title: Olympic/ism Education: Does it have a place in Physical Education?

authors: Petrie, Kirsten Culhane

subjects: Olympic Education

abstract: Founder of the modern Olympic Movement Pierre de Coubertin espoused the educational value of sport and the centrality of pedagogy in “building a peaceful and better world” (International Olympic Committee, 2015, p. 17). How this is translated into educational programmes and practices has been interpreted differently, with some variation between Olympic Education and Olympism education. Understanding the points of difference is an important part of considering how Olympism as a philosophy can inform educational endeavours, and as Culpan and McBain (2012) argue, influence the role Olympism can play in helping to legitimise physical education (PE) in schools. Drawing on the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, I explore how Olympism education has been used to frame curriculum policy in PE and to what extend this has and has not impacted on practice. This analysis is then used to argue against positioning Olympism education as the key to raising the quality and relevance of PE in schools, as it has the potential to add to the layers of confusion that already exist for teachers grappling with PE curriculum. In conclusion, I argue instead that as a community of educators we should turn our attention to the role Olympism education has in ensuring sport, particularly for youth, is practised in line with the Olympic ideals and the aims of Olympism espoused by de Coubertin.

text: Olympic/ism Education: Does it have a place in Physical Education? Founder of the modern Olympic Movement Pierre de Coubertin espoused the educational value of sport and the centrality of pedagogy in “building a peaceful and better world” (International Olympic Committee, 2015, p. 17). How this is translated into educational programmes and practices has been interpreted differently, with some variation between Olympic Education and Olympism education. Understanding the points of difference is an important part of considering how Olympism as a philosophy can inform educational endeavours, and as Culpan and McBain (2012) argue, influence the role Olympism can play in helping to legitimise physical education (PE) in schools. Drawing on the context of Aotearoa New Zealand, I explore how Olympism education has been used to frame curriculum policy in PE and to what extend this has and has not impacted on practice. This analysis is then used to argue against positioning Olympism education as the key to raising the quality and relevance of PE in schools, as it has the potential to add to the layers of confusion that already exist for teachers grappling with PE curriculum. In conclusion, I argue instead that as a community of educators we should turn our attention to the role Olympism education has in ensuring sport, particularly for youth, is practised in line with the Olympic ideals and the aims of Olympism espoused by de Coubertin.

year: 2017

title: Information and communication technology adoption and small and medium-sized enterprise growth in New Zealand

authors: Locke, Stuart

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This paper reports on an investigation of the potential to use the financial ratios of New Zealand small businesses to discriminate their location as an aid in the accurate targeting of regional economic development programs. To the extent that there are clearly identifiable differences in performance and financial structure of urban and nonurban firms, this could be significant for small business policy development and the efficient implementation of strategies.

text: Information and communication technology adoption and small and medium-sized enterprise growth in New Zealand This paper reports on an investigation of the potential to use the financial ratios of New Zealand small businesses to discriminate their location as an aid in the accurate targeting of regional economic development programs. To the extent that there are clearly identifiable differences in performance and financial structure of urban and nonurban firms, this could be significant for small business policy development and the efficient implementation of strategies.

year: 2006

title: Tū te turuturu nō Hine-te-iwaiwa: Mana wahine geographies of birth in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Simmonds, Naomi Beth

subjects: Mana wahine

abstract: This thesis examines the embodied, spiritual and spatial experiences of maternity for Māori women. It reveals how colonial and patriarchal discourses are embedded and embodied in the spaces of childbirth in Aotearoa New Zealand. I use a mana wahine (Māori women’s) framework to critique discourses that continue to marginalise and isolate Māori women and their whānau (family group) during their maternity experiences. Importantly, this research highlights the possibilities of reclaiming and reconfiguring mana wahine in both theory and practice. In doing so, I conceptualise new geographies that account for, and celebrate, uniquely Māori understandings and expressions of maternity. 
Mana wahine provides a much needed theoretical framework that enables Māori women to (re)define and (re)present our lived realities on our own terms. A qualitative mixed method approach of interviews, solicited diary writing and a marae based wānanga is employed to examine the lived experiences of birth for ten first time mothers, five midwives and a wānanga of 17 women and their whānau. In total 32 women participated in various phases of the research.
Empirical material is arranged around four key themes. The first considers the ways in which colonialism is lived and embodied in maternity experiences for many whānau. New formations of colonialism are evident in the silence that can surround the maternal body for women in this research. The second theme highlights how whakapapa (genealogy), wairua (spirituality), and whenua (land/placenta), can provide a powerful reconceptualisation of the maternal body that offers new possibilities for thinking about maternal embodiment, the spaces of birth (both material and discursive) and maternity policy and practice. Third, it is argued that many women and whānau occupy a number of in-between maternity spaces as a result of our colonised realities. As such, considerations of space from a mana wahine perspective can serve to destabilise the dualisms that dominate the spatial politics of birth in Aotearoa. Finally, this thesis posits that by reclaiming the collective and spiritual spaces of birth and afterbirth it is possible to transform and empower women and whānau in their maternity experiences. 
This thesis responds to a scarcity of academic scholarship on mana wahine maternities. It advances mana wahine and feminist geographical knowledges by providing a critical spatial perspective on Māori women’s maternal geographies. It is argued that reclaiming mana wahine maternities has the potential to transform women’s birthing experiences by (re)asserting the tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) of women, of their babies, and of their whānau, and thus the rangatiratanga of Māori communities, hapū (sub-tribe/sub-tribes) and iwi (tribe/tribes).

text: Tū te turuturu nō Hine-te-iwaiwa: Mana wahine geographies of birth in Aotearoa New Zealand This thesis examines the embodied, spiritual and spatial experiences of maternity for Māori women. It reveals how colonial and patriarchal discourses are embedded and embodied in the spaces of childbirth in Aotearoa New Zealand. I use a mana wahine (Māori women’s) framework to critique discourses that continue to marginalise and isolate Māori women and their whānau (family group) during their maternity experiences. Importantly, this research highlights the possibilities of reclaiming and reconfiguring mana wahine in both theory and practice. In doing so, I conceptualise new geographies that account for, and celebrate, uniquely Māori understandings and expressions of maternity. 
Mana wahine provides a much needed theoretical framework that enables Māori women to (re)define and (re)present our lived realities on our own terms. A qualitative mixed method approach of interviews, solicited diary writing and a marae based wānanga is employed to examine the lived experiences of birth for ten first time mothers, five midwives and a wānanga of 17 women and their whānau. In total 32 women participated in various phases of the research.
Empirical material is arranged around four key themes. The first considers the ways in which colonialism is lived and embodied in maternity experiences for many whānau. New formations of colonialism are evident in the silence that can surround the maternal body for women in this research. The second theme highlights how whakapapa (genealogy), wairua (spirituality), and whenua (land/placenta), can provide a powerful reconceptualisation of the maternal body that offers new possibilities for thinking about maternal embodiment, the spaces of birth (both material and discursive) and maternity policy and practice. Third, it is argued that many women and whānau occupy a number of in-between maternity spaces as a result of our colonised realities. As such, considerations of space from a mana wahine perspective can serve to destabilise the dualisms that dominate the spatial politics of birth in Aotearoa. Finally, this thesis posits that by reclaiming the collective and spiritual spaces of birth and afterbirth it is possible to transform and empower women and whānau in their maternity experiences. 
This thesis responds to a scarcity of academic scholarship on mana wahine maternities. It advances mana wahine and feminist geographical knowledges by providing a critical spatial perspective on Māori women’s maternal geographies. It is argued that reclaiming mana wahine maternities has the potential to transform women’s birthing experiences by (re)asserting the tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) of women, of their babies, and of their whānau, and thus the rangatiratanga of Māori communities, hapū (sub-tribe/sub-tribes) and iwi (tribe/tribes).

year: 2014