting activity. The objective of this study was instead to assess the relationship between recreational sporting activity (RSA) and another bone assessment, calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (cQUS), in adolescents and young adults. Methods We related recreational sporting activity, assessed through a lifestyle questionnaire, to heel ultrasound bone parameters in a cohort of New Zealand students aged 16–35 years. Complete datasets with data on all relevant confounders (body mass index (BMI), pubertal timing, smoking status, and alcohol consumption) were available for 452 participants. cQUS was performed using a Lunar Achilles EX II machine to obtain bone parameters, broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA), and speed of sound (SOS); stiffness index (SI) was derived from these measures. All descriptive statistics and statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS Statistics for Macintosh, Version 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results are presented as p-values and 95% CI. Results Reported lifetime sport participation declined after an individual’s mid-teens. Bone cQUS parameters (SI and BUA and T-score) were all positively associated with BMI, and current physical activity (SI, SOS, BUA, T-score, and Z-score) with SI and SOS measures most strongly associated with current high impact and past recreational sporting activity (all p < 0.05). Conclusion Calcaneal heel ultrasound bone parameters were associated with physical activity, with SI and SOS rather than BUA more strongly related to current and past recreational sporting activity in young New Zealand adults.

Global health classroom: mixed methods evaluation of an interinstitutional model for reciprocal global health learning among Samoan and New Zealand medical students

BackgroundGlobal health education partnerships should be collaborative and reciprocal to ensure mutual benefit. Utilisation of digital technologies can overcome geographic boundaries and facilitate collaborative global health learning.Global Health Classroom (GHCR) is a collaborative global health learning model involving medical students from different countries learning about each other’s health systems, cultures, and determinants of health via videoconference. Principles of reciprocity and interinstitutional partnership informed the development of the GHCR. This study explores learning outcomes and experiences in the GHCR between students from New Zealand and Samoa.MethodsThis study used a mixed methods approach employing post-GHCR questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews to explore self-reported learning and experiences among medical students in the GHCR. The GHCR collaboration studied was between the medical schools at the University of Otago, New Zealand and the National University of Samoa, Samoa.ResultsQuestionnaire response rate was 85% (74/87). Nineteen interviews were conducted among New Zealand and Samoan students. Students reported acquiring the intended learning outcomes relating to patient care, health systems, culture, and determinants of health with regards to their partner country. Interview data was indicative of attitudinal changes in relation to cultural humility and curiosity. Some reported a vision for progress regarding their own health system. Students in the GHCR reported that learning with their international peers in the virtual classroom made learning about global health more real and tangible. The benefits to students from both countries indicated reciprocity.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates GHCR to be a promising model for collaborative and reciprocal global health learning using a student-led format and employing digital technology to create a virtual classroom. The self-reported learning outcomes align favourably with those recommended in the literature. In view of our positive findings, we present GHCR as an adaptable model for equitable, collaborative global health learning between students in internationally partnered institutions.

Perceptions of participants on Online Learning in the Outbreak of COVID-19: Case Study

Corona pandemic wreaked havoc across the world, perilously hitting the education system. This comparative case study with tertiary students reveals their perceptions of on-line learning during the outbreak of the COVID-19. Tertiary institutes closed their doors, shifting students and staff to the on-line process without advanced notice or prior training. In-depth individual interviews were conducted via video conferencing, and thematic analysis was done using NVivo-12 software. However, it was explored 87% of Sri Lankan students struggled in the new learning space while it is 34% in New Zealand; Only 10% New Zealand students believed that online learning provided them with the ability to self-reliant learning in their own time and not be restricted by a classroom lesson, which they could miss. However, 5% Sri Lankan students had perception that online learning is benefited for self-reliant learn at the site may be highly adopted tuition culture of the secondary education, but they have struggled to overcome challenges in new learning space. This gap is seen across social norms and cultural values. It was revealed that in both countries, students faced cybersecurity and bullying and gender discrimination issues. It was also revealed that both countries have similar issues in on-line learning and teaching, such as lack of reliable internet access and technology issues. It is recommended that the teachers should be more competent since our learners are native digital speakers, while teachers are digital immigrants.

Birds of a feather end up flocking together when studying abroad. Can a university bridge the cultural differences that challenge friendships between Pacific Island students and New Zealand students?

Intercultural friendship formation is a key challenge for international students studying abroad. In an increasingly globalised world, where people regularly engage with others from different cultures, meaningful intercultural friendships are important. However, culture can pose a considerable challenge that hinders the formation of friendships between people of different cultures. This paper explores challenges and insights into developing intercultural friendships between international Pacific Island students studying in Aotearoa New Zealand and domestic New Zealand Palagi11Palagi is a term referring to people of European descent. It is a Samoan term, but it has been adopted by other Pacific Islands. students. Similar to other studies, the findings in this study highlight the key challenges connected to cultural differences. These findings are surprising as New Zealand Palagi students would have gone to primary and secondary schools with Pacific Island students and should have had some contact and interactions with them and be more accustomed to cultural differences. Unique to this study is that these international Pacific Island students recognised that universities are in a prime position to champion and promote systemic interventions to assist both international and domestic students to engage with each other in order to promote cultural understanding. Overcoming intercultural friendship development challenges involves creating meaningful intercultural spaces and campus ‘friendship’ events to increase intercultural interactions, raise domestic students’ cross-cultural awareness, and encourage reciprocal intercultural learning. Such activities are likely to enhance the overall well-being of all students and improve the internationalisation of universities with increasingly diverse student cohorts.

Developing literacy or focusing on interaction: New Zealand students’ strategic efforts related to Chinese language learning during study abroad in China

This paper reports on an inquiry that interpreted a group of New Zealand students’ strategic efforts related to Chinese language learning during study abroad in China through the lens of identity. In this study, we encouraged 15 participants to write reflective journals and conducted group interviews and online communication to examine their strategic efforts to learn Chinese. The analysis revealed that the participants’ identity imaginations were closely associated with their strategic learning efforts across different settings, including literacy-oriented strategic efforts in the classroom and interaction-oriented strategic efforts outside the classroom. The findings also suggest that the participants made strategic efforts to seek opportunities and resources for practicing spoken Chinese outside the classroom because they were positioned in undesirable ways by instructors and course content in the classroom. These findings offer insights into the crucial role of learner identity in mediating language learners’ strategic efforts during study abroad in China. They imply that formal learning in the classroom needs to be synergized by informal learning outside the classroom, and educational stakeholders should revise the traditional design of study abroad programs to better support international students’ language learning efforts.

Cultural adaptation challenges and strategies during study abroad: New Zealand students in China

ABSTRACT The rising popularity of the Chinese language as a subject for study has motivated research on international students’ cultural adaptation and language learning during periods of study abroad in China. This inquiry examined the challenges that a group of New Zealand students encountered and the strategic responses they adopted in relation to cultural adaptation in China. In the inquiry, we encouraged 15 participants to write reflective journals and conducted group interviews to explore their experiences. The analysis revealed the variety of challenges that the participants faced, including language-based, lifestyle, and academic challenges as well as sociocultural and psychological ones. In response to these challenges, the participants adopted diverse strategic efforts to achieve cognitive, affective, and skill development in facilitating their communication practices with local Chinese people. These findings suggest that language educators need to revise traditional pedagogical approaches so that new pedagogical activities can be developed to promote study abroad students’ communication competence, and counselling services should be provided to support their cultural adaptation and language learning.

Birth by caesarean section and educational achievement in adolescents.

Birth by caesarean section has been shown to alter the composition of the early infant gut microbiota and postulated to influence cognitive outcomes via the gut-brain axis. To determine whether birth by caesarean section is associated with secondary school educational achievement. Whole-population administrative data were used from anonymised individual level linkage of birth records to educational and health information from the New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Participants were 111843 children born between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1998 for whom mode of delivery information was available from International Classification of Diseases 9th edition codes in maternal records. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the main secondary school qualification undertaken by New Zealand students. Multivariable linear regression models were used to examine the association between mode of delivery and educational achievement. A family fixed effect analysis compared educational achievement outcomes in sibling pairs where one sibling was delivered by caesarean section and one delivered vaginally. After adjustment for potential confounders, there was no significant association between mode of delivery and achievement of university entrance (odds ratio=0.98, 95% CI: 0.94-1.02). NCEA percentile scores were lower in caesarean born infants (Estimate = -0.37, 95% CI: -0.69 to -0.06)). However, in the fixed effect sibling analysis caesarean section was no longer significantly associated with NCEA percentile scores. We find that caesarean section is not related to educational outcomes, suggesting that even if the infant gut microbiota is altered in caesarean section, it does not appear to have a measurable impact on adolescent academic achievement.