title: Fridays for future: Social identity and activist self-identity predict participation in collective environmental protest behavior

authors: Holsten, Lotta

subjects: Activist self-identity

abstract: Climate change is a threat whose mitigation can be enhanced by collective environmental protest behavior, so understanding the motivation for collective environmental protests is important. A questionnaire study was conducted among 454 young members of Fridays For Future WhatsApp® groups in Germany to assess whether the frequency of their participation in Fridays For Future events was predicted by identification with the group (social identity), or the individual factors of environmental self-identity, activist self-identity, altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, and hedonic values. An ordinal regression showed that social identity and activist self-identity positively predicted participation in environmental protests, but environmental identity and biospheric values did not. Those who reported higher egoistic values were less frequent protestors. Our results suggest that identifying with the FFF group, and personally identifying as an activist, could be more important motivators of collective environmental behavior than self-identifying as pro-environmental, or than environmental values.

text: Fridays for future: Social identity and activist self-identity predict participation in collective environmental protest behavior Climate change is a threat whose mitigation can be enhanced by collective environmental protest behavior, so understanding the motivation for collective environmental protests is important. A questionnaire study was conducted among 454 young members of Fridays For Future WhatsApp® groups in Germany to assess whether the frequency of their participation in Fridays For Future events was predicted by identification with the group (social identity), or the individual factors of environmental self-identity, activist self-identity, altruistic, biospheric, egoistic, and hedonic values. An ordinal regression showed that social identity and activist self-identity positively predicted participation in environmental protests, but environmental identity and biospheric values did not. Those who reported higher egoistic values were less frequent protestors. Our results suggest that identifying with the FFF group, and personally identifying as an activist, could be more important motivators of collective environmental behavior than self-identifying as pro-environmental, or than environmental values.

year: 2023

title: The vocational commitment of student nurses and student teachers

authors: Ramsay, Peter

abstract: For an occupation to become a profession, it is often contended that its members must possess ‘vocational commitment’. Yet, there has in fact been little research either in New Zealand or overseas on the whole question of vocational or professional commitment. 
The present research was primarily concerned with the type and extent of commitment in those undergoing training for a profession. It consisted of a longitudinal study of a cohort of student nurses and student teachers who entered training in a provincial New Zealand city in 1973. A scale to measure expressed vocational commitment (EVC) at the time of entry was devised and was applied to the complete sample of trainee teachers and nurses on the first day of their training. Additional data were gathered early in the training course via standardised personality, psychological and attitude inventories, as well as background details on such variables as sex, socio-economic status and ethnicity. 
The research then focussed on the direction of, and stated reasons for, changes in EVC during the course of training. To facilitate this, a subsample was selected from the two groups for regular interviewing and observation. As well, students leaving the course were interviewed, and where ‘hunches’ were formed from either subsample or leaver material, an endeavour to check these was made through discussion with a monitoring group and by gathering additional evidence from other members of the role set. At the end of their training period the surviving sample was post-tested with an adapted EVC scale. 
The research demonstrated the complexity of abstract concepts such as vocational commitment, and confirmed that it is multidimensional in nature. Moreover, and perhaps most significantly, the findings showed that EVC was subject to considerable fluctuations over relatively short periods of time, which suggested that commitment itself has substantial situationally-specific components. The research also demonstrated that most students on entry to training were extremely tentative in their career choice, and in some instances were merely trying out possibilities. In addition many had poorly formed perceptions of what the vocation they were to enter would require of them, both as students and as practitioners. 
Although the analysis endeavoured to pinpoint reasons for changes in EVC, this task proved extraordinarily difficult. It brought out some of the shortcomings of the positivistic style of research, and much of the theorising associated with it. From a more practical viewpoint the research established the difficulties associated with predicting eventual success in a training programme, even when a wide range of entry variables is available for analysis. 
Some important implications for teacher and nurse education can be adduced, particularly the value of deferring the final selection of applicants during training, thus drawing on an older more mature pool. The research findings also indicate that improved orientation programmes prior to entry to formal training are needed; that a diversified and flexible training course is required to cater for the wide range of the students’ abilities, aptitudes and attitudes; and that improved guidance and counselling services for some ‘at risk’ students are highly desirable. 
Overall, the conclusion was drawn that vocational commitment in the two groups studied was idiosyncratic in its development and influence. Although exceptions could be found, students were more reflective about their decision making and in their career planning than many previous researchers had suggested.

text: The vocational commitment of student nurses and student teachers For an occupation to become a profession, it is often contended that its members must possess ‘vocational commitment’. Yet, there has in fact been little research either in New Zealand or overseas on the whole question of vocational or professional commitment. 
The present research was primarily concerned with the type and extent of commitment in those undergoing training for a profession. It consisted of a longitudinal study of a cohort of student nurses and student teachers who entered training in a provincial New Zealand city in 1973. A scale to measure expressed vocational commitment (EVC) at the time of entry was devised and was applied to the complete sample of trainee teachers and nurses on the first day of their training. Additional data were gathered early in the training course via standardised personality, psychological and attitude inventories, as well as background details on such variables as sex, socio-economic status and ethnicity. 
The research then focussed on the direction of, and stated reasons for, changes in EVC during the course of training. To facilitate this, a subsample was selected from the two groups for regular interviewing and observation. As well, students leaving the course were interviewed, and where ‘hunches’ were formed from either subsample or leaver material, an endeavour to check these was made through discussion with a monitoring group and by gathering additional evidence from other members of the role set. At the end of their training period the surviving sample was post-tested with an adapted EVC scale. 
The research demonstrated the complexity of abstract concepts such as vocational commitment, and confirmed that it is multidimensional in nature. Moreover, and perhaps most significantly, the findings showed that EVC was subject to considerable fluctuations over relatively short periods of time, which suggested that commitment itself has substantial situationally-specific components. The research also demonstrated that most students on entry to training were extremely tentative in their career choice, and in some instances were merely trying out possibilities. In addition many had poorly formed perceptions of what the vocation they were to enter would require of them, both as students and as practitioners. 
Although the analysis endeavoured to pinpoint reasons for changes in EVC, this task proved extraordinarily difficult. It brought out some of the shortcomings of the positivistic style of research, and much of the theorising associated with it. From a more practical viewpoint the research established the difficulties associated with predicting eventual success in a training programme, even when a wide range of entry variables is available for analysis. 
Some important implications for teacher and nurse education can be adduced, particularly the value of deferring the final selection of applicants during training, thus drawing on an older more mature pool. The research findings also indicate that improved orientation programmes prior to entry to formal training are needed; that a diversified and flexible training course is required to cater for the wide range of the students’ abilities, aptitudes and attitudes; and that improved guidance and counselling services for some ‘at risk’ students are highly desirable. 
Overall, the conclusion was drawn that vocational commitment in the two groups studied was idiosyncratic in its development and influence. Although exceptions could be found, students were more reflective about their decision making and in their career planning than many previous researchers had suggested.

year: 1978

title: Ko au te whenua, te whenua ko au  – I am the land, the land is me: An autoethnographic investigation of a secondary school teacher’s experience seeking to enrich learning in outdoor  education for Māori students.

authors: Townsend, Jane Emma

subjects: place-responsive

abstract: This thesis is my story as an outdoor educator, as a researcher, and a co-participant reflecting on my own actions and experiences as well as those of my students. In this autoethnography I share my revelations and tensions in my role as an outdoor education teacher seeking to enrich the experiences of Māori students.  Māori culture and history have largely been ignored in the outdoor education classrooms and environments of Aotearoa New Zealand. After teaching the subject for ten years I didn’t perceive that I was perpetuating the same invisibility in my own outdoor education course. Over this time a number of questions that had fermented at the back of my mind came to the fore; ‘why are so few Māori students opting to take outdoor education as a senior secondary school subject?’ and ‘how can I make the subject of outdoor education more desirable and appealing to Māori?’ A place-responsive approach incorporates and values traditional ways of learning through the notion of place and the stories attached to them. The cultural context of learning about and through place has the potential to provide learning opportunities that are relevant and meaningful to all learners but particularly Māori. Place-responsive pedagogies allow outdoor educators to create an environment where language, knowledge, culture and values are normal, valid and legitimate – contexts where Māori students can be themselves. Through this research I have found that the implementation of a place responsive approach has had significant implications for Year twelve outdoor education at Mount Maunganui College. The improvement in Māori student achievement and numbers selecting the subject have  been affirming.

Ko au te whenua, te whenua ko au – I am the land, the land is me

text: Ko au te whenua, te whenua ko au  – I am the land, the land is me: An autoethnographic investigation of a secondary school teacher’s experience seeking to enrich learning in outdoor  education for Māori students. This thesis is my story as an outdoor educator, as a researcher, and a co-participant reflecting on my own actions and experiences as well as those of my students. In this autoethnography I share my revelations and tensions in my role as an outdoor education teacher seeking to enrich the experiences of Māori students.  Māori culture and history have largely been ignored in the outdoor education classrooms and environments of Aotearoa New Zealand. After teaching the subject for ten years I didn’t perceive that I was perpetuating the same invisibility in my own outdoor education course. Over this time a number of questions that had fermented at the back of my mind came to the fore; ‘why are so few Māori students opting to take outdoor education as a senior secondary school subject?’ and ‘how can I make the subject of outdoor education more desirable and appealing to Māori?’ A place-responsive approach incorporates and values traditional ways of learning through the notion of place and the stories attached to them. The cultural context of learning about and through place has the potential to provide learning opportunities that are relevant and meaningful to all learners but particularly Māori. Place-responsive pedagogies allow outdoor educators to create an environment where language, knowledge, culture and values are normal, valid and legitimate – contexts where Māori students can be themselves. Through this research I have found that the implementation of a place responsive approach has had significant implications for Year twelve outdoor education at Mount Maunganui College. The improvement in Māori student achievement and numbers selecting the subject have  been affirming.

Ko au te whenua, te whenua ko au – I am the land, the land is me

year: 2014