Showing papers in "Waikato Journal of Education in 2013"

Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools

Abstract: If we look at a child’s colouring book before it has any colour added to it, we think of the page as blank. It’s actually not blank, it’s white. That white background is just ‘there’ and we don’t think much about it. Not only is the background uniformly white, the lines are already in place and they dictate where the colour is allowed to go. When children are young, they don’t care where they put the colours, but as they get older they colour in more and more cautiously. They learn about the place of colour and the importance of staying within the pre-determined boundaries and expectations. This thesis argues that this is the setting for our mainstream, or what I have called whitestream, New Zealand schools—that white background is the norm. When we talk about multiculturalism and diversity what we are really referring to is the colour of the children, or their difference from that white norm and how they don’t fit perfectly inside our lines. If the colour of the space doesn’t change schools are still in the business of assimilation, relegating non-white children to the margins, no matter how many school reform initiatives, new curricula, strategic plans or mandated standards we implement. What the schools in this study have tried to do is change the colour of the space—so that the space fits the children and they don’t have to constantly adjust to fit in. New Zealand’s education system has been largely silent on the topic of whiteness and the Eurocentric nature of our schooling policy and practice. However, when I talk to senior M a ori and Pasifika ‘warrior-scholars’ in Te Wh a nau o Tupuranga and Clover Park Middle School about “white spaces” they have encountered in their schooling experience they can identify them all too easily. ‘White spaces,’ they explain, are anything you accept as ‘normal’ for M a ori when it’s really not; any situation that prevents, or works against you ‘being M a ori’ or who you are and that requires you to ‘be’ someone else and leave your beliefs behind. White spaces are spaces that allow you to require less of yourself and that reinforce stereotypes and negative ideas about M a ori. Most telling of all was the comment from a M a ori student that goes straight to the root of the problem: “White spaces are everywhere,” she said, “even in your head.” This thesis describes the 25-year journey of two schools and their community’s determination to resist and reject alienating school environments in favour of a relevant culturally located, bilingual learning model based in a secure cultural identity, stable positive relationships, and aroha (authentic caring and love). While the research design is a case study, in terms of western, ‘white space’ academic tradition, it is also a story in terms of kaupapa Maori and critical race methodology. More importantly, it is a counter-story that chronicles the efforts of these two schools to step outside education’s ‘white spaces’ to create new space. This counter-story is juxtaposed against pervasive, deficit-driven whitestream explanations of ‘achievement gaps’ and the ‘long tail’ of Maori and Pasifika ‘underachievement’ in New Zealand schools. In the process of this research the focus shifted from how could Maori and Pasifika learners develop secure cultural identities in mainstream schools, to examining what barriers exist in schools that prevent this from happening already? As these issues became clear the language of the thesis shifted accordingly; ‘developing’ a cultural identity was reframed as a reclamation of educational sovereignty—the absolute right to ‘be Maori’ or ‘be Pasifika’ in school—and ‘mainstream’ schooling became better understood as the ‘whitestream’. The study hopes to contribute to the journey other schools might take to identify and name their own white spaces, and to make learning equitable for indigenous and minoritised learners.

Peer coaching: A review of the literature

Abstract: This paper explores the literature that is examines peer coaching. It introduces the concept of peer coaching, identifies the key characteristics of peer coaching, and explores the history of the use of peer coaching in education and the benefits and limitations of peer coaching.

Effective Pakeha teachers of Māori students

Abstract: To teach in primary schools in Aotearoa-New Zealand means to encounter students from diverse backgrounds. A significant proportion of those students are M a ori and a significant proportion of M a ori students are not achieving to their potential in school. There are several reasons for this under-achievement, which this thesis explores, and there is substantial research evidence as to what will turn this situation around, which is also explored. Some argue that the answer is for M a ori learners to be taught by M a ori teachers, and in M a ori medium contexts. This approach has achieved considerable success for a small number of M a ori learners; however, the demographic data tell us that for now, the significant majority of M a ori learners are in English language medium classrooms, taught by non-M a ori teachers. At present, there are not enough M a ori teachers to teach all M a ori learners. The New Zealand Ministry of Education has goals for improving the achievement of M a ori learners through providing “high-quality, culturally responsive education that incorporates the identity, language and culture of M a ori students, and engages their parents, families and wh a nau” (Ministry of Education, 2008). The Ministry and the New Zealand Teachers Council expect all teachers to be ‘culturally competent’, that is, to teach in culturally responsive ways. The Ministry of Education’s research and development project, Te K o tahitanga, continues to provide evidence of ‘what works’ for M a ori learners in New Zealand secondary schools. The effective teaching profile that was developed as part of this project informs this thesis. The thesis describes qualitative, social justice-based case study research undertaken between late 2004 and 2006 with four effective P a keh a primary teachers of M a ori children, and with children from those classes and their parents/wh a nau. The study sought to glean insights about what characterises effective P a keh a primary teachers of M a ori students.

What should initial teacher education programmes for 2022 look like and why

Abstract: Over the last fifteen years or so we have seen a paradigm shift in international thinking about education. Driven by an awareness of the massive social, economic, and technological changes taking place in the world outside education, the response has been to question the role and purpose of traditional forms of schooling. Today’s learners need knowledge and skills that our schools were not set up to provide. However, and more importantly, to thrive in today’s world, they need an orientation to knowledge, thinking and learning that differs from what was valued in 20th century schools. While there is now a large research and policy literature looking at how we might go about building this new orientation to knowledge in students, work exploring the cognitive demands this makes on teachers is only just beginning. If teachers are to design ‘21st century’ learning programmes for their students, they need a 21st century orientation to knowledge. Achieving this in teachers involves more than simply adding new knowledge and skills to their existing repertoires: it requires them to change how they think, know, and learn. This has obvious implications for the design of teacher professional learning programmes, including—and especially—initial teacher education. This paper explores what initial teacher education should look like in 2022—if we want to continue to have a public education system, and if we want our education system to lead, rather than follow, New Zealand’s future development.

Applying culturally responsive practices: Implications for mainstream education

Abstract: Producing an officially commissioned curriculum resource calls for expert pedagogical and content knowledge and the application of theory. From the viewpoints of developer, teacher and teacher educator, all involved in the design and use of a selected resource, this paper reviews the layers of theories which underpinned the shaping of a drama education video intended to support teacher professional knowledge and practice. Multiple layers of theory are evident: the theory guiding developers, the theory behind content area and pedagogy, the theory for action of the participating practitioners, and critically informed theory for teacher education. The paper examines how theorising informed the preparation of the resource and influenced its outcome, and reflects critically on future possibilities for effective design and use of resources. It discusses how the particular resource has continued to be used in teacher education, validating the original aim that teachers could innovate with the material to suit context. Finally, the author argues that from such educational initiatives, valuable knowledge may build capacity for further teacher development, and that, as an act of research, such theorising can contribute to the scholarship of teaching.

The nature of conversation of primary students in technology education: Implications for teaching and learning

Abstract: Classroom conversations are core to establishing successful learning for students. This research explored the nature of conversation in technology education in the primary classroom and the implications for teaching and learning. Over a year, two units of work in technology were taught in two primary classrooms. Most data was gathered in Round 2 during the implementation of the second unit titled ‘Props for the School Production’. It used qualitative methodology and an ethnographic approach using participant observations, stimulated recall interviews with autophotography, semi- structured interviews with participants and their teachers, and students’ work samples to develop a rich description of classroom conversation in technology. Initial data identified four significant stages of learning within the second technology unit; these included Stage 1 Character and Function, Stage 2 Planning, Stage 3 Mock-up and Stage 4 Construction. Four over-arching elements of conversation, each with various sub-elements, were identified as flowing through the classroom conversations. These were Funds of Knowledge, Making Connections and Links, Management of Learning, and Technology Knowledge and Skills. These elements describe the sources and the purpose of conversation. For example, conversations identified as Funds of Knowledge showed students brought knowledge and/or skills learned from home and their community to their technology learning. In Making Connections and Links, students implemented knowledge from school-based learning. Management of Learning included classroom conversations initiated by both teachers and students that enhanced or managed students’ learning in some way. In the fourth element, technological knowledge and skills learned were evidenced. Further analysis of the elements identified three over-arching themes of conversations. The first, ‘Deployment’, describes knowledge and skills brought by students to their technological practice and included the elements Funds of Knowledge and Making Connections and Links. The second, ‘Conduit’, described techniques and strategies used by teachers and students to maximise learning opportunities acting as a conduit between other knowledge and technological knowledge, and was mainly situated within the Management of Learning element. The third theme, ‘Knowledge’, showed the exact nature of technology learning obtained by the students though the bringing together of the first two themes, rather like a set of interconnected cogs. The study makes a significant contribution to understanding how students learn in technology education. It develops current understanding of the nature of talk and the role it plays in learning technology. It also presents new findings on the Funds of Knowledge students bring to technology and it challenges existing findings on students’ ability to transfer knowledge from one domain to other. Finally, it identifies a gap in existing research into students’ abilities to investigate and select appropriate materials for intermediate and final outcomes.

Students' Mental Models of Chemical Reactions

Abstract: Previous research on topics such as atomic structure and chemical bonding indicates that students’ mental models are often inconsistent with the scientific models, which may impede learning of advanced concepts. International research suggests that model- based teaching and learning in science education shows promise in overcoming student misconceptions, but research about modelling for chemical reactions is sparse. In an attempt to redress this schism, this study took the form of an inquiry into a cross-age study of 67 students drawn from secondary schools and universities to investigate their mental models of chemical reactions. This naturalistic qualitative inquiry was based within an interpretive paradigm and constructivist epistemology, in which data were generated from interviews with the participants. The data for this inquiry were derived from semi-structured interviews, incorporating the Interview-About-Instances (I.A.I) technique to probe students’ mental models of chemical reactions for various chemical phenomena. Thematic analysis of the students’ discourse of their mental models revealed different types of mental models, named Model A, B, and C. Each of the mental models was characterised based on features of energy change and the process of chemical reactions at the submicro level. Model A was considered as an initial mental model, which was based on students’ experience with changes of matter in their daily life. This model was also attributed with the notion of agent-driven chemical change as its core characteristic. Basically, Model A explained most of the properties of chemical reactions, including the rate, spontaneity and reversibility of reactions. Although, it can be considered a ‘causality model’, it seemed essential for young students in making sense of the chemical phenomena that surround them. On the other hand, Model B was based on either the attributes related to kinetic theory of particles or attributes related to chemical bonding but this type of mental models seemed to share some characteristics of Model A. However, Model C was likely to incorporate the attributes related to both kinetic theory of particles and chemical bonding as core ideas used in explaining chemical reactions. Students’ preference towards a given model in their mental models is consistent with previous studies. This preference is probably because of their early exposure to the kinetic theory, and it is simplistic but powerful in explaining the nature of chemical phenomena. Nonetheless, the model of chemical bonding was considered an ‘enabling’ model for understanding of the chemical phenomena in terms of rearrangement of atoms and as an affordance to make sense of energy change. Students’ mental models were also compared according to their level of education. Generally, most senior university students were found to hold Model C, while junior university and Form 6 students’ mental models were mostly Model B, and all secondary school students’ mental models were Model A. It seemed then that the more exposed the students are to formal education in chemistry, the more consistent their mental model become with the scientific view. Although students’ mental models were categorised in such a manner, all of the mental models shared common attributes, such as the role of reacting agents in reaction spontaneity, energy as a part of reactions, and irreversibility presumptions. This finding indicates that students’ initial mental models were not ‘erased’ but rather coexisted with the advanced mental models, which were developed through formal education. This relationship is similar to how science operates, where superseded models co-exist with more sophisticated models and are still used for practical purposes although scientists are aware of an old model’s limitations and discrepancies. A general conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that students’ mental models were found to be lacking in attributes that relate to scientific ideas such as particle model, particle collisions, activation energy, and entropy despite these ideas having been introduced in their formal learning. Therefore, it is recommended that students should be engaged in developing mental models that enable them to link between macro and submicro levels through modelling an instruction approach that emphasises the understanding, application and construction of models.

From preparation to practice: Tensions and connections

Abstract: The links between initial teacher education, teacher registration and early career learning are problematic. The curriculum and control of initial teacher education is contested and the nature of relationships between the key parties (teachers, providers, and regulatory institutions) is under pressure. At present, providers of initial teacher education (ITE) in New Zealand prepare beginning teachers and at point of graduation, formal links with the student are severed. This feels unsatisfactory as it creates a division in the teacher professional learning process that, ideally, should be more seamless. Becoming and being a teacher is an ongoing, challenging process that requires continuing professional development. Therefore transition points in the process of becoming and being a teacher need to be as seamless as possible. To ensure greater connectivity in ongoing teacher professional development and learning for beginning teachers, all parties (from ITE onwards) need to take responsibility for developing understanding and respect for the different components of beginning teacher development. That simple statement hides issues of power and control that create tensions that threaten connections and professional respect. This paper explores the present context and identifies points of tension and connection between the key stakeholders. We argue that these tensions can, without understanding, goodwill and a commitment to the profession as a whole, undermine the development and maintenance of links between ITE, registration and early career learning. The challenge, for all parties involved, is how to mitigate the tensions and enhance respect for all stakeholders committed to the endeavour of teacher learning and development. The authors suggest that new working relationships are needed and identify ways in which the key parties might establish better links.

Online collaborative learning in tertiary ICT education to enhance students' learning in Malaysia

Abstract: This study investigated the nature of students’, and student group, interactions through the incorporation of an online collaborative learning (OCL) initiative, with its aim to enhance students’ learning in a Malaysian tertiary classroom. In order to contribute to knowledge and understanding about the nature and quality of OCL, the learning processes and outcomes were drawn predominantly from Harasim’s model, with inclusion of a socio-cultural framework aimed at enhancing learning outcomes for undergraduate science and ICT education students. Harasim’s model of OCL that was used in the intervention includes steps to setting up the stage and a system for Idea Generating (IG), modelling and guiding the OCL discussions for Idea Organizing (IO), and evaluating and reflecting the OCL discussions for Intellectual Convergence (IC). The interactions in OCL were analysed through four dimensions: participative, interactive, social, and cognitive in support of the students’ cognitive, social and emotional development. The OCL intervention in this study was conducted through an ICT education course in a Malaysian university that required OCL discussions for 13 weeks: the first four weeks were intra-group work discussions (Task 1), followed by four/five weeks of inter-group work discussions (Task 2), and the remaining four weeks were for the final intra-group work discussions (Task 3). The OCL intervention was aimed at facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and interaction between students from Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics majors through the university’s Learning Management System (Moodle), which provided the shared space for the OCL discourse and tools for collaboration. A total of nine groups of four to six students (N=46) were involved in this study. In order to evaluate the OCL intervention using a holistic view, an interpretive approach that included the collection of quantitative and qualitative data was adopted to frame the collection and analysis of the data. Quantitative data were obtained from online questionnaires, together with online data based on the frequency of students’ posts in participative, interactive, social and cognitive dimensions. Qualitative data were gathered via interviews with students (group and post-course interviews) and lecturers, and online transcripts that included online postings and students’ online journal entries. These data were collected and analysed in order to triangulate the findings and to help the researcher assess the extent to which the intervention was successful in enhancing students’ learning.

What are the characteristics of exemplary initial teacher education programmes in countries similar to Aotearoa/New Zealand?

Abstract: Recent political and educational debate in New Zealand has closely linked the quality of teaching with the educational achievement of learners. This has been supported by evidence from both national and international research. It is no surprise; therefore, that attention has been focused on how we prepare teachers for the profession in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Education Workforce Advisory Group recommended in its Final Report to the Minister of Education (2010) that moving initial teacher education (ITE) to a postgraduate qualification would improve the provision of ITE by reducing the variability in quality of ITE programmes and helping to raise the status of the teaching profession. There is very little evidence provided in this report to support this claim. Therefore, one of the intentions of this paper is to examine how this vision aligns to the characteristics of exemplary ITE programmes offered internationally. To achieve this we will ask the following questions: What are the characteristics of exemplary ITE programmes? How effectively do these programmes prepare teachers to improve the educational outcomes for all learners? What are the implications for New Zealand ITE programmes?

Policy driven reforms and the role of teacher educators in reframing teacher education in the 21st century

Abstract: The current policy moment for teacher education in Australia is calling into question the value of teacher education as it is currently practised, proposing alternative pathways into teaching and at the same time tightening outcomes with statements of professional standards for teachers and input measures as part of teacher education regulation. Many features of this current policy moment have the potential to deprofessionalise teacher education and the profession. I argue that teacher educators must work towards shaping the current and future agendas in order to professionalise teacher education and frame the teacher education system in the 21st century. To do that we need to address some of the key questions being asked of us, such as: What is the value of teacher education? What should beginning teachers know and be able to do? How can judgements be made about what beginning teachers know and are able to do? I think we must ensure research- informed and practice-validated professional standards for teaching at various junctures in the teaching career, but specifically for beginning teaching, that capture the complexity and context specific nature of quality teaching and professional judgement. In addition, authentic assessment of beginning teaching that involves consideration of teacher professional judgment and student learning in a range of diverse contexts is an important consideration in re/framing the teacher education system of the 21st century. In conclusion, I argue teacher education research must respond to and inform the questions being asked of us in this policy moment about the value of teacher education.

Is initial teacher education a profession

Abstract: Over 200 years, the dominant metaphor for the preparation of beginning teachers by teacher educators has evolved from ‘correction’ to ‘apprenticeship’, ‘training’, ‘finishing’, ‘education’ and, most recently, ‘standardisation’. Teacher educators’ primary affiliation has similarly varied over time from church, to classroom, normal school, training college and, latterly, the university. Scholarly analyses of teacher educators as an occupational group typically describe a continual struggle for individual and collective credibility in a) university and faculty, and b) school/centre or classroom settings. Teacher education does not satisfy the classical requirements for a profession and has been referred to by others, dismissively, in such terms as ‘the uncertain profession’ and by teacher educators themselves, approvingly, as a ‘semi profession’. Many individual teacher educators now meet neither contemporary benchmark expectations of research entrepreneurship and productivity among their university colleagues, nor currency of occupational expertness among those with whom they and their students interact in schools and centres. Requirements for some teacher educators to be registered teachers, but not to have a current practising certificate, further reinforce their fractured occupational positioning. This is a debilitating, untenable position for teacher educators. In New Zealand, the position has developed in an ad hoc fashion over the last twenty or so years and has resulted in teacher educators being expected to be all things to all constituencies in both scholarly and occupational spheres. Drawing on classical Greek philosophical distinctions between abstract and scientific knowledge, practical and craft knowledge, and the wisdom borne of thoughtful practice, this paper considers alternative ways in which teacher educators’ relationships with and contributions to initial teacher education policy discourse might realistically be reconstituted over the next decade in order to provide them with a meaningful, distinctive, manageable and satisfying professional role.

Teacher education policy in New Zealand since 1970

Abstract: How can New Zealand schools be provided with a sufficient supply of knowledgeable and skilled teachers at a reasonable cost? This question has shaped teacher education policy over decades but its interpretation and preferred solutions have varied markedly. By 1970 three-year training for primary teachers was finally achieved and teachers colleges were striving to change their organisational patterns, move away from their image as extended secondary schools and become fully tertiary institutions. Colleges had also acquired their own councils, though important decisions in finance, numbers, curriculum and staffing were all made finally by the Department of Education. In 2012 most teacher education in New Zealand is carried out in university faculties of education offering early childhood, primary and secondary programmes and heavily involved in continuing professional education. These significant developments have occurred against a backdrop of social and systemic change in New Zealand. In this paper I examine what issues have shaped educational policy in teacher education, what conflicting ideas have underpinned it, and which players have been pivotal. Key themes include (i) the scope, nature and preferred locus of teacher education; (ii) control, funding and quality assurance; and (iii) supply and demand for teachers. The paper will examine policy documents, reports, critique, and systemic developments with a focus on the changing and often contradictory nature of concepts such as professionalism, accountability, student success, and teacher quality.

Participant perspectives informing pedagogy for asynchronous online discussion in initial teacher education

Abstract: This study looks at how students and staff experience asynchronous online discussion (AOD) within initial teacher education. The aim is to explore participant perspectives, including expectations of fellow participants, with a view to informing pedagogy, defined as the relationship between teaching and learning (Loughran, 2006). The underpinning argument is essentially that learning and teaching can be enhanced by awareness of how participants experience the situation. Understanding the complexities of AOD entails a better understanding of participants’ tacit reasoning, expectations, misunderstandings, and responses to tasks and behaviours (Brookfield & Preskill, 2005; Loughran, 2006). It is the situation as it is perceived which is central to the quality of teaching and learning, and this puts participants and their experiences at the centre of efforts to improve pedagogy and to enhance deep learning. This study is framed by sociocultural theory and phenomenography to explore AOD through the eyes of teacher educators and teacher education students in a specific teacher education context. Participants engaged in focus groups (face-to-face and online) and a series of semi-structured interviews, generating data about experiences and perspectives of AOD. Key findings show the need for participants in AOD to establish expectations for purposeful communication; to maintain a presence for learning premised on formative interaction; and to work together in ways conducive to community and student leadership in pursuit of deep learning. This thesis adds to the limited research literature on teacher perceptions about online teaching (Spector, 2007), and makes a contribution to addressing the neglect of student approaches to study in higher education using eLearning technologies for discussion (Ellis et al., 2008; Jackson et al., 2010; Sharpe et al., 2010). The results contribute to knowledge in the field of online learning in initial teacher education by giving rise to specific pedagogical strategies for teachers and students in given situations, and by providing conceptual tools for participants when thinking about teaching and learning through AOD. Participant experiences function as footprints, picking out pathways as others make their way through AOD (Salmon, 2002).

Health invaders in New Zealand primary schools

Abstract: Escalating concern over childhood obesity rates, children’s eating habits and their physical activity regimes has fuelled the development of multiple health policies and resources. Many of these are reaching into primary schools, contouring pedagogical opportunities and influencing how young people may come to understand themselves as healthy (or not). In this paper, we map the health policy/resource context in New Zealand emergent over the past two decades, examining the form and content of health messages circulating and their incursions into primary school environments. We also consider the potential effects for teachers and students of enduring health ‘invasions’ in the primary school space.

Problematised history pedagogy as narrative research: Self-fashioning, dismantled voices and reimaginings in history education

Abstract: A growing disturbance with history’s identity in the New Zealand schooling curriculum disrupted my educational socialisation (curriculum, professional, academic) and inheritance of educational policy decisions. In turn, this disturbance shaped a critical stance in my research and practitioner work. Accordingly, problematised history pedagogy (PHP) emerged as the phenomenon and method of my doctoral study and was activated as a counterpoint to my experiences of normalised discourses of history curriculum and pedagogy. The PHP as narrative research was situated in my history curriculum programme in a postgraduate year of secondary teacher education. The research aimed to engage my history class (research participants as preservice teachers) in pedagogy that involved critique of and reflection on the things we do as history teachers in the secondary curriculum. The PHP was nested within my historicising and theorising of educational experience. Conceptualised as a reciprocal research process, the PHP involved the participants and me in theorising pedagogies, fashioning pedagogic identities, and engaging critically with curriculum conceptions of history. The PHP sought to reimagine history curriculum and pedagogy and identify pedagogic spaces of possibility. The narrative research was layered as a bricolage of storying that reflected the interdisciplinary nature of my educational socialisation. Experiences as a teacher educator, curriculum and assessment developer and researcher meant many voices, discourses and theories were woven into the narrative. This complex conceptual work focused on understandings of narrative; policy, curriculum and pedagogy; critical pedagogy; history; history education; and notions of space. The narrative research was constructed in three parts. Firstly, my narrative selves and shifts to a critical pedagogy stance were historicised and theorised through an autobiographical approach. An original dimension of this storying has been the use of vignettes that illuminate the convergence of educational experience, theorising and reimaginings as an aesthetic and critical narrative device. The second part of the research narrative arrives at the point of praxis whereby experience and theory came together to activate the PHP. The PHP was placed in the context of the national history curriculum, a review of history education literature, and situated in my teacher education work. The PHP has been represented as a system of meaning through its distinctive research processes of phenomenological inquiry, genealogical disclosure, and discursive self-fashioning. An original form of analysis was conceptualised to deconstruct the participants’ history thinking and their experiences of the cultural politics of the history curriculum. This was conceptualised as a dismantling analysis (DA). The third part of the narrative recounts the history class’s year of reflexive engagement with PHP. Participants’ pedagogic identities, historical thinking and critique of history curriculum and pedagogy as PHP ‘cases’ in secondary classrooms were dismantled and discussed. Emergent PHP findings of the participants’ thinking as beginning history teachers include such features as discourses of embodiment (fears, failure and fraud) prior to practicum; uncertainties about historical knowledge that includes doubt and discomfort about dealing with ‘difficult’ knowledge; disillusionment with familiar historical narratives; scant exposure to Aotearoa New Zealand histories and limited engagement with historical research methods in school and university study; observations of uncritical teacher modelling of history pedagogy; questioning of a strong masculine focus in historical contexts and a recurrent theme of history as violent; history practicum experienced through the dominant orientation of history as inquiry. These findings illustrate the public, accountable and discursive production of the national history curriculum. Reimagined history curricula are glimpsed in the participants’ seeking of counter-orientations of history’s purpose and desired history pedagogy as inclusive and democratic, as social reconstruction, and as an evolving critical project. A reflective critique of the narrative research brings the writing to a close.

Who should develop initial teacher education policy and why

Abstract: Contextual factors such as the competitive educational market and self-managing schools are significant influences on initial teacher education providers, the programmes they offer, and the employment and induction of beginning teachers. In this paper NZEI and PPTA account for their belief that initial teacher education policy development should be a collaborative effort. It is argued that collaboration between the different players in initial teacher education strengthens policy making. These players, we suggest, are professional teacher educators, the New Zealand Teachers Council, other approval bodies, the Ministry of Education and the teacher unions. Teacher unions are guardians of the profession as a whole, protecting both its status and the conditions under which teachers work. They are grounded in the reality of schools, and can share this knowledge with teacher educators. Teacher unions, as ‘unions of professionals’, have a part to play in developing initial teacher education policy. Historically, teaching unions have held themselves accountable for high quality public education, and exercise a high degree of responsibility in the way the objectives of their organisations are fulfilled by teachers, realising their values and understandings through principles of unity, social integrity and social justice. First, we explain briefly our vision of initial teacher education and how we try to honour this in our practice. Secondly, we explain our historical and legal roles and how these are played out in practice. Thirdly, we discuss what we see to be the contributions of the other significant players in policy collaboration.

Towards equity through initial teacher education

Abstract: Initial teacher education (ITE) is critical to shaping New Zealand’s education and social futures, and has the potential to do more. In particular there is a need for reflection on ways in which ITE might be restructured and reconceptualised to make a bigger contribution to participation, achievement and outcomes at higher levels by M a ori and Pasifika learners. While a discourse of equity provides the theoretical underpinning for pursuing education outcomes that are more just and fair, the economics of ‘parity’ may provide the greater opportunity to accelerate the pace of change. Government funding for tertiary education now operates on the expectation that tertiary organisations (including ITE) will ensure that M a ori and Pasifika students participate and achieve at all levels at least on a par with other learners (Tertiary Education Commission, 2012). Given the current context, what is the role of ITE? Is ITE part of the problem or the solution for equity? This paper offers ideas towards a contemporary model of equity through initial teacher education based on the interplay between structural and conceptual changes. From a critical theory base, a model for equity through ITE is explored, with four interdependent action areas: plan for impact, resource for parity, build equity concepts, and engage with high-quality research.