1,720,983 research outputs found
Concluding remarks
Get PDFThis chapter provides a chance to reflect on the significance of the 42 country/regional descriptions and analyses of later life learning/education. It is deliberately entitled “Concluding remarks”, as opposed to “Conclusions”, to indicate that this is essentially an exercise using a problematizing approach (Freire 1984). This is a place for observation and critique of patterns related to later life learning. It is not a place, as post-modernists remind us, to espouse “grand narratives” on the state of older adult education globally but to examine some of the key dynamics at play in interrogating its character
Older adults and learning : a critique of participants and provisions
No full textThis paper examines the issues of educational participation and provision in relation to older adults, primarily in the New Zealand setting. Older learners' learning is initially described using adult education concepts and perspectives but this approach is found to lack in-depth analysis. Subsequently, using the political-economy perspective from within a critical gerontology paradigm, the author portrays older adults' learning in the fuller context of their social and material conditions
Teaching Ethics in Nursing Education – A case study of teaching in a New Zealand tertiary education context
Get PDFNurses face a plethora of ethical challenges in their everyday practice. In order to help trainees become aware of the multiple issues they will face beyond the classroom, nursing educators have acknowledged the criticality of having an ethical component taught throughout the nursing curriculum of a tertiary education institution. The purpose of this study was to explore what experiences and challenges nursing educators faced teaching such content and to identify the sorts of difficulties being encountered in their own classroom practice.
A self-selecting sample of seven nursing educators working at a large, New Zealand tertiary institution in the North Island were interviewed. After transcribing data from the interviewing process, seven dominant themes emerged from the inductive data analysis process. A general model of teaching was adopted to analyse these multiple themes. In this respect, the variables identified in this model involved considerations of the teaching content, the teacher, the learner, the context, and the educators’ ideals.
Adopting a principled approach to teaching ethics was acknowledged as a challenge by the participants because of the friction identified between culturally specific and universalist principles. Nonetheless, the importance of promoting students’ ethical awareness through the adoption of codes of ethics in the nursing programme was emphasised. Sharing cases from personal experience to supplement textual narratives was an important way to bridge the divide between theory and practice. That ethics be integrated throughout the whole nursing programme was the general consensus.
The challenge in teaching ethics lies in the changing context of nursing and the changing context of ethics itself. Despite such hurdles, the nursing educators in this study were confident teachers who all had positive experiences in teaching ethics to their students
Māori transitions into tertiary education
Get PDFThis thesis critically examines Māori transitions into tertiary education. The research explored the lived transition experiences of 20 Māori tertiary education students in the Bay of Plenty region. Historical and contemporary factors in Aotearoa influencing effective Māori student transitions into tertiary education were investigated. Data were collected and analysed through repeated semistructured interviews and focus groups over the 2016-2018 period with 20 Māori students enrolled in a wānanga, a polytechnic and a university. Participants experienced their transition as a journey, continuously evolving their identities and agency in relation to the tertiary education environments and social structures they encountered.
The findings suggest that transitions to tertiary education for Māori students involve a reciprocal interplay of identity, agency and structure which support or constrain transition experiences. Effective transition experiences were underpinned by processes of continuity enabling identity growth. Support was central to how well participants perceived their transition—racism and lack of support were significant barriers; suitable support was a significant enabler.
An over-riding theme from this research related to the interplay of power relations and Māori identity. How effectively participants developed a sense of belonging (or alienation) and identity growth linked to the tertiary education environments they encountered during their transition. Within wānanga, participants felt their Māori cultural identity was highly valued; within polytechnics, there was a sense that Māori culture is included but more could be done; within universities, a need for more inclusive practices to support Māori learner requirements was identified.
Lastly, this research was conducted by a Pākehā researcher working across kaupapa Māori spaces within interpretive and critical paradigms. Unexpected moments of struggle, discomfort and vulnerability opened up new and deeper understanding of implications for Pākehā educators and researchers engaging across Māori research spaces. This thesis argues for Pākehā to use their privilege to foster more equitable social structures. Equitable social structures would be beneficial for Māori transitions into tertiary education environments
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Brokering practices among international EAL students at a New Zealand university
Get PDFThe numbers of international students enrolled in higher education in Anglophone countries have increased in the past decade, with the majority of students originating from Asian countries such as China. While it is in the interest of these universities to support international students during their study, there is a tendency for institutions to view students’ learning in a deficit mode, for example, characterising students in terms of their limited English proficiency. Many studies of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) are situated in formal instructional contexts that privilege Western academic norms, an environment which constrains students’ agency. In order to make visible the agency of international EAL students, as well as to contribute to the limited research on students’ informal academic learning, this study set out to examine a phenomenon in cross-cultural contexts known as brokering. Brokering refers to help-seeking social interactions, where students seek assistance with unfamiliar academic texts and practices from brokers who are able to bridge knowledge gaps.
A multi-methodological approach underpinned by a social constructionist paradigm was used to investigate the nature of brokering practices among 10 first-year, international EAL students, nine of whom were ethnic Chinese, at one New Zealand university. The study employed focused ethnography, where regular semi-structured interviews were conducted during students’ initial 15-week semester. Records of brokering interactions associated with three key informants were also collected in the form of audio-recorded observations and screenshots of instant message exchanges on mobile phones. The data analysis was informed by brokering-related concepts from sociology and studies on immigrant communities, as well as conversation analytical concepts such as epistemic asymmetry, and politeness theories in pragmatics.
The study found that participants sought brokers among peers and non-peers for their academic needs. Brokering practices encompassed language brokering, literacy brokering, and resource brokering, with each type of brokering addressing particular aspects of academic learning. Unlike non-peer brokering, which was typically facilitated by English-speaking staff, peer brokering mostly took place in homophilous interactions, that is, between those of similar ethno-lingual backgrounds. Peer brokering relationships were also found to be valued not only for instrumental action in terms of obtaining knowledge, but also for expressive action in terms of engaging in shared sentiment. The analysis of the key informants’ brokering interactions further demonstrated how agency was enacted through the seekers’ maintenance and negotiation of relative knowledge positions, which was supported by politeness and face-management strategies. Peer brokering dynamics afforded greater scope for student agency, while the hierarchical social relations in non-peer brokering did not.
By integrating theoretical frameworks from different disciplines, this thesis has provided a unique conceptual lens for understanding international EAL students’ academic-related brokering practices. It has also highlighted the need for international education practitioners to be sensitive to first-year international students’ needs for culturally appropriate support. The thesis concludes that if institutions are aware of international EAL students’ brokering practices, and take on a brokering role themselves, they will better serve the intercultural goals of international education
Tertiary Education and Lifelong Learning: The Potential for a Lifelong Learing Culture within the PNG Polytehnic
No full textThis study seeks to examine the extent of lifelong learning developments at one of the first polytechnic institutes in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with particular regard to how the existing traditional structure of vocational education and training (VET) can be redefined under the framework of lifelong learning. The notion of lifelong learning with regard to the larger framework of education is largely a foreign concept to PNG and this study examines how lifelong learning ideas are played out in one location.
The research is primarily a qualitative case study and utilised semi-structured interviews as the main method for data collection in addition to acquiring government and institutional documents (e.g. policy and developmental plans). The research methodology was chosen to gain an in-depth understanding of tertiary education and lifelong learning from the perspective of the participants involved in the study.
The findings of the study indicate a profound lack of understanding of the concept of lifelong learning and the potential impact it can have on the provision of education and training within the PNG tertiary education system. However, in an attempt to build knowledge on this educational concept, this study has analysed themes that emerged from the staff interviews with theoretical concepts from the literature review to conclude that lifelong learning is a potentially viable option for tertiary education, in particular at this polytechnic.
As an educational model, lifelong learning has the benefit of serving both the individual, the government and the wider society. The implications for tertiary education would be considerable, because a diverse group of learners can be given more opportunities to engage in purposeful learning activities over a lifetime. The need to redefine the purpose and role of tertiary education in PNG is strongly recommended
Prison education in Tanzania: An exploration of policy and practice
Get PDFThis study is one of very few research-based investigations regarding prison education in Tanzania. It provides rich data that help to address the literature gap on prison education policies and practices in African countries, particularly in Tanzania. With its major research question: Are current policy and practices adequately meeting the needs of prisoners? the study explored the adequacy of prison education policies and practices in the Tanzanian context. Three subsidiary questions were addressed: What constitutes governmental and institutional policies on prison education in Tanzania? What existing educational programmes are available in Tanzanian prisons for inmates? and, Do current practices adequately reflect the intention and substance of the policies? These questions helped me to obtain relevant information to address the major research question. This qualitative study, within an interpretivist paradigm, was conducted in Tanzania. Five prisons were involved in the study. The participants included inmates, teachers, prison staff, ex-inmates, a senior (retired) prison officer, an adult education officer, the IAE representatives, the OUT representative, the VETA tutor, an NGO representative, and an ex-student who shared the same National Examination centre with inmates. Data were mainly gathered through individual interviews, focus group interviews, observations, and document analysis. Themes and subthemes were inductively developed through thematic analysis. Three main themes generated from the analysis constituted the discussion of three findings chapters. Four main concepts – perspective transformation, total institutions, lifelong learning, and rehabilitation – were used to interpret and discuss the findings.
The study suggests that Tanzania has yet to fully embrace prison education as part of liberal approaches to imprisonment. Individual prisons have different informal policies regarding prison education. The main governmental prison education policy of Tanzania – the Prison Education Guide – is not rooted in the laws of the country, implying that Tanzania has yet to fully comply with the 1999 Arusha Declaration on Good Prison Practice. The Prison Education Guide was interpreted differently in every prison. Many prisoners did not have access to educational programmes, suggesting a mismatch between policy (the Prison Education Guide) and practice. Literacy education, vocational training, and general education were the main educational programmes found. These programmes suffered from a lack of resources, accentuated by the shortage of funds. Accordingly, it is concluded that prison education is not adequately practised in Tanzania; the current policy and practises are not adequately meeting the needs of prisoners. The study proposes a set of recommendations to improve prison education
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