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Experiences of NCEA: The challenges and limitations
No full textAotearoa New Zealand is not exempt from the prevailing issue of student disengagement in education that has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to adequately engage in schooling can prove harmful as it increases the risk of an individual becoming NEET. Youth not in Employment, Education and Training (NEET) is a policy concern, as it demonstrates disengagement in both education and the community which can be detrimental to the economy and society. An engaging curriculum, relevant to the 21st century, is necessary to retain student interest in school. In 2002, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was introduced as Aotearoa’s main senior secondary school qualification system. The standards-based qualification attempted to address educational inequalities and respond to the need for a dynamic and engaging curriculum. Specifically, NCEA intended to improve accessibility and achievement for marginalised students, providing all individuals, regardless of ethnicity or social standing, the equal opportunity to achieve a senior secondary school qualification. NCEA’s objectives are to prepare students for further training, education, the labour market and to equip them with the skills necessary to actively participate in wider society. This thesis carried out a study on NCEA. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the establishment, implementation, and reform of NCEA policy and practice, to better understand experiences, challenges and limitations encountered by students. The research questions included: How have education policies changed over time in Aotearoa?; What are some of the issues and problems associated with NCEA in practice?; According to academic commentary and past student views, to what extent has NCEA achieved its purposes and objectives? How do some past students view their experience of NCEA? This study utilised a mixed methods approach, examined relevant literature and conducted a survey of past NCEA students. The online survey was designed to evoke insights on student engagement; views on NCEA’s capacity to provide access to relevant 21st century learning; fairness in assessment practices; the extent to which students felt prepared for the workplace and civic duties, school implementation of the qualification system and the NCEA Change Programmes' policy refinements. The survey was an opportunity to enhance past student voice in policy discussion. Findings revealed that the majority of participants were engaged in their learning in some capacity. However, the survey also revealed there was widespread dissatisfaction with NCEA. The literature demonstrated that although NCEA was founded on egalitarian principles and implemented to alleviate educational disparities, it continues to perpetuate pre-existing inequalities. Disengagement and NEET youth remain an ongoing issue. Participants who attended higher decile schools generally had a better NCEA experience. Participants who attended lower decile schools were dissatisfied, in part due to the lack of available educational opportunities. This thesis argues past student experiences highlight engagement and relevance issues in the education system. Additionally, NCEA’s flexible design which enables interschool variation can negatively affect marginalised individuals such as Māori, Pacific Peoples and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, this thesis argues there are historical and contemporary systemic barriers to achieving educational equality
Shifting deficit perspectives of teacher-parent partnerships: Post-covid teacher stories
No full textIn this oral communication we focus on primary school mathematics teacher practices, in the post-Covid context, that enabled (or not) mathematical learning partnerships with parents, and the parent responses to these practices, as storied by the teachers. We address the questions: (1) How are primary school mathematics teachers engaging with and supporting parents in the post-Covid context, particularly regarding supporting learners’ mathematical learning? and (2) How are parents (according to teachers) responding to the efforts of teachers to encourage their engagement with the mathematical learning of their child
Journeys of Māori women in engineering and engineering trades: Navigating challenges and embracing identity
No full textCONTEXT
This paper reports a study that explores the lived experiences of five Māori women in New Zealand who are engaged in engineering and engineering trades, aiming to inspire more Māori women to join these fields. Through in-depth interviews, three key phases of their lives are examined: upbringing, educational experiences, and professional encounters. The research identifies barriers and strategies these women employed, revealing themes such as identity development, stereotyping, cultural identity, determination, and support.
PURPOSE OR GOAL
Diversity remains a persistent concern within traditionally male-dominated fields such as engineering and trades. Literature underscores the invaluable contributions of a diverse workforce, including fresh perspectives, insights, and innovative problem-solving approaches. Efforts to enhance diversity in engineering education must address systemic barriers across all levels of education. The aim of this study is to give voice to Māori women in engineers and engineering trades. The study explores participants' career choices, childhood, schooling, tertiary education, and workplace experiences.
APPROACH OR METHODOLOGY/METHODS
The study is underpinned by a feminist poststructuralist conceptual framework, emphasizing that knowledge is constructed rather than discovered, and power relations are shaped within cultural and societal contexts. Data collection involved an initial short questionnaire and two semi-structured interviews. Qualitative inductive analysis was used. Early thematic coding occurred during the analysis of initial questionnaires to identify key themes for the interviews. Interview data were coded inductively by research assistants and cross-checked by the main researchers to find common themes. In a further analysis phase, interview transcripts were loaded into ChatGPT to identify key commonalities, which were compared with researchers’ codes to finalize the themes. These themes framed the discussion and provided a basis for understanding the lived experiences of Māori women in engineering and engineering trades.
ACTUAL OR ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES
The lives and experiences the five Māori women in this study illuminate the unique experiences and challenges faced by indigenous women pursuing careers in engineering and engineering trades. By amplifying their voices, this research highlights their perspectives, celebrates their agency and resilience, and showcases how they assert themselves, overcome challenges, and advocate for gender equality in their professions. Common themes such as identity development, others’ beliefs and attitudes, cultural identity, determination, and support and encouragement frame the discussion, assisting in demystifying societal realities and gaining insight into their social realities. This research aims to empower and make these women visible. The findings highlight the need for timely career guidance in schools, dismantling gender stereotypes early, and integrating Māori culture into workplaces to foster equity and inclusion.
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS/SUMMARY
Collaborative efforts from educators, researchers, and policymakers are needed to address systemic barriers and create inclusive pathways for indigenous women and other underrepresented groups into engineering. Flexible support services tailored to the diverse needs are essential for facilitating success in these fields. The researchers suggest further research should focus on longitudinal studies tracking the career trajectories of minority groups, exploring how cultural and gender identities influence educational experiences, evaluating the effectiveness of existing support programmes, and examining the role of mentorship and support networks in empowering minority students to succeed in engineering and trades careers
Advancements in work-integrated learning research: Editorial insights
No full textOver the past two decades, scholarship into work-integrated learning (WIL) has significantly expanded,
highlighting the importance of its contribution to higher education. The International Journal of Work-Integrated
Learning (IJWIL) has been an important part of the promotion of research and scholarship of WIL, and the
dissemination of new knowledge. This current IJWIL Issue includes three articles that provide a bibliometric
analysis of what is now a significant body of WIL literature. These analyses reveal trends in themes such as equity
and access, professional identity development, stakeholder engagement, risks, and highlight the high level of collaboration among WIL researchers. This editorial emphasizes the advances of WIL scholarship by further identifying key developments and topical challenges and linking these to recent published WIL literature to inspire further research to enhance the understanding of WIL as a transformative pedagogy
Ceremonious storytelling: Exploring experiences within the publicly funded health service
No full textBackground: Chronic disease is defined as a condition impacting organs or organ systems causing dysfunction or dysregulation that lasts longer than six months or remains, despite medical intervention or treatment. Research has shown that barriers, including those of a financial, physical, institutional and patient orientated nature significantly impact on outcomes. Māori are significantly over-represented in chronic health condition statistics, particularly relating to cardiac, respiratory, renal and mental health. Further, Māori are more likely to have a negative experience engaging with primary and secondary health services, leading to disempowerment and dis-engagement. Therefore, research which explores how quality of care for Māori can be improved is of pressing value.
Objective: This study seeks to explore the experiences of Māori and non-Māori health-care consumers and providers within the publicly funded health service of Aotearoa.
Participants: Advertising across primary and secondary care settings resulted in a total of 37 responses from health care consumers (31 respondents contributing to pūrākau) and 37 responses from health professionals (27 respondents contributing to pūrākau).
Methods: This study utilised kaupapa Māori methodological approaches, frameworks and models to guide and intertwine qualitative and quantitative research methods. Participants were able to engage with any subset of questions, defining their responses through pūrākau, which supports the development of narratives within questions that are outside the limits of other worldviews. Māori methods such as pūrākau are flexible, enabling the development of research methods that are culturally aware and safe for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people globally
Results: Key themes found within pūrākau highlighted the importance of meaningful engagement, person focused, trauma informed care to positively impact willingness and ability to engage with primary, secondary and tertiary services. The study reported that consumers had a strong willingness to engage with services.
Conclusion: Health is personal and impacts people in various ways. Access to health services, while funded in Aotearoa, still create barriers for some people and perpetuates the gap between prevention and diagnosis of chronic disease. Kaupapa Māori methods within research support Māori engagement and definition within research through historical ways of being, knowing and conducting research. Participants of this study detailed experiences within health services, highlighting willingness and ability to engage with health services. Prior research defined the development of the Levesque access and accessibility framework, which correlates with the findings within this study.
What is the past?
No full textThis thesis explores the question: what is the past? I take up the radical view that the past exists, but the present and future do not. The four main theories of time have described the past in a variety of ways: Presentism says it is non-existent; eternalism describes it as on a par with the present and future; the growing block and moving spotlight views describe it as being ontologically on a par with the present or future, respectively. I investigate how these theories have addressed the nature of the past question using a logico-semantic approach, which generates ontological problems of absence because the past objects that statements about the past denote are absent from their ontologies. Presentism, which accepts that the past is non-existent, faces the greatest challenges concerning the past because it cannot account for the truthmaker of statements about the past. Eternalism, along with the growing block and moving spotlight views, must reconcile the significant differences in our experiences of the past, present, and future with their view that all or some of them are ontologically on a par. I consider the traditional logico-semantic approaches to responding to the nature of the past question and argue that actualist versions of presentism are ill-equipped to answer it. Of the theories of time that do not rely upon a logico-semantic analysis, four seem promising. Meinongian presentism, which argues that there is a non-existent past accepts an ontological response to the question of the past, but I argue that it incorrectly defines the point of contrast between the existent and the non-existent. Although eternalism, the growing block, and moving spotlight views can explain the ontological ground of references and truths about the past, we may question whether there is a past since these views treat its nature as ontologically on par with that of the present or future. This steers the investigation towards intentionality, the directedness of our thoughts toward objects. I analyse thoughts about the past, as well as those about the present and future to understand their nature and their relationship to an external mind-independent world. I argue that the past’s uniquely immutable nature differentiates it from the mutable present and future, and that immutability entails substantiveness, while mutability entails nonsubstantiveness. The past’s substantive nature entails its existence while the nonsubstantiveness of the present and future entail their non-existence
Monitoring of local topographic variation in flowering phenology of mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium)
No full textThe rise of the mānuka honey industry has led to a change in attitudes toward mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium). Previously considered a nuisance for pastoral hill-country farming, mānuka stands are now more likely to be considered a valuable resource. For better management and utilization of this resource, more information is needed about the causes of variation in the timing and intensity of mānuka flowering, including at the local scale where flowering behaviour can vary significantly over short distances. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to improve methods for camera-based monitoring of mānuka flowering phenology, including reducing the need for manual analysis of images. The second aim was to deploy the cameras for a field study of the local-scale drivers of mānuka flowering phenology, within a single hill-country property, along an elevational gradient and between two slope aspects.
This study used cameras based on Raspberry Pi single board computers, developed previously for monitoring of m
Death and homelessness on the streets of Aotearoa New Zealand: Sustaining life
No full textIn high-income countries, homeless people die 20 to 35 years earlier than domiciled populations. Despite this enduring reality, the issue of death inequality remains underexplored, especially in indigenous homeless contexts, facing the ongoing effects of colonisation. This study centres on the perspectives and aspirations of a Māori street homeless community, known as the “Peeps”. Its objective is twofold: to spotlight to unjust, untimely, and avoidable mortality impacting homeless communities in Aotearoa New Zealand, and to understand how life can be sustained against the adversity of street life. The thesis diverges from conventional public health approaches, which often dichotomise early deaths prevention through improved healthcare access during homelessness, and palliative care provision at the end of life of homeless people. This thesis explores “the temporal space of life prior to death”. Within that temporal realm, the omnipresent “risk of dying” that infiltrates the lives of homeless people, disrupting the linear progression toward death observed in domiciled populations, is recognised. This temporal space is understood as a zone of uncertainty and potentiality, wherein complex life-death dynamics operate, revealing broader political, societal and cultural tensions. This study encountered significant challenges, including the dearth of prior death-related research in Māori homeless contexts, and my non-Māori identity. In response, an indeterminate approach, rooted in relational ethics and complexity and systems thinking — aligned with Māori worldviews — was adopted.
Part I of the thesis is conceptual and contextual. Part II invites the readers into the fragile “temporal space of life prior to death” and the cyclical research process. Cycle 1 focuses on understanding the local context of death inequality, through relational fieldwork and statistical analysis of coroners’ reports. This analysis uncovers a 30-year life expectancy disparity with domiciled populations, exacerbated by three-quarters of avoidable mortality, mainly due to chronic conditions and suicide. Subsequent cycles sustain relational fieldwork, using collaborative and critical performance ethnography. Cycle 2 reveals the Peeps’ resistance to access healthcare, rooted in experiences of transgenerational trauma and marginalisation of Māori beliefs and values in relation to death and dying within mainstream healthcare institutions. Collaboration with the Peeps leads to the co-creation of a drama, intended to initiate conversations with health professionals from the Peeps’ perspectives and aspirations, to improve the quality of care. This cycle also highlights the impact of disconnection processes with whānau (family, extended family) experienced by the Peeps. Progressing further, cycle 3 illuminates healing processes with whānau using Advance Care Planning, envisioned as a relational space, providing the Peeps with a sense of belonging, and spiritual continuity in the perspective of death and dying.
In addition to shedding light on the profound death inequality that affect Māori homeless people, this thesis argues for homelessness to be recognised as “complex life-threatening conditions associated with serious-related health suffering”. Accordingly, the thesis advocates the shift toward comprehensive care, inclusive of a concurrent prevention and palliation approach over the course of homelessness, to mitigate its impact on the lives of Māori homeless people and enhance holistic wellbeing
‘Rise of ram raiders’: A foucauldian discourse analysis exploring media representations of collective youth crime in New Zealand media, 2019-2023.
No full textOver the past several years, there has been media commotion about the term ram raids and the escalation it has brought to youth crimes. Whilst there have been media claims towards increasing youth crime numbers and speculation from mainstream media about ram raiders’ involvement in crime; the statistical evidence seems to state otherwise. The media is a powerful institution that can lead to constructing discourses that can influence the attitudes of the general public and in turn lead to various policy changes. Ram raiders are presented in the media through predominantly negative narratives and have increased discussions in regard to controlling the youth from ram-raiding behaviour. There currently is no research that directly examines the discourses of youth ram raiders in New Zealand media. Therefore, this thesis will use a Foucauldian discursive approach to analyse the representation of the term ram raiders in newspaper articles in New Zealand media, and the consequences that arise as a result of such discourses. The results showed that there were three discourses identified: the criminal discourse, the outsiders discourse, and the moral panic discourse, alongside a competing discourse of youth as victims. The criminal discourse was identified as the dominant discourse which emphasises youth committing ram raids as an individualised issue. The outsiders discourse was supported by the criminal discourse and linked ram raiders to gang members and ethnic minorities further creating an us vs them rhetoric. Moral panic was a discourse that emphasised the power held by the media as the publications reached an extensive audience presenting ram raiders as criminals and outsiders creating a moral panic in public. A competing discourse was identified with ram raiders being presented as the victims shown to be a necessary addition to the conversation. It provided an alternative perspective that challenged the dominant discourse to allow for a well-rounded representation of the ram raiders. Further discursive practices represented the positionality of public and political figures leading to the punishment of young people participating in ram raids