New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work
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Rebooting Biculturalism in Education in Aotearoa-New Zealand
Get PDFA response to Christine Jenkin (2017). Early childhood education and biculturalism: Definitions and implications. New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work, 14(1), 8-20
Educational change: A view from the bottom up
Get PDFDespite the availability of an abundant amount of guiding literature, only about 30% of planned educational changes are successful. Clearly there is something essential missing from our understanding of how to successfully lead educational change. A review of the literature provides an awareness that success is far more likely if the leader pays as much attention to the needs of those who are bringing about the change as they do to the elements of the planned change strategy. Arguably, however, this still maintains a top-down perspective of the change process. Hence the departure point of this article is its presentation of a change process from the perspective of those explicitly affected—that is, a view from the ‘bottom up’. Specifically, this article presents and discusses both quantitative and qualitative data from research conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand involving primary school teachers who changed the class levels in which they taught. It seeks to provide a unique contribution to the development of successful educational change strategies by presenting the teachers’ views about the most effective leadership practices during times of change.
 
Managing Time for Heads of Music Departments: The Bipolarity of Compulsion and Desire
Get PDFNew Zealand secondary music teachers spend many hours each week in both preparing and training a variety of performance ensembles, often before school, during lunchtimes, after school, on weekends and during holidays. In many cases this can be regarded as unpaid labour, yet their efforts make a significant contribution to a school’s life: its atmosphere and spirit. In this paper we report on interviews with six music Heads of Departments and note the challenging nature of their work underpinned as it is by a what we describe as a structured antagonism and the bipolarity of compulsion and desire. The wider context is a world of increasing educational global spectacle as systems of teacher and school accountability, clustered together with associated targets and benchmarks, have become powerful and pervasive forces transforming the life and work of teachers
Policy Enactment and Leader Agency: The Discursive Shaping of Political Change
Get PDFAs agents in reform processes, Principals can be pressured to respond to government and private change agendas. Far from merely implementing policy, Principals engage in complex enactments where they demonstrate agency in their interpretations and recontextualisations. Drawing data from Principal interviews, the authors consider leader agency in relation to discourses of economic rationalism, change and change leadership. The operationalisation of schooling reform and the necessity to think critically about policy within limited official consultation frameworks is highlighted. The political control of school clustering can potentially impinge on leader agency, particularly when there are additional hierarchical layers of leadership
Autism Spectrum Disorder in Aotearoa New Zealand: Strategies for teachers.
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According to Autism New Zealand (n.d.) there are approximately 65,000 New Zealanders with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Despite this prevalence, Goodall (2014) notes that “…teachers are still on a long journey to full acceptance of students on the autism spectrum as learners with potential” (p. 133). This is concerning as one of the principles that form the foundation of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007) is inclusion. The NZC states these principles “embody the beliefs about the nature of the educational experience and the entitlement of the student” (p. 37) and Te Kete Ipurangi (n.d.) describes inclusive education as all children and young people being engaged and achieving through participating, learning and belonging. These principles, in addition to the prevalence of people with ASD in New Zealand, mean that teachers must possess an understanding of ASD as well as knowledge of teaching strategies to assist these learners
LGBTIQA+ Learners in New Zealand Schools
Get PDFThe New Zealand Curriculum (2007) states that all students have the right to learn in an environment that is inclusive and safe. Teachers in New Zealand are responsible for upholding these and many other values, ensuring that each student’s “unique set of experiences, abilities and interests, and differences in how they learn” (Ministry of Education, 2017a, para 2) are accommodated in the classroom. This research overview considers New Zealand articles on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer and Allied (LGBTIQA+) students. Moreover, it identifies the importance of LGBTIQA+ students receiving the support they need to deter depressive thoughts and bullying. Consideration is given to what schools and teachers could do to develop inclusive classrooms for this group of diverse learners, thus supporting these students to reverse their negative experiences of schooling.
 
Contract Instructing within Aotearoa New Zealand’s Secondary Schools
Get PDFOver the last 150 years, outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand has evolved from teachers taking students out of school on field trips to running expeditions and adventure activities as part of the curriculum. Recent accidents have increased expectations within society for outdoor leaders including teachers to be technically skilled and qualified before taking groups outdoors. This has, prompted many schools to employ qualified contract instructors to deliver parts of their programme. Using a grounded theory approach, this research explores the complex relationships that exist between schools, teachers, and contract instructors. A model outlining different types of communication between schools and contractors highlights how many outdoor education outcomes remain undeclared and implicit. Recommendations are presented to help contractors and schools work together to deliver programmes which continue to achieve a broad range of outcome
Daily Singing in a School Severely Affected by Earthquakes: Potentially Contributing to Both Wellbeing and Music Education Agendas?
Get PDFThe school where this research took place, was created from the merger of two primary schools in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes. Since that time staff and learners have been engaged in daily singing, specifically to promote the wellbeing of staff and learners. We engaged in action research to examine the ways the singing has been facilitated and sustained, and explored teacher and learner perception of the relationship between singing and wellbeing. During one of our cycles of learning it became clear that many of the teachers thought of the daily singing for wellbeing as a distinctly different activity to a music education task. In the subsequent cycle of learning we examined this idea further via focus group discussions and individual interviews, and engagement with relevant literature. We found there is considerable diversity in terms of the understandings and values that underpin music education programmes, and the approach taken as a result. However when singing is employed specifically to enhance wellbeing in schools, the focus needs to be on being together and having fun, rather than on learning to sing