title: Te Kōtihitihi: Ngā Tuhinga Reo Māori, Putanga 3

authors: Temara, Pou

abstract: Koinei te katoa o te Putanga 3 o te puka hautaka, Te Kōtihitihi.

text: Te Kōtihitihi: Ngā Tuhinga Reo Māori, Putanga 3 Koinei te katoa o te Putanga 3 o te puka hautaka, Te Kōtihitihi.

year: 2016

title: What is the role of English transition in Māori-medium education?

authors: Hill, Richard Kenneth

subjects: Māori-medium

abstract: The place of English language instruction in Māori-medium programmes is a controversial issue. Many Māori-medium schools either exclude it from their curriculum, or pay lip service to it. However, English language instruction is an important element for all Māori-medium schools to consider, as its role will affect the extent to which the students achieve the aim of becoming biliterate. Unfortunately though, how to support the English language growth of Māori-medium students remains an as yet unresolved and under-researched issue. It is this theme that this research seeks to investigate. This Doctoral thesis reports on a multiple case study research project that investigated the English transition programmes of three Māori-medium schools including: a wharekura, a kura kaupapa Māori and a bilingual school. The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, classroom observations, and language assessments to explore the subject. The central aim of this project was to examine how these schools arrange their English transition programmes, what issues they face, and how they negotiate them. This research found that the teaching of English in Māori-medium education is an area in which Māori-medium schools have little support, and often struggle to negotiate. Despite this, some programmes offer good quality instruction that contributes to their students achieving high levels of literacy development. This study concluded that there is a relationship between the English transition programme design, and the students’ literacy (English and Māori) development. The higher quality programmes included greater quantities of English instruction, the staff was informed about bilingual education principles and they nurtured closer relationships with their student. Overall, this research found that English language instruction can play a part in Māori-medium education in a way that does not need to detract from the school focus on the learning of te reo Māori. The layout of this thesis is as follows. Chapter One explores the history of research into bilingualism before discussing some of the theoretical models that apply to this research project. Chapter Two explains some of the structural considerations concerning bilingual programmes, and the characteristics of Māori-medium education in the New Zealand context. Chapter Three examines New Zealand research into Māori-medium education with a particular focus on three areas: general teaching practices, research about student assessment, and research about English transition. Chapter Four discusses the methodological decisions that I made when approaching this research and the research tools I chose for the data collection process. Chapters Five, Six and Seven each presents a single case study of an English transition programme in a Māori-medium school. They provide descriptions of the programmes and explore the perspectives of the key participants, including staff and students. An analysis of Year 8 student literacy outcomes are provided followed by a discussion of the predominant findings that emerge. Chapter Eight is the discussion chapter where the key results from all three case studies will be discussed. This is followed by the concluding chapter (Chapter Nine), which discusses the educational implications of this research.

text: What is the role of English transition in Māori-medium education? The place of English language instruction in Māori-medium programmes is a controversial issue. Many Māori-medium schools either exclude it from their curriculum, or pay lip service to it. However, English language instruction is an important element for all Māori-medium schools to consider, as its role will affect the extent to which the students achieve the aim of becoming biliterate. Unfortunately though, how to support the English language growth of Māori-medium students remains an as yet unresolved and under-researched issue. It is this theme that this research seeks to investigate. This Doctoral thesis reports on a multiple case study research project that investigated the English transition programmes of three Māori-medium schools including: a wharekura, a kura kaupapa Māori and a bilingual school. The research implemented a Kaupapa Māori framework and used interviews, classroom observations, and language assessments to explore the subject. The central aim of this project was to examine how these schools arrange their English transition programmes, what issues they face, and how they negotiate them. This research found that the teaching of English in Māori-medium education is an area in which Māori-medium schools have little support, and often struggle to negotiate. Despite this, some programmes offer good quality instruction that contributes to their students achieving high levels of literacy development. This study concluded that there is a relationship between the English transition programme design, and the students’ literacy (English and Māori) development. The higher quality programmes included greater quantities of English instruction, the staff was informed about bilingual education principles and they nurtured closer relationships with their student. Overall, this research found that English language instruction can play a part in Māori-medium education in a way that does not need to detract from the school focus on the learning of te reo Māori. The layout of this thesis is as follows. Chapter One explores the history of research into bilingualism before discussing some of the theoretical models that apply to this research project. Chapter Two explains some of the structural considerations concerning bilingual programmes, and the characteristics of Māori-medium education in the New Zealand context. Chapter Three examines New Zealand research into Māori-medium education with a particular focus on three areas: general teaching practices, research about student assessment, and research about English transition. Chapter Four discusses the methodological decisions that I made when approaching this research and the research tools I chose for the data collection process. Chapters Five, Six and Seven each presents a single case study of an English transition programme in a Māori-medium school. They provide descriptions of the programmes and explore the perspectives of the key participants, including staff and students. An analysis of Year 8 student literacy outcomes are provided followed by a discussion of the predominant findings that emerge. Chapter Eight is the discussion chapter where the key results from all three case studies will be discussed. This is followed by the concluding chapter (Chapter Nine), which discusses the educational implications of this research.

year: 2010

title: The Role of ELf5 in Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells

authors: Redgate, Emma Louise

subjects: Trophoblast

abstract: Elf5 is a DNA transcription factor that has been identified as being involved in placentation of the early embryo. Elf5 is expressed in the extra embryonic ectoderm (ExE), a lineage that contributes to the placenta of the embryo. Pluripotent trophoblast stem (TS) cells can be derived from the ExE and can be cultured in vitro. Such cells can contribute to all the placental lineages when injected back into an embryo. Elf5 homozygous mutant embryos do not possess an ExE and trophoblast stem cells cannot be derived and the mutation is therefore embryonic lethal. When Elf5 is knocked out, the TS cells in the ExE are thought to differentiate into EPC/giant cells leading to the absence of the ExE. In previous experiments in this laboratory, potential Elf5 targets were identified by RNA interference in mouse trophoblast stem cells followed by global gene expression analysis using an Affymetrix array. In the present experiments these results have now been confirmed by siRNA induced knockdown of Elf5 in TS cells followed by quantitative real time PCR of potential target genes. Most of the target genes that were affected by Elf5 knockdown were changed in the same way by growth factor removal and therefore stem cell differentiation. This suggested that Elf5 usually acts to maintain the TS cells in a stem cell fate. As Elf5 is expressed in the ExE, whole mount In situ hybridisation was used to determine if the genes showed the correct spatial and temporal patterning to be in vivo relevant Elf5 targets. The targets that were down regulated upon Elf5 knockdown (and therefore positively regulated by Elf5) were expressed in the ExE as expected. Genes that were up-regulated upon Elf5 knockdown (and therefore usually repressed by Elf5) were expressed in the differentiated ectoplacental cone or giant cells. . Preliminary work was also carried out for the over-expression of Elf5 by a tamoxifen inducible Elf5. TS cells were stably transfected with a plasmid containing Elf5 fused to a tamoxifen inducible ERT2 receptor and a VP16 transcriptional activation domain to turn Elf5 into a potent activator, and were analysed for target gene expression.  Preliminary data showed that Elf5 is involved in a complex transcriptional network of events as the genes did not behave as expected when Elf5 was turned into an activator. The effect of Elf5 knockdown on TS cells has been studied closely in terms of morphology, proliferation, changes in DNA content and apoptosis. The knockdown of Elf5 caused an increase in the number of differentiated cells (as shown by changes in morphology and DNA content). This further supported the knockdown and in situ data. There was no change in proliferation or apoptosis.  These experiments which demonstrate which genes are regulated by Elf5 and the changes to TS cellular characteristics when Elf5 is knocked down, support the proposal that Elf5 acts as a trophoblast stem cell maintenance factor of the extraembryonic ectoderm of the mouse.

text: The Role of ELf5 in Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells Elf5 is a DNA transcription factor that has been identified as being involved in placentation of the early embryo. Elf5 is expressed in the extra embryonic ectoderm (ExE), a lineage that contributes to the placenta of the embryo. Pluripotent trophoblast stem (TS) cells can be derived from the ExE and can be cultured in vitro. Such cells can contribute to all the placental lineages when injected back into an embryo. Elf5 homozygous mutant embryos do not possess an ExE and trophoblast stem cells cannot be derived and the mutation is therefore embryonic lethal. When Elf5 is knocked out, the TS cells in the ExE are thought to differentiate into EPC/giant cells leading to the absence of the ExE. In previous experiments in this laboratory, potential Elf5 targets were identified by RNA interference in mouse trophoblast stem cells followed by global gene expression analysis using an Affymetrix array. In the present experiments these results have now been confirmed by siRNA induced knockdown of Elf5 in TS cells followed by quantitative real time PCR of potential target genes. Most of the target genes that were affected by Elf5 knockdown were changed in the same way by growth factor removal and therefore stem cell differentiation. This suggested that Elf5 usually acts to maintain the TS cells in a stem cell fate. As Elf5 is expressed in the ExE, whole mount In situ hybridisation was used to determine if the genes showed the correct spatial and temporal patterning to be in vivo relevant Elf5 targets. The targets that were down regulated upon Elf5 knockdown (and therefore positively regulated by Elf5) were expressed in the ExE as expected. Genes that were up-regulated upon Elf5 knockdown (and therefore usually repressed by Elf5) were expressed in the differentiated ectoplacental cone or giant cells. . Preliminary work was also carried out for the over-expression of Elf5 by a tamoxifen inducible Elf5. TS cells were stably transfected with a plasmid containing Elf5 fused to a tamoxifen inducible ERT2 receptor and a VP16 transcriptional activation domain to turn Elf5 into a potent activator, and were analysed for target gene expression.  Preliminary data showed that Elf5 is involved in a complex transcriptional network of events as the genes did not behave as expected when Elf5 was turned into an activator. The effect of Elf5 knockdown on TS cells has been studied closely in terms of morphology, proliferation, changes in DNA content and apoptosis. The knockdown of Elf5 caused an increase in the number of differentiated cells (as shown by changes in morphology and DNA content). This further supported the knockdown and in situ data. There was no change in proliferation or apoptosis.  These experiments which demonstrate which genes are regulated by Elf5 and the changes to TS cellular characteristics when Elf5 is knocked down, support the proposal that Elf5 acts as a trophoblast stem cell maintenance factor of the extraembryonic ectoderm of the mouse.

year: 2010